Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

 

Here we go with number two for today!

                                  
Basics

Title: Bitterblue
Series: Graceling Realm #3
Author: Kristin Cashore
Release date: May 1^st 2012
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 9780803734739
Number of pages: 576
Genre: Fantasy, Romance

What's special? The first of Kristin Cashore's books where the main character has no supernatural
powers! Bitterblue, who we know from the first book, is now the Queen of Monsea.

Summary

In Bitterblue we have to travel in time again. Now the story takes place a few years after the events of Graceling.
To be exact: Eight years have passed since Monsea and Bitterblue were saved from King Leck.

She herself is now Queen and her country has peace. Well, almost. Sort of. Kinda. Not really.

Because the influence of her father still lives on.

Her advisors who had been Leck's advisors, too, believe in an 'only-looking-forward-plan' which consists of a) pardon every crime comitted in the 35 years of King Leck's reign and b) forget everything bad that has happened.
If Bitterblue tries to talk to them about that difficult time, her advisors break down mentally.

Only when she starts visiting her own city – at night and disguised – she notices that her father's reign was even worse than she was told. No education, the eastern part of the Bitterblue City decays.
She suddenly understands that the only way to move forward, is to go back into the past.

In the night she meets two shady boys – Saf and Teddy – who get to know her under the name „Sparks“. They see it as their duty to 'steal what has already been stolen'.

Suddenly one mystery follows the other and almost the only persons she seems to be able to trust are two thieves!

 

My opinion

I liked Bitterblue a little bit more than Fire but Graceling stays my number one of Kristin Cashore's books.

Bitterblue is more complex than its predecessors. There are many intrigues and mysteries to be uncovered. At first I thought I'll lose the overview but thanks to the list Bitterblue writes pretty early in the book I could remember (almost) everything!

Sadly, I can't say the same about her advisors. Until about 200 pages in the book I always got confused who's who.
Here a short summary:
Thiel: Bitterblue's foremost advisor.
Darby: he's an alcoholic
Runnemood: Brother of Rood, very calm, annoys Bitterblue sometimes
Rood: he has mental problems
So, let's carry on!

I loved to see how the characters from Graceling have developed through the years. Especially Raffin and Giddon! They were so kind and lovely!
Po is still as hot as usual but I had my problems with Katsa.
Don't get me wrong she is one of my favourite heroines – in Graceling. But not in Bitterblue.

She is too different in my opinion. Too self-centered. She is almost never in Bitterblue City but if she is, she's with Po.
I understand: This book is Bitterblue's story but still.

I really like Bitterblue as a character though.
She has no special powers (not counting being a Queen), so she has to deal with all of her problems the „traditional way“. With all the intrigues around her, she has to rely on herself most of the time.

And it's the first time that the main character sounds like a teenager.
Katsa and Fire both sounded a bit too grown up for my taste.

The writing style in general improved. The town is described beautifully and understandable.
The codes were a bit too much for me, especially at the end.

Furthermore, I noticed an inconsistency. In Bitterblue, Giddon states that he's 27 years old. Let's do some math.
27-8 = 19
So he would have been 19 in Graceling.

BUT
In Graceling Katsa told us that Giddon is somewhat older than Raffin who is 21 at the time.
Ergo Giddon was something over 21 back then and would be around 30 in Bitterblue.
It's not a huge mistake but still I feel pretty proud for noticing it. Haha!

Bitterblue has certainly a darker atmosphere than Graceling and Fire. The reader has to deal with a lot of difficult topics. Suicide, self-harm, abuse, rape.
And for the first time, I think, the series approaches homosexuality.
There's one scene, gosh, it's so cute!

In the beginning there are already a lot of references to Fire which I really enjoyed.
And in the end Fire's appearance was great!
It connected all three books. And we even get some glimpses on a few characters of Fire.
Also, I loved the Dellian alphabet!
Finally we got to hear how Fire and Brigan really sound.
Also, the letters looked really cool!

In Bitterblue we get some more maps, e.g. the known world and Bitterblue's palace.

Sadly, I just noticed them when I finished the book – I really would have needed them while reading it! Haha!

Lastly, I really liked the slow revelations. Just like Bitterblue we get to the truth by bits which really kept me in suspense!

Rating

4/5 for the idea
4/5 for the execution
4/5 stars

Have a nice weekend, y'all!

