Bitterblue (Graceling)

This was a great book. If I could give it more stars, I would. That said, this deals with very heavy, serious topics. This book was different from Graceling and Fire. I think the main difference is that this was much more adult then the previous novels. In Graceling and Fire, you knew that Leck was a bad guy, but in Bitterblue you realize that Leck was a Bad. Guy.
The character development was amazing. I felt like I was growing with Bitterblue, and felt her struggles. I feel a bit speechless after, to be honest.
I didn't find the plot too complex. I fact, after I looked at Graceling and Fire (which I adore), and thought that they were too simple. Bitterblue was perfect.
Do not start this book looking for a good slightly fluffy book, akin to a romantic comedy movie. It is much deeper and stronger than that.

Each book in this series is completely different- and that's a good thing. They all have very different strong women as leads and none make girls feel that you need prince charming to be complete, even is all girls do find people they want to share their lives with. Pretty cool :)

I felt like Leck himself put a spell on me and clouded my mind. The book was hard to follow and very slow at times. The ending felt unfinished and the characters were not developed enough for one to be able to relate to them. Was hoping for a little bit more, especially because the main character was not a graceling.

This is the third book in the series, and i actually find it to be the worst. Well not worst but not as good as the other two. You get to follow the same characters as in the first two books but it centers around Bitterblue.

After reading and loving Graceling, I was really let down by Bitterblue. It's not even that the story was boring (which it was), but the writing wasn't nearly as good as Graceling. I'm a believer in showing, not telling the reader...and this book was seriously missing that. It was awkward to read in parts because of this. I also felt like some story lines weren't wrapped up. And I may be in the minority but I found Bitterblue to be pretty unlikeable. I hardly ever write reviews, but felt compelled to write one because I had such high expectations that weren't even close to being met.

Each book just got progressively worse... Graceling was a good book, but I couldn't even finish bitterblue...they were written out of order and they seemed to still be works in progress...not worth the money.

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of Bitterblue for over a year now. I loved her character in Graceling, and I was very invested in her ongoing story. I stayed up all night finishing the book, hoping to love it--but put the book down feeling disappointed. The action at the beginning and the end of the book didn't quite make up for the slow middle. I felt the content toward the end of the book was much too mature for YA fiction, the gay/bisexual elements were unnecessary and heavy-handed, and I really couldn't really get behind a bisexual purple-eyed love interest. I was expecting an epic romance along the lines of Po and Katsa. I love Kristin Cashore's first two books, and hope to love the next dozen, but unfortunately this one won't inspire a second reading...

(SPOILERS!!)
I adore Kristin Cashore's first two books, and I, like many others, eagerly awaited the publication of Bitterblue. It wasn't a bad book, and I'm glad that I bought it, but when I finished reading it I was disappointed. I knew before I started it that Bitterblue would be a different kind of book than Cashore's first two. Graceling and Fire were heavy on the action, while Bitterblue has a much more complicated plot, almost more like a thriller or a mystery novel. Some people didn't like this change, but I thought the storyline was well done. I found the plot to be well-paced, intelligent, and page-turning.

It took me awhile to pinpoint exactly what bothered me so much about Bitterblue, and I eventually realized that part it was the characters. I think one of Cashore's greatest strengths as an author is creating wonderful, endearing, realistic characters who you can't help but fall in love with. Yes, some of my favorite characters popped up, and those were my favorite parts to read, but I just really couldn't connect to any of the new characters in Bitterblue. Teddy annoyed me because he was written as such a perfect, innocent, wrongly-punished nice guy that I sort of wanted to vomit whenever he appeared (and then there was that cringe-inducing line "he's only trying to teach people to read!"). Hava, Madlen, Bren, etc.... I couldn't care less about most of them. Bitterblue herself certainly comes across as intelligent and thoughtful, and I respected her a lot, but I didn't love her the way I loved Katsa, Fire, Nash, Po etc.... or even as much as I had loved Bitterblue's younger self in Graceling. And Saf? I was completely uninterested in his character. If someone can give me any qualities of his that were supposed to make us really care about him, I would honestly love to hear them. He meets Bitterblue, is sort of nice to her, gets angry with her, steals her crown, spends the majority of the novel making her beg for forgiveness, sleeps with her, then leaves her. Soooooo when was I supposed to like this guy? It's definitely a downer when you couldn't care less about the romantic arc of a novel, especially when I loved both the romances in Cashore's previous books. There were some glimpses of wonderful new characters, basically Death (and Lovejoy), and the villains in the book were truly and horrifyingly villainous, so I know Kristin Cashore hasn't lost her knack for creating some of the best characters around. However, on the whole, I feel like she sacrificed memorable characters in order to focus on a more complicated plot.

Another thing that bothered me was Cashore's rather heavy-handed attempts at being politically correct. She obviously cares a lot about showcasing different races and different sexual orientations. Now you'd be hard-pressed to find another straight, white girl who supports gay rights/racial diversity more than I do, but I felt that Cashore tried a wee bit too hard to insert them into the book. I like that Raffin's gay, and I think that works, but then she just brings in two random female characters, doesn't have them do much, informs us that they're lesbians who hope the brother of one of them will impregnate them so they can have a kid, and then basically remove them from the plot. It just felt fake, like maybe she had a homosexual character quota to fill. Also, now Fire and everyone else from the Dells has brown skin? Again, this was just sort of thrown in there, after not being mentioned at all in Fire. I've seen racial diversity done way better, particularly in Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea" series. This just felt like Kristin Cashore was flipping through her books, realized "oh crap everybody's white!" then randomly decided to change the race of numerous characters after she's already written a book about them. It didn't feel real, and I while personally think that ignoring racial and sexual differences is bad, so is awkwardly forcing them into a storyline just to "prove" how much you care.

The book looks nothing like the picture. I was expecting the book to look exactly like advertisedso that I would have a matching set of the seriesinstead I just got an ugly blue hard cover without the decorative book cover

This book was a huge disappointment. It seemed as if it would never end. I finally gave up and stop reading it. FIRE was one of the best books I have ever read. I cannot believe they were written by the same author.

I was optimistic about this book...maybe it wouldn't have the same worldly values as the other two. Maybe the character will have more respect for herself and not have sex before marriage. Yeah, I was wrong. The novel started out pretty good. I liked Bitterblue more than Katsa and Fire. I did indeed feel sorry for the terrible condition her kingdom was in because of her stupid Graced father. It was brilliant of her to start sneaking out at night to explore her kingdom, especially since she knew how to use her knives for protection. Yeah, the characters Teddy and Saf were interesting enough. It was cool that Katsa and Po had an appearance in the story...But it stretched on and on!!! Bitterblue kept trying to find out what her father really did and why he did it. But her gathering of clues took FOREVER!! Finally, we start finding out why and who and what. Then Bitterblue decides to lose her virginity. Kristin Cashore is lucky that happened near the end of the book otherwise I would have thrown it across the room! Seriously? I am so disgusted with Bitterblue, that I am not even motivated to finish the novel. What a waste of $30 spent on buying these books. I'm sure the public library will be happy for three new installments.

I do not recommend this novel or any of the others to anyone! I read novels to get away from the world and the evils that keep being seen as perfectly okay. This novel and the ones before it teach young adults that it is okay to have sex before marriage, or to not even get married at all. I am appalled at this message that Kristin Cashore has shared with this delicate generation. I recommend you read something from Jessica Day George, or Gail Levine...I have a BUNCH of authors that write better and have good morals in their stories. But Kristin Cashore is not one of them.

Obviously a lot of people have liked this book, because the rating is remarkably high. I really dislike reading strong negative reviews, but I am adding my own review just in case there are others out there coming from the same place I am.

*******The book includes (I don't think these are much of spoilers) strong and often graphic elements of mass rape, torture, verbal and physical abuse, domestic violence, self-harm, suicide, animal cruelty, psychopathology, and that is only some of the horribleness. As I said, the book has given me nightmares and many scenes still haunt me.*******

I am a 24 year old woman. I prefer to not watch action movies because the violence bothers me. There is enough bad in the world that I don't want to spend my leisure time reading or watching more violence. I like my leisure time to leave me feeling better afterwards, not worse. I really like books with happy endings (not fake rainbow endings, but realistic yet positive endings, like the Dragonriders of Pern and the first few Harry Potter books) and in fact loathe books that end sadly.

I read the first quarter or third of Bitterblue the first night. When my husband came to bed, I was so horrified at what I was reading that I had to keep going. This was not a good "horrified." This was, "I can't believe there is so much cruelty in this book. Why would anyone write about this? I've got to get to the happy ending because this is so upsetting." I would ABSOLUTELY NOT recommend this for children. I don't even recommend it for adults! Any remotely sensitive person would feel upset by scenes in the book.

I will never, ever, EVER read this book again. It was a really bad experience, so bad that I still have nightmares about the book. Sometimes thoughts come to mind that remind me of the book, and it makes me very upset very quickly. Even thinking about the book enough to write this review has left me feeling like someone pulled my heart out from between my ribs. I wish I had never read it.

Fourth time reading this stunning book. Just can't believe how amazing this story is. Eee. These three books are the best. And gosh, I love this third one so much. While it is a bit slower than the first two books, it is still just as amazing. The characters are all there. They are written so well. I love them all so much. Sigh.

Bitterblue is such an amazing person. I adore her. And getting to read more about her story is just the best thing. Although I have read this book three times before, I was still surprised at some of the twists in this one, lol. This whole book is just so exciting and horrible and full of secrets. I loved reading every moment of this.

I just wish this book had been even longer. I wish there would be a fourth book. Hmph. Need more books from this kingdom. More about these characters. Because, see, Graceling and Fire both have happy endings with the romance. But Bitterblue does not. Well, it isn't unhappy, but it doesn't end the same. I want to know more. I need to know what happens next with Bitterblue. I'm so curious. I'm dying of want. Oh, I hope there will be more books one day. Either way, I'm so excited to read more books by Kristin. I simply love her writing the very most. I'm so glad to have read this book again. Had forgotten some things. Loved learning them all over again. And I loved reading about all of these characters again too. Simply adored reading this for the fourth time.

This book is all kinds of heartbreaking, though. Which makes me so sad. It made me cry too. Which I also just loved so much, lol. This book is full of feelings. Full of heartbreak. Also a bit full of madness. There is a lot of crazy people in this book. Yet they are all so interesting to read about. I just. There is so, so much happening in this story. And I love all of it so much. Not sure how to describe my love for this book. These characters. This world. Sigh. But will try. It's a favorite book of mine. Bitterblue is just all kinds of amazing.

This book tells the story about Bitterblue. She is now eighteen years old, and it has now been eight years since her father died. Leck was the most horrible person I have ever read about. He is the biggest villain. Even though he is dead, he's still the worst villain. He still manages to hurt and kill people, despite being dead. Which is just all kinds of horrible. Because Leck had the most awful Grace. People did everything he told them to. They believed it all, they did it all. Oh, I'm just so glad this man is dead. He was horrible.

Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. A lot of this book is about her trying to figure out what is going on in her own kingdom. Because for eight years she hasn't really know the truth about what happens in her city. Because her advisers have kept it from her. And ahh. It is just so exciting and interesting to get to know all the things that Bitterblue learns. She's amazing. I loved how she sneaked out of the castle at night. How she made friends. She's adorable. Didn't like her lying, but I fully understood why she did so.

I loved reading about the things happening in the castle. Yes, it was a bit slow at times, but it was never boring. Because Bitterblue is amazing. And I love reading about her. I loved getting to know her more. I love how kind she is. I loved how she starts to notice things, how she starts getting better at things. I love how fiercely she loves her friends. She is the best. I also love those that are close with her. Like Helda. She's awesome. And I adored Hava too. I had forgotten about Fox. Ack. An interesting character, though.

Then there were the old characters from Graceling. Katsa and Po and Raffin and Bann and Giddon. They are now eight years older, but gosh, how I love them all. Sniffs. Katsa felt a bit different from Bitterblue's point of view, but I still love her the most. And reading about the love that Katsa and Po still have for each other makes me so happy. My favorite couple. I wish they wouldn't argue, though. Aw. But still. They are the cutest. I love Raffin and Bann too. Eee. And oh. Giddon. I adored him in this book. Want more of him.

Another character I really liked was the librarian, Death. He is old and cranky and I loved him to pieces. He has the most awesome aka awful cat too. Loved that. Loved reading about this man. Many interesting scenes. And oh, then there was Saf. The love interest. I loved this boy, most of the time. Until he learns the truth about who Bitterblue really is. Because then he becomes so mean and hurtful towards her and I couldn't stand it. Sniffs. He gets better, though, and ah, I really love this boy. I ship them so much. Ugh.

I'm unsure how the romance in Bitterblue can have a happy ending. Bitterblue is queen. And she needs a king one day. And I'm not sure how all of that will happen. I want her to be with Saf. I want it so badly. But I don't think it will happen. Sniffs. And if it doesn't, then I want Bitterblue with Giddon. I think. Cause they have the most gorgeous friendship. And I sort of ship them too. Maybe. Ugh. I just need another book to know for sure what happens next, haha. I can't stand not knowing. Crossing all my fingers for the future.

There is just so much going on in this book. People are being killed. And Bitterblue doesn't know why. I loved how she tried to figure it all out. I loved all the things that happen. Also learning more about what happened when Leck was alive. Shudders. It was awful. Yet fascinating, and I wanted to know more. Ack. And oh, Thiel. And all those other old men. I couldn't help but love them at times. But I also hated them too. All that lying and hurting and I just. I'm not happy with what Thiel did at all. It wasn't okay. Also sad.

Anyway. I love this book so much. And I can never stop writing about it, ack. I loved how it connects with Graceling and with Fire too. So many surprises. I loved it all so much. All these three books are amazing. And you need to be reading them all. There is just so much happening at all times. I love Bitterblue the most. She's such an amazing character. I wish there had been a bit more romance, but what there was, I loved it so. Gosh, I'm just in love with this book. So glad I finally read these books again. The very best.

---

This review was first posted on my blog, Carina's Books. Read in March 2017.

I have now read Bitterblue four times. Details below about when I read it. Older reviews can be found on my blog; though they aren't very good :)

I was very confused on how the books in this series all worked together.  So for anyone else that may be wondering first you should read Graceling to have a better understanding of everything that is going on.  Bitterblue takes place eight years after the events in Graceling and the main characters from Graceling play a part in this book. Without the backstory, you may be confused why some of the characters act as they do.

Bitterblue now questioning everything is in charge of Monsea a kingdom trying to heal from its past.  Bitterblue slowly discovers that things may not be as they seem in her kingdom, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and begins leaving her castle at night. On these nightly outings, she becomes Sparks a name given to her by two people she becomes friends with, Teddy and Saf two truth-seekers they unknowingly tell Bitterblue the truth about her kingdom.  Nothing is truly as she has been led to believe from her advisors, which leads her down the rabbit hole discovering the truth of her father's reign no matter how much it pains her.

I really enjoyed this as a sequel to Graceling. I was able to see where my favorite characters progressed to while being pulled in by new favorites.  The interaction between Bitterblue and Saf left me wanting more than we were given in this story. One positive thing about these books is that author never makes her characters give up who they are to please another one.

The downside to this story is the ending. So many things are not resolved and if there was going to be more books that would be great but to end with so many questions never to be answered I found as a large downfall.  I only hope that Kristin Cashore revisits these characters and gives some of them an ending.

This 3rd book is the opposite of the 1st book, Graceling. In Graceling, there is a superwoman-type travelling the kingdom and saving people. In Bitterblue, there is a clueless 18 year old queen named Bitterblue who spends most of her time inside of a castle waiting for traitorous people to report to her. Bitterblue spends her days in a fog doing whatever her counsellors tell her to do, until she decides to sneak out and listen to stories in taverns nearby. She meets some people who don't trust her. She stops going out. She spends most of the book cloistered in her castle with truly freaky artwork, a secret maze created by a torturer psyopath (which of course she explores alone repeatedly), surrounded by a huge retinue of local people who are all deceiving her in some way. The people whom she trusts unconditionally and aren't two-faced are the characters from the first book. All her main local people are hiding big secrets and are obviously not trustworthy yet she continues to meet them in private alone, or isn't curious about why she keeps seeing them all over the castle in unexpected places - the captain of the guard, the servant girl, her advisors, the healer, the list just goes on and on. Bitterblue is so unperceptive it's not funny. She falls for the first guy she meets outside, even when he's immature and mean to her. I was disappointed in the descriptions of Katsa and Po from Graceling, because like the other list of characters, they are pretty featureless, and Po spends most of the time in some pain. I know this is a trilogy, but for me, Katsa was the draw. Instead, the truly evil villain, Leck, is the common theme through all 3 books. I read Bitterblue to the end, and there was too much Leck, and too little Bitterblue to endear the story to me. The story should have had Bitterblue taking concrete steps to improve her kingdom, reaping success from her endeavours, and realizing her power. Instead, she saw herself as powerless for most of the story and ignored obvious signs of danger. The story ends on an odd unfinished note. Graceling was a quick read because it was engrossing. Bitterblue was an extremely slow plodding castle mystery with a clueless cast and a creepy backstory.

The good: Creating a mystery that pushed me to read the book through to the end. Some characters were interesting, and seeing how characters from previous Graceling books grew was a plus.

The (worst of) the bad:
(1) If you loved Bitterblue the character from Graceling, then this book is not for you. Bitterblue is destroyed in this book. She is a weak, mewling ruler who knows nothing of and does nothing for her kingdom. Sure, she's a kid, but she was so smart and resourceful in Graceling, then suddenly, as she grows up, she becomes unable to do anything? I don't buy it, and it was poor character writing to push a plot forward.
(2) The book is dark, very very dark. You've been warned. The entire time Cashore is setting you up to expect pretty dark things, so while reading this book I was both anxiously anticipating the ending, and dreading learning what happened. I was on a subway when I got to the darkest part of the book, and I had to internally freak out about how dark this book was. I couldn't get through the entire darkest part in one sitting because I started feeling nauseous and wanted to throw up. When I finally did get through it, I had the same feelings of needing to throw up. If Bitterblue had been marketed as that kind of book, then I wouldn't give it only two stars, but because this is a book for kids and teens, the level of darkness was way too much. I could barely stomach it (literally) and when I finished the book I couldn't stand to look at it. I just felt so much relief that it was finally over. I eventually got rid of the book.

Bitterblue is the third book in the Graceling Realm trilogy, and probably my favourite of the three. Graceling took place in a land of seven Kingdoms, then the second book, Fire, shifted the narrative's time and space. It took place many years before the events in Graceling and in a land quite unlike the one created in the first book. Bitterblue returns us to the world we began in, ten years later and in the final chapters weaves the story from Fire in more clearly.

It was nice seeing the characters from Graceling, like Katsa and Po making an appearance once more in this series. It's been a decade, so you're curious what has happened to everyone. I enjoyed the main characters in this book and enjoyed the scenes with both familiar and new faces.

The pace of this book wasn't frenetic or the plot action-packed, but it was engaging nonetheless. There's not much more that I can discuss without spoilers, other than the fact that I listened to this via audiobook. I quite enjoyed the narrator's performance and she also performed Fire, although she was not one of the narrators for Graceling.

Overall, I did enjoy this series but it is certainly not in my top ten fantasy series of all time.

Kristin Cashore has improved a lot as both a writer and a worldbuilder over the course of this series, and Bitterblue is easily her best novel yet. This is a work of fantasy from a strong feminist perspective, as a queen and her people grapple with the aftermath of years of mental, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her sadistic mind-controlling father. (And the author's feminism extends beyond the thematic interrogation of abuse. Like its prequels, Bitterblue also contains relationships with explicit consent and same-gender couples presented as normal and healthy. Cashore even rehabilitates a plotting decision from an earlier book after realizing its potential offensiveness to disabled people.) The closest parallel to this work that I've seen would probably be Netflix's Jessica Jones series, and Bitterblue is easily its equal in how it addresses the abuse cycle and the intractable guilt of survivors within a heightened fantasy reality. The book is more cerebral, however, for it has the advantage of having dispatched its villain in a previous entry in the series. Instead of the mind-controller being an active antagonist concocting schemes and facing off against our hero at the novel's climax, we follow Queen Bitterblue through a murky kingdom of people all struggling in their own way to come to terms with what he wrought before his death. It's a welcome contribution to the genre, and I cannot wait to see where its author goes from here.

Why I chose this book:
My hopes were conversing with the stars when I bought this book. I so dearly loved Graceling and Fire that I was sure I would love this one just as much. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

*This book review has SPOILER-ish material.*

To Preface:
I was severely disappointed with this book. I was fully expecting to love this book, but throughout the bulk of the novel I just became more and more disappointed. Also, I don’t think that the summary really did the book justice at all.

3 things you need to know about this book:

1. Complexity for complexity’s sake
The story was told through the perspective of Bitterblue. She, as the other people of Monsea, sees her world through the lies King Leck (Bitterblue’s father) has left behind in the wake of his death. She’s trying to find the truth in things, and sorting through old lies can be tediously difficult. The world she sees and the words she hears are distorted; therefore, it’s complex for Bitterblue to understand and even more so for the reader. Overall, the plot was needlessly complex and quite frustrating to keep up with.

2. The stock YA love interest
Of course this story, much like other YA books, has a love interest. This is a fairly lengthy book, so it actually takes a bit of time for the love interest to develop between Saf and Bitterblue, but when it does it only turns interesting and almost slightly platonic. Her love story is curious, yet also extremely anti-climactic. Yes, they shared a few kisses and good conversations, but something was severely lacking that I couldn’t exactly pin point. Honestly, I didn’t want her to end up with Saf; I actually wanted her to end up with Giddon. But in the end she’s with neither. Though that ending was slightly refreshing for a YA novel, it also made it quite anticlimactic.

3. The characters and their qualities
I didn’t care for the characters in this book much. They were all lacking severely in one way or another.

A) Saf was intriguing, but so mysterious that the reader felt like they couldn’t and didn’t know hardly anything about him.

B) Teddy was another interesting character. He was a very well spoken and poetic character; however, he was only there for a quarter of the book and then he was gone.

C)Raffin & Bann were characters that were in Graceling, and that’s one reason I wanted to talk about them. In Graceling, hints were dropped that they were gay lovers. Those hints were extremely subtle, but came out full-force in Bitterblue, as did talk of a lesbian couple (whose names escape me now). As much as I love these kind of characters represented in YA lit, I question if Cashore was just doing this to fill a gap that she saw in her stories in comparison to other novels being published lately (I’m mostly directing this to the lesbian couple in Bitterblue and not Raffin and Bann). Were her characters truly lesbian or did she just make them so in order to check it off her list and market it to more readers?

D) Katsa also makes an appearance in this book come the last quarter of the novel; however, I feel like her character is completely different. She’s much more animated and lovable. As much as I love that, I have to disagree because that is not keeping with her character from Graceling, and that should be the most important thing for a writer.

E) Leck is one of the most disturbing characters I have read in a long while. I found myself flinching as I read things about him. Like I said in all my other reviews (Graceling and Fire), Leck once again steals the story.

He is the most dynamic character in the entire series. Not only did Cashore devote three books to his character, but Bitterblue put it over the edge. It’s refreshing to read a three dimensional character; but at the same time extremely unsettling. I respect Cashore because she could write his character, though disturbing as he was, so very well, but that leaves Bitterblue a two dimensional character at best. All characters pale in comparison to him. The only characters that would come close to Leck would be Fire and Brigan, in my opinion, which I think is disappointing. Cashore was more obsessed with her villain than her protagonist which I think should say something to a writer.

Final Notes:
Though Cashore had some great lines (specifically the very first line of the book and a couple of lines Teddy said), the whole book was longwinded and needlessly complex. I didn’t enjoy it, and I was extremely disheartened by that since I had been looking forward to this book for months. I wanted it to be awesome, but sadly, it missed its mark.

I gave this book 1 star on my Goodreads.

Check out my other reviews at ofspectaclesandbooks.com

I am a huge fan of Kristen Cashore's previous books Fire and Graceling. I have been waiting for this book for over a year. It took me a few days to finish and I really did enjoy Bitterblue's character development and all her puzzles that needed to be sorted out in the first half. However this book didn't focus around romance at all. Just how Bitterblue could pull her kingdom together and that being Queen was more important than anything else. So she ends up alone. None of my favorite books end happily if they end up alone.

Cashore very nearly ruined Po, depressed most of the time struggling with the secret of his grace. Katsa, upset with Po for wanting to reveal his grace, bickers and fights and runs off angrily- holds 10 year grudges against friends (Giddon- who I grew to like a lot in this book). Fire, described as very old she's only 68 I think I don't want to picture my beautiful monster as some super old lady - with hardly a mention of Brigan.

I'm left very disappointed after finishing this novel. I really hope Cashore writes another book perhaps set 100 years in the future so none of my old characters remain to be tarnished further. And goes back to her writing style from the first 2 books. Centered more around a romance and their graces or powers, than around politics and feuding Kings and Kingdoms.

