Bitterblue (Graceling Realm 3): by Kristin Cashore

     Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

     Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

my thoughts: 

Where to start..

          I pre- ordered this book on amazon months and months ago and was so excited when it finally arrived on May first. However, since I had so much time I had to spend waiting, I looked into the reviews of the book. The reviews I read of it were disheartening since I thought the sun rose and fell on Kristen’s first book Graceling. I have had the book for a month and been too afraid to read it, fearing it would disappoint me. I finally decided, last night, at three in the morning, that I was GOING TO READ IT. I passed out just after sunrise on chapter 33- page 402. I starting reading it again at four pm today and I just finished it. It is 6pm. You are probably thinking: wow, it was so good, she read I all night!. No. I read it all night because I was so hoping that it would get better. It was good. I don’t think Ms. Cashore could ever really fail in writing a book. I don’t want to spoil it for Kevin, because I will be lending to her now. This is only my opinion. She may love it. *sigh* a few things I want to complain about without having too many spoilers: there was practically no Katsa in this book. oh, she was in it, but Po was in it way more than she was. Even bigger than that, somehow Katsa and Po seemed…..how to explan it….. weak in this book. After the awesomely- strong- kick@## characters I fell in love with in Graceling, these characters seemed to pale in comparison. Another thing, THERE WAS HARDLY ANY REAL ROMANCE IN THIS BOOK. that’s all I am going to say about that. (stupid. L ) This was mostly a book about conspiracies, spies, and not knowing who to trust.

          My random explanation: this story centers on how, even eight years after Leck’s death, everyone is trying to make sense of what happened and what their parts were in it. There is so much pain and hurt that Leck caused and it is nearly impossible for some to get past it. All of this is hidden from the queen.  Bitterblue, who has been basically useless as queen, finally decides that she does not know enough about her own kingdom and takes late night walks through her city on a whim. Through her late night excursions, she makes new friends, learns of conspiracies and traitors in her own palace, and out of the blue, decided to take back her kingdom from the shadow of her father. That is all I will share. Even though the book didn’t have enough of certain elements, it was fun to follow bitterblue in her progression to a better queen through her desire to really “know” the people around her and take charge, with the help of all her friends (of course), of her kingdom. I was kept on my toes guessing at who was behind the conspiracy and it was really a good book. I mean, I liked it a lot. The stort made sense and flowed from thought to thought and there was an explanation for almost everything. Also, i liked a certain part in the end that had to do with a certain tunnel. It was…..nice to see a certain charcter again. Anyway, no names! I liked it. so..