Franzi

Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore

Hey, guys! I'm back with two reviews today!
Fire and Bitterblue!
I just got a few new books, so I have to hurry up and write more reviews! Haha!

Have fun!

                                   

Basics

Title: Fire
Series: Graceling Realm #2

Author: Kristin Cashore
Release date: October 5^th 2009
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN: 0575085118
Number of pages: 480
Genre: Fantasy, Romance

What's special? There are monsters of all kind. But not like the scary ones. These monsters are
beautiful.

Summary

Although Fire is the second book in the series, it takes place about 40 years before the events in Graceling. And, far more interesting, it takes place in a whole different country. In the Dells.
It lays beyond the mountains east to Monsea and is yet to be discovered by the inhabitants of the seven kingdoms.
In the Dells there are no Gracelings, but there are Monsters. Extremely beautiful and gifted with the ability to control others with their minds. From rat monsters to raptor monsters – there's everything.
Even human monsters. Those are the most dangerous.

Fire is the last one of them. Her father, Lord Cansrel, used this powers to manipulate the fromer king. The country descended into chaos.
Now Cansrel and the old king Nax are dead and the king's sons, King Nash and Prince Brigan, hope to restore the balance and to stop the civil war which is about to break out.
You see, just as in Graceling there's a lot of background story!
Fire lives in the north, far away from the king's city, together with her childhood friend and lover Archer and his father.

One day, she has to leave her home by command of the king to use her powers to interrogate prisoners for useful information on the disloyal Lords. Being at the king's court she has not only to deal with the king's love her inhuman beauty caused but also with the cold Prince Brigan who seems to hate her for the crimes her father comitted.

My opinion

Fire is a great book – but not as good as Graceling.

Just as in the first book the emancipation of the main character is one of the huge plot points.

But not only the Fire has character development.

Just look at Brigan, Nash, Garan and Tess!
I really hated them all at the beginning. Haha!

When I first read the summary on amazon, I was doubtful. A girl 'whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of others' sounded preeetty much like a Mary-Sue to me.
Boy, was I proved wrong.
The story has a lot of important moral points about the use of power.
Fire herself does not want her power or her beauty and she would be happy to trade them.
She's terrified that, if she uses her powers, she will become just as her father was.
A true monster.
Learning that not every daughter, not every son is like her or his parents is only one of the lessons the characters teach us.

Even though Fire is just as Katsa a very independent woman she has some different attitudes. She wants nothing more than having children but she is aware that there is no place for human monsters in this world.
Sadly, Fire is a bit whiny and self-centered at some points in the story.

And a bit too tolerant in my opinion.
She still forgives Archer despite knowing some things which I won't tell because I don't want to spoiler you. But, boy, I really hated him.
Sorry for the language, but he was a possessive, aggressive and pretty rude asshole.
There we go.

In contrast I really loved Brigan. Not as much as I love Po but he had this roguish charm which I totally fell for.
It was nice to see him develop from page to page. He has the biggest character development, I assume. And there's no Insta-Love! Hallelujah! The romance starts slow and sweet – just as I like it.

But I wished there had been more progress between Fire and Brigan than Fire and Archer (I just couldn't stand that dude).

What I disliked were the rather shallow climaxes. They was pretty boring.
The most dramatic scenes were when the true parentages of some characters were revealed.

So the focus was rather on the character development than on the plot development.

Still, the book is a fun read.

I loved learning about Leck's background though – the prologue was really interesting!
It built up a first convergence between the world of Graceling and the Dells which will be enlarged in Bitterblue.
I'll write a review on it soon – so stay tuned!

Rating

3.5 - 4 out of 5 stars.

I withdrawed the points because of the weak climaxes but just as I said earlier the book is still enjoyable!

See you, guys!
Franzi

Fanart Friday "Graceling"

Hey, guys!
I'm back with some drawings of my last review "Graceling"

Most of them were drawn by minuiko (http://minuiko.tumblr.com/post/27750735221/surrender)


They look really cute together (even though they beat each other up - haha!)


That's just how I pictured the scene! But I'm not quite sure where Po is. Haha!


Raffin, my cutie!


This one is my favourite!