To a lot of people this book is a bit controversial. My own sister is disgusted by it and refuses to re-read it and she re-reads everything. Even Lord of the Rings. While I love the story Tolkein crafted I can’t even get through those books once. I have been trying for over a decade. Maybe I’ll finish them before I’m dead. Somehow I doubt it. Anyway, Bitterblue…

This is a book I turn to in times of need. When I’m depressed, sad, or desperately just need to escape wherever I am in life at that moment I pick up this book. I find it funny that my sister and I have such different reactions to it. While she abhors and avoids it, I turn to it in times of personal distress because it lifts me up. Funny how different two people can be.

There is something I can agree with her on, though. I’m not entirely sure this book should be listed for young adults (which it is).

Bitterblue is the story of a young queen trying to do her best for her people during troubling times. Her predecessor, her father, had left the kingdom in a state of upheaval. He had murdered, raped, robbed, and tortured those he was sworn to protect. Bitterblue now has the unfortunate task of trying to right his wrongs and to restore peace and prosperity to her people whom she truly loves.

She isn’t alone in her task. A group of citizen vigilantes have taken it into their own hands to restore property that was stolen under the former king’s reign to it’s rightful owner. These vigilantes have a list of items that were taken and who they belonged to. Unfortunately this list also includes the names of men, women, and child who disappeared during the tyrannical reign.

This is the part that makes it not so suitable for young adults, in my opinion. The king had stolen people, including many children, and tortured, mutilated, and murdered them. The women he took were raped and experimented on. While Bitterblue is on her path to better her people she also has to face her father’s demons. Her steadfastness and determination in the face of adversity are admirable traits. Those traits are why I keep coming back to this book again and again. It gives me hope.

Since this book does have a lot of little hidden meanings and twists and turns I will stop here as to not spoil them. I never want to ruin a good turn of plot for someone. Do keep in mind that this book is not for the overly sensitive at heart. There are a lot of topics in it that I feel shouldn’t be in the mind of the young adult but, never the less, it is still a good read. If you have the stomach for it I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As an afterword, there are also two other books in this series. They are Graceling and Fire. While I have read Graceling and found it slightly above mediocre I have not read Fire but am told by friends and family that it is quite good.

Please check out my other reviews at literaryweaponry.wordpress.com

This gifted author has wonderful range and world-building skills, and she gave us some appealing, highly original characters like Po and Katsa that reappear in peripheral roles here. But this book was very painful to read. It takes place in a kingdom that has been mind-raped for decades by a mad psychopathic sadist whose lies were always believed. Now he is dead and his daughter Bitterblue is queen, and she wants to make things better. But somehow there are still lies and blanks and layer upon layer of mystery, each more grotesque and heart-rending than the last. I kept hoping for a respite or a turn to a more positive time for relief, but no. This was one of the most depressing books I have ever read, and I wish I could forget some of its stories and images. They are all fiction and thus my discomfort, which continues as I write this, was unnecessary. I read for entertainment and escape from the stresses and worries of real life, so this is the opposite of what I wanted.

I am giving it 2 stars because though it was well-written and a continuation in a world I have enjoyed before, it made me miserable with the endless painful scenes and horrifying descriptions. I hope her next book is something I can enjoy. If not, I'm done with this author.

I really enjoyed the action of the two previous books in this series, "Graceling" and "Fire," which introduced us to the lands of the Dells, Monsea, and Lienid. The idea of "Gracelings"--humans with special gifts, denoted by hetero-chromatic eyes--was quite fascinating. Almost like the mutants of Marvel, but more mysterious and hard to pin down. So I was expecting another journey-adventure in this book.

I was MORE than pleased to find a book less about adventure and more about politics, mental recovery, and the struggles of a young woman to understand her past. Bitterblue is the sequel that Graceling needed, though I will say that it also needed to come after Fire, for readers to truly understand the stakes.

Bitterblue, the Queen of Monsea and the daughter of the murderous and indescribably evil King Leck, is growing into her role as queen. However, there's so much work, and her advisers are all themselves marked by Leck's abuse. Needing to see her people unguarded, she sneaks out to a tavern full of storytellers, where she meets two thieves, one of whom, Saf, particularly strikes the queen's fancy. Unfortunately, she must hide who she is for her own safety, beginning the weaving of a web of lies, even as she herself tries to unravel the mysterious of her own wicked father's reign.

I was very pleased with the ending to this book. Bitterblue truly comes into her own as queen, and makes amazing plans to help her kingdom recover. Furthermore, while the romance between Saf and Bitterblue is portrayed as deep and quite mutual, the realities of their lives and needs are not waived aside. Bitterblue is allowed to experience her first love, and is not made to sacrifice her kingdom for the sake of a boy.

It took me long enough to finish, but I'm glad I did. This is one of the few times an author has ended a work and left me feeling that nothing else needed to be said.

** spoiler alert ** A third-person to first-person narration set eight years after young Princess Bitterblue was rescued by Katsa and Po (Graceling) from King Leck's wicked rule.

From chapter one, Kristin Cashore did an excellent job in painting the city of Monsea, introducing the key characters and the afflictions and burdens Queen Bitterblue will have to face and solve in the coming chapters. I couldn't put the book down. I fell in love with Queen Bitterblue's persona. She was my light of hope throughout my entire read as she always desired and displayed her motive to do what was best for others. She is a beautiful queen in my book. Also, for those who read Cashore's Fire, she did an amazing job of integrating Lady Fire into Bitterblue's story; it was brilliant!

This was my first fantasy genre series and I am absolutely satisfied with the conclusion of the Gracling, Fire and Bitterblue saga. I found Kristin Cashore brought a perfect end to each character's persona and their ordeals. The only part that did disappoint was Saf's story. I felt it left the whole Bitterblue and Saf relationship up in the air and I can't go on wondering what would have happened! Gah!

Would it be a sufficient enough review to just say I heart this book and move on? No? Alright, I guess. *kicks sand*

Well, again, it’s been a few months since I’ve read BITTERBLUE and it wasn’t a book that the YAcks actually got around to talking about so I don’t have a lot to even fall back on so I’ll do the best I can.

The love interest aspect of it reminded me of Cinda Williams Chima’s Seven Realms books between Raisa and Han, the queen and the pauper, basically. That’s what happened here with Bitterblue and the Love Interest whose name escapes me. It was very push and pull, there was a lot of lying going on and it was all rather tumultuous but it was interesting to see it develop. It was also rather heartbreaking knowing that Bitterblue had to be so secretive about everything. She’s a queen that’s doing the best she can in the aftermath of a manipulative, sadistic tyrant who also happened to be her father but it’s not ever good enough. She’s cracking under the pressure and escaping to this other world within her city is a means for her to really see what’s going on and put her duties in perspective.

Of course there’s all sorts of intrigue and backstabbing and Fire and Po having raucous sex off-screen and it’s all rather swoon and gaspy and HOW WILL THIS END but I would be lying to say the story doesn’t round itself out. Of course it does and in the most heart-smashing sort of way, just like the other Graceling Realm books.

That’s pretty much all I have on this one because remembering specifics this far out is difficult and I don’t own a copy to reference so I’m at a loss. There’s beautiful writing and beautiful world-building and beautiful characters that have a tendency of destroying me from the inside out and it’s all rather wonderful. And somewhat masochistic but wonderful still.

5

I had been eagerly anticipating Bitterblue, yet also putting it off because I was afraid I had built up how good it was going to be in my mind, and the reality would not match up.

In Bitterblue, Bitterblue is now 8 years older and Queen of Bitterblue land, Monsea. King Leck (her father) is dead. YAY! Her advisors were all previously advisors for King Leck and the new order is “forward-thinking.” However, it seems as though, so far, forward-thinking only applies to certain things, and Bitterblue is set out to discover why things are not as they appear on the surface.

Bitterblue begins going out at night in disguise and quickly meets two new characters, Saf (short for Sapphire) who is a Graceling, and Teddy. Saf and Teddy work with words during the day, but by night they are thieves. They steal what has already been stolen and return it to those from whom it was stolen. Why did they steal the gargoyles off the castle though? And why does Bitterblue’s advisors deny that the gargoyles had ever been there to begin with?

There are other questions Bitterblue must answer, such as, why are areas of the city run down, yet decorated as though they are not? How many people can/cannot read in the city? Why would Bitterblue’s advisors lie about that?

Fans of Cashore’s previous novels (Fire and Graceling) will enjoy Bitterblue. Po and Katsa return in Bitterblue, although since it has been a while since I read Graceling, Po’s blindness in Bitterblue was a shock. I don’t remember Graceling ending with him being blind. Po’s abilities come into play almost as soon as he appears in Bitterblue, when a visitor tries to attack Bitterblue. A Graceling with the gift of disguise escapes, which intrigues Po. Why was Bitterblue attacked though? And who were the other people working with the attacker?

There is a lot to uncover and discover in Bitterblue... Even Fire makes an appearance.

However, the ending felt kind of blah. Fire and the people from the Dells enter the scene and some revelations are made about Bitterblue and the graceling (Hava) with the gift of disguise, but it feels like things are wrapped up very fast and easily after so many questions and short bursts of action. Things are tied up neatly with Bitterblue's advisors, her friends, and the newcomers, but when I got to the end of the book, I had to take a second look to make sure I really was at the end, because it felt like there should be more. Personally, I'd love to see a book written from Leck's point of view... his childhood, and how he got to be as messed up as he was.

I'm a huge fangirl of both Graceling and Fire, but was disappointed by Bitterblue...

There were elements that I really appreciated. The fantasy world was unique and visceral, and it was fun to get an in depth look at Monsea. My favorite characters from the other Graceling Realm books made appearances -- Katsa and Po played bigger roles than I expected, and Fire popped up in such a cool way! And I'll always have a soft spot for an MC who's good at math. I *loved* that Bitterblue did complex math problems in her head to combat the residual fog from Leck's memory tampering.

But ultimately, there were a few major problems that kept me from enjoying the book:

1) While I appreciated Bitterblue's pursuit of knowledge, I didn't buy how sheltered and naive she was about her father and her kingdom at the beginning. Being 18 years old, I thought she would've asked some of these questions earlier, would've sought the truth of her family's history sooner.

2) The romance just wasn't there... In Graceling and Fire, the sweet romances were balanced flawlessly with the overall plot. But, IMHO, the romance in Bitterblue didn't get enough attention. I loved Saf's character, and his grace was so fitting, but there wasn't enough focus on his and Bitterblue's relationship.

3) The plot dragged, especially through the second half. The spotlight remained on the mystery of Bitterblue's advisors, and on cracking the cipher in Leck's journal, where I would've liked to see more of the rebellion and what was happening with the revolutions in nearby cities, but we hardly saw any of that!

Overall, while I enjoyed revisiting this world and these characters, I expected more from this book, especially considering it's the last one in the series (unless Cashore decides to write another one at a later date).

A Good ending to the Series.
What I like the most about his series is that , there little relation between books and what ever relation is there is explosive.
This book literally uncovers the truth about Leck's rule on Monsea and BitterBlue's growth as a Leader a QUEEN.
The book starts with Bitterblue and the advisors. Bitterblue starts her night excursions of the city and makes some friends , Saf and Teddy.
saf and Teddy deliver the truth about the city to her and she starts trying to find more. They explain to her the incidents happening in the city.
Po , katsa and council enter after steering a revolution in Nander and plan to support one in Estill.

Meanwhile BitterBlue keeps discovering secrets that helps her understand Leck's rule. she is attacked few times and Madlen ,the healer, is introduced.

The crown gets stolen and Spook & Grey enter the picture.
Hava enters the picture through some incidents. Lots of characters are revealed.

BitterBlue discovers treachery and people start committing Suicide.
Katsa Discovers the world of Dell and fire makes a guest appearance in the BOOK.

In the end everything starts settling , Bitterblue discovers the exac nature of the impact of LECK on Monsea . She starts becoming the queen she should be and Monsea moves towards the path of healing...

Overall the book is good. The story is nice and twists delivered intelligently.
The thing which i dint like was the length of the book and the unnecessary romantic angle. The book could have been finished in 100-150 pages less.
there were parts when i was forced to Skim read and move fast.

But i still give the book a 3.5/5 for brilliant ending and not spoiling the series.

Devil D

Note: As it says on the cover, this book is the sequel to book one of the <em>Graceling Realm</em> series, <em>Graceling</em>, and a companion to book two, <em>Fire</em>.

Goodreads Blurb:
<blockquote>Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace.

But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.

Whatever that past holds.

Two thieves, who have sworn only to 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, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . .</blockquote>

Bitterblue began her reign as the Queen of Monsea under tremendous strain, having just experienced a phenomenally harrowing escape engineered by Katsa. They traveled by paths no person has ever attempted and survived to tell the tale. All that running and hiding only to discover they've been beaten in the race. She became Queen moments after watching Katsa kill her psychopathic father, King Leck.

Yet even with the help of her Lienid uncle, King Ror, Bitterblue feels lost. At the advice of her uncle she retained her father's top four advisors to assist her. They are to stay at least until she found her own way, or longer should she be happy with them. However recently she's been unhappy with almost everyone. For she's discovering that more and more of her 'trusted' advisors have been lying to her, feeding her misinformation, hiding crucial information and possibly even destroying it. Some may be going so far as to have people killed to keep them from revealing certain information to her. And it's always information about what happened during her father's reign of terror. It almost seems as if his reign of terror still isn't over, even though he's been dead for eight years.

With the help of her friends, Prince Po, Katsa, Helga, Giddeon, Bann and Prince Raffin, Bitterblue begins to learn the truth about what is actually happening in her kingdom. But they also have their Council work in Nander and Estill, so they come to help when they can. So she's begun sneaking out at night, alone and in disguise, to learn what she can on her own. And what she's learning is that she's being lied to. The question is, how high up the chain of command do the lies come from?

Then there is Saf, a Lienid that Bitterblue meets in a story room that she literally stumbles into. She meets Saf and Teddy there and begins to develop a friendship, but an uneven one because she simply can't reveal who she is, and they don't recognize her when her face is exposed. They name her Sparks and slowly bring her into their circle of friends, which mostly just consists of the two of them as well as Saf's sister Bren, and her lover and Teddy's sister, Tilda. When Saf discovers who Sparks really is he's livid, so angry that when he storms from her rooms he steals something important. Important enough that it is considered an act of treason, which is a hanging offense should the theft be discovered.

Eventually Bitterblue does discover just how high the lies actually go, and when they began. What she learns devastates her. Add to that what she has learned from her father's secret journals, and she's not sure the kingdom can ever be made whole again. At least she eventually learns why those she trusted lied to her, and finds that she can understand to a degree. But she can't simply ignore what people did even if they were be compelled by King Leck, because the victims - living and dead - have rights as well. She even learns some of what he had planned for her had she not escaped.

Katsa returns from her explorations with a delegation from Dell, including a now much older Fire. It seems that Fire and Brigan have been married for some 48 years. And though Bitterblue is terrified of Fire's power she agrees to allow Fire into her mind, which also answers all kinds of things that Bitterblue never understood about her father. The arrival of the Dellians demonstrates to Bitterblue that King Leck hadn't lied about the fantastical other country he'd been trying so hard to recreate.

What will it mean for Monsea, and the Seven Kingdoms as a whole, now that the Dellians and Pikkians have traveled into their world? Will the more peaceful nations have a positive impact on the Seven Kingdoms, or will they revert to being more warlike to keep from being annexed by the Seven Kingdoms? Will the monsters be able to escape the Dells? So many new questions have been created by answering the old ones.

I was so excited after reading Graceling and Fire to delve into Bitterblue. I had loved the little girl in Graceling who was so brave and intelligent, and had so much trust in her friends. However, I have to agree with other reviewers when I say that I was frankly disappointed in who Bitterblue has become in this third novel.

It didn't make sense to me, first of all, that this girl who was so inquisitive as a child has grown up for eight years ruling Monsea without any doubt in her advisers and never having ventured outside the castle. At times, she seems so passive, just going along with what everybody's telling her to do. And other times, she seems overly bossy, working her cousin Po to the point of illness. Her relationship with Saf is also...lacking. While there does seem to be some chemistry between them, I wish Cashore had developed it a little bit more fully. I was a little put-off by Bitterblue constantly calling those around her "crackpots" or "mad" when it was obvious that living 35 years under the rule of Leck would no doubt be cause for some mental health issues. While I understood that she didn't know who she could trust, her attitude towards people who had cared for her and were, in their minds, saving Monsea, was pretty callous.

The book did, however, have a few saving "graces" (ha-ha). I really enjoyed the new characters: Death (pronounced like deeth), the onerous librarian; Madlen, the healer with a strange accent; and Hava, who has the grace of disguise. I also liked the sense of mystery and the code-breaking. Bitterblue really gets inside her father's head through his journals and gets a better sense of how warped his thinking was. It is only after truly understanding his nature and the crimes he committed (and had others commit), that she can begin healing the city from the remnants of his reign.

While I did finish the book, the ending felt incomplete and overall, I think Cashore tries to touch on too many topics, resulting in a story that doesn't really say much of anything. However, for fans of the series, it's a decent read.

Bitterblue is eighteen and the queen of an entire country. Her days are filled shuffling endless stacks of paper. One night she decides to sneak out of the castle and see what her kingdom is really like. She discovers that people are still recovering from her father’s reign of terror, but things are worse than she thought.

She meets a pair of boys who work at a printing press. Are they thieves? What are they up to? They have many secrets, but she’s not exactly honest with them either, pretending she’s only a baker in the castle’s kitchen.

In a world with Graceling magical powers, Bitterblue is just a normal girl. She might be a queen, but I wish she had some sort of special ability. The plot felt more like a mystery than a fantasy and a rather predictable one at that. All of the excitement with the council takes place off page in this book, because like the first two books, it’s told from a single viewpoint. I wished we could go with Katsa and Po instead of being stuck in the castle with Bitterblue.

The high point of this book is seeing the old characters from Graceling, particularly Po. I liked Bitterblue in Graceling, but sometimes in her own book she grated on my nerves. She seemed stronger as a kid. I understand she went through a lot, but she was constantly breaking down and crying on someone’s shoulder. Her life in the castle was dull and frustrating, which makes for a rather boring tale.
Like Fire (where I kept reading to see how Fire would win Brigan over) I kept reading Bitterblue to see how her friends would find out she’s actually the queen. Unlike Fire the revelation wasn't a disappointment and was probably my favorite part of the book.

The author ties the books nicely, but I wanted an epilogue to tie up all the loose ends. Maybe the author wanted to leave it open for another book.

The best part of the book was the glossary. (Odd, but true.) It’s ‘written’ by the librarian in the book Death (pronounced like Teeth). I wish the rest of the book was told with such a good voice! I chuckled a couple of times while reading it and not at all during the third book.

SPOILERS
Throughout the entire book we’re present for the friendship then romance between two characters. At the end it seems like a waste of all this effort that they don’t wind up together. I realize this is realistic, but it’s sad that she winds up alone even if there are hints of something else.
END SPOILERS

If you’re one of those ‘show’ don’t ‘tell’ people the first two books will annoy you. The author tells a lot and it feels like we’re missing some good stuff that happened. By Bitterblue the author’s figured out how to tell a story, she still tells how time passes, but unlike the first two books the telling flows naturally.

Overall I don’t really recommend the Graceling books. They don’t live up their excellent premise. If you’re curious, I’d say read the first half of Graceling. Literally at 50% on my kindle is when it goes downhill. (Or uphill as they’re climbing a mountain.) Whatever you make up in your head for the rest of the book will be better than what happened in my opinion, though I doubt I could ever read half of a book.

Graceling- 7 Stars (First half 8 stars, second half 6)

Fire- 6 Stars (Same, First half 7 stars, second half 5)

Bitterblue- 6 Stars (whole book consistent)

I was excited to read Bitterblue. I remember really enjoying Graceling, though I don't really remember the story, and I read Fire last year and enjoyed it. I was looking for a great conclusion to a series, but unfortunately Bitterblue was a bit of a flop for me. It was alright, but not great.

The story start with Bitterblue at 18 trying to rule her kingdom. She finally realizes that there are something off about most every one of her advisors and she starts sneaking out at night to see what her city is really like. There she meets Teddy and Saf, thieves who steal things back for people whom Leck stole from. I think my biggest problem is Bitterblue is so...she has been queen for 8 years now. Yes she was very young when she was first queen, but she has never noticed how strange everyone is. She has never thought maybe her father has something to do with it? She has never thought how horrible they must feel if they remember the horrible things he did? I know she suddenly starts to try and remember everything, but it was all a bit of a mess to read. She was a bit too...like she is just now noticing that something is wrong? She is a bit dense at times. Not really stupid, but she just doesn't get it at times. It was too much trying to make it this big mystery, when it was really just a big mess. Most of the story lines were things I guessed at, or didn't really matter.

I don't remember Katsa and Po from Graceling, or anyone from that book really, but I remember really liking the characters when I read it. I didn't really like them in this one. Po was a bit...I didn't like him. I didn't think he was a good guy, even though he was supposed to be. I think I will have to go back and read Graceling again to see if they changed in this book or if they were always the way they were portrayed in this one. I hope they are different in this one, or maybe the first book helps set them up in a way that they make more sense in this one...

The one part of the story that I enjoyed? Bitterblue's adventures into the city with Saf. I really enjoyed them and how she found out what her city was really like. Unfortunately about half way through Saf almost drops out of the story and there are no more adventures. Then it is just Bitterblue in her castle trying to figure everything out and rule her people. Disappointing as just when it was getting good it stopped with that story line. The end was a little lacking as well as it was too unfinished. Yes I can infer things, and sometimes I like open ended endings, but this one fell like it was missing something. When you find out who was behind everything and why it was just...not as good as I had hoped. I had guessed some of it so...I was just disappointed with the story.

Update: I went back and read Graceling before posting this. It was so much better than this book. I loved Po and Katsa, and Bitterblue is so much more mature and has such a better head on her shoulders in that book. I read it and then thought how did this smart, intuitive, take charge kind of girl turn into the weak, dense, timid girl we got in Bitterblue? I mean she is older now so I would have expected her to get stronger and be a better leader based on how she was in Graceling. So now I am even more disappointed in this book.

This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland

Wow, what a read! I've had Bitterblue sitting on my shelf since it came out, but I was afraid to start it. I was worried that it wouldn't live up to its two predecessors, Graceling and Fire. Finally, I decided to shelve my fears and jump right into Bitterblue.

I don't often do this, but sometimes, especially if it's been a while since I read the previous books, I will re-read the first books in a series before a big release. I really, really wish I had re-read Graceling and Fire before reading Bitterblue. I think I would have enjoyed Bitterblue even more if the events of the first two books were fresh on my mind. I read my reviews of the first two books (which are woefully inadequate as they were some of the first reviews I ever wrote ) as well as the summaries of the books to refresh my memory. That helped some; however, the backstory Cashore provides in Bitterblue shed the most light on the events leading up to Bitterblue's reign as Queen of Monsea.

While waiting for Bitterblue's release, I often wondered what in the world could be taking Cashore so long to write this book. Well, now I think I know why the publication date kept being pushed back. I could tell that Cashore did a ton of research, especially on ciphers, and that extra information added a nice layer of depth to the story. I loved the illustrations, thought they were beautiful, and loved seeing a visual representation of Ashen's embroidery.

The plot moved quickly, and all of my favorite characters from the first two books were back in Bitterblue. I loved that! I loved getting to see Katsa and Po again, as well as Fire too. The love story was so sweet and appropriate. I loved how Cashore wrapped things up in that regard: it was so believable and realistic. Not necessarily a happily ever after, but it really fit the story.

My one complaint about Bitterblue is that the ending left quite a few things open-ended. I still have quite a few questions after finishing the book. Questions like, what will happen when Po starts revealing his Grace to everyone? Will Katsa and Po ever get married or have children? Will she reveal the true reason why they have not conceived a child as of yet? What will become of Giddon? Will Bitterblue end up with him? (I kind of think she will.) What will become of Monsea once Bitterblue's changes are in effect? And how will the Dells figure into all of this? All of these issues make me wonder if there is going to be another Seven Realms novel. I sure hope so---I'd happily spend my money to read more from Kristin Cashore!

WARNING: Spoilers Galore!

*

*

*

I feel like this book was *Almost* great. I've come to expect so much of Cashore's characters. The way she develops her girls and brings them to womanhood has in the past been close to masterful. Even if I haven't particularly loved a character *cough* Katsa *cough* I've very much respected their journey as a person. And I've enjoyed studying Cashore's purpose in female driven writing. I haven't been so drawn to watching an author develop a female theme across multiple books since my thesis on Virginia Woolf. And those were some fun times, let me tell you.

So, don't be disapointed when I say that one of my biggest issues was the romance.

I know!

That whole first paragraph was devoted to Women's Studies and I gotta harp on the romance portion of the novel.

But, the love triangle was just a big tease! I felt as though there was a lot of focus on Saf and Bitterblue's relationship. Was Saf good? Bad? Bitterblue's failing point? or saving grace? And it's not as though I expect romance to be more important than the development of the female lead as a strong female. However, based on the previous two books in the series I was expecting the romance to play a defining role in Bitterblue's development as a woman. At the very least a conclusion to the relationship would have shown if Saf was just her first sexual partner and first love? Or did he come back and prove to be the man who would grow up and stand tall beside Bitterblue as a grown woman. While I admit, I think Bitterblue (yes, Bitterblue is a living, breathing person to me. Don't judge, Cashore is really that good with her characters.) wanted Saf to be "The One"...I didn't. I would have found it hard to see Cashore reconcile the person Bitterblue had to become with the person she would have needed to be to end up with Saf. Maybe this is the reason for the open ending? Cashore's character's desires separated from the point of the plot?

