Book Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The third installment in the Graceling series.  Bitterblue has been ruling her shattered, but healing kingdom since the age of ten.  Now, at 18, she is trying to do more than just maintain a peaceful kingdom, but try to really improve the world around her after her father's diabolical reign.  It is an uphill battle from the beginning, more questions than answers, and the never ending doubt of who to trust.

I really enjoyed this book, especially since many of the characters from the first two books make appearances in this one.  This isn't technically a series in that you need to read the books in order or at least read the others first to enjoy this one, but I would highly recommend you do so if possible.  The world(s) that the author has created are very imaginative and complicated.  The more you know about how they work, the better you will be able to enjoy the twists and turns in this book.  Some parts are not easy to read, mostly flashbacks to Bitterblue's father's reign and the horrible things he did to people.  Luckily, there was enough humor and romance to balance it out and make it through the hard to read parts.

This is really weird to write, but this series to me is a mix of Hunger Games (suspense, violence, writing style), Lord of the Rings (fantasy words, kingdoms, cloaks, monsters, and castles), and X-Men (special  enhanced abilities for some people).  Somehow it all works despite the strange combination.  I will probably reread them in the future.



View all my reviews