But I have one drawing done by someone else!
This one was drawn by burdge (http://burdge.tumblr.com/) :


http://minuiko.tumblr.com/post/26646619539/po-and-katsas-second-meeting-technically-they
Check out this photoset, too, I laughed so hard!


Here are some different covers from all over the world!

Germany:


UK, Australia and New Zealand(adult edition):


Japan:


France:


Finland:


Poland:


Indonesia:


Romania:


and Bulgaria:


the cover girl really reminds me of that singer from Die Antwood!




They all look pretty cool!

Tomorrow I'll post the next review: "Fire". Stay tuned for that.

Have a nice day, guys!
Franzi

Mockingjay

Hi, guys!
Have you already seen Mockingjay?
I was in the cinema yesterday and it was great!
I had goosebumps most of the time. Haha!
At the beginning I thought it lacked some explanations - it seemed very confusing for non-readers.
But after filming the Propaganda spots I really loved the movie.
I was really shocked while seeing the sickbay scene!
And the attacks of the rebels! Oh my God!

What do you think about the movie - or the movies in general?
Let me know in the comments!

Have a nice day!
Franzi

Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

Hey, guys! I'm back with a new review! Today it is (obviously) Graceling by Kristin Cashore!
I think I'll post an review every Saturday! :)

Basics

Title: Graceling
Series: Graceling Realm #1

Author: Kristin Cashore

Release date: October 1^st 2008
Publisher: Harcourt
ISBN: 9780152063962

Number of pages: 480
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
What's special? In the world of Graceling, there are people graced with special abilities.
They can be recognized by their different-colored eyes.

Summary

The story takes place on a continent which is divided into 7 kingdoms. Middluns, Estill, Sunder, Nander, Wester, Lienid and Monsea.

There are some people who are 'graced' which means they have special abilities, such as storm sensing, or highly developed skills at healing. Some can even read minds but nobody trusts those gracelings. Gracelings are visibly identifiable by their mismatched eyes.

Lady Katsa, our heroine, is the niece of the king of Middluns - and is graced in the art of killing.
It is said that she can kill a man with only her small finger.
She discovered her grace at the age of eight when she easily killed a man without intending to.
Back then she had no control over her powers but now, ten years later, she's an amazing fighter and every knife, every arrow hits its target. She is incredibly fast and has an extended endurance.
Her uncle, King Randa, uses her to punish Lords who disobeyed him.

Because of her reputation as a „murderous dog“ and her grace in general she is feared even more than an 'usual' Graceling.

Her only friend is her cousin Raffin, the son of Randa.
Together with him, to escape the guilt which her grace brings along, she secretly founded The Council, to fight injustice since the kings aren't doing it.
On their latest mission, rescuing the kidnapped father of the king of Lienid, she comes across a graced fighter who appears kind of trustworthy to her.
She knocks him out and doesn't kill him like she normally would have done. (How nice of you, Katsa!)
A few days later she meets him again – at king Randa's court.
It turns out that he is the youngest prince of Lienid, Prince Greening Grandemalion(I laughed so hard) or simply Po.
The actual plot of Graceling is the story of Katsa travelling with Po to uncover the mysteries of Prince Tealiff's abduction.

 

My opinion:

Okay, first of all: I love, love, love the idea! I'm always fond of books about people with supernatural abilities and this one is a great one!
The graces are well thought out and I love the idea of changing eye colors. Gracelings are not always Gracelings. They are born with a normal eye color. As soon as their power is fully developed the color changes. This progress happens between the age of a few months and the early years of their childhood.
So I go with 5 out of 5 stars for the plot idea!

The execution of it gets 4 to 4.5 stars.

Katsa is a wonderful female character. She is a badass and can stand up for herself. She hates being used as a weapon by her uncle and her emancipation is one of the main plot points.
She doesn't want to marry or have children, sadly that causes a lot of readers to call her a „man-hating protagonist“ but I disagree.
She fears to be suppressed by her husband as she is by her uncle. After gaining her freedom I can understand that she wants to stay 'independent'. Maybe she doensn't recognise that you can be independent in a marriage, too, some may say. But: that's how common marriage is today and Graceling takes place in a more medieval time.
Even though there's one passage at the beginning of chapter 20 which was a little bit over the top.
I won't quote it here, so I don't spoiler those of you who haven't read the book yet!
Katsa is a mix of deadly power and angry teenager who doesn't see any good in her grace until Prince Po(he has a silver and golden eye; also he's hot. You really don't need to know more) helps her to see another view of herself.
Speaking of Po – he's a wonderful male character. Well, actually you do need to know more because I couldn't skip such an awesome guy. I would even say that he is my favourite male character so far. He's lovely, kind, funny and caring – what do you want more?