And now I need to move on to my heartbreak...Gideon. Was Gideon never a choice? Almost a choice? Her eventual husband? If I had to guess due to plot and theme trajectory Gideon had to be Bitterblue's future mate. I have reasons:

He lost all his lands, thus freeing him up to be a citizen of Monsea.
He was the man Bitterblue turned to for the truth. The only one she trusted to be honest and to accept her honesty.
Katsa spurned him in Graceling. Cashore couldn't spurn the man twice in one series right?!
Bitterblue was always feeling `warm' or `enjoying' things naturally with Gideon - there were definite foreshadowing elements of a deepening attraction!
That first scene, where she falls asleep on him as he takes the pins out of her hair. Swoon. Shows instinctive trust. I like that part best.
Maybe I was too reliant on the model of the previous two books - but I really expected more resolution in the romance category. Not finding that resolution really hurt my satisfaction with the ending of the book.

And finally, moving on to the rest of the novel...What was simultaneously amazing and frustrating about this novel was that the whole book felt like a stumble in the dark.

At first I was confused, then annoyed, then I realized it mirrored the feelings of the citizens themselves (point? or happy accident?) The read was a heavy one. The situation Leck left his kingdom in was impossibly scarred. And Cashore is unflinching while dealing with the issues. No Graceling will appear on a white horse to save the day with a truth sensing ability. Beautifully it's two normally gifted humans (Gideon and Bitterblue) who begin to model a relationship where they promise not to lie. Truly the best these people can do to put their lives back together - Perfection (and I think the final piece of growing up Bitterblue needed to do) would have been to choose Gideon as her mate. The lack of romantic choice left the story (saga really) feeling unfinished to me...Maybe Cashore is planning a 4th installment? Hara will flesh out in her role as Bitterblue's sister. Gideon will finally land a girl. And [maybe] a baby for Katsa and Po? Hmm...that last one was probably asking for too much right? lol.

Bitterblue is yet a softer character than even Fire and - especially - Katsa were. Bitterblue is the first female character Cashore has developed who was not dealing/blessed with a power. Instead she is only fighting the memory of one. Perhaps the hardest trick of all. Of all Cashore's women Bitterblue is the most bare - the most defenseless. So utterly reliant on friends and fmaily. Truly a child (sheltered) for so much of the book. I missed seeing her exert more power on her own. To completel the transformation to Queen. Her power is her compassion. Her ability to consume and heal the grief of her people. If only the reader had more time to see the fruits and less time with the labor.

Rating: 3.5/5 It just didn't feel complete to me...

Oh, I so wanted to love this book! I really enjoyed Graceling and to a lesser degree, Fire, but this book, with it's political machinations and the insecure and damaged Lady Queen Bitterblue, felt slow paced and drawn out. The political intrigue at the court and in Bitterblue's kingdom took a long time to develop and although there were a lot of really well drawn characters, I still felt the story could have been shorter and still captured all the gradual unveiling of the mysteries behind Leck's 35 year rule.

I think personally Bitterblue was a major part of why I was dissatisfied with this book. She's so unsure, immature and wavering that I wanted to shake her sometimes to stop complaining. I didn't sympathize with her character very much, and I didn't really feel very invested in her romance, because they both seemed so immature and unreasonable at times. I was a little annoyed by them. There are some really great characters though and I was very sympathetic to one of Bitterblue's advisers for the things he went through and the ultimate decision he makes in the end. Katsa and Po were definitely the best part of the book - their banter and flirting, and their loyalty and capability made them strong, admirable characters that stole every scene. I hope I am not too biased since I loved Graceling!

It is interesting how everything comes together in the end - events in the previous books ties together nicely and there are facets of each book that reflect on the other, so that as a trilogy I think this series was a great accomplishment in complexity of world-building and the building of history. There is a theme in the importance of stories, and I think this series celebrates the importance of storytelling which I really identified with. The last half of the book, though still a little slow paced, had more revelations and interesting twists of plot that kept me reading, so while this is definitely not my favorite book in the series, I found it a very fitting and complete end to the mythology.

Since the death of her parents eight years ago, Bitterblue has been the Queen of Monsea. Buried in paperwork, she longs to see more of her city and hear stories from local taverns. But following the reign of her evil father Leck, Bitterblue must deal with the aftermath of his mind control over the entire realm. With everyone around her, including her closest advisors, acting a bit crazy at times, Bitterblue decides to get to the truth behind what all her father did during his reign. But someone is desperate to keep the secrets hidden and will even murder to keep the past buried.

Bitterblue is an extremely likeable young woman, with a good heart eager to make her country whole again. Though, she never quite feels like a queen - as she doesn't command enough authority or assertion. She's meek and humble - which is great for a storybook character but not believable as queen. I enjoyed her friendship with the two thieves she meets while exploring the city on her own and in disguise. Though the romance with Saph never comes close to the level of the main characters in Graceling and Fire. Which worked here. There was too much conspiracy, danger and confusion going on for her to form an actual relationship with someone like Saph and have it be rational. Bitterblue puts her country and its people above everything, even her happiness at times.

Fire (book 2) seems to stand apart a bit and was somewhat of a prequel to Graceling(book 1). And Bitterblue (book 3) is a direct sequel to Graceling. It may seem confusing to those that haven't read them! Yet by the end of Bitterblue the storyline of Fire is woven in wonderfully. This YA fantasy is an epic adventure with complex codes, mystery, and suspense. The colorful characters and fast-paced story was thoroughly enjoyable and captivating. Bitterblue is a fantastic conclusion to an inspired trilogy.

If you’re looking for swashbuckling, high pace mega-adventure and heart-pounding mind-melting abundance of romance - this book might not be for you.

Bitterblue wrapped me up in a blanket of quiet colours and softly falling snow as beloved characters came and went, bringing with them love and support and humor, leaving with Bitterblue’s love and support and hopes of a better world. (Also Kristin Cashore’s humor is very up my alley and Oscar-worthy.)

Bitterblue is the voice of the people left behind in pursuit of changing the world. She is the pillar of stability and devotion for characters who would otherwise have no stability because their lives are spent running around making the world a better place. She is family. She doesn’t get the glamourous tasks and assignments Katsa gets, but her work is essential nonetheless. I applaud Kristin Cashore’s nuanced rendering of an essential role in the tapestry of politics.

I have felt trapped and isolated before by my inability and ignorance and youth, and to hear Bitterblue’s struggles so aptly put made my heart ache. The joy I feel thinking of Bitterblue in her kitchens and thinking of her finally feeling like an essential part of her community is unparalleled. I feel like this book is a love story between Bitterblue and her family and friends and community. Parts of her relationship with Saf resonated with me - I’ve experienced a friendship that sometimes bordered on something more but wasn’t meant to be. I’ve been in places in my life where the drama in my life made me too busy to pursue romance actively.

Bitterblue is oftentimes not a glamourous book, maybe because it describes a not-so-glamourous life. But every step of the way, Bitterblue was beautiful and painful and wonderful. Thank you Kristin Cashore.

I've been waiting for this book forever! At least it feels like it, anyway...
There were moments while I was reading it that made me grin madly with sheer pleasure - I was relishing each word so much.

PRAISE

The effortless flow of K. Cashore's prose is a thing of beauty! Occasionally, a certain phrase would be so deliciously descriptive and apt that I would linger over the passage for a while before continuing on.
I loved the increasing intricacy of the plot - each chapter introduced yet another issue Bitterblue had to deal with. This was delightful to me as it didn't overwhelm with too many subplots at once, as some books are wont to do, but it gradually built suspense until it was so taut I felt the tension all through my body! I loved it. Relished it. Reveled in it. Until...

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

RANT

...until the very ending and i had to suffer the utter, crushing disappointment of Bitterblue left alone - again. She did not get a love of her own to anchor her as Katsa had Po.
Both Graceling and Fire had a very strong love story and I firmly believe it was a large part of their success. The fact that Bitterblue didn't get her HEA made the story feel somewhat unfinished. I felt that she had deserved some happiness after all she'd been put through...

I must confess that I generally don't like books that feel unfinished or those that make me feel that I am meant to finish it myself however I like. "Left to reader's interpretation" is not my cup of tea. If there was to be ANOTHER book however...well - that would make me very, very happy.

CONCLUSION

Despite my little rant above, I truly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well written, beautifully built worlds filled with vibrant characters.

VERY well done, Ms. Cashore.

Bitterblue is the third and final installment in Kristin Cashore's Graceling Realm series. As a whole, I felt the series had a very strange flow. The first book Graceling is now in my favorite's list, but the second book Fire felt like a standalone versus a sequel. So after I reconciled this in my head and prepared myself that Bitterblue would likely feel like a standalone, BAM-it totally feels like a sequel to Graceling, albeit, set years ahead. However, the character Fire from Fire made an appearance in Bitterblue and I did feel that all three books finally tied together somehow, although this didn't happen until the end.

Anyway, my review of Bitterblue is that it was very long but amazing! I enjoyed seeing Bitterblue as queen and I felt for her as she struggled to keep "in the loop" when it comes to her people and her kingdom. She has such a strong heart and wants to serve her people well. But there was a huge mystery that surrounded what she was being told about her kingdom's history, current happenings, and needs and what was actually truth. When Bitterblue discovered why her advisors were acting strange and keeping her minimally informed, I was devastated for them and all involved! It nearly brought me to tears. Bitterblue handled it beautifully and in the best interest of all affected. I loved Teddy, Saf, and the others, and I really enjoyed the romance element, although it was not at all a focal point. My favorite part of this book was the inclusion of Katsa and Po again. Yay!!!

My favorite quote:
“It has been a hard lesson to learn, that greatness requires suffering.”

I hate to say anything bad about Kristin Cashore's books, because Graceling and Fire impressed me so much and won me over completely. However, BITTERBLUE was the definitely the weakest of the three due to characterization, plot, pacing, suspense...basically all elements of storytelling.

I admire that Cashore tries to tell Bitterblue's story. Bitterblue, with her tragedy-laden history as revealed in Graceling, deserves more page time, deserves the voice she barely had in the first book. And yet despite Cashore doing a complete rewrite of this book at her editor's behest, BITTERBLUE could've done with at least two more complete rewrites. There was a story at the heart of it, but there were too many only-half-interesting side plots obscuring the heart.

(Not that the side plots didn't have their own potential. They did. But not in the way everything was threaded together in BITTERBLUE on the slightest of threads.)

Whether the result of the incomprehensible plotting and stuttering pacing or something else, the writing in BITTERBLUE felt weak as well. Witticisms that were supposed to be witty. Tearful revelations that were supposed to crack the haze of confusion and apathy in my heart. Nope. Nothing. I didn't so mind the fact that there was not the level of romance prevelant in Graceling and Fire as I did the fact that the writing was stilted and awkward. Now, I know that Bitterblue spends the majority of her time in this book wandering around, confused about what's been going on around her. I also know that when Leck died, he left his country in a state of muddled, bleary confusion. Still, there is a subtle but importance between characters that are confused, and readers who are. BITTERBLUE was so confusing as to make me think that Cashore herself was still confused even in the final stages of editing it.

Even after all that, though, I still cared about the characters in BITTERBLUE. So I'll chalk this one up to a difficult story that needed five more years of revising for maximum effect, and look with optimistic (and patient) eyes toward what Cashore has to share with us next.

The long-awaited sequel to Graceling, is, in my opinion, totally worth the wait. Returning to the world of Katsa, Po, and Bitterblue is like coming home. Kristin Cashore's newest book definitely lives up to the hype.

Bitterblue is no longer a ten-year-old girl. She is now an eighteen-year-old queen. She is quite clueless about her kingdom and she is not afraid to admit it. She wants to make things better in her kingdom but she wants to do it without burying the past, no matter how painful. She is brave, strong, fierce, loyal, and kind. She also happens to have a strong group of friends working with her which includes Katsa, Po, Raffin, Ban, and Giddon, as well as some new faces. All the familiar people are just as fabulous as expected and the new characters add a bit of mystery to the book. Saf, Teddy, Bren, and Tilda are clearly good people but they are also very clearly hiding something. No matter how many times I thought I had it figured out I was never even close. It was nice to have that little touch of suspense regarding the characters. It was actually kind of surprising how many characters were hiding something. Readers will definitely be kept guessing with this one.

There is not as much world-building in Bitterblue as there was in Graceling or Fire. Because of this it took pretty much no time to get back into the story. However there was quite a bit of history regarding Leck, Bitterblue City, Bitterblue herself, and many of the other characters. It slowed down the pacing of the book a little but it by no means took away from my enjoyment of the book. In fact, that might have been the most fascinating (sometimes creepy) part. Reading about Leck and his tortures is very scary but also a very necessary part of the story.

Kristin Cashore's writing is some of the best I've ever read. She manages to weave important details into the story without making the reader feel like there is too much. Her descriptions are marvelous and you can't help but feel that you are a part of the story. From the very first sentence you will be hooked.

The romance in Bitterblue is once again very untraditional. There isn't a ton of it and what there is, is very subtle and sweet. The way the characters feel for each other is very real and easy for the reader to see. Bitterblue's life is very messed up and I like that the romance wasn't traditional because it would have been unbelievable for Bitterblue to have this perfect romance. I was satisfied how it all worked out.

Overall, I could rave about Bitterblue for days but I will stop not so you guys can make your own opinions. I highly recommend reading this one. You won't be disappointed. I really hope the wait isn't as long for whatever book Kristin Cashore writes next!

I like this book but it kind of seemed like it had no rules. Yeah the girl characters seem independent doing their own thing, being with whom ever they want without being in a relationship. I'm used to reading about the characters ending up together, getting married, growing old together, here its like what ever happens, even with all the murders, the guys who worked with her did all these terrible things, yea under Leck's influence but they still did it and Bitterblue was all about forgiveness, girl that was not your daughter, or your sister or relative that went missing, tortured and killed, yeah your mom was probably tortured and was killed but at least she was always with you, and you had her, also when Madlen turned out to be a spy, wth. So many things I was like Whaaaaat????? But I still really liked it :) sad to see an end to a series :( I loved all the mysteries.

WARNING: Spoilers Galore!

*

*

*

I feel like this book was *Almost* great. I've come to expect so much of Cashore's characters. The way she develops her girls and brings them to womanhood has in the past been close to masterful. Even if I haven't particularly loved a character *cough* Katsa *cough* I've very much respected their journey as a person. And I've enjoyed studying Cashore's purpose in female driven writing. I haven't been so drawn to watching an author develop a female theme across multiple books since my thesis on Virginia Woolf. And those were some fun times, let me tell you.

So, don't be disapointed when I say that one of my biggest issues was the romance.

I know!

That whole first paragraph was devoted to Women's Studies and I gotta harp on the romance portion of the novel.

But, the love triangle was just a big tease! I felt as though there was a lot of focus on Saf and Bitterblue's relationship. Was Saf good? Bad? Bitterblue's failing point? or saving grace? And it's not as though I expect romance to be more important than the development of the female lead as a strong female. However, based on the previous two books in the series I was expecting the romance to play a defining role in Bitterblue's development as a woman. At the very least a conclusion to the relationship would have shown if Saf was just her first sexual partner and first love? Or did he come back and prove to be the man who would grow up and stand tall beside Bitterblue as a grown woman. While I admit, I think Bitterblue (yes, Bitterblue is a living, breathing person to me. Don't judge, Cashore is really that good with her characters.) wanted Saf to be "The One"...I didn't. I would have found it hard to see Cashore reconcile the person Bitterblue had to become with the person she would have needed to be to end up with Saf. Maybe this is the reason for the open ending? Cashore's character's desires separated from the point of the plot?

And now I need to move on to my heartbreak...Gideon. Was Gideon never a choice? Almost a choice? Her eventual husband? If I had to guess due to plot and theme trajectory Gideon had to be Bitterblue's future mate. I have reasons:

He lost all his lands, thus freeing him up to be a citizen of Monsea.
He was the man Bitterblue turned to for the truth. The only one she trusted to be honest and to accept her honesty.
Katsa spurned him in Graceling. Cashore couldn't spurn the man twice in one series right?!
Bitterblue was always feeling `warm' or `enjoying' things naturally with Gideon - there were definite foreshadowing elements of a deepening attraction!
That first scene, where she falls asleep on him as he takes the pins out of her hair. Swoon. Shows instinctive trust. I like that part best.
Maybe I was too reliant on the model of the previous two books - but I really expected more resolution in the romance category. Not finding that resolution really hurt my satisfaction with the ending of the book.

And finally, moving on to the rest of the novel...What was simultaneously amazing and frustrating about this novel was that the whole book felt like a stumble in the dark.

At first I was confused, then annoyed, then I realized it mirrored the feelings of the citizens themselves (point? or happy accident?) The read was a heavy one. The situation Leck left his kingdom in was impossibly scarred. And Cashore is unflinching while dealing with the issues. No Graceling will appear on a white horse to save the day with a truth sensing ability. Beautifully it's two normally gifted humans (Gideon and Bitterblue) who begin to model a relationship where they promise not to lie. Truly the best these people can do to put their lives back together - Perfection (and I think the final piece of growing up Bitterblue needed to do) would have been to choose Gideon as her mate. The lack of romantic choice left the story (saga really) feeling unfinished to me...Maybe Cashore is planning a 4th installment? Hara will flesh out in her role as Bitterblue's sister. Gideon will finally land a girl. And [maybe] a baby for Katsa and Po? Hmm...that last one was probably asking for too much right? lol.

Bitterblue is yet a softer character than even Fire and - especially - Katsa were. Bitterblue is the first female character Cashore has developed who was not dealing/blessed with a power. Instead she is only fighting the memory of one. Perhaps the hardest trick of all. Of all Cashore's women Bitterblue is the most bare - the most defenseless. So utterly reliant on friends and fmaily. Truly a child (sheltered) for so much of the book. I missed seeing her exert more power on her own. To completel the transformation to Queen. Her power is her compassion. Her ability to consume and heal the grief of her people. If only the reader had more time to see the fruits and less time with the labor.

Rating: 3.5/5 It just didn't feel complete to me...

Oh, I so wanted to love this book! I really enjoyed Graceling and to a lesser degree, Fire, but this book, with it's political machinations and the insecure and damaged Lady Queen Bitterblue, felt slow paced and drawn out. The political intrigue at the court and in Bitterblue's kingdom took a long time to develop and although there were a lot of really well drawn characters, I still felt the story could have been shorter and still captured all the gradual unveiling of the mysteries behind Leck's 35 year rule.

I think personally Bitterblue was a major part of why I was dissatisfied with this book. She's so unsure, immature and wavering that I wanted to shake her sometimes to stop complaining. I didn't sympathize with her character very much, and I didn't really feel very invested in her romance, because they both seemed so immature and unreasonable at times. I was a little annoyed by them. There are some really great characters though and I was very sympathetic to one of Bitterblue's advisers for the things he went through and the ultimate decision he makes in the end. Katsa and Po were definitely the best part of the book - their banter and flirting, and their loyalty and capability made them strong, admirable characters that stole every scene. I hope I am not too biased since I loved Graceling!

It is interesting how everything comes together in the end - events in the previous books ties together nicely and there are facets of each book that reflect on the other, so that as a trilogy I think this series was a great accomplishment in complexity of world-building and the building of history. There is a theme in the importance of stories, and I think this series celebrates the importance of storytelling which I really identified with. The last half of the book, though still a little slow paced, had more revelations and interesting twists of plot that kept me reading, so while this is definitely not my favorite book in the series, I found it a very fitting and complete end to the mythology.

Since the death of her parents eight years ago, Bitterblue has been the Queen of Monsea. Buried in paperwork, she longs to see more of her city and hear stories from local taverns. But following the reign of her evil father Leck, Bitterblue must deal with the aftermath of his mind control over the entire realm. With everyone around her, including her closest advisors, acting a bit crazy at times, Bitterblue decides to get to the truth behind what all her father did during his reign. But someone is desperate to keep the secrets hidden and will even murder to keep the past buried.

Bitterblue is an extremely likeable young woman, with a good heart eager to make her country whole again. Though, she never quite feels like a queen - as she doesn't command enough authority or assertion. She's meek and humble - which is great for a storybook character but not believable as queen. I enjoyed her friendship with the two thieves she meets while exploring the city on her own and in disguise. Though the romance with Saph never comes close to the level of the main characters in Graceling and Fire. Which worked here. There was too much conspiracy, danger and confusion going on for her to form an actual relationship with someone like Saph and have it be rational. Bitterblue puts her country and its people above everything, even her happiness at times.

Fire (book 2) seems to stand apart a bit and was somewhat of a prequel to Graceling(book 1). And Bitterblue (book 3) is a direct sequel to Graceling. It may seem confusing to those that haven't read them! Yet by the end of Bitterblue the storyline of Fire is woven in wonderfully. This YA fantasy is an epic adventure with complex codes, mystery, and suspense. The colorful characters and fast-paced story was thoroughly enjoyable and captivating. Bitterblue is a fantastic conclusion to an inspired trilogy.

If you’re looking for swashbuckling, high pace mega-adventure and heart-pounding mind-melting abundance of romance - this book might not be for you.

Bitterblue wrapped me up in a blanket of quiet colours and softly falling snow as beloved characters came and went, bringing with them love and support and humor, leaving with Bitterblue’s love and support and hopes of a better world. (Also Kristin Cashore’s humor is very up my alley and Oscar-worthy.)

Bitterblue is the voice of the people left behind in pursuit of changing the world. She is the pillar of stability and devotion for characters who would otherwise have no stability because their lives are spent running around making the world a better place. She is family. She doesn’t get the glamourous tasks and assignments Katsa gets, but her work is essential nonetheless. I applaud Kristin Cashore’s nuanced rendering of an essential role in the tapestry of politics.

I have felt trapped and isolated before by my inability and ignorance and youth, and to hear Bitterblue’s struggles so aptly put made my heart ache. The joy I feel thinking of Bitterblue in her kitchens and thinking of her finally feeling like an essential part of her community is unparalleled. I feel like this book is a love story between Bitterblue and her family and friends and community. Parts of her relationship with Saf resonated with me - I’ve experienced a friendship that sometimes bordered on something more but wasn’t meant to be. I’ve been in places in my life where the drama in my life made me too busy to pursue romance actively.

Bitterblue is oftentimes not a glamourous book, maybe because it describes a not-so-glamourous life. But every step of the way, Bitterblue was beautiful and painful and wonderful. Thank you Kristin Cashore.

I've been waiting for this book forever! At least it feels like it, anyway...
There were moments while I was reading it that made me grin madly with sheer pleasure - I was relishing each word so much.

PRAISE

The effortless flow of K. Cashore's prose is a thing of beauty! Occasionally, a certain phrase would be so deliciously descriptive and apt that I would linger over the passage for a while before continuing on.
I loved the increasing intricacy of the plot - each chapter introduced yet another issue Bitterblue had to deal with. This was delightful to me as it didn't overwhelm with too many subplots at once, as some books are wont to do, but it gradually built suspense until it was so taut I felt the tension all through my body! I loved it. Relished it. Reveled in it. Until...

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

RANT

...until the very ending and i had to suffer the utter, crushing disappointment of Bitterblue left alone - again. She did not get a love of her own to anchor her as Katsa had Po.
Both Graceling and Fire had a very strong love story and I firmly believe it was a large part of their success. The fact that Bitterblue didn't get her HEA made the story feel somewhat unfinished. I felt that she had deserved some happiness after all she'd been put through...

I must confess that I generally don't like books that feel unfinished or those that make me feel that I am meant to finish it myself however I like. "Left to reader's interpretation" is not my cup of tea. If there was to be ANOTHER book however...well - that would make me very, very happy.

CONCLUSION

Despite my little rant above, I truly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well written, beautifully built worlds filled with vibrant characters.

VERY well done, Ms. Cashore.

Bitterblue is the third and final installment in Kristin Cashore's Graceling Realm series. As a whole, I felt the series had a very strange flow. The first book Graceling is now in my favorite's list, but the second book Fire felt like a standalone versus a sequel. So after I reconciled this in my head and prepared myself that Bitterblue would likely feel like a standalone, BAM-it totally feels like a sequel to Graceling, albeit, set years ahead. However, the character Fire from Fire made an appearance in Bitterblue and I did feel that all three books finally tied together somehow, although this didn't happen until the end.

Anyway, my review of Bitterblue is that it was very long but amazing! I enjoyed seeing Bitterblue as queen and I felt for her as she struggled to keep "in the loop" when it comes to her people and her kingdom. She has such a strong heart and wants to serve her people well. But there was a huge mystery that surrounded what she was being told about her kingdom's history, current happenings, and needs and what was actually truth. When Bitterblue discovered why her advisors were acting strange and keeping her minimally informed, I was devastated for them and all involved! It nearly brought me to tears. Bitterblue handled it beautifully and in the best interest of all affected. I loved Teddy, Saf, and the others, and I really enjoyed the romance element, although it was not at all a focal point. My favorite part of this book was the inclusion of Katsa and Po again. Yay!!!

My favorite quote:
“It has been a hard lesson to learn, that greatness requires suffering.”

I hate to say anything bad about Kristin Cashore's books, because Graceling and Fire impressed me so much and won me over completely. However, BITTERBLUE was the definitely the weakest of the three due to characterization, plot, pacing, suspense...basically all elements of storytelling.

I admire that Cashore tries to tell Bitterblue's story. Bitterblue, with her tragedy-laden history as revealed in Graceling, deserves more page time, deserves the voice she barely had in the first book. And yet despite Cashore doing a complete rewrite of this book at her editor's behest, BITTERBLUE could've done with at least two more complete rewrites. There was a story at the heart of it, but there were too many only-half-interesting side plots obscuring the heart.

(Not that the side plots didn't have their own potential. They did. But not in the way everything was threaded together in BITTERBLUE on the slightest of threads.)

Whether the result of the incomprehensible plotting and stuttering pacing or something else, the writing in BITTERBLUE felt weak as well. Witticisms that were supposed to be witty. Tearful revelations that were supposed to crack the haze of confusion and apathy in my heart. Nope. Nothing. I didn't so mind the fact that there was not the level of romance prevelant in Graceling and Fire as I did the fact that the writing was stilted and awkward. Now, I know that Bitterblue spends the majority of her time in this book wandering around, confused about what's been going on around her. I also know that when Leck died, he left his country in a state of muddled, bleary confusion. Still, there is a subtle but importance between characters that are confused, and readers who are. BITTERBLUE was so confusing as to make me think that Cashore herself was still confused even in the final stages of editing it.

Even after all that, though, I still cared about the characters in BITTERBLUE. So I'll chalk this one up to a difficult story that needed five more years of revising for maximum effect, and look with optimistic (and patient) eyes toward what Cashore has to share with us next.

The long-awaited sequel to Graceling, is, in my opinion, totally worth the wait. Returning to the world of Katsa, Po, and Bitterblue is like coming home. Kristin Cashore's newest book definitely lives up to the hype.

Bitterblue is no longer a ten-year-old girl. She is now an eighteen-year-old queen. She is quite clueless about her kingdom and she is not afraid to admit it. She wants to make things better in her kingdom but she wants to do it without burying the past, no matter how painful. She is brave, strong, fierce, loyal, and kind. She also happens to have a strong group of friends working with her which includes Katsa, Po, Raffin, Ban, and Giddon, as well as some new faces. All the familiar people are just as fabulous as expected and the new characters add a bit of mystery to the book. Saf, Teddy, Bren, and Tilda are clearly good people but they are also very clearly hiding something. No matter how many times I thought I had it figured out I was never even close. It was nice to have that little touch of suspense regarding the characters. It was actually kind of surprising how many characters were hiding something. Readers will definitely be kept guessing with this one.

There is not as much world-building in Bitterblue as there was in Graceling or Fire. Because of this it took pretty much no time to get back into the story. However there was quite a bit of history regarding Leck, Bitterblue City, Bitterblue herself, and many of the other characters. It slowed down the pacing of the book a little but it by no means took away from my enjoyment of the book. In fact, that might have been the most fascinating (sometimes creepy) part. Reading about Leck and his tortures is very scary but also a very necessary part of the story.

Kristin Cashore's writing is some of the best I've ever read. She manages to weave important details into the story without making the reader feel like there is too much. Her descriptions are marvelous and you can't help but feel that you are a part of the story. From the very first sentence you will be hooked.

The romance in Bitterblue is once again very untraditional. There isn't a ton of it and what there is, is very subtle and sweet. The way the characters feel for each other is very real and easy for the reader to see. Bitterblue's life is very messed up and I like that the romance wasn't traditional because it would have been unbelievable for Bitterblue to have this perfect romance. I was satisfied how it all worked out.

Overall, I could rave about Bitterblue for days but I will stop not so you guys can make your own opinions. I highly recommend reading this one. You won't be disappointed. I really hope the wait isn't as long for whatever book Kristin Cashore writes next!

I like this book but it kind of seemed like it had no rules. Yeah the girl characters seem independent doing their own thing, being with whom ever they want without being in a relationship. I'm used to reading about the characters ending up together, getting married, growing old together, here its like what ever happens, even with all the murders, the guys who worked with her did all these terrible things, yea under Leck's influence but they still did it and Bitterblue was all about forgiveness, girl that was not your daughter, or your sister or relative that went missing, tortured and killed, yeah your mom was probably tortured and was killed but at least she was always with you, and you had her, also when Madlen turned out to be a spy, wth. So many things I was like Whaaaaat????? But I still really liked it :) sad to see an end to a series :( I loved all the mysteries.

Graceling is possibly my all-time favorite work of fantasy fiction, and I loved Fire as well. I finally had the chance to order Bitterblue in paperback, and I devoured it over the last few days.

Bitterblue is a very different novel from Graceling and from Fire, but that should be expected. Each woman (Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue) faces a unique challenge, and thus the plot of this novel differs greatly from its predecessors.

Bitterblue is a young queen, trying to improve her kingdom after her father's reign of terror. Her intentions are good, but her youth and her inexperience hinder her ability to govern her kingdom. She begins to learn through her trusted servants, members of the Council, and new friends (who don't know she's queen) about the real problems in her kingdom.

While the first two novels certainly redefine gender roles and display all the different ways to be a woman, Bitterblue goes even further in its subtle social commentary. Instead of hinting at the acceptance of same-sex relationships, two couples (minor characters, but friends of the queen) are revealed to be male-male and female-female. This is also the first novel that suggests political structures other than a monarchy might be best. The motivation and need for self-harm (cutting) is also a minor plot point. Like the other two novels, birth control is casually discussed, and premarital sex is not shamed.

In some ways, this novel is darker than Graceling and Fire. Much of the plot centers around Bitterblue learning about exactly what happened during Leck's reign and how he tortured his citizens.

Aside from the novel itself, Kristin Cashore includes some insider information into her writing process. I enjoyed seeing a few scans of her original draft and learning how long it took for her to write this book, beginning to finish.

I'm sure there will be people who read Bitterblue who find it too long, too complex, and with too little romance. I am not one of those people. Bitterblue was a fantastic way to wrap up this series. It was the culmination of everything that had happened in the pervious novels.

Bitterblue, the little princess of the first novel, has grown up and must face the world her father created. The people of her country are confused and unsure of how to move forward. King Leck, Bitterblue's father, was a tyrant who stopped at nothing to make the world the way he wanted it. Unimaginable things happened, but because of Leck's grace, his entire rein comes with a cloud of fog that people are still working through. Bitterblue is trying to move her people forward to a place of piece and trust, but there are people fighting against her at every turn.

I liked the queenly side of Bitterblue, but I also found her secretive side wonderful as well. She starts sneaking out of the castle, wanting to know more about the city that bears her name. She finds that things are not as her advisors tell her and that people are unhappy. There's a group of people wanting to find the truth of King Leck's rein and people are working hard to keep those years unknown. Posing as a baker of the castle, she finds a group of friends that shows her the truth. When she starts to fall for one of her new friends, things begin to get messy.

There are a couple stories being told within this novel. There's the story of Bitterblue trying to be the queen her people need. She's coming of age and finding love for the first time. There's a disturbing mystery surrounding her father's rein. All of this could easily make its own novel, but Cashore was able to weave the stories together amazingly. It never feels like it's too much going on. Just when a break from the evils of King Leck is needed, Cashore picks up the romantic storyline. Before the romantic storyline gets too emotional, Bitterblue must deal with a queenly problem. There's a wonderful balance between everything that must happen.

I know the end won't be for everyone. Without giving anything away, I'll say the ending fit. Would it have been nice if everything had ended perfectly, wrapped in a perfect red bow? Of course, but then it wouldn't have been real. There's still happiness and peace, with the closure the characters need.

Bitterblue is an amazing novel that wraps the Graceling series up the way it needed to be. It ties everything together and gives hope for the future of the world Cashore created. Everything is not perfect, but it's moving towards being the best world it could be. Bitterblue makes this series a must read. It's fantastic and beautifully written with characters that will pull at your heart.

I do like YA that’s not about the love interest-or only peripherally about it. Bitterblue is a strong person and to me, it read like the struggles of a person attempting to break out of depression. Except that she’s a Queen and she speaks for her kingdom too. I really enjoyed this book - while one could attempt it by itself, I think that the context from the previous book would help you decipher who is truely gone and who is just absent- because this book is about absences.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore is the conclusion to the Graceling trilogy and I’m definitely late to the game on this one ;-). I listened to the entire trilogy on audiobook though and do recommend them if you’re like me and still catching up on this awesome fantasy series! One of the big things to know about Bitterblue and the previous books, however, is that they are much more like companion novels than a continuous trilogy. Each book is about a different character and while Bitterblue relies on events that occurred previously, it’s set years in the future and so you probably could easily read it without having read the previous books. I listened to the previous two books over a year ago and only kind of remember them, so it worked out for me in any case ;-).
Note: I listened to Bitterblue on audio and that definitely influences my opinion on the book.

Strengths:
Bitterblue is a much different book than Fire and Graceling, which made me happy. I was impressed that Cashore was able to write such a character-driven book without her typical kick-butt heroine from the previous books.
I loved that Bitterblue brought the whole trilogy together even though it is set so apart from the other books. Katsa and Fire both play big roles and a lot of the questions we were left with about a certain evil mind-reader are pursued in Bitterblue.
I loooooved the mysteries of Bitterblue City and all of the strange things that Bitterblue keeps encountering and needs to figure out. Bitterblue the girl is also so like me in her need to make lists to figure out how everything fits together ;-). Lists are the best!
Bitterblue is pretty low on the romance but it was just the right amount for me. I enjoyed that Bitterblue had priorities other than a pretty boy given that she is a queen and all! That doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have feelings that she has to deal with on her down time though ;-).
Bitterblue has a great narrator who fit Bitterblue’s character quite well. While Graceling is full-cast audio, Bitterblue has just one narrator, which seems to be a bit more common.
Since the book is so character driven, it was pretty important for Bitterblue to be a strong character and I enjoyed her a lot! She is smart and strong, but very realistic in her difficulties of ruling a country that has been torn apart by the previous king, not to mention the horrors that she and her mother endured when her father was still ruling.
Weaknesses:
The plot is kind of all over the place given the character-driven nature of Bitterblue. I didn’t really know what the actual plot was going to end up being until half-way through I’d say. Things just kind of happen for a while.
After 2/3 of the book, Bitterblue gets SUPER TRIGGERY. Horrible things happened during Leck’s rule, including physical and sexual abuse to an absolutely terrifying degree. It was difficult to listen to sections where these things were revealed so be sure you are prepared.
The narrator’s voices for different characters were inconsistent, which disappointed me. I like it when I can realize which character is talking just by the voice, but that wasn’t the case with Bitterblue.
Despite my general approval of Bitterblue’s character, she can get a bit whiny at times. I just wanted her to toughen up a bit here and there, but I guess I wouldn’t have been much better given the situation >.>.
Summary:
Bitterblue is a very interesting conclusion to the Graceling trilogy. It’s quite different than the previous books, focusing on a character-driven plot with a very different heroine than Katsa and Fire. However, I still enjoyed Bitterblue for being different and for pulling the three books together in a rather fresh way. With the huge number of connected trilogies out there, it was fun to listen to three books that each stood on their own and were simply based in the same world. I wouldn’t say Bitterblue was my favorite of the three (Fire is for the record), but I’m very glad that I’ve finally finished these books!

Bitterblue is the third novel in the Graceling series. The princess must struggle to piece together her kingdom after the disastrous rule of King Leck. While she struggles to restore her kingdom and learn the truth of the past, other forces are working to erase the truth and anyone who seeks to find it. She is constantly torn between who she can trust and who she can't, and spends much of the book on a question to unravel the mysteries of who is trying to suppress the truth, and who Leck really was.

I really enjoyed Graceling, and to a lesser extent, Fire. The third book was fairly enjoyable and definitely a book I couldn't put down. I had no trouble progressing through the book and it really felt well written and polished. I really felt for Bitterblue, her feelings, and the disorientation and mystery of what was happening around her. Her thoughts and feelings were never unbelievable and it was a very engrossing fantasy.

The entire novel takes place within her castle and the city surrounding it. There are events happening outside of it which are told via other characters who return from journeys. The world building is great and there are a lot of reveals about who Leck was, the world to the East, what happened during his reign, etc. Katsa, Po, and Fire all return in the novel which is great to tie everything together.

But there were a few things that keep me from rating the novel a 5 star. For me, a fantasy should bring me out of this world and put me into another world. It should be an escape. It should keep me engrossed within that world, and everything that happens should be believable within that world. Things mentioned in the book should directly relate to the story or should setup a payoff later. Now what we have with this novel (and to a lesser extent in the other two) is the author inserting social issues or controversial topics just for the heck of it. We have morning-after contraception, lesbians, homosexuality, etc. which did nothing but pull the reader out of the story. If the story did not have these elements it would have been a stronger fantasy and lost nothing because of it. There were also a few places where I think it went way beyond YA with discussion of torture, rape, murder, etc. And lastly, there was a nice listing of characters and some maps at the end of the book. It would have made more sense to put these at the beginning so it would have reminded readers of stuff from the first two books, and the maps probably would have been better inserted into sections of the book that actually discussed the geography of the castle, etc.

Overall it was a page turner and it wrapped up the Graceling series nicely. I did enjoy it, and it isn't a terrible book. But it is not as good as it could have been.

While I didn't love the other 2 books in this series, I enjoyed them for the most part and really looked forward to reading Bitterblue and finally getting some questions answered that the other books, especially Graceling, left unanswered.

SPOILER ALERT!

I consider myself an easy to please reader so for me, giving a book 2 stars is extremely rare. I think my biggest issue with Bitterblue was that I felt like it dragged on FOREVER without anything really exciting happening. I think I was more confused than Bitterblue was at all that was going on. It seemed to me that the author would take pages and pages to describe things that could have been summed up more more neatly and less confusingly in a few paragraphs. I kept reading and hoping that the end was going to be worth it, but the scenes where the truths were revealed weren't very exciting and were over before I realized Bitterblue had figured things out. The mystery around what Leck did wasn't really surprsing so I felt like there was all this build up over what the heck he was doing to people and when it all came out, it wasn't as exciting or shocking as I thought it would be. It was horrible and sickening, don't get me wrong, I guess I was just hoping for something crazy and interesting, not just a sick old man doing sick things.

The romance in this book was also a huge disappointment. I didn't understand Saf's character at all. Like why was he a jerk sometimes in the beginning? There just wasn't a lot of chemistry or depth to their relationship before she starts kissing him and then eventually having sex with him. And then, he leaves to go to the Dells and it's not really a big deal. I just don't even understand why there was even a romantic relationship between them when it didn't seem to teach Bitterblue anything about life or have them end up together. If you are looking for the romance that was in Fire and Graceling, it is NOT here!

I could probably say a lot more but I'll just say one more thing. If you have conservative values, this is probably not a book you want your teen daughter reading as there are topics of homosexuality, pre-marital sex, rape, taking abortive herbs, etc. Really surprised that there was so much of that in a young adult book!

I f-ed up. I read this series completely out of order (although I don't know if that would matter since the series isn't a series in a typical sense) but I kind of did feel as though I missed out on a huge time gap between BITTERBLUE and GRACELING.

First of all, I loved Bitterblue as a character. I still remember her as a child (when Katsa rescued her from her father) and I loved how she grew up. She's not a super confident, super strong woman like Katsa, but she is strong in her own sense. Just like in her other books, Kristin Cashore does an amazing job demonstrating the growth of her main character. I love watching her struggle in the beginning then see her rise to become a queen in her own stance.

However, I did not like how she portrayed Katsa and Po. They only made a brief appearance in BITTERBLUE, especially Katsa, but the way they were acting was completely different from the Katsa and Po that I loved from GRACELING. They seemed more like that horny, bickering couples from high school instead of the couple who truly understood each other's needs for space among other things. On certain scenes, the Po I knew returned but it was never like that for Katsa. I know they haven't seen each other at all and that they'll probably jump each other at first sight (they are mid-20s now) but, while reading, I couldn't help but observe that this Katsa was nothing more than a pale imitation of the Katsa I love. I think that upset me more than the other things.

On the other hand, Gideon. Oh my God, I have a newfound appreciation for Gideon. I never thought of him as my type but, after this book, he is really close to what my ideal man should be like. And my friends wonder why I'm so picky when it comes to dating...

Returning to the book (I go off in tangents a lot...):

At first, I didn't like how little action this book had. I was expecting something a little bit more.. Katsa-ish but, reflecting on the book now, I realize that this was a good angle. Bitterblue may rule from her castle, but it's more of a prison than freedom and Cashore did a great job in establishing that confining restrictions to her readers.

The only thing I wish she didn't do was get too ambitious. She added way too many hidden tunnels and secret passageways as well as ciphers and others to add layers of mystery to the book but it just ended up confusing me. I know that authors like to withhold information in order to create suspense then slowly reveal the information to their readers, but it wasn't like that at all! Yes, I was intrigued in the beginning then I got frustrated... fast. All she kept doing was rehashing the same mystery, the same questions to us over and over again and basically pushed all the answers to us at the very end.

Overall, this is a good book to read if you want to know more about the inner-workings of the Graceling realm. However, don't bother reading it to become reacquainted with Katsa as she is no longer the heroine we've come to know. I think that there was a lot of potential for the book, but she got too greedy into trying to create as much puzzles as she possibly could.

Review originally posted at [...]

One of my absolute favorite books that I read when I was younger was Graceling by Kristin Cashore. It had everything you could want in a YA novel—a kick butt killer princess, a handsome (and brooding at one point) prince, an evil king (or two!) etc etc etc… That sounds a bit like the ultimate guilty pleasure, but it was even better than that. The fact that it’s still gathering dust on the shelves of my mind says a lot, because I’ve read a lot of good books that have checked out of my memory—only the best linger. I don’t remember the second book Fire being as good as the first book, but it was still good enough for me to be excited to buy the third and most recent book—Bitterblue, the topic of today’s book review.

Before I give you the synopsis, fair warning—this series is not so much a trilogy as it is three books that are companions to each other (technically Fire is a prequel). Thus, the synopsis may contain a little bit of a spoiler for the other two books. If you’re like me and like to keep things absolutely spoiler-free, then I’d advise you just to stop reading here.

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is queen of a kingdom that was under the spell of a madman for thirty-five years.

At eighteen, Bitterblue is still learning how to rule the kingdom. The influence of Leck—a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities—lives on. When Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle to walk the streets of her own city, she meets two thieves who hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace, holds the key to her heart.

From what I’ve seen, Bitterblue has received some VERY mixed reviews. Graceling (and Fire to a different degree) set the standard of EPIC for this series, and I think many people were disappointed when they realized Bitterblue did not follow that trajectory. I think if Bitterblue had come out right after Graceling and Fire, I would’ve been disappointed to. It’s almost as if it takes a mature reader to appreciate the picture that Cashore has painted. If you take this story at face value, I believe it is what it should be. So many stories capture the exciting moment of when the prince rescues the princess and ends the king’s evil reign and blah blah blah. But that’s just it—it’s only a snapshot photo shopped for our gluttonous appetite of adventure. We’re left to assume everything perfectly falls into place after these events and everyone lives happily ever after.

However, Bitterblue is a story about the recovery of a kingdom after “being under a 35 year spell of a madman.” This may not be the story everyone wants to read, but it’s a story that’s necessary to this series. This story completes a well-rounded view of this entire land and its history, particularly when it faced one of its most difficult crises—Leck. Any story with the idea “evil king dead = instant Happily Ever After” is a story lacking in reality. I feel like Cashore took this series to its full potential by letting us see the beginning (Fire), middle (Graceling), end and aftermath (Graceling and Bitterblue) of King Leck’s terrible reign. Of course, the aftermath part is not nearly as thrilling as the build-up to the triumph of good over evil, but it’s just as important. See what I mean about being a “mature” reader?

If you read Bitterblue with this understanding, I think you’ll find it’s a great book. At times it seemed like the plot moved slowly and there was almost too much to sort out, but I think that gives us a better insight into Bitterblue’s transformation into the queen she’s meant to be. We’re overwhelmed because Bitterblue’s overwhelmed. The story moves slowly because recovery moves slowly. I feel as if I wasn’t just observing this story, but I was actually experiencing Bitterblue’s struggle to be the right leader. It was never going to be an easy job, so this book is not an easy read.

In addition, I liked that the plot is never predictable. Bitterblue has no idea of what’s been really going on in her city and the readers are left guessing as well. It’s not much of an “EGAD!” moment when everything is finally figured out, but again I think this book is meant to be about Bitterblue becoming queen. If romance or mystery had been the main focus, it would have detracted from the real purpose.

My only real complaint (and this is really just nitpicky on my part) is that there wasn’t much reason behind her initial night out on the town. She just up and decided that she wanted to go and so our merry adventure began. Nitpicky, I know, but it’s my only real complaint.

I recommend this book to young and old readers alike, if you like a fun YA series. It’s well-written and there are old & new characters to fall in love with. My only stipulation is that you take the story for what it’s meant to be, not what you want it to be. For a debut trilogy, hats off to Cashore.

(Note: You MUST read "Graceling" first or this book will not make any sense; it will help if you've read "Fire" as well, but not quite as crucial.)

This is a much tougher book, thematically, than the prior two in the series. There's a lot of mention of Leck's physical and emotional abuse, and of secrets piled on top of secrets, with betrayal thrown in for good measure. But I found myself just as curious as Bitterblue to get the secrets untangled, so I enjoyed the story despite its difficult nature. It was nice to see more of past characters, and I liked a lot of the new characters, as well. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling things, but I will say that despite some frustrations and need to suspend disbelief in some places, I really did like this book. I'd give it 4.5 stars if that were an option. Does anyone know if the author plans to write more for this universe?

Bitterblue is the third book in Kristin Cashore's series that began with Graceling and continued with Fire, both excellent novels (I gave them 5 stars and 4.5 stars respectively). Bitterblue is not quite as good, but the drop-off is slight, resulting in another strong read and a more than satisfying continuation.

The novel picks up some years after Graceling. The murderous, tyrannical King Leck has been dead for years and now Bitterblue, as Queen of Monsea, is trying to put her kingdom back together. Her first step toward becoming a true queen, however, is when she actually leaves her castle refuge and steps out into the streets of her city to engage with real people. Soon, she's finding things aren't quite what she thought they were. Her attempts to find the truth and to fix what is broken take place in a world suddenly grim with conspiracy, madness, confusion, mistrust, and murder.

I gave Cashore a lot of credit in my review of Fire for not rushing out with an immediate sequel to the hit Graceling. Instead, she revisited the same world via a book set in a different time, a different land, and focused on different characters. She deserves a lot of similar credit for the premise/core of Bitterblue. Though a more conventional sequel in that it returns us to familiar lands, times, and characters, she still takes some risks here. One is that while main characters from Graceling appear in Bitterblue (Katsa, Po, a few others), they are really quite minor. Also, rather than pick up immediately afterward, we've jumped in time a good chunk of years. But by far my favorite aspect of Bitterblue's premise is that rather than give us an entirely new adventure, the adventure here is how does one deal with the consequences of the evil that's been vanquished. The defeat of evil is a long process and killing the bad guy is just the first albeit necessary step. It isn't all "ding dong the dark lord's dead" and let's go back to a happy home (think "scouring of the Shire"). So here, Bitterblue doesn't get to jump on a horse and head off on another quest, she doesn't get to be distracted by the rise of another dark lord, or the prior dark lord's ticked-off minion, or the sudden arrival of some malevolent magical talisman. She has to deal with the tragic reality that evil doesn't disappear with the evildoer; it ripples out through time and society and continues to warp and distort people's lives long after the villain has been killed/deposed. And cleaning it up is a messy, ugly, and yes, "bitter," business. It's a concept too few fantasy authors explore, so props to Cashore for doing so and doing it so well.

The "evil" by the way, is pretty dark and grim and Cashore does not shy away from describing it, especially toward the end. There are some seriously disturbing images and concepts in this book and for that reason, I don't advise it for the lower end of YA readers.

The process of trying to recover from Leck's evil is even more confusing because Leck's power was mind-control and because he was such a control freak--leaving no records behind, burning or rewriting histories, disappearing hundreds (if not more) people. How does one determine "truth" in a world where people cannot even trust their memories? If they even have memories. How does one apportion "blame" or "guilt" in a world where people could be made to do something against their will? How does one make "reparations" for a lost son or daughter, spouse or parent? For a generation of forced ignorance? These are tough, complicated questions and they don't leave one confident that there are going to be a lot of clear-cut answers to them. The questions are complicated further by events outside Bitterblue's kingdom, where tyrannical kings are being deposed or threatened with being deposed by groups of nobles or even, gasp, the people themselves (both with some help from Bitterblue's disruptive friends--Katsa, Po, and the rest of the "Council"). Bitterblue wants to "fix" her kingdom, but should it even be "hers"? Should it even be a "kingdom"? More credit is due to Cashore for basing her book on such sophisticated, serious questions.