The other characters, too, are written wonderfully. I love to read the dialogues between Katsa and her cousin Raffin! Also, once he accidentally dyes his hair blue while searching for a cure for headaches. That describes him perfectly!

Also Bitterblue is a great character. She is Prince Po's cousin but I don't want to spoiler you!
I'm really happy that there's a whole book about her. I'm currently re-reading it and there will be a review on it soon! But first I'll write one for Fire which is the second book in the trilogy. So stay tuned for that!

Gracling has a good, well thought-out dialogue with enough severity and some wit.
The writing style is not cheesy but simple. Everything else wouldn't have fit with the main character.

My last point is fittingly: the ending. That. Ending, guys. My eyes couldn't decide if they want to drop out or get lost in a sea of tears.
I'm actually not that much of a cry baby when it comes to books or movies but this one hit me right between the eyes.
I think I only cried twice while reading. Once at the ending of Forbidden and actually the whole time reading The Storyteller. God, these books are awful. Wonderful, but so sad.

Well, anyway, that book is awesome. I really recommend it to you! Go, strong women!

Here's a quote that summarizes Katsa completely:
“I'm not going to wear a red dress," Katsa said.
"It would look stunning, My Lady," she called.
She spoke to the bubbles gathered on the surface of the water. "If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face.”

Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Here are some drawings of Prince Po and Katsa! I'm sorry but I don't know who painted Prince Po. Please tell me if you do!

Katsa is drawn by Jiinsy from DeviantArt.

doesn't he look just lovely? *swoon*
I really like the detailed tattoos on his arms!




What do you think about Graceling?
Have you read it more than once? Tell me in the comments, I would be happy to read your opinion!

Stay tuned for next week, I'll be back with "Fire" the second book in the Graceling Realm trilogy!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Franzi

Idea!

Hey, guys!
Last night I had a great idea!
What do you think if I would start a weekly thing called "Fanart Friday"?
I'm going to post some fanart and different covers of the book I reviewed the week before.
And on the next day(so, actually today^^) I'll post a new review and so on.

I really like the thought of it, so have fun!

The first to pictues are drawn by candy8496 (http://candy8496.deviantart.com/)
Iko looks so cute with her pearl necklace! And don't get me started on the beautiful main characters!
Cinder and Kai look really similar to what I've imagined!


(sadly, this one has to be that small. When I make it bigger it doesn't work with the layout)

the next drawing was done by lostie815 (http://lostie815.deviantart.com/)
I just can't get enough of Iko!



And here are some different covers from all over the world!

Russia:


Korea:

I really like this one!
(Well, party because I'm learning Korean^^)
I really like that she's drawn with a metal foot! On most of the other covers she has normal legs!
Or I'm just really bad at recognizing the metal.

Portugal:


Germany:
 



Poland:


Italy: 

Is that Queen Levana? Never really pictured her like that but it looks awesome!

The next review will be up soon!
Have a nice day!

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Basics:

Titel: The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Release date: January 3^rd 2012
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
ISBN: 9780312641894
Number of pages: 387
Genre: Young adult, Romance, Sci-Fi, Dystopian
What's special?: futuristic adaption of Cinderella as a cyborg
(Cinderella → Cinder! I honestly didn't notice it at first but in my defence:
I'm German so I haven't really used the name 'Cinderella'. We say 'Aschenputtel'
There's a movie with a gorgeous actress! I love it.)

Summary:

There's just so much going on in this book, it's hard to summarize it actually!

Cinder is a 16 year old mechanic, inhabitant of New-Beijing – and a cyborg which means that she's partly robot. Awesome, right? Well, guess again. Being a cyborg – or not human in general – means having not the same rights as the „normal citizen“. Androids are considered as servants or even pets!
Anyway, Cinder's living with her stepmother Adri and her two stepsisters Pearl and Peony in the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth. Yep, you've read that right. Eastern Commonwealth. The story takes place 126 years after World War IV and our world is now divided into seven kingdoms.
The regent of the Eastern Commonwealth is Emperor Rikan and even though emperor and kingdom sounds pretty ancient – it's not! This world has androids, cyborgs, ID-chips and hovercars.

The novel starts with a pretty normal day in Cinder's life – well, maybe not that normal.
The reason: One of her customers is none other than crown prince Kaito, in disguise, of course.
Let me tell you: I have a weak spot for Asian men and oh boy, he fits that role well.
He hires her to fix his old android.
After their first meeting at the market, they meet each other from time to time and they get to know each other better.
This alone would have been a nice plot for a new adaption of Cinderella – but guess what! There's more!
Humans now know for sure that they're not alone in the universe. There is a nation called the Lunar who is living on the moon, has powers to manipulate one's perception and aren't friendly at all. To make things worse: Their queen wants to mary prince Kai. If not...she will declare war on the humans.

Until now emperor Rikan could stall her but suddenly he falls sick with Letumosis, an incurable disease, which has killed more people than we can count, and Levana urges for the alliance.

And Peony, too, Cinder's stepsister, who is her only human friend, falls ill with Letumosis.
Adri, her stepmother, puts the blame on Cinder and forces her to take part in experiments organized by the imperial laboratory. They always search Cyborg-Volunteers who accept death for the greater good.

And there, the scientists make an unbelievable discovery...

My opinion:

A futuristic adaption of Cinderella as a cyborg? Pretty risky to write! But the author Marissa Meyers did a really good job! Of course the book doesn't follow the real fairytale entirely but that would have been a bit boring. We would already know everything, wouldn't we?
The writing style is fluent and easy to read and the fairytale-elements were wrapped wonderfully in the new surroundings. Sometimes I had to think about some scenes to connect them to the original story but I was even happier when I finally got it!
One of the only things I disliked was the forshadowing. I knew, like, from page 30 what the big secret will be that is revealed at the end.
But that didn't hinder the fun while reading and the goosebumps at the end! It was pretty satisfying to know the ropes even earlier than the characters!Speaking of the characters...
Cinder and Kai, the main protagonists, are very well and complexly written.

Most of the time we follow Cinder around but from time to time there's a chapter with Kai as the protagonist.
They both have their own character and it's easy to distinguish which chapter is Kai's and which is Cinder's. Unlike many a different book. *coughAllegiantcough*.
Cinder shows us the world and the general living conditions of the middle class whereas Kai explains the difficult relationship between the Lunar and the humans.
Therefore we get a good general view of everything. Well done, Marissa Meyer, well done.

Sadly, we don't get that much information on the Lunars. Maybe I skipped some lines but I can't remember reading about their outward appearance. Do they just look like humans?
I still have questions about their culture and royal family as well!

But it's possible that I can satisfy my curiosity!
Cinder is only the first book of a series after all!
The second book is called „Scarlet“(published in 2013) and is based on Red Riding Hood. But I was told that Cinder and Kai will appear there, too! Great!
Numer 3 is called „Cress“, was published in 2014 and is based on Rapunzel.
The last book has the title „Winter“ and is set to come out in 2015! It will be a Snow White retelling!
Furthermore, there will be a prequel about Queen Levana's early life called „Fairest“. Can't wait to read it!
I really love the design of the books, they are just awesome. I love drawn covers a lot more than these terrible cheesy "girl-staring-in-the-distance"ones
The book is devided into four parts and every one starts with a short quote from the original fairytale which fits the content of the n part.
Conclusion:
4 out of 5 stars and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book! My mom ordered it about two weeks ago!

Here are a few fanarts from Kai, Cinder and Queen Levana!
Art done by lostie815 at DeviantArt.

So pretty!

What is your opinion on Cinder?
Did you like it? Tell me in the comments!:)

Have a wonderful week!
Franzi


Update(November 21st):
Scarlet won't come, like, ever because it. is. not. ordered. My mom messed something up with sending the order. Argh.
So I'll order it again now. Everything you have to do yourself. Haha.

First Post!

Hi!
My first post! Yay!
I'm so excited to start this blog and I hope you will enjoy reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing them!
But I'm still not sure how often I'll post reviews or if I will write about different topics, too, but we'll see, won't we? Haha =)
My first review will be "The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder" by Marissa Meyer, so stay tuned!
Have a nice day!