Many of these questions, it should be pointed out, have their real world analogs: it is not solely the realm of "fantasy" where leaders/govts that have mass murdered and "disappeared their own people, have rewritten their histories, have destroyed traditions and whole cultures. It is not solely in the realm of "fantasy" that countries have rid themselves of such leaders only to struggle with the legacy of what is left behind: how to deal with those involved, how to deal with guilt and punishment ("truth committees"), how to find out what happened to the disappeared.

Along with its underlying themes, another major strength of Bitterblue is, well, Bitterblue. This is, as is often the case in YA, a coming-of-age story. Bitterblue must come into her place as queen but also as young woman and Cashore does an excellent job of being patient with this process, showing it in all its glacial movement forward, with all its one step forward, two steps back sense of "progress." The romantic angle, a typical element of YA, is predictable but handled I'd say in unpredictable fashion to some extent, is handled in a more sophisticated manner than usual, and thankfully takes a back seat to the non-romantic aspects of Bitterblue's growth.

The plot, as one might expect in a story about mind control, loss of memory, conspiracy atop conspiracy, is a bit convoluted, perhaps overly so at times, though I had no complaints in that regard. It doesn't have a strong or sharply-edged sense of narrative motion, but I think that is quite purposeful and also quite appropriate. Things circle around, drop into dead ends; there's a sense of illogic or randomness throughout. There is a mystery (several actually) at the heart of Bitterblue, but I don't think one should expect to read it like a usual mystery, looking for cause and effect, looking to track one clue to the next to the logical conclusion. I'd love to say more about this, because I actually think it's one of the more subtly strong parts of the novel, but to do so I fear might give too much away.

Despite the sense that a sort of fog hangs over the plot, it moves along smoothly and quickly. I finished the book, roughly 550 pages in my ARC version, in two quite enthralled sittings, never feeling it lagged. Sure, if I pored over it I could have probably edited it down, but it didn't feel like it needed it, as so many books do. It was a 500+ page book that read like a 300+ page book (my wife, who grabbed my copy before I even did thanks to my being in the middle of another book, found it equally captivating, reading it in a handful of sittings thanks to staying up well past her bedtime to keep reading).

The few complaints I have are relatively minor compared to the book's strengths. Many of the side characters, and even some semi-major ones, were a bit flat or overly familiar. A few of the plot points as well, such as the prince/princess disguising themselves to head out into the city scene, though this was a less frequent problem. Characters were a bit too obtuse at some points, especially with regard to one particular individual/plot point (some characters have an excuse for being obtuse; that's not what I'm referring to here). The prose is pretty effortless and engaging throughout, but I can't say I was ever wowed by the language (not that such a thing happens often, so as I said, a minor complaint). As with the other books, the world-building is thin. Cashore has some strong descriptive passages in the book--art, for instance, plays a pretty big role and she does a nice job conveying sculptures, wall hangings, and the like--but the actual world never felt fully present or concrete to me: the city, the people in the city, the kingdom, the larger world beyond the kingdom. Finally, the more direct connections to the prior books at time felt a bit tacked on or clumsily integrated, or maybe just a bit rushed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bitterblue from the beginning, but the novel really finds its power in the final 100 pages. From here, the novel packs an emotional and philosophical wallop. I'd say the first 450 pages is well deserving of a four-star rating, but I'd give its final 100 five. It leaves you satisfied, moved, disturbed, and uncomfortable. That's my kind of book.

I'm glad I waited to read this. It turns out reading a few reviews before I read it helped me understand what kind of book this might be. I think I would have be really disappointed in it without that knowledge. Bitterblue is different in many ways for the other two books in the series.

I think what might stand out about this novel is that Bitterblue is not graced. She doesn't have the extraordinary abilities of Katsa or Fire. That doesn't mean she's less of a person in anyway, she's just like everybody else. What makes her story stand out is she's trying to run a kingdom that was brutally manipulated in ways most people can't even image. She wants people to heal but move forward at the same time. She also wants to fully understand what her father did to everyone around her. She remembers bits of what he did to her, her mother, and to a few of her advisers. But, she can only imagine the scars left on the rest of the kingdom.

But, despite all her best efforts, she often feels like her advisers are trying to brush it all under the rug. She constantly doing paperwork without really interacting with the people in her kingdom. The more questions she asks, the more they evade her. It worries her when she begins to learn the truth. Her kingdom is illiterate, buildings are falling down, and those trying to uncover the truth of Leck's reign are being murdered. With the help of two thiefs she befriends and a very dedicated librarian, Bitterblue begins to uncover what Leck was really trying to accomplish. And it opens up a whole new world to the people of Monsea.

I admired Bitterblue's courage throughout this entire journey. When she discovers her mother had been embroidering cryptic messages in all the bedding, she never falters She keeps reading. Then the librarian turns up journals written in Leck's hand. There's one for each year of his reign, but the language matches none that are known. It's a mystery we already know the answer to, but it's fascinating to watch them unravel it.

It was a slow and meticulous book. It wasn't at all what I originally though it was going to be, but I was okay with that. It ties up all the loose ends beautifully and I loved how in the end the story seemed peaceful.

I fell in love with Kristin Cashore's characters in Graceling and Fire. It was in Graceling that we first met a young princess named Bitterblue with a father who was so evil that he'd thoroughly corrupted the land he ruled over with his power. I looked forward to catching up with Bitterblue after she'd had a chance to grow into her title.

I keep seeing mixed reviews for Bitterblue. Some people are lovin' it, some feel let down by it. My opinion? I adored the novel, but I had to adjust my expectations. Mind you, I didn't have to lower them, but while Fire and Graceling were fairly action-packed and moved about the Seven Kingdoms a great deal, Bitterblue is rooted in Bitterblue's castle, in her city. They're fleshed out, a small world themselves, but the characters don't roam as much as in the other novels. And as April of Good Books and Good Wine pointed out, Bitterblue "is definitely more politically-oriented."

Bitterblue is itching for the ability to do something. Her advisers have fenced her in so that any attempts she makes to advance the lives of her people, to understand what is going on in her reign, are hindered. She feels like a powerless queen. A puppet queen with her advisers pulling the strings. A queen in name only. You get where I'm going with this? A redundant queen.

But Bitterblue, like Fire and like Katsa, is a heroine that I can get behind. People try to keep her in the dark? NUH-UH. She may not have Katsa or Fire's supernatural abilities, but Bitterblue's got a sharp and agile mind that she puts to WORK. Everyone is crazy. Her advisers- the people who are pretty much running her kingdom instead of her- are CRAZY. And dammit all, with the help of those she trusts (sidebar: one of those people is a librarian named Death- BAHA) she's going to FIGURE OUT why.

Bitterblue has also got a natural curiosity about the people she rules over that leads to her sneaking out of her castle where she meets Saf. I love how Kristin Cashore sculpts her romances. Particularly, I love how no two are exactly alike and that each result of a romance depends on the heroine. None of them let anyone else tell them how a relationship is going to wind up.

Finally, Bitterblue is joined a cast of familiar characters and you can't help but smile. Katsa and Po are the people we grew to love before, and though this isn't their story, they add an extra oomph to it.

- See more at: [...]

What can I say but that I am amazed - amazed at how far Cashore has come from her first book; amazed how well she held my interest through the daily duties and constant, ever present worries of Bitterblue that she didn't know enough to run her kingdom, to heal her people; amazed that for once the romance didn't even register in my head as one of the main plot points. I was too involved in the political cloud the young queen found herself in - everything vague and nothing tangible. I was too engrossed in the emotional journey she was on, to discover what her father really did to injure a whole nation of people, to revisit a past everyone else seemed determined to forget, to become more than she was allowed to be - to become a queen.

Graceling had a story every writer immersed in the fantasy world could recognize as something they would have loved to write about - Cashore did an especially splendid job with a plot that could have turned trite in the hands of another author - something easily ignored. But Cashore instilled soul in her book - in Katsa, in Po. She gave them minds that thought, acted, reacted in a manner slightly different from those of traditional heroes. She made them individuals.

Her books always seem to be more about the characters than the situations they are in - about emotions and about growing up.
I noticed that all three of her heroines seem to have their adventures at eighteen. She seemed to get hold of them at the cusp of womanhood and narrate to us a journey that would shape the rest of their lives.

In Fire, there was something haunting about a girl, alone in a visceral way, trying to prove to the world that she was something other than her father's daughter - that her monster blood didn't rule her. It was poignant but there, just as in Graceling, was a romance I loved. In Fire, the whole of the Dells was a wonderful, colourful vista - a battleground where humans and monsters warred in their minds everyday while a larger threat loomed in the North and politics and intrigue filled the pages. Some said, Fire didn't live up to Graceling - but I could only see the growth - the spreading of an author's wings. She was bringing in new concepts and she was creating whorls of complex plots which brought in questions of moral and ethical integrity in the face of decisions that could effect a whole kingdom- and I loved it.

Again the driving force in her books were Fire and the people who entered her life and decided to stay. I found that I loved that too.

In Bitterblue, she surpassed her previous efforts. It was as if she decided she didn't need to pull her punches any more. This isn't a romance, not really if you consider romances as things that always have a happy ending. I have no idea if Cashore intends to write another book to give us that happy ending, but I doubt it. Bitterblue will grow and become the queen her mother had known she could be, but it was this year of her life, these few months that we truly needed to be an audience to. Her father's legacy was insidious. Even eight years after his death, Leck hadn't vanished from Monsea and neither had his tyranny. It lived more quietly now, whispering down dark streets and strangling voices that want to protest. An adult Bitterblue was not as easily distracted by piles of paperwork and easy excuses as the child had been. When she began questioning, and distrusting the answers given to her, the young queen decided that some things had to be found out on your own. On the streets, in story rooms in dark alleys, hiding under a servant's cloak, Bitterblue hears tales of her father's reign and the story of how he was killed, again and again. She wonders why these men and women seem to find peace in these tales, when her advisers had explained to her that the kingdom didn't want to remember - that they wanted to move on - that the only way to start healing was to throw a shroud over the past and never look back.
Bitterblue found that she wanted to look back, wanted to find out exactly what had happened that put a dreadful spell of half-waking on her kingdom and why her people still suffered. But there were people who didn't want her to find out, who didn't want reminding and Bitterblue had to find these people too, for they were killing to buy silence.
I liked the boys, Teddy and Saf. Neither was much of a thief - they were doing what they could to right wrongs long forgotten. Up till 50% of the book I expected the kind of romantic involvement between Bitterblue and Saf that I had seen previously in Graceling and Fire. In the previous books, somehow love had prevailed. But I had forgotten that even in those books the characters had to make sacrifices to stay together, but never had the price been a sacrifice of who they truly were. In Bitterblue, that is what we asked of her and Saf, if we wanted them to stay together.
But I couldn't find myself too disappointed. They were not what the book was about. It was about Bitterblue emerging to take the reigns of her kingdom, it was about the first years of a queen who would one day become legendary. She is young and someday, either the time will be right for her and Saf or there will be someone else.
In the meanwhile, there was a whole new administration to create and run, conspiracies to disentangle and learning to trust men and women who had been both victims and abusers during and after Leck's reign.

Cashore brought Kastsa, Fire and Bitterblue together towards the end, which makes me believe that this is it. The last book. I know I'll whine about that later, but right now I'm still too satisfied.

The illustrations - great Gods! - the wonderful, perfect illustrations! My imagination could not have done a better job, no way.

I'm grateful that Cashore gave us a bit of Katsa and Po, especially Po in this book and that we could see how much their relationship had developed. I'm thrilled to see how much in love they still are. I'm also glad that Bitterblue is beginning to know how strong such a love can be.

And now that I've rambled on for some time, I'll bring it to an end here.
I loved the book - yes, I wanted more romance, but I'll take what she gave me because it only made Bitterblue more real to me, not just a book full of tropes to entertain. Oh how I wish there were more books in the Graceling world to come! Is that too much to hope for?

I LOVED Graceling. And while I didn't like Fire as much, I still really enjoyed it. So I was excited for Bitterblue.

Maybe I set myself up by expecting something great...or maybe my expectations were just too high. Regardless, I found Bitterblue lacking.

I'm going to keep this vague in order not to give away any spoilers.

I liked Bitterblue in Graceling, but here she's a cliche girl. She's a queen who goes 'out into the streets' under cover and the falls for a street thug. She moans and whines. She wants to learn more but depends on other people to do everything for her.

And there's so many issues in the book I couldn't figure out what the main plot was. There's the tunnel, the crown, the journals, what Leck really did, the sculptures, the murders/fires, the council and the events in Ester, the ciphers. It's just too much.

And while Po and Katsa appear in this, they're charactures of their former selves...and they get to do more exciting things. I wanted to go with Po on council business...wanted to go with Katsa through the tunnel (this is the best part of the book and is completely thrown away). I didn't want to be locked in the castle with Bitterblue.

Plus this book could have been tighter. I felt like we spent a lot of time reading, doing paper work, wandering around the castle. It could have been shorter and would have been better for it.

That said, there are some positives...Leck is wonderfully creepy and frightening, the ciphers were interesting and the surprise appearance late in the book was a great turn. Plus I liked getting to see more of Po (though Katsa wasn't around as much as I'd like).

I hope Cashore writes more about this world...and I want more of Katsa and Po. I just didn't care much for this installment.

Although I was very excited to read Bitterblue, I didn't enjoy the novel as much as I'd hoped. I'd give it 3.8-4 stars out of 5.

The premise of the story is really neat, but it was so *slow*. So slow. And long...! It was hard to get through this one. Overall, though, it's worth the read. Cashore's prose is still lovely and her characters are still solid...I just felt that her plot could've been a bit more cohesive.

Bitterblue takes several blasts to the past in her desire to heal her broken kingdom and discovers several horrific things about her father and his advisors and the plans that they carried out. The damage done to Monsea and its people by Bitterblue's father is very similar to that of the Dells by Fire's father. In fact, it was this parallel between the two that captivated me throughout the story.

Most enjoyable parts: The realism of the psychological destruction of Monsea's people (particularly Leck's advisors) is superb. Cashore doesn't pull her punches. I was enriched as a writer by reading :).

Least enjoyable parts: There were a few parts in the novel that were upsetting to me (herbs. I mean, really??! Really?), but overall it was the tempo of the novel and the structure of it that left a bit of a bad aftertaste in my reader mouth more than anything. It just seemed very sporadic.

And then, of course, there is the voice issue. I honestly think that all three characters in the Graceling series--Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue--have essentially the same voice. I don't understand *why*, however. (Also, Fire's political struggle is very similar to Bitterblue's, which made me feel like I'd already read portions of Bitterblue before.)

I can understand Katsa and Fire having similar voices.

Katsa and Fire are both dark beauties; they have difficult pasts and are quite jaded. They are intimately acquainted with shadow and have dipped their hands into darkness. Bitterblue, however, is a pale beauty. Despite her difficult past, she is surprisingly innocent/naive. I guess I just felt that there wasn't enough differentiation between the three.

Overall, I still enjoyed Bitterblue...but I wouldn't recommend it over Graceling or Fire.

I absolutely LOVED Graceling. I mean, I loved it so much that I think it might be one of my favorite YA fantasy novels (probably fantasy in general) that I've ever read. I loved the characters, the story, and especially the world, and I wanted to learn so much more about everything that I was so excited to find out about a companion novel. And then I read Fire, and I loved the characters and the world... but the plot was just not my thing. I struggled for so long to just get through the book, and I think the characters and the world were the only thing to make me get through. And then I saw that this book was coming out, and since it's a sequel to Graceling, I was excited again! Except for the nagging thing about Fire in the back of my brain... so I put off reading this book.

That was a huge mistake.

Bitterblue was phenomenal. It was Graceling all over again, but better! The world is already very much established by this point, but we learn so much more about people and places that I thought we already knew everything about. Cashore does an excellent job of incorporating characters and places from the past books and developing them further without even showing most of them for the majority of the book. Katsa and Po and all of their friends are back, and we get to learn so much more about Leck and his reign. There are even some things from Fire that show up, so that was pretty cool. And I'm glad I read the other books before this one - this book definitely needs to be the last one you read.

I think my favorite part of this book was watching Bitterblue grow and mature and change. In Graceling, she's just a baby (I mean, she's like 9, but still.). And then all of a sudden she's thrust into this queenship, and has no idea about anything going on in her kingdom. And I admire her for being the queen that wants to know. Most monarchs would be happy letting their advisers and such do the work for them, but Bitterblue wants a firsthand knowledge of the workings of her kingdom. She relies on old friends, makes new friends, and has adventures all her own without even leaving her city. She starts out as a confused, weak ruler, but by the end of the novel has transformed (or is beginning to transform) into this strong, brave young woman who is finally ready to shoulder all of the responsibility. She still has room to grow, and I'd be very interested to find out more about her in another book.

The romance was also very well done in this book. I loved Saf, and I loved him with Bitterblue. The romance was very slow (it takes most of the book to develop), and it starts out as nothing more than the two being acquaintances and blossoms into friendship that eventually turns into something more. but confusing. There are so many speed bumps along the way, and Cashore does an excellent job of writing the two characters like real people. They aren't too forgiving, but they aren't too stubborn. Bitterblue doesn't go in her room and cry for forever and neglect her work, and Saf cooperates even when he's mad at her. It's a very interesting relationship, and I'm so interested to find out if things ever work out for them (things are left so open-ended!).

I also really loved Teddy. I think he's my favorite new character, and I just wanted to give him a hug and be his best friend throughout the whole novel. I want to know more about him too, although we do get a good look into Teddy and Saf and their sisters.

The plot does become a little convoluted at times and left me a little confused, but everything eventually comes full circle. It's not exactly a straight story - things don't always start at point A and end up at point B - and we're sometimes thrown into the past without any warning or any context, but Cashore makes it work. It wouldn't be a good fantasy novel if there weren't 1000 plot lines and issues happening all at once! The inclusion of the ciphers really strengthens the plot too, and I thought that they were all ingenious. I loved the system that Bitterblue uses to cipher all her notes, and I just think it's so clever.

Overall, this book was absolutely fantastic. It exceeded my expectations, especially after Fire, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of the series. If you haven't read any of these books, definitely start with Graceling and read them in published order. I would totally suggest this to any fans of fantasy novels, especially YA fantasy. I think anyone who enjoys Rae Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns series would really like these books. A 5/5!

Queen Bitterblue rules a fractured kingdom after the defeat of her psychotic mind-controlling father Leck. This book really ties together Graceling and Fire which felt like they took place in two separate worlds, to a great extent.

Bitterblue and most of her royal advisors kind of stumble through trying to rule the kingdom, as most of them are still pretty shellshocked from the years of abuse they suffered under Leck.

Katsa and Po show up for a brief turn, as well as a much aged Fire towards the end of the book, but this is primarily, of course, Bitterblue's story. Bitterblue is thoughtful and sensitive, curious but cautious as she gradually teases out and unravels many of the mysteries that her father left behind. Her mother, who sacrificed herself in order to save her daughter from Leck, taught Bitterblue to use math to calm herself, and fight against her father's mind control. Clues slowly but surely begin to pile up, as Bitterblue sneaks out of the castle at night to mingle anonymously with her citizens. Everything from the three grand bridges and architecture of the castle that her father built, to the populace's lack of literacy, to the seemingly mad and random pranks mentally-addled survivors in the village play on each other and the symbols in her mother's embroidery begin to point to much needed answers for the still healing nation of Monsea.

I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that one of the major reveals in the book is that one of the most heinous acts of Leck was his penchant for secret torture dungeons where he forced members of his court to do his dirty work for him. This was something that was hinted about, and easily guessed, but not directly discussed until very late in the book. There are plenty of other twists and turns though, that I never saw coming, which I really enjoyed. I loved the librarian Death's special ability - his Grace is to be able to memorize every book he's ever seen. This is a slower-paced, but still grand and sweeping epic conclusion to the trilogy.

Eight years. Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue has been queen of Monsea for eight years since the death of her father, King Leck. A psychopath graced with the ability to make people believe whatever he wants, Leck left Monsea in a fog of devastation that still hasn't been lifted. Suspecting her well-meaning advisors are shielding her from the truth with blanket pardons for the crimes committed during Leck's reign, fixed reports and city statistics, and by refusing to speak about the past, Bitterblue is forced to go into the city disguised as a commoner to discover the truths of her kingdom. During her nightly visits Bitterblue meets Teddy, a printer, and Saf, a talented thief and Graceling who doesn't know what his grace is, and they all become quick friends. But instead of uncovering the truth behind the odd behavior of her advisors and the illiteracy of her citizens, the questions mount. As Teddy, Saf, and the truthseekers seek to restore what has been lost, Bitterblue questions the extent of the unknown. What horrors are being hidden from her and why is finding the key to her past and moving on seem so impossible?

Closing Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue left me with a lot to think about, and not for the most obvious reasons. Whether reader expectations stem from past experiences with previous books by the same author or early reviews and reader reactions, reading Bitterblue made me realize how much these expectations can affect our own reading experience. This is exactly what happened to me with Fire, the second book in Kristin Cashore's Graceling Realm series. My expectations were sky-high for that book, and in retrospect, too narrow. It's no wonder I was disappointed. Nonetheless, I hoped that my experience with Bitterblue would be different. Though I still had reservations, early negative reviews discouraged me even further from reading it. Once my feelings settled though and I was able to go into the book on my own terms, I finally picked it up and I couldn't be happier that I did.

To my own chagrin, there wasn't a page of Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue that I had any complaints about; on the contrary, I loved every minute of it. As its 576 pages warrant, Bitterblue is ambitious and epic - a worthy glimpse into what is only the beginning of a new chapter for Monsea. It is also longer and less plot or romance-driven than Cashore's previous novels. Knowing this beforehand allowed me to adjust my expectations and may have lead to my positive reaction overall. Bitterblue summarizes it best in this passage:

"In the bakery, leaning over the bread dough, pushing and shaping it into an elastic thing, she began to find clarity on one point: Like Death, Bitterblue had a taste for difficult - impossible - slow - messy work. She would figure out how to be queen, slowly, messily. She could reshape what it meant to be queen, and reshaping what it meant to be queen would reshape the kingdom."

I also agree in part by what has already been said: Some of the less significant plotlines (i.e. the crown) could've been abbreviated without losing their purpose within the story. Bitterblue may not be a page-turner in the traditional sense, which doesn't mean that I didn't want to read one more chapter after I finished the last, because from start to finish I certainly did. But the horrific subject matter and resulting emotional impact was overwhelmingly heavy and halted me at times. What also slowed my pace was the beauty of Cashore's nuanced, luminous prose, especially in the last 150 pages, throughout which I wanted to appreciate each small, climatically revealed puzzle piece as it fell into place. The myriad of messages, specifically knowing atrocities versus healing from them and when to offer harsh truth instead of kind deceit, are profound. Though the answers to the unknowns are disturbing at times and the least hoped for, the unvarnished truth at last revealed is what matters most and drives the plot. Perhaps the most heartbreaking and moving revelation is how one character embodies the collective destruction of Leck's victimization as a whole. Thankfully, there is also lightness in the humorous exchanges and comraderie between Bitterblue and the Council. I would be remiss not to mention the incredibly sweet, satisfying moments of Bitterblue's romance, which takes an appropriate backseat to the main mystery plot. The companion novel Fire may be more tightly plotted and Graceling more action-packed, but its sequel Bitterblue links the two novels in an enlightening way and is probably my favorite of the three, not only for the blood, tears, sweat and care that are evident in every page but for the new characters (Saf, Teddy, and Death "Deeth", the graced librarian who remembers everything he reads), old characters (Prince Po and Giddon) and strong, unwavering Bitterblue herself. I admired her courage and identified with her inner doubts. I loved watching her mature from her mistakes and setbacks as a queen and a woman. By the end you'll find that flawed, ordinary Bitterblue the character and introspective, character-driven Bitterblue the novel are not so average after all. Exquisite, even. Undoubtedly and sans trepidation I will be reading whatever Kristin Cashore writes next.

Note: Be sure not to miss the informative and witty character glossary, the detailed acknowledgements and the whimsical maps and drawings illustrated by Ian Schoenherr that appear after the novel. The entire design of the hardback - from the intricate cover pages to the chapter/part divider illustrations and the appendices - is exceptional and a must-own for any fan of the novel.

This is the story of Bitterblue, whom we first met in Kristin Cashore's first novel, Graceling. It is now eight years after the events of that novel and 18-year-old Bitterblue has been queen all that time, after the death of her father, evil King Leck. The kingdom of Monsea is still struggling to overcome the mind-destroying magic of Bitterblue's father, and she is burdened with advisers whom she views as clueless. In an important plot point that reminded me of a similar device that I enjoyed very much in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Bitterblue sneaks out of the castle to go out among her people incognito. In the process, she meets two young thieves, Saf and Teddy, who are Robin Hood type figures, stealing not for themselves, but to make right the atrocities perpetrated by Bitterblue's father.

Unlike the heroines of Cashore's first two novels, or Bitterblue's own father, the young queen has no magical powers herself. But we do meet again the two main protagonists of Graceling, Katsa and Po, who provide a magical element. Like Katsa and the heroine of Fire, Bitterblue has access to herbal birth control and is mistress of her own sexual choices. She is also emotionally confident enough to choose the mate she herself prefers in a medieval-type fantasy world where the vast majority of women don't get to make those kinds of choices.

It is very original and daring of Cashore to write a series of books occurring within the same fantasy world which are not truly sequential and are not based on the same heroine. Instead, they are mainly tied together by the ways in which evil Leck affects the three different female protagonists. Cashore has also gone out on a limb offering a heroine who is not magical or a strong, assertive warrior in the way that her other two Graceling-world heroines are. A heroine like that is something that most readers have come to expect from Cashore, as well as much more action than occurs in this book. It would also be hard to top the "meet cute" between Katsa and Po, which is one of the most amazing romantic collisions I've read anywhere, anytime. But even though the author did not choose to replicate those kinds of story triumphs in this book, I still consider this book well worth reading because no matter what approach she takes to a given story, Cashore is an excellent writer with fascinating characters, conflicts and fantasy world-building.

I rate this book as follows:

Heroine: 4
Subcharacters: 4
Fantasy World-Building: 4
Writing: 4
Mystery/Action Plot: 4
Romantic Sub-Plot: 3
Overall: 4

I was a bit hesitant to pick up Bitterblue, knowing that the protagonist was one of my least favorite characters from Graceling. To my surprise, I found that I really liked Bitterblue. She had more depth as a character than I thought possible after reading Graceling! If you, like me, were put off by Bitterblue in the first book, don't let that sway you from reading this YA high-fantasy must-read!

Let's face it: Bitterblue is no short read at 545 pages. At times it progressed a bit slowly for my tastes due to the lack of action. Despite that fact, the fantastic character development kept me hooked. I really respected Bitterblue in this book. She was a strong, fair, and independent queen, even if she didn't see herself as such. Her character grew on me more and more throughout the story. Despite the length and pace of Bitterblue, I was blown away by the depth and feeling of the characters within.

There is a lot of talk of truths and lies in Bitterblue. Like watching a terrible car crash, I couldn't help but be fascinated by the horrible reach of King Leck's grasp. What a psycho!? It amazed me how much of a hold he still had on people, even after his death. Much history is unraveled in Bitterblue, and it is not of a pleasant nature. Bitterblue has to decide whether revealing or covering up that history will be best for her kingdom.

Bitterblue will be a hard book to forget. With an endearing and strong protagonist, this book is a must-read for all high-fantasy lovers!

Back in 2008 I read and thoroughly enjoyed Kristin Cashore's Graceling, particularly for its protagonist Katsa and her struggle to find agency and freedom in a world that seemed determined to deny her both things. It's quite a common trait in fantasy-fiction for authors to believe that they've written a "strong female character" by giving her a sword and an attitude problem - but Cashore really seemed to *understand* what readers want in a heroine: real strengths, real flaws, real character development, and a growing sense of assurance in herself. As such, I ranked Cashore alongside Tamora Pierce and Garth Nix in delivering truly worthwhile female protagonists to a YA readership.

Admittedly, I never got around to reading Fire in 2011, but I was first in line for "Bitterblue", knowing that the potential for a riveting follow-up to Katsa's story was evident from the threads left over from Cashore's first book. An important but relatively minor character in "Graceling" was the young Princess Bitterblue, the daughter of a murdered queen and a psychopathic king. Here she takes center-stage as the young Queen Bitterblue of Monsea, struggling to pull her kingdom back from the brink of collapse after her father's thirty-five year reign of terror.

So far she's been doing well; with a team of advisors she's spent the last eight years embroiled in a "forward-thinking" program, designed to heal the country from the memory of King Leck's mind-manipulating abilities. Yet in the attempt to eradicate Leck's legacy, many of his darker activities are in danger of remaining forever shrouded in mystery.

Feeling stifled by secrets and paperwork, Bitterblue takes it upon herself to sneak out into the city at night, finding that the lives of the people are very different from what she's been lead to believe. Falling into company with two young thieves called Saf and Teddy, Bitterblue strikes up a friendship that opens her eyes to the true nature of the "forward thinking" ideology: that it involves a steadfast denial of past atrocities and the refusal to remunerate the people's losses. Those who are unwilling to let the past die so easily are known as "truthseekers", and yet it is these people who are systematically being hunted down and killed by unknown assailants who fear...what exactly?

It becomes increasingly clear to Bitterblue that the only way to heal properly is to revisit the past - but there are those who are just as determined to prevent her from uncovering the truth about her father's horrific cruelty.

The real joy of "Bitterblue" is in its unique story. Unlike "Graceling", which in many ways was a straightforward adventure, Bitterblue's tale unfolds more like a mystery, with plenty of court intrigue and unexplained oddities strewn throughout. As puzzles and clues stack up over the course of the story, Cashore manages to construct a rather unsettling atmosphere of mistrust and disconcertment. As she tries to untangle the lives around her, Bitterblue ends up wondering who she can really trust and whether or not she herself is on the verge of madness. A situation like this inevitably puts the reader on edge, for Bitterblue's goal is not to find a treasure or make a wonderful discovery, but to uncover something that even she is not sure she wants to expose.

It's not a case of "something is rotten in the state of Denmark," but rather "something is broken in the kingdom of Monsea", and Cashore has a pertinent statement to make about the nature of abusive relationships. Here the abuse happens on a nation-wide scale, in which hundreds of people were controlled, tortured and killed by a single man with the devastating gift of mind-control, but still the message is the same: that the victim's pain does not go away when the perpetrator does. The scars remain, a great deal of healing is required, and there is no "right way" to deal with it. Any other fantasy novel would end with the defeat of the evil king - but Bitterblue's story begins with Leck's death, for her task is to try to recover from the long shadow that he left behind.

As such, there are several key ideas that Cashore scatters throughout the book: themes of lying, done for necessity, convenience or pleasure, and the act of touching and being touched, whether it be self-inflicted cuts or gentler acts such as kissing or having one's hair brushed. Secrets abound, thus explaining the recurring motifs of cyphers and keys (even on the cover art), as well as the search for truth amongst the relatively harmless embellishment of storytelling to the horrific mind-rape that Leck inflicted on his people. Cashore shows a deft hand in linking these themes together in her exploration of the after-effects of abuse, and having thrown several subplots into the air, manages to juggle them all without ever losing sight of her main story.

If there is one flaw, it's in Cashore's world-building. I've long held to the principle that every novel needs three basic components working together to create a good read: story, character and world. This is especially true of fantasy-fiction, for the author usually has to present a setting that is entirely fictional, and thus must work extra hard to sustain. Despite the wonderfully vivid characters and the complex story, the realm of Monsea never felt that real to me, and I couldn't get a fix on the feel of the place. At best, I'd describe it as a generic medieval kingdom, and were it possible I'd knock off half-a-star for its lack of depth.

As mentioned, I had not read Fire before "Bitterblue", but it made little difference to the reading experience until the very end - perhaps I would have found the arrival of a particular character more appreciable had I known their history (no doubt chronicled in "Fire"). That said, I'd recommend not to read "Bitterblue" before "Graceling". Not only will the inclusion of characters such as Katsa and Po have little impact for those who are unfamiliar with them, but the concept of the Gracelings is assumed to already be known to the reader.

And just for fun, the book is decorated throughout with beautiful woodprints by Ian Schoenherr (who also illustrated Philip Pullman's Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North) as well as a glossary as written by the rather disgruntled librarian featured in the story itself (who considers himself far too busy to be attending to such matters). Both are nice ways to keep track of the various components in this ever-expanding world.

I love the whole premise of Bitterblue- it picks up 8 years after Graceling. Bitterblue is queen and she's trying to hold her kingdom together. People are acting strangely, and she's trying to undo the horrific reign of terror Leck had over the kingdom of Monsea.

The story is extremely well done. It answers all of the questions raised in its pages AND in other books. Plus, it has so much depth. Bitterblue is more than a story about falling in love for the first time or about becoming queen of a broken country - it's about healing and redemption and consequences.

There were definitely some revelations made in the novel that were tough to read, but I really like that Cashore takes us there. It's gritty and harsh but it makes sense with where things left off in Graceling. I can always appreciate continuity.

Katsa, Po and other unexpected characters from past books make an appearance in Bitterblue. Actually, Katsa and Po are more than just secondary characters, and I loved getting a closer look at how they developed since Graceling.

I LOVED Bitterblue as a character - she's a perfect combination of sass, vulnerability and regalness. I love how she often becomes exasperated with her advisors and others under her rule and resorts to sarcasm.

Moving on to the romance in Bitterblue: it felt a little distant for me, but I think it was for a reason. It wasn't meant to be the main focus of the story. The plot, characters and world - plus Bitterblue's journey- are the key to this book's story.

Although I was really rooting for Bitterblue (the girl deserves a BREAK!), I wasn't unhappy with how Cashore ended things. I mean, she had a tough act to follow after Katsa and Po's story anyway.

There are also some really funny moments in this book (Katsa and Po wrestling on the ground while having a serious conversation with Bitterlbue), which was necessary with all of the pain present in the book.

Healing is a huge theme in Bitterblue, and I liked how complicated Cashore made it. The process of moving on from so much pain was as realistic as it could be considering Bitterblue is a fantasy book. The people in the book were definitely fleshed out - feeling jaded and wounded and facing insurmountable guilt.

The power of the mind is so strong, and I like how well Leck's terrible power and its effects was portrayed.

OVERALL:

Bitterblue was a fulfilling conclusion to Graceling. It was deep and complicated and full of meaning and substance. With some mature content, I would warn younger readers against jumping into this book. For the rest of us, gear up for a roller coaster of emotions: pain, sorrow, joy, love and heartache. The plot and characters of Bitterblue were't rushed or forced, and I think it is one of the best series conclusions I've read in a long time.

I read reviews voraciously, but never write them. But I just need to tell someone about this book. I wanted to love it!! I liked the first book a lot, A lot!! This book? It got to the point that it was painful to listen to. Yes, I'm an audiobook reader, and sometimes the reader makes a difference. I don't think so in this case. I think the text just honestly got so bad. Bitterblue's character, for being a queen, has so little self-respect. It's not a matter of her not being treated like a queen by Safire. It was not being respected as a person, it was Safire being just vicious and horrible to her, and her dithering for so long because it was "all her fault." I'm sorry. No. Also, the plot was so scattered I could barely follow it. I got it as a library book. It was free. And I still got to the point where I just gave up and stopped reading. That almost never happens. Even the characters we knew from the last book seemed two dimensional and inconsistent, changed and warped to fit into the crazy plot of this book. Wanted to love it. Stuck with it as long as I could. Gave up halfway through.

I'll start by saying I'm a huge fan of Kristin Cashore's novels. I was completely in awe of Graceling and Fire and can honestly say that there isn't anything I'd change about them. I'm sure they have their flaws, but I enjoyed every last bit of each page, line, and paragraph. That said, my expectations for Bitterblue were ridiculously high. Sometimes, I'm worried to read highly anticipated novels: I don't want to be let down after all the buildup. Bitterblue, however, didn't worry me one bit... Cashore took her time with this novel and I had a feeling she wouldn't send anything less than her best out into the hands of her fans.

I'm a long time lover of fantasy, but, too often, YA lacks the epic scope that first called me to the fantasy genre. This is definitely not the case with any of Cashore's novels. She's skilled at fitting an epic story line into a relatively small amount of pages (compared to, for example, the many, many volumes Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks employ). Perhaps it's wrong of me to compare these three authors - they are definitely all very different - but the world building and character development of epic fantasy is wonderfully present in each of these authors' novels and it continually surprises me that Cashore is able to do it so succinctly.

I adored Cashore's first two heroines, but I think Bitterblue is, ultimately, my favorite. I love her quiet, unexpected strength. I respect Katsa, but she's quite forceful... Bitterblue is exactly what Monsea needed to heal after the tyrannical reign of her father.

Like Fire and Graceling, Bitterblue also has a romance element. I'm always head over heels for the men in these novels... but Cashore never makes these love stories easy. And, though I yearn for happily ever after in every love story I read, I respect Cashore for creating and maintaining a necessary obstacles. In this way, despite the fantastical elements of these novels, they still feel real.

And it isn't just the romance that lends itself to realism. It's present in the growth and maturation of Bitterblue, the betrayal of those who promised trustworthiness, and the loss and suffering experienced while a country is at war. Cashore manages to offer her readers a place to slip away from everyday life, while still keeping their eyes open. It's escapism with a very real message. It's quite wonderful.

I'm forever recommending Cashore's novels and Bitterblue will be no exception. I seriously cannot wait to see what Cashore offers readers next. In the meantime, I'll happily revisit Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue.

This is the third book in the Graceling universe. It was a lengthy but very well done book about what happens ten years after the events in Graceling. It was incredibly well done, but not always the most comfortable read as Bitterblue is confronting the horrors that happened during King Leck's realm. I have not heard of additional books in this series; so this may be the last one. I definitely recommend reading Graceling and Fire before reading this book; both books tie in with the events that happen in this story.

Bitterblue has spent many years ruling her kingdom with the help of a board of Advisors. As she gets older she is beginning to realize that more is wrong with her kingdom than she first knew. Half of her advisers seem insane and there are a number of things around the castle that don't add up. When Bitterblue ventures outside her kingdom in disguise she meets some theives who help open her eyes to the wrongness that permeates her kingdom. Now with their help and the help of Katsa's Council she hopes to unravel the dark mysteries of Monsea and help her kingdom to finally heal.

This book is very well done, very well written and very long. Bitterblue is an excellent character who is just so human and so real. Bitterblue makes mistakes that you might imagine a new queen would make and at times she makes decisions that are a bit hurtful to others or selfish. That being said she is really trying to do what she thinks is right; the problem is that she is human and at times not all that sure about what is right.

The romance between Bitterblue and Saf is bittersweet and complicated. The romance really doesn't drive the plot much, but it does occasionally drive some of Bitterblue's decisions. And Bitterblue's struggle between being Queen and being in love (although something explored in many stories before) is compelling.

All of our favorite characters are back in this story. We get to spend time with Po, Katsa, and many other characters from Graceling. It was wonderful, if sometimes bittersweet, to have all these characters back in one story together.

This is a complicated story and I enjoyed the complex plot, but at times it gets overly complex. At points there were so many side plots going on that it was hard to tell where the story was going. The whole deal with ciphers was kind of, well, unnecessary. I enjoyed the part it played in the plot, but I really don't think the reader needed to know exactly how the ciphers were developed and solved. It just drew the story out. Some readers might enjoy this kind of excruciating detail but I am not one of them.

Additionally in the beginning I was frustrated with how slowly Bitterblue made progress in solving her mysteries. This slow pace did an excellent job of conveying BItterblue's frustration, but it also made the reader feel frustrated and at times a bit bored. I was also a bit confused about why Bitterblue was so complacent for the first 10 years of her reign and only now was beginning to question some of the strange things around her.

The world created is wonderful. It is so detailed, complex, and well thought out. It is a wonderful fantasy world and I loved reading about The Seven Kingdoms and hope we get to read more stories set here in the future.

The above being said the story does an excellent job of tying everything together in the end. The last 100 pages or so, where all of the mysteries are solved and things start to tie together, was a real pleasure to read. I love how in the end the events of Graceling and Fire both tie into Bitterblue's story. It is a very satisfying ending and feels like things really come full circle.

A quick caution that this is a very dark book. Bitterblue is uncovering Leck's secrets and he was a very evil person. As such there is a lot of talk of torture, rape (including rape of children), and other very unsavory details that made me a little uncomfortable. So I would recommend this to older YA readers.

Overall I found this to be a great but long read. I enjoyed Bitterblue's story but at times wondered if we really needed to spend so much time on ciphers and if the plot really needed to be as complex as it was. The book does an excellent job of bringing together the events that happened in Graceling and Fire. This is not a simple straight-forward story like Graceling and Fire, it is incredibly complex. Not a ton of action but mostly politics and mysteries. I definitely enjoyed Graceling more than this book, but this was still a very strong fantasy book in its own right. I would recommend this to fans of the previous two books and also to fans of intrigue/mystery based fantasy.

This is the last of the books in the series that started with Graceling. Chronologically Fire comes first as it happens before the story in Graceling, but the author wrote Graceling first and Fire isn't central or important to the story of Graceling. However, Bitterblue does benefit from having read Graceling and Fire first. I personally read Fire first because I didn't know it was part of a series. I got the books in chronological order as a result but I think that as long as Bitterblue is read last, it is the only book that really has overlapping characters the reader will enjoy the experience.

This is the third book by Kristin Cashore and it is definitely the strongest of the three. Bitterblue is not a graced character nor does she have the beauty of the monsters but she is an interesting character, and I found it nice to see what it was like to be a normal human in a world with individuals who have graces. This story isn't as action packed as the other books were but I found it to be just as interesting. Bitterblue who was a child in Graceling is now a young woman of 18 and she doesn't like the way her advisers are running Monsea, the kingdom she became queen of upon her father's death.

"It all began with a High Court case about the madman and the watermelons. ... Sitting at the table of the High Court, Bitterblue was a trifle annoyed with her advisers, whose job it was to decide what court cases were worth the queen's time. It seemed to her that they were always doing this, sending her to preside over the kingdom's silliest business, then whisking her back to her office the moment something juicy cropped up." (p. 11-12)

Bitterblue struggles with her advisers telling her she should not do things and can not do things until the case of the watermelons which she didn't even knew grew in her city sends her out into her city to see what it is like for herself.

"She'd never seen the bridges up close. Despite her yearly tours, Bitterblue had never been on the streets of the east city; she only know the bridges from the heights of her tower, looking out at them from across the sky, not even certain they were real. Now as Bitterblue stood at the base of Winged Bridge, she ran her fingers along a seam where pieces of cold marble joined to form the gargantuan foundations." (p. 26)

She discovers the story rooms and the stories that are being told of her father and of her and the people she knows. At first she doesn't trust the stories because of her past but then she realizes she doesn't need to fear the stories she relaxes and listens. It is in the story rooms that she meets Sapphire, called Saf, and Teddy who befriend without knowing who she is.

"Teddy," said Saf, "go get the next round." "Sapphire told me you saw him steal," continued Teddy to Bitterblue, unconcerned. "You mustn't misunderstand. He only steals back that which has already been--" Now Saf's fist grabbed Teddy's collar and Teddy chocked over his words. ... "--stolen," spluttered Teddy. "Perhaps I'll go get the next round." (p.55)

Bitterblue gains some freedom and an understanding of her city that she didn't have before she meet Teddy and Saf. Through them she is able to understand her people and the struggles they are facing to deal with the past, some of them just want to forget and others want to find out the truth. Bitterblue is also seeking the truth of her father's actions and finds little help until she goes beyond the castle.

This was in my opinion the best of the three book but it did depend on knowledge of the others. Bitterblue is a real person and she depends on others and doesn't mind doing so most of the time. She is also strong but unlike the other books she doesn't have to fight to prove herself. This was a nice ending to the series. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoyed the first two.

***************I previously reviewed this book on my book blog (Book- Marks The Spot) on May 26th, 2012*********************************

[...]

my thoughts:

Where to start..
I pre- ordered this book on the store 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..3.5

King Leck has been dead and gone for eight years. His deadly Grace--the preternatural ability that allowed him to influence people and control an entire kingdom--will never hurt anyone in Monsea ever again.

Crowned queen at just ten years old, Bitterblue is still haunted at eighteen by the ghastly legacy Leck left in his kingdom. Monsea is now filled with broken people and more secrets than she can begin to fathom. Trapped by the bureaucracy of running a kingdom, Bitterblue knows little of day-to-day life in Bitterblue City and even less about how to begin to repair an entire country so irreparably damaged by Leck's reign of lies and horror.

When she begins exploring the secrets and puzzles that abound in Monsea, Bitterblue comes to understand that the key to securing her kingdom's future is inextricably tied to understanding not just Monsea's and Leck's past but also her own in Bitterblue (2012) by Kristin Cashore.

Bitterblue is a companion to Cashore's earlier novels Graceling and Fire. The story of the seven kingdoms starts in Graceling with Katsa's story. Fire is a prequel to Graceling with Bitterblue set about eight years after the conclusion of Graceling.

Although this book is not, in many ways, the beginning of the story, Bitterblue can easily be read out of order. While the beginning of the story may be muddled or confusing , the feeling is not inappropriate given the content of Bitterblue. Certain nuances with common places and characters will be perceived differently but as with many strong novels, any of the books in the Graceling trilogy can be the beginning of your reading experience.

I have many complicated feelings about Graceling and Fire. Before starting Bitterblue, I knew it would either become my favorite of Cashore's Graceling novels or it would be the one I liked the least. I suspected it would be the former when I saw the lovely cover (art by Natalie C. Sousa, designed by Kelly Eismann) and the stunning illustrations marking each section division in the book (illustrated by Ian Schoenherr). Upon finishing the novel, I can state without doubt that Bitterblue is easily my favorite and, in my opinion, the best of Cashore's Graceling books.

As the title suggests, this story focuses on Bitterblue. Characters readers grew to love in Graceling do appear here with varying levels of importance to the story.* Fire's place in the Graceling universe is also better explained as Cashore ties the three books seamlessly together.

Cashore is at the top of her game as she conjures the complicated history and current state of Monsea. Instead of shying away from the damage created by Leck's brutality, Cashore stares at it directly to create a complex and often painfully real kingdom with flaws, scars, and sometimes a fair bit of beauty and resilience despite Leck's influence. (As Bitterblue learns more about the specifics of Leck's cruelty, the novel does get heavy--not overly so and not to ill-effect. The material is often brutal and will stay with readers long after this story is told.)

While moments in both Graceling and Fire often felt anti-climactic or excessive, the entirety of Bitterblue is carefully plotted and purposefully presented. Even at more than 540 pages (hardcover, with a cast of character and additional maps to be found at the end of the story), Bitterblue never veers into the tangential or extraneous. As with the large cast of characters who all matter, every plot device is an important part of the whole here.

Cashore also makes use of a variety of motifs throughout the story including keys and ciphers. The recurring themes of literacy and storytelling also add another dimension to the narrative as characters explore the power of memory and claiming one's past to move forward.

Both subtler and more nuanced than Cashore's earlier novels, Bitterblue is as much its own story as the culmination of a chronicle three books in the making.

*Oh my gosh! Giddon is finally as awesome as I always knew he could be in Graceling!

Possible Pairings: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley, The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

*This book was acquired for review from the publisher at BEA 2012*

In terms of plot, Bitterblue was everything Fire wasn't - a fresh new story with a unique protagonist. I loved Bitterblue. She cared a lot about her people and really wanted to do her best to make things right for them. I also like that she valued education and was good at math - things which are not true of enough heroines Although advisers trying to keep a young heir from truly ruling is a bit of a cliche, they weren't simply motivated by power in this case and the mystery of their motivation made the plot more novel. We did dive into the action right way, but the element of mystery kept this a very different plot than the more combat-oriented prequels. I thought the plot was also improved by the believable changes in the world between Graceling and the beginning of this book. Knowing the history of the current world and why it is the way it is in Bitterblue made me feel more invested in the world Cashore described.

Speaking of Cashore, I thought the her voice matured a lot between this book and the rest of the series. She writes with a new confidence and great sense of humor which I don't think we saw as much before, especially in Fire. Something about her writing style just roped me in and kept me up reading until 5am and the last page. Sadly, the ending is where this book fell short for me. I was actually disappointed I stayed up to finish it, which doesn't happen often! The bad guys aren't particularly competent bad guys and basically self-destruct. There's no momentous final confrontation. The advisers' secrets are really not that shocking given what we already know about Bitterblue's father, which was kind of a let down. Finally, the romantic sub-plot doesn't wrap up particularly conclusively either. And while that might be acceptable in a book with more satisfying resolution of the main plot points, in Bitterblue I was just left wanting more.

This is the third and final volume in the Graceling trilogy and I can say that I loved all three books. Kristin Cashore took a bit of a chance in her second book, Fire, because it dealt with a completely different character and kingdom. While not all readers agree, I believe the gamble paid off handsomely. In comparison, the middle book in the Hunger Games series was not as strong as the other two, while here we were given three equally strong books. This third book returns, more or less to the scene of the first book, Graceling. It is eight years later and this one centers on Bitterblue who is Queen on Monsea. Bitterblue is trying to help her kingdom recover from the rule of her father Leck, who was a sadistic monster with the power to control people's minds. The story, in my opinion, was simply brilliant. I am in awe of Cashore's ability to create a wealth of interesting characters, a large number of extremely intriguing mysteries, plenty of action to keep the plot moving, and to tie all three books together at the end. I listened to the last two books as I was commuting and I have little doubt that this contributed to my enjoyment. The narrator, Xanthe Elbrick, was wonderful and her ability to do so many different voices and accents brought both books to life. Although I was pleased to finally learn the solutions to the many mysteries contained in the book, I was very sad to have the trilogy end. I very much look forward to Cashore's next book.

I hope that the purpose of Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore was so that the people of the Graceling Realm and the people of the Dells could meet. Even though I enjoyed Bitterblue it did not compare to Graceling or Fire. But we do learn more about how truly evil Leck was and how it has affected Bitterblue and how she rules her kingdom. King Leck's Grace allowed him to tell lies everyone believed. When Bitterblue became queen she thought her father's murder meant the end of his reign of terror but she was wrong.Bitterblue knows her advisors are hiding something so she begins to explore her own city to discover the secrets of her kingdom. I thought the first half of the book was slow and mainly shows how Bitterblue begins to realize her father still holds power even after his death. The second part of Bitterblue was much more interesting and Bitterblue finally begins to claim hold of her kingdom. I wish Bitterblue had contained more fantasy and less political drama. I thought there was a lack of fantasy besides the Graces mentioned which disappointed me. The romance in Bitterble did not compare to the romance in Graceling or Fire as well. I was pleased to see that Po, Katsa and Fire returned to the series though I would have liked to see more of all of them. Bitterblue did explain and reveal many mysteries so I was not left pondering about what happened to Bitterblue but I was left pondering about something else. I would recommend Bitterblue to fantasy and political drama fans.

Keep in mind this book was written for Young Adults. I think it's unfair of other reviewers to call the heroine "clueless". She's less than 18 and ruling a kingdom. I think it's safe to say that all of us at that age (or ANY age) let some things slip through the cracks. This book tackles things such as things are not as they always appear, how we all have our own internal bias, and even how avoiding shame can cause even greater damage. Some nice mystery & the return of some characters from the 1st two books. But the focus of this is really Queen Bitterblue coming of age.

Bitterblue is now eighteen and queen. Unfortunately she is left a great mess to clean up by her dead father, crazy King Leck. To make matters worse, she is kept busy in her office from morning to night will all the new orders she must go over and sign. Can she pull her kingdom back together before her own people start to revolt like the kingdoms around her?

I like the style of Cashore's writing. I find it easy to read even when thing diverge into information that is not completely relevant to the plot. It is still fun to read all the side details. The plot sometimes was a little dull with it revolving around political intrigue, but the writing was great.

While the style was great, I found myself missing the characters which were more exciting in the previous novels of the series: Katsu and Fire were both strong unforgettable characters. After reading the book, I realized that I could not recall what Bitterblue even looked like. (I read Graceling at least 6-8 months ago). I like strong characters and while Bitterblue was searching for strength, I felt she seemed very immature- even though she was supposed to be eighteen- and lacked the strength of the previous protagonists.

I completely recommend this to people that liked the first ones and if you are new to the series, start with graceling

Warning: Mature themes for older teens and adults including: sadomasochism, rape, pedophilia, alcoholism, cutting, Morning After-type drug, gay and lesbian, teen sex, murder, self-mutilation and more.

Author has some creativity and some ability to weave a plot, but the liberal take on heavy, moral issues was hard to swallow, making it not just another innocent, entertaining read.

Kristin Cashore's characters are everyday--yet still completely extraordinary. The feeling as if I'm visiting old friends is what keeps me coming back for more in her Graceling books. Her latest, "Bitterblue," didn't disappoint. Only this time, I got to discover how a little girl I once knew came of age.

Cashore's character-driven approach might seem tedious to some readers. It doesn't lend itself to fast-paced action--which seems to be the biggest complaint from the one-star reviewers on here--although there is no shortage of mystery and bizarre events that affect the characters. It's not over the top, but more like the everyday events of anyone's life. Only, in "Bitterblue," those everyday problems affect the future of Monsea. Cashore's approach allows for three-dimensional, fully developed "people." They have such great depth, and as a reader, there is nothing I love more than getting lost in great characters.

Beyond the characters, I especially enjoyed "Bitterblue" because the entire book is a puzzle, filled with ciphers, clues and pieces that the reader gets to put together along with the heroine in order to unravel the mystery of her father's twisted reign. Because her father corrupted people's freewill, many of the characters are broken and damaged mentally. There are certain scenes that I felt that tea with the Mad Hatter would be tamer than trying to decipher their ramblings. It actually adds to the challenge of figuring out the puzzle Bitterblue is trying to solve, because it plants false clues, and you have to pick through the insanity to find the truth - just like Bitterblue.

Cashore's third novel is a sequel to "Graceling" and a companion to "Fire." However, if you haven't read either, "Bitterblue" works as a standalone novel. I recommend all three, though.

Why read: Received from LibraryThing Early Reviewers

What impressed me: I always, always, put off reading this series. I dragged my feet before reading Graceling and loved it. I put off reading Fire and loved it more. I sat on this book for a good 6 months before opening it, and of course, it ended up being phenomenal. Cashore's stories are a little more straight fantasy than I'm usually into, but with each book she manages to make my doubt my own personal preferences. Bitterblue becomes such an important and enthralling character, and while we see many from the other two books, she is definitely the culmination of all that has come before. This was the perfect ending to the series, one that satisfies, yet always surprises.

What disappointed me: This is the last book. While everything is wrapped up perfectly, it's so sad to say goodbye to the characters.

Recommended: Absolutely. Readers should devour this entire series immediately.

I couldn't wait to read Bitterblue's story because I absolutely adored her character from the first book. For being such a strong willed, independent, and mindful thinker I thought that is exactly how she was going to grow up. Yes, on one hand she did but there was always something on the edge of her personality that bordered to me on condensation and thoughtlessness. I was truly disappointed in this book because I felt like it had absolutely no end. It didn't wind up nice and tight and answer all of my questions like I wanted it too; I ended up having so many more at the end of the book. Also, I was severely disappointed in the relationships throughout. That was one of my favorite things in the other two books and this one just seemed to fall flat. I did like getting some answers to what happened revolving around Leck but they were just there and not really presented to the reader. This book also had a great deal of awkward time jumps (more so than the others) it ended up just making the story more choppy instead of flowing smoothly.

What a disappointment! As much as I LOVED Gracling and Fire, and as prepared as I was to read a different type of story (more policiatal intrigue than action and adventure), I found this novel to be too long and without enough to keep me interested. First of all, Bitterblue seems absolutely clueless which is not the impression I got from her after reading Graceling. I find it hard to believe she spent YEARS not realizing things were wrong in her kingdom. Then her love interest Saf is childish and extremely annoying. He is no Po or Brigon. I kept hopping she would notice that Giddon would be a way better romantic choice but she never does. Then, after way too many pages, we find out...Leck is a horrible person who made people do horrible things. Which we already knew!!! When it did end, I could believe how very little was resolved. The only reason I didn't give it one star was that it was nice to see what ends up happening to Po, Kasta and Fire, otherwise this was a waste of time.

The Inadvertent Thief (The Thief)

Overall the book is well written and it keeps your attention, but I had higher hopes for this story. It seems like I had to wait a very long time for this book and perhaps I expected more than I would have if I hadn't had to wait for so long. I was frustrated to see no real resolution between Bitterblue and Saf. There is so much sadness and chaos in her life that I would have loved to see her get to have something definite and tangible in the end. I am not a fan of the way the book ended. It was full of frustration and sadness. Nothing really seemed to get resolved in her personal life (while I will concede that her political life seems to have begun to clear up nicely) and that left me with a feeling of open-endedness that I did not enjoy. It seems as though she left it open for more books to be written, which is clever on her part but a bit annoying for me. Overall I would suggest the book to fans of the series, but I would also prepare them for a frustrating ending.

Characters were weak, storyline was overdone and weak, I finish books even if I don't really like them and this one was very difficult to finish. Characters relationships were disappointing and weak. I enjoyed Graceling - don't waste your time/money on bitterblue. - you'll just be bitter and blue.

I feel very blah after reading this. The novel kept my attention and made me feel excited for new discoveries. I even told myself, "this is why I like this series!" while reading. However, it just keeps getting needlessly dark ... and then just ends. The ending is realistic, but I wouldn't call it bittersweet. There's a moment of hope of recovery from all the TERRIBLE THINGS that have happened, but it's really not enough. It's as if the book was wrapped up in a hurry. While most authors botch endings to things all the time, the general content of this novel required a good ending to save it.

We all know Leck is Bad(tm). He did Bad Things(tm). But the stuff that's only hinted at - stuff you wish is just yourself thinking too hard and nooo the author couldn't possibly imply that Leck did THAT and even if she was implying THAT she was only going to IMPLY such - the author just straight up paints in vivid pictures of stuff that makes you want to throw up. I'm going to save you from having to read (TRIGGER WARNING! SPOILERS! TERRIBLE THINGS AHEAD!): Leck raped little girls, forced others to watch and rape for him, impregnated and then butchered them for "science."

That's what we find out. That's what the fun little secret messages and puzzles are about. That terrible feeling you get when you hear about a senseless tragedy on the news is all this book gives you. I feel a bit wronged, thinking that we were going to get something a bit more substantial out of the book besides hearing about the absolutely gut-wrenching and terrible things that Leck did. We all already agreed he was terrible! Did we REALLY need to make him even more terrible, to the point that I feel completely uncomfortable as a reader?

Add to that the cheesy romance continuation of Po and Katsa that is just like "c'mon staph it already, it's Bitterblue's story," and the intrigues that just fizzle because nothing interesting was written after the puzzles were solved, and the romance plot (that includes a tacked-on continuation to a sex scene just so we can establish that there was oral sex afterwards) that is more frustrating than satisfying, and shoehorning all the characters from the previous books, including the super-old protagonist Fire.

It's just! The choices and direction the author took were NEEDLESSLY mature. They're out of left field. They blindside you. They're not what you expected. We got a little of that in the previous book when we have to face the fact that our friend that we sometimes sex impregnated several girls at once. It's just not something you'd expect from a YA fantasy romp.

So, no. I won't convince myself this is a good book, even though I tried to like it and read the whole thing. I don't think I'll be reading anymore of this author's work.

Actually, 3.5 out of 5 stars

I really, really wanted to like this book, I truly did. I LOVED Graceling. It was the book that started my love affair with YA fiction not too long ago. Then I read the sequel, Fire, and was not impressed. But I loved the character Bitterblue enough in the first book, and respected Cashore's writing, to at least finish the series.

In the last of the trilogy, we find Bitterblue, now on the cusp of womanhood, in full reign of her kingdom, but still trying to overcome the grasp that her father has held on the kingdom, and her, for so many years. Is there conflict, yes. Are there great characters, yes. Do we feel for Bitterblue and her plight, yes.

But...(there's always a but, huh)!

Cashore does a great job building up the past and how horrible King Leck was, but the conflict - now, in the present - never seems immediate enough. I never felt like Bitterblue was in any real danger. Because of this, I had to keep reminding myself that she was actually in her late teens, and not the same small child I had read about in the first book. The conflict from her father in the past is strong enough to be real, but it just doesn't work for me. Cashore is never able to bring any real urgency.

Why? One of the reasons is because the characters in the book (which are plenty) are stiffled inside the castle. The majority of the book (the VAST majority of the book) takes place inside the castle. There was a moment towards the beginning where Bitterblue wants to get out and explore the city, meeting new people, learning of secret plots, and it really helped the story move along. The introduction of Saf as the love interest and mysterious rogue worked for me, but just when it was moving forward and I felt a little breathing room, everything moves right back into the castle. So many characters crammed into the confines of the same space got crowded. I think Cashore had a hard time as well trying to figure out what to do with them. Saf, the one character I wanted to know more about, almost became a byword for the second half of the novel, with no real relationship built up between him and Bitterblue. What gives!?!?

Maybe it was just too much. The book did NOT need to be 500 pages long. Cashore has a wonderful, witty dialogue with characters that came out in this book, that was enjoyable, but over time became unimportant because I lost track why I was reading. At the end of the day it was a good book, worthy of the time. I understand Bitterblue's motives and what she is trying to accomplish. There was resolution, I just don't agree with the plot and storyline that Cashore chose to bring it about.

THIS IS A REVIEW FOCUSING ON ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY AND THEIR ROMANTIC ASPECTS. **Spoilers in the second half of review; they are marked.

Firstly, I read the books in the order of Graceling, Bitterblue, and Fire, and that is what I would suggest for first-time readers because it makes entering the Dells a lot less confusing, in my opinion and gives Bitterblue a lot more mystery so that for the last chunk of the book the reader isn't going "I KNOW WHAT THIS IS ALREADY, GET A MOVE ON".

That out of the way, let's move on the romance.

The romance portion of all of these books is really a let down, which is extremely disappointing since they are all incredible books. It seems like Cashore tries to make a really annoying statement with each romance. A traditional relationship is apparently taboo in these novels. It was tolerable in Graceling, infuriating in Bitterblue, and just a feeling of resigned disappointment in Fire.

(HERES WHERE THE SPOILERS START)

In Graceling, Katsa is completely against a relationship. She doesn't want to be tied down or owned, and this really goes along with her character, therefore, while it did annoy me (that may just be due to my preferences, however), it was something that made sense. I really wish that Katsa didn't have to beat a dead horse with this, though. It's as though marrying Po, the love of her life, the most important person in the world to her, would kill her. It does fit with her character, though, and the romance isn't really stunted too awfully in this novel.

Now to Bitterblue. I really wish that at this point Cashore's back cover summaries would stop acting like these books are so romantic, and that Cashore would stop trying to make romance a large part of the plot, because it's a let down when it's something you look forward to. The romance in Bitterblue isn't touched on very well at all and it seems like Bitterblue and Saf will never get together. When they do get together, it's briefly, and they have sex, of course. Cashore is a real stickler for sex between the love interests. At the end of the book, the relationship between Bitterblue and Saf is dropped abruptly, uncomfortably, and I was left with the overall feeling of a sunken ship (no pun intended). I was really hoping that Saf and Bitterblue would get married or there would be an epilogue where they were king and queen or SOMETHING. Instead, Cashore drops their love and brutally. They go their separate ways and it seems like now that Cashore is really tryin to make some kind of statement that isn't working. Of course, it's almost nice to see that a logical standpoint is being taken with these two: Why would the Queen marry some peasant that stole from the crown repeatedly, even if for a good cause? Even then, the romance and tension building throughout the book seems wasted and as though Cashore heartlessly dropped their relationship into the garbage at the end of the book. This was the most angering if the three love stories.

Now we get to Fire. At the end of Bitterblue, when Fire meets the Queen, it is revealed that Fire and Brigan did get married. However, knowing that Bitterblue was the last book in the trilogy, it seems like Cashore threw this in to appease readers because she was giving them love stories that were jumping off cliffs. In Fire, Brigan and Fire do not get married. At the end of the book they are left questioning what to do with their relationship and that's it. They had sex and that was it. By this time, I was just sighing. I should've seen it coming. Instead of ending with the wedding of Fire and Brigan, it ends with the funeral of Archer. When I closed the book, I just looked at it, feeling an emptiness in my heart where this plot was lacking. The lack of any type of traditional (aside from the spur-of-the-moment knowledge that Fire and Brigan did indeed get married) romance between three very different characters started to seem unrealistic and unfilling.

All this said, I really love these books, I just wish their back covers weren't so misleading the romance department.

I'm writing this review because I feel like the prior 326 reviewers (of which I've only read about 20) have somehow managed to miss the key elements of the story. Fair warning: some small spoilers ahead.

Some of the top-rated reviewers write for and against the sexual freedom of Kristen Cashore's characters. Huh? Bitterblue is way too busy through most of the story to even think about sex.

People have write about their disappointment with the lack of action relative to Graceling, for example. That is a fairer complaint, but these stories go in such different directions that comparisons between the two books are meaningless.

More people write about their disappointment in the way some of the characters evolve. My advice: get over it. I wasn't too happy with the way Katsa and Po's relationship evolved, but it is reasonable given the extraordinary stress the two characters are under.

The focus of this book is about healing a land and people broken by the long rule of a mad and powerful king. How do you re-establish trust when people lie to each other and to themselves constantly to forget the pain? For that matter, how do you continue to live with yourself when you clearly remember committing unforgivable acts? Is the country best off hiding its history or embracing it? These are incredibly difficult concepts, especially when written in a young adult oriented-novel.

Cashore keeps the interest of her readers (and likely herself) by adding layers pf puzzles and codes and cyphers while Bitterblue works through the difficult choices of what kind of nation (and government) she is going to provide to her people. She certainly does not lack for bad role models.

People have complained that Bitterblue is stupid through much of the novel. That is ridiculous. She is very much a late teenager with their willful need to connect with the world without adult supervision. She has been consistently and successfully lied to by nearly everybody around her for years. It takes time to overcome the strictures that places on your mind, especially when you cannot know who to trust. Bitterblue is fortunate that she has the Council descend on her periodically to help her get a better perspective on what is going right and wrong with her country.

This isn't the perfect novel. The use of language in this novel isn't quite as impressive for me as it was in the previous novels, but in some ways that is a virtue. The continual little discoveries (like why Lovejoy's skin doesn't quite fit right on her body) are horrific. Such concepts too well communicated would keep people from finishing the book. On the other hand, discovering that Lovejoy was still capable of love at all felt like a minor miracle.

The tunnels under the mountain ranges seriously violated suspension of disbelief unless Cashore intends to give us a better understanding of what made them. The section with Fire at the end was both welcome and very uncomfortable. It felt a bit too much like hero worship (and Fire is my favorite of her characters) but the part when Fire shows Bitterblue how a leader needs to view (and be viewed by) the land was amazing and transcendent and earned this book a 5 star rating.

My biggest question after reading this novel is, "What will this remarkably talented and ambitious author do next?"

Spoilers for those who haven't read the previous books! Perhaps some spoilers for this book? Nothing major though.

Bitterblue's now 18, and she's running the kingdom of Monsea. Her father, Leck, is dead, but he still seems to live on. Although she's advised to look forward and forget the past/Leck's reign, Bitterblue doesn't feel like she can rule being so oblivious. Her advisers freeze up when she asks questions, so Bitterblue sneaks out of the castle to find answers. She goes disguised as a commoner and hears the stories her people tell. Along the way, she meets two thieves, Saf and Teddy. Saf is a Graceling with purple eyes...yet he doesn't even know what his Grace is. His best friend, Teddy, is really sweet and understanding. They own a printing shop along with their sisters, and for some strange reason steal gargoyles (you'll find out why in the book). Also, since Bitterblue won't say her name, they call her "Sparks." Soon Bitterblue registers how many lies (some betrayal!) she's living with, and she makes it her job to clear everything up.

Bitterblue is also very smart--she caught some things that I wouldn't have even noticed! The book is full of great humour and dialogue! Man, a pro of having a Kindle is being able to bookmark the funny scenes :) The con of it is that I didn't know so many pictures were in the book! I might just wander into a bookstore to sneak a peak of the illustrations; the e-book pictures just feel incomplete. I really did love this book, but I didn't feel like it ended well enough :/ Perhaps another book, Cashore? :D :D Yes, please!!!! (view spoiler) I love how the keys have such meaning throughout the book--so much discovering!

If you've read GRACELING and FIRE (and if you haven't: what are you doing? READ IT!), then you'll definitely recognize some people.

I was hoping that "Bitterblue" would be a more put together book then "Fire", but I was wrong. Each new book in the Graceling series went downhill. "Bitterblue" was the most disappointing of all three.There was too much focus on Leck. We understand that Bitterblue has taken over after Leck's rule, but we want to know what Bitterblue is doing currently, not what Leck has done. It was a bit like discovering all of Hitler's doings. Sure, we would like to know for the sake of history, but we don't want to get into detail about his psychotic behavior and solely focus on his unsettling sociopath ways.

The author wasn't very good at describing how a monarchy was ran. She opted out of political dealings because Theil had caused Bitterblue to sit at her desk all day with paperwork. Bitterblue was very immature, and quite an annoying character. She was like a chicken with her head cut off. She was running around, with scattered information, and not getting any answers until the very end.

The whole read was irritating. Every paragraph jumped around, and it felt like you were being flung violently into another scene without the last one getting a solution. It was also way too long. It could have been summed up in 200-300 pages easily. Saf was also an obnoxious character. The characters were just harder to like in this book. I was hoping that Bitterblue and Giddon would fall for each other, but that didn't happen.

The overall feel of the book was dark with Leck over-shadowing everything else that was going on. The love story didn't make sense. And what is it with this author and rape? Both "Fire" and "Bitterblue" mentioned rape countless times. We understand that Leck was a scumbag, but we don't want the intimate details of what he was doing to little girls. Really? Does that produce a solution to the story? No. Also, the author is totally anti-traditional marriage. I wholly expected Bitterblue to get married since she was eighteen. But none of that now either. Let's throw in some hot pre-marital sex for these teenagers to read about. The morals and standards for these books were just low. There were also two gay couples which didn't fit into the story at all and were just distracting.

This is not a read for a teenager. This isn't even a read for a grandmother.I would not recommend this book to anyone. It was violent, gruesome, disgusting, and sad.

Both Graceling and Fire I absolutely loved 90% of. For Bitterblue, I enjoyed 10%. I expected Bitterblue to be different- I looked forward to the fresh story in fact- but I was completely dissatisfied. I'm finding it difficult to fairly articulate what went wrong. The first few chapters I did enjoy immensely and was prepared to be enthralled throughout. Instead, I became bored and annoyed, and that feeling never left.

A major issue with it is probably editing. The book is too long, and too many aspects were far too repetitive. The mystery was weak given the constant, slow build up. The puzzles were promising as introduced but few had satisfying conclusions.

Probably the worst though, and the most surprising for any that read Graceling or Fire, is the weak characters. Where Katsa and Fire were strong and well developed characters in their own unique ways, Bitterblue is self-absorbed, boring and the entire world built around her does nothing but support this. It reads almost as Graceling fanfiction with Bitterblue being the Mary Sue- everyone is so very concerned for her, Bitterblue is so very angst filled and I so never cared about her. To compare to a too often panned book- Bitterblue is more like Twilight than Graceling. Throw in a poorly developed romance and eye-roll inducing social commentary, and it makes for a difficult read.

There IS a good book in here, but it's buried beneath so much fluff. As I said, better editing could have saved it. The point of the book (much like this review, probably) could have been said in many less words. The themes involved were very serious and laudable, I just wonder if the plot was sacrificed to promote them.

A lot of fantasy books end with the defeat of the evil Emperor/King/Dark Lord. Everybody celebrates, and everything is all puppies and flowers.

What most authors don't address is what comes AFTER the bad guy's defeat, and how the good guys rebuild. But that is what Kristin Cashore's "Bitterblue" is all about -- a teenage queen struggling to heal a kingdom still traumatized by her father's rule, with wrenching emotions and likably quirky characters all over the place.

For thirty-five years, Monsea was tormented by the evil King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen, but the kingdom is still haunted by her father -- from the bizarre (a clock with fifteen hours) to the horrific (his kidnapping of children). And every night she sneaks out of the castle to mingle with the commonfolk, including a young Lienid "thief" named Saf, who has an unknown Grace.

But despite Bitterblue's efforts to heal the scars left by Leck, someone is trying to stop her. She's digging too deeply into old crimes committed by her father, and someone -- for some reason -- wants those secrets kept buried. And to stop the queen, this conspiracy will not only strike out at her, but Saf and his friends....

Moral dilemmas, ciphers, rebellions and a quest to find the ugly truth -- "Bitterblue" is very much a thinking person's fantasy novel. It's all about the aftermath of a tyrant's rule, and all the secrets and treachery that are left over once the good guys finally take over... assuming they do. There are always more bad guys waiting, and sometimes there is no good guy to take over the government.

And that is what Bitterblue has to grapple with. This is the kind of heroine we need more of -- she's strong and intelligent, but she's also haunted by memories of her cruel father and her fear of being like him. And she has the right balance of insecurity, strength, fear and determination to make her feel like a real teenage girl who has been thrust into a royal role, not a whiny "rebellious princess."

And the supporting cast is just as good. Katsa and Po are both here, older and a bit wiser, but with plenty of passion and fire -- and we have fun characters like Teddy the truthseeking dictionary-maker, or the snappish librarian Death.

Cashore's elegant, polished prose ("her heart was a bright burst of sadness and shame") has just the right amount of grittiness, with moments of sharp horror when someone reminisces about the bad old days under Leck. And she underlies the slow-burning suspense with a sense of bittersweetness, which sometimes flowers into outright sorrow.

"Bitterblue" is a wrenchingly beautiful piece of work, bringing readers back to the darkly brilliant world of the Gracelings. It was a long time coming, but worth the wait.

Bitterblue is the third book in the Graceling Realm and focuses on the eponymous heroine who had to rule a kingdom that was crippled by her sadistic father. I read this book last year and I want to talk more about it because it has made a lasting impact on how I perceived the fantasy genre.

Where to start…this is a book that deals with the heavy ramifications of mind rape and the resulting extended manipulation that continuously traumatizes the victims. Although this is a fantasy book about wild creatures, a kingdom, queen, and politics, it is much more than an fairy tale. The people handle serious issues and suffer from mental instability after the culprit of these disorders is long dead. The people’s state of minds and lives are the inner conflicts of the story. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what made me click with the characters. I connected with the starkness, pain, mind-boggling mystery, and torture centralized in each character. At the root of the whole book are the unanswered questions that can be uncovered in the people’s minds and past. The answers are steeped in the suffering people themselves, the ones remember and know it all but are trying to forget and frantically bury.

Bitterblue has gaps in her memory but her advisers, soldiers, clerks, castle people all on the other hand, seem to retain the most grisly of theirs. Everyone is filled with secrets and unwilling to tell because they’re afraid to bring up the pain of the past. The chaos all stems from Leck and ends with Leck. The author did not have to fill the pages with gore or gritty details in order to convey to readers the extent of damage Leck wreaked. Over the course of 35 years, one man has single-handedly managed to destroy the fragile psychological minds of his citizens. Even the young ones like Hava, Teddy, and Bitterblue especially do not escape. Bitterblue must sever his legacy but at the least same time reveal the truths during his reign in order to lay to rest the ghosts of her childhood and people.

The book differs from the typical fantasy novel because it’s not an action-driven plot filled with assassinations, political intrigue, and war. Although all these fantastical elements are present in the novel, the foremost priority is the mystery and exploring the full extent of Leck’s reach and damage which still causes people to do crazy things years after his death. There are so many questions that Bitterblue brings up, countless others that people are unwillingly to ask. What is the purpose of Leck’s experiments. Where are his experiments? Who are his experiments? Why? How? The whole concept of his torture and fascination with animals and people alike is sickening, yet engrossing as I dive further into the book and learn more about it. The truth, when it is finally unveiled, is simply horrifying and just traumatizing; however, it galvanizes the road to healing. Ever since she became queen, Bitterblue discover most of her people only eager to forget and burn the history. Not everything is well in the end and in life, nothing is. But there’s so much hope and happiness that might appear in the future. I want a fourth book! A few things are still unsolved and I wish I could see Bitterblue fully mature into a greater confident woman.

Side Note/Commentary:

The fantasy genre is such a hard category to break into specifically because it’s already brimming with so much talent and also landmines. The obvious danger of writing fantasy is that the world-building needs to be built on a solid foundation that can support the story. A half-baked world makes for a half-assed story so I felt splendid returning to Cashore’s rich, vibrant kingdoms. There’s also bonus pictures in the back of the book that illustrates the multiple bridges the king forced the architect to build during his reign. And, of course, we have a map imprinted to give us the idea of where Bitterblue’s kingdom is situated and its relations with the neighbors.

Winged Bridge

There’s something so daring and empowering about having a strong female character that does not need a lover by her side or feel any need to marry anytime soon. Women were not commodity and no one questioned Bitterblue’s authority due to her gender. Her age (16) was brought into discussion and since she’s so young, a lot of characters tried to protect her by keeping her in ignorance. A lot of turmoil she feels is her struggle to come to terms with the fact that her mother was tortured extensively along with her servants. She reads Leck’s diary to find out where all the dead people were buried. The end is really bittersweet but the whole plot was driven by Bitterblue’s actions so kudos to female ACTION and PoWeR!

I was somewhat disappointed to know that Bitterblue was not really a sequel for Graceling (the first book) because the main characters were no longer Katsa and Po although they do appear sporadically throughout this book. But then, I’ve come to realize that Kat doesn’t need a continuation and maybe it’s better off to leave it as it is instead of dabbling in her affairs and missions. The author knows when to quit or specifically, knows to not stretch out content thinly just to cover more pages. *cough cough* Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 movie?! Twilight SAGA*cough choke* Less can be better and that’s why I’m satisfied. The story may be open-ended and it’s been a couple years since Cashore’s last book and sure, I don’t mind a sequel but the Graceling Realm functions just fine.

This trilogy introduced me to an intriguing side of fantasy, one that wasn’t a rip-off of Harry Potter and it taught me that there was more to offer. The imagination was not exhausted and fantasy was not all the same with battles of steel and blood. I found out that I liked books with medieval touches, monarchy, and castles…a lot. Although Paolini’s The Inheritance Saga (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, read them all except for that damn final book I got rotting away at home) was good, the countless battle scenes started blending together and the plot whittled farther from me. I became so enchanted that nowadays, I think about buying a ticket to go to Medieval Times LOL. Anyways, most of the books I read nowadays is fantasy and I happened to neglect my science fiction TBR pile because I just can’t seem to move away from fantasy!!

For me, the main plot of Bitterblue seemed to be "This is what happened before, this is how we're going to fix it". For a while I thought that something concrete was going to happen between Saf and Bitterblue, but no, that just ended in an oh hum kind of way.

We already knew a lot about Leck from the previous two books and I don't see the point of being told about every little detail - who cares about the Hava's mom, or what happened to the head gardener? We know Leck is a psychopath and we don't need to keep being told that he could control people. And compared to the rest of the city, Bitterblue had a good childhood because the worst thing that happened to her seemed to be a lot of confusion. It wasn't until she escaped her dad that she started to really get hurt. We didn't need to hear so much of the math or the ciphering. I still can't figure out how having council meetings was important to Bitterblue's story, except maybe as an excuse for the other characters to visit her?

Also, there was no growth in the characters. It was mostly "I should stop taking things at face value and do my own research" kind of growth, but honestly, the reader figures that out from the first chapter.

I read the book, it was interesting, but it didn't live up to Graceling, or even Fire.

I am really glad this book exists. Books 1 and to some extent, 2, both deal with the damage Leck has inflicted, and the story could have easily ended there, as most stories do. But there is so much damage, that dedicating a book to discussing how the land must now do the arguably more difficult job of healing was a brave, important move. We never really get to see the aftermath to a big villainous figure's demise, despite it never ending perfectly. It's great that we got to revisit all of the characters we knew and loved, exploring their futures and their pasts, figuring out how those two facets are inevitably linked. I'm just really thankful that Kristin Cashore wrote this book and acknowledged that healing is a part of life.

I sped through Bitterblue's 576 pages in 2 days. While it was not my favorite of the three (Graceling is) I still felt that it was Cashore's writing and her world.

One thing I liked was that Bitterblue felt the most relatable protagonist because she was pure human. As awesome as Fire and Katsa are I have no idea what it's like to affect people with the power of my beauty/mind or be utterly undefeatable. Nice to imagine though. So really, it was something I both liked and missed.

I thought Po the same character as in Graceling. Of course he wants to tell people. He's living an exhausting lie. Give him a break for being consumed by it now and then.

My only disappointment was the lack of romance - I really wanted Bitterblue to end up with Giddon. It made sense and he was an attractive character and clearly cared for her. I suppose maybe it's what we're supposed to assume eventually happens. Saf was a bit of a baby sometimes.

I enjoyed it, and probably mostly because I loved the other two so much and it reminded me of their stories. I would like a fourth book. Also, I like that you can read the three in any order you like. I was thinking, if Bitterblue was the first book I'd read I'd be running to the library to hear Katsa and Po's story and Fire's.

Just because some fans were disappointed, don't let them keep you from a read you may find you absolutely enjoy. Especially if you are a fan.

I enjoyed Cashore’s characters and creatures and places. It’s the stories that bogged me down. Again with the sections requiring slogging! Plus, the crazy castle environment in which Bitterblue lived and “worked” was just too odd. The fact that she floundered for so long made me itch. Sadly, I’ve liked each book in this trilogy less than the one before. Overall, it had its moments and it was fun. I enjoyed the way the characters from the first two novels appeared in this last one. The ending was satisfactory. But, Bitterblue was too much of a drama queen and a clueless child for most of the novel.

Bitterblue was only a girl of eight when her father, King Leck, reigned supreme in Monsea, one of the seven kingdoms. King Leck was graced with the ability to make people think and behave however he wanted them to, and the people in the kingdom of Monsea suffered under this terrible spell, often unaware of the crimes and atrocities they were committing. Only after Katsa, a young woman graced with the ability to survive impossible circumstances, killed Leck and rescued Bitterblue was Monsea able to emerge from its fog and start living again. Under the careful watch of her advisors, Bitterblue was annointed queen of Monsea and plodded through the next 10 years of her reign without much thought about what it means to be a queen and how to make sense of her country's sordid history.

For her part, Bitterblue tries to block out the painful memories of her time with Leck, especially since he killed her mother. The same could be said for Monsea. All crimes committed under Leck's reign have been pardoned, and it's time to move forward and focus on the future. But Bitterblue notices in the faces of those around her that simply trying to forget isn't enough. So she decides to sneak out of the castle and see what the people on the streets are doing in order to move on. She stumbles upon taverns where stories are being told, many of them exaggerated, to soothe the fears of people and ultimately befriends a thief, Saf, who is after the same thing as Bitterblue --- the truth.

As any reader of epic fantasies knows, the truth is never as simple as it seems. Saf introduces Bitterblue to his friends and their primary objective: seek the truth of what Leck was doing during his reign. Inspired by Saf's unquenchable desire to right the wrongs of Leck's reign, Bitterblue decides to do a little investigating on her own. Her advisors have other ideas, though, and she is forced to try and investigate the past while being bombarded by useless paperwork and other tasks to keep her busy. With the sneaking around during the day to avoid her duties and the sneaking around at night to spend time with Saf, she soon finds that uncovering the truth will be time-consuming and even painful.

Nevertheless, Bitterblue is determined, and she soon enlists help from Katsa, her cousin Po, her personal assistant Helda, Saf, and other people she can trust in the castle and from afar. Unfortunately, once the group starts investigating, more and more puzzling information emerges. What will it take to crack these puzzles? Is it worth it to know the truth, or is it better just to try and block it from memory? These questions and more ultimately will be answered, but at what cost?

As the sequel to GRACELING and companion to FIRE, BITTERBLUE once again invites readers into the realm of the seven kingdoms and all of their unique inhabitants. What I appreciate most about Kristin Cashore's storytelling is that while everything takes place in a fictional kingdom where people are blessed with extraordinary skills, the issues and problems they encounter are completely relatable to any reader who picks up these books. I also like how there is no fairy tale ending. People try to do the best with what they are given, and they don't shy away from tackling the truth despite how much it may hurt.

While reading the first two installments is not necessary to understand and enjoy BITTERBLUE, why wouldn't you? These books are some of the best fantasy literature out there to consume. Dig in!

Reviewed by Benjamin Boche on May 31, 2012

It's been quite a while since I was first captivated by Graceling and Fire, the first two novels by Kristin Cashore. I remember in both cases that it was practically impossible to put them down, as the action came fast and furious and the characters were riveting and unique. Unfortunately, that was not my experience with Bitterblue. This is an entirely different sort of story, and while I will acknowledge that it is a somewhat fitting way to round out the trio, I also must admit that I had great difficulty just finishing it.

This story takes place almost entirely in Bitterblue's castle, and it quickly became claustrophobic for me. Bitterblue is a queen on the edge, trying to determine how to be queen and how to best help her people overcome the devastating effects of Leck's reign of terror. Bitterblue is trying to determine the truth of what her father did and how they can move forward. This has all the makings of a dramatic read, however that was not the case. Bitterblue's constant litany of realizations as she wakes up to the world around her quickly came to feel repetitive. I wanted to yell at her to get over herself and get on with it and quit sobbing about it! The political intrigue was just not enough to carry the story for me, and I found myself craving action-of any sort!

I didn't recognize Katsa and Po, as they seemed to be totally different people, popping in and out of this story with not much purpose, especially Katsa. I just did not find much of interest in this story, and it was only after I slogged through it that I was able to look at things with a bit more perspective and see how these three ladies; Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue, all fit together to tell a pretty well balanced story. Taken in its entirety, this remains an excellent saga. Bitterblue is by far my least favorite installment and I wish the author could have told her story in a way that was more consistent with the first two. The pacing lags, the characters lack the distinct personalities that I had grown used to, and the story itself is overly long and could have used a bit of an edit. By the time I reached the end, the charm of the maps at the back of the book failed to move me, as I had long since ceased caring. This is a 2.5 star read for me, but I rounded up since it did wrap up some story lines from the other two books in a satisfying manner. This is only a marginal recommend for the most diehard of fans.

Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue was one of the books I most anticipated for release this year. The previous two Seven Realms books -- Graceling and Fire -- were quickly added to my list of favorites, and I was certain that Bitterblue would be the same.

Not quite.

Bitterblue picks up eight years after the end of Graceline, and Bitterblue has been running the country with the aide of her late father's advisors. She realizes she is mostly a paper-pusher, and begins sneaking out of the castle to learn more about her kingdom. In the process, she finds places where people share stories of both her father's evil reign, as well as what happened with her friends Katsa and Po to help depose him. In her wanderings, she also meets Teddy and Saf, two men dedicated to the truth of her father's reign as well as making things right again. Bitterblue begins to sort through her memories as well as the history of the kingdom, trying to determine what the right way to rule is, as well as whether the decision to try to move on from her father's evil was the right one for the kingdom.

Bitterblue's story is moving as well as meaningful; it forces the reader to answer questions about our own history: Can we truly move on until we have understood things that were done badly and tried to rectify them? Her story is a true coming-of-age story, and I think it will still appeal to fans of the previous two books.

Where Bitterblue went awry, however, was in the romance department. Bitterblue's tale could have stood on its own, but it feels as if Cashore (or her editor) felt that a romance was necessary, as the previous two books also had one. Bitterblue's romance seems as if it was crammed in as an afterthought; it's neither crucial to the plot nor moves the story forward. The few scenes that involve the romance feel false and stilted, and I never connected with her romantic interest as a romantic interest. As a result, the book feels unfinished, like it needed that section smoothed out and blended better, or better yet, cut entirely. Bitterblue is a strong character, and she didn't need a man to get involved with her life as she was finding herself.

This review previously appeared on Goodreads.

wasnt a big fan of fire but after reading bittterblue i was glads i read it. I love when books reference other books. you dont have to read fire to be able to read bitterblue but i highly suggest it. I loved seeing bitterblue all grown up. Po and Katsa were in it and made it soo much better!

I did not read the second book Fire based on all the negative reviews. The thourough ones explained that the main characters promiscuity wasn't something I wanted to read about. Reading this feels like book 2 to follow Graceling and it was amazing! The loooooooong wait was worth it for well written very profound book. Deals with very sensitive subjects (child abuse and molestation) in vivid detail so if you are squeamish beware.

I enjoyed GRACELING, adored FIRE, and absolutely loved BITTERBLUE. Unlike the protagonists of Cashore's previous novels, Bitterblue is not Graced or a monster. Instead, she's a young queen who enjoys numbers, ciphers and stories. Throughout the novel, her deceased father's terrible Grace and actions still linger in Monsea, causing all sorts of trouble. Betrayal, secrets, and lies run deeper than imaginable. Her kingdom is filled with oddities that no one wants to explain or fix. But, the more her advisers suggest she moves forward and to stop looking to the past, the more curious Bitterblue becomes about her father and his effect on Monsea. With each new twist, another round of suspects appear along with more questions. Ultimately, even more doubts are created about everything and everyone as Bitterblue struggles to reveal the truth.

Curious revelations, first love, and Bitterblue's transformation into the queen Monsea needs, BITTERBLUE gradually builds into a phenomenal story. Bitterblue herself is a remarkable young woman with a subtle strength, sharp humor, and a need for the truth. It was intriguing to watch her character grow with each chapter. However, do not go into this book expecting something like Cashore's previous works. BITTERBLUE delves deeper and into far darker places in order to unravel the mysteries in Monsea. There are lovely, lighthearted moments, along with others that will have you near (or in) tears. The story moves as a slow pace, picking up every now and then with short bursts of action, before simmering down again into a steady rhythm. All in all, BITTERBLUE is an outstanding novel that is well worth the time that it takes to read each page.

HIGHLIGHTS: It was nice to see characters from Cashore's previous books be present in this one, and through Bitterblue's very observant view of them - Katsa was especially interesting to see from Bitterblue's perspective. Characters as a whole were very well written (especially Death*, Teddy, Saf, Po, Giddon, Leck, and Thiel). The extras at the end (cast of characters, drawings, et cetera) were fascinating. The ending, while a little bittersweet, was nicely done.

LOWLIGHTS: I wanted more pages. Seriously.

NOTE: As this is a sequel, reading GRACELING is a must. I would recommend reading FIRE since it will help make many moments more meaningful in the story.

* Coolest librarian ever. I kind of wish I had his Grace.

I liked Graceling a great deal. I liked Fire even more. But I loved Bitterblue.

The characters were as unique and the plot as satisfying as ever, but it was the surprises and the court politics that glued this book to my hand. The delicacies of Bitterblue's world and the caution needed for her to navigate it were utterly convincing. I loved the characters of Death (pronounced Deeth), Teddy, a more mature Giddon, Saf, and especially our heroine, Queen Bitterblue. It was delightful watching her grow up and come into her power and her role as a leader. While the resolution is usually my favourite part of a book, I was deeply sorry to see this one end.

I plan to read this gem again and again. I hope you will pick it up at least once. You won't be sorry!

Of the three Graceling books Fire is the only one I have enjoyed. This one was by far the least enjoyable though. It's hard to feel much empathy for Bitterblue, she's so clueless. I get that she's young and still learning but she doesn't even seem to have the decency to get to know the people that have aided her for 8 years. Then there's the whole mess with the back and forth of people betraying her and her being pathetic.

I absolutely loved Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore, so I was looking forward to reading Bitterblue. Unfortunately, I was majorly disappointed in it and felt as though I wasted my time. The characters that are so in depth and unique in her other writings make Bitterblue fall short. For such a lengthy book you don't really get to know the character herself very well and it leads to a complete lack of connection to the character; in fact, I would say there is a complete lack of connection to any characters that were not brought into this story from the other two books. Since I loved the first two books so much, I would consider reading more by this author, but I could have done without Bitterblue. The best part of this book is getting to revisit characters from Graceling and Fire.

Eight years after watching her father, King Leck, be killed and inheriting the troubled kingdom of Monsea, Bitterblue still feels a long way from being settled as Queen. Secrets surround her. Secrets from her father's reign of terror, secrets about her own memories of her childhood, and the secrets seemingly everyone seems to hide in Monsea. Well Bitterblue is tired of secrets and the endless drudgery of pushing papers and signing documents -- she wants a chance to truly understand her people and their struggles. And so one night she decides to secretly leave the castle to do just that. Disguised and alone, she begins her exploration of Bitterblue City. What Bitterblue discovers on her nighttime wanderings is confusing, exhilarating and depressing all at once. In the secluded story rooms her people gather to recount tales of Leck's reign (often different from Bitterblue's own memories) and the adventures of renowned Gracelings such as Katsa and Po. There she also meets Saf and Teddy, two thieves who only steal what has already been stolen and who slowly teach Bitterblue about the real underlying problems of Monsea. Underscoring all this new information is the fact that as much as everyone seems to want to forget Leck and his horrible legacy, Bitterblue begins to understand that her people must uncover their hidden past before they can ever move forward.

Well, well, well. Talk about your emotional read. Like many of you I'm sure, Bitterblue is one of those books that I have been building up in my mind for a long time. Graceling effortlessly wowed me and Fire left me stunned beyond recognition so that I have been earnestly waiting this sequel of sorts ever since. What Kristin Cashore delivers is extremely different from her previous novels although strikingly similar at the same time. Bitterblue centers around many of the same characters we've come to love, like Katsa, Po, Giddon and even Fire makes an appearance but Bitterblue is decidedly a more quiet novel filled with political maneuverings and inner turmoil. For much of the book, Bitterblue is frustrated by her lack of understanding for what her people faced during her father's reign. Especially since she feels that to finally overcome their struggles, she has to know what demons they face daily. This is never more apparent within her own set of advisers, talented men who also served under Leck but who cannot seem to help Bitterblue move the kingdom in the direction she knows it must go. I'm sure partly this is intentional, but I became extremely frustrated with the runaround Bitterblue got from her advisers. Too much time was spent agonizing over and over the same details that I wish certain parts had been resolved a little more quickly.

Although I cannot say enough about the quality of Kristin Cashore's writing, in my opinion Bitterblue is not as strong a book as either Fire or Graceling. While excellent at developing feelings and the unraveling of secrets, I felt as if too much time in Bitterblue was devoted to political intrigues and the quest to understand history. I was not able to spend as much time with the people I really wanted to learn more about: Saf, Death (a fearful librarian who utterly stole my heart), Teddy, Giddon and many others. Frankly, although I was pleased with how Bitterblue's story was concluded as far as Monsea is concerned, I was not at all pleased with how we left her personally. Especially since Ms. Cashore gave us over 500 pages to get to that point! In the interest of not getting spoilery, suffice to say I feel like I still need yet another Bitterblue book to assure myself that she is truly going to be alright. I understand that such an emotional book was not meant to wrap up everything in a pretty little bow but I would liked to have seen a bit more resolution regarding her personal relationships. But that is not to say that Bitterblue isn't a beautiful book full of drama and ciphers and danger. It is. It's just not what I was expecting -- for good or bad.

This is the third book in Kristin Cashore's brilliantly imaginative fantasy series set in the world which was introduced in "Graceling" and revisited in the prequel, "Fire."

The series is sometimes known as the "Seven Kingdoms" series though there is a slight problem with this title: in the first book the characters thought they were living in a world with seven kingdoms, but readers of "Fire" will be aware that there are another two kingdoms on the other side of a mountain range.

Like the first two books, "Bitterblue" has an extraordinary young woman as the central character, but where the heroines of "Graceling" and "Fire" were remarkable partly for their magical abilities and partly for their strength of character, the eponymous heroine "Bitterblue" is not remarkable for any magical powers but for even greater courage and strength of character than the other two.

In the first book the heroine, Katja, ran into King Leck of Monsea, a cruel tyrant who had the "Grace" or special power to make anyone believe whatever he said. With some difficulty Katja rescued from Leck his young daughter Bitterblue and eventually overthrew him.

The prologue to "Bitterblue" is set shortly before this rescue and gives an idea of how unpleasant Bitterblue's childhood had been as the daughter of a tyrant who could make anyone believe whatever suited his twisted purposes. The main body of the story begins nearly nine years later: having become Queen in name after her father was killed, Bitterblue has recently reached adulthood, assumed power, and is learning how to rule a country which is still damaged by her father's cruelty and lies. It soon becomes apparenty to her that, even eight years after his death the people of Monsea have been unable even to start to repair much of the harm which King Leck did during his thirty-five year reign because his power still keeps them in denial about many aspects of that harm.

Queen Bitterblue's advisors, who were themselves among Leck's victims, believe that to move forward Monsea must recognise that many citizens were forced by Leck to carry out terrible crimes against one another, and that an amnesty is necessary for all past crimes. Bitterblue sees the sense in this, but the more she learns about the country she is trying to rule, the more she realises that her government and people must confront the atrocities of the past in order to start repairing them and not apply the amnesty in a way which means trying to pretend that Leck's crimes never happened.

Wandering her capital in disguise as part of her attempt to find out what her father really did, Bitterblue finds more questions than answers. She meets a thief who only steals things which have already been stolen, and Leck's cyphered notebooks which may help her understand her mad father's actions if she can break the code. Bitterblue will find allies in the most unlikely places but those who appear to be friends may be those who put her in the greatest danger ...

There are some wonderful characters in the book, some of whom are heroes or heroines of the previous two books but most of whom are new: from Death, which is the name of a cranky and bad-tempered librarian, to Saf, the theif with the unknown magic talent.

A delightful book, particularly suitable for young adults but quite capable of being enjoyed by older ones too. Not as appropriate for younger children to read because some of the atrocities from which Bitterblue is trying to help her country move on were horrible enough to make the tone of the book quite dark in places. But still a joy to read.

Oh Bitterblue. Oh Kristen Cashore.

This is what fantasy was meant to do; challenge us, make us writhe in agony, and ultimately force us to experience first-hand the plodding, tedious agony of heroes who withstand rape and horror and betrayal- and live on.

This book challenges you. It is not an easy read. It is not an evening's light entertainment. With each layer peeled away, it's like ripping duct tape from bare skin; another layer of pain is revealed.

Bitterblue and those around her have been living for 35 years under the reign of terror of her father, King Leck. If you've read Graceling and Fire, you'll know him as the man with the Grace of making people believe what he wants them to believe.

And as King, he has spent his last decades creating the kingdom of Monsea into his own private torture chamber where he hurts people and makes them believe they did it themselves, or to forget it ever happened at all.

Now Bitterblue is Queen of Monsea and Leck is dead. She reigns with the help of her four advisors. But the advisors are fragile, questions of Leck or what he forced them to do make them shut down. They bury her under piles of paper work and she knows nothing of the real lives of her people.

Until one day Bitterblue has had enough and ventures out into her kingdom where she meets an ex sailor and a visionary printer who will be the first stop on a road to recovering pieces of what Leck tore away. This journey will force Bitterblue not to face the truth, but to weigh justice versus compassion, and forge a new road for her bitterly hurting kingdom.

This is a book of recovery. How one abused for so long one believes there is no other road than more lies and more death can scrape out a little truth and light. There's some action. There's people after Bitterblue, and a plot against her friend the ex-sailor, and Po and Katsa are stirring up trouble with eachother and with other kingdoms with tyrannical kings.

Bitterblue has on her side her commoner friends, and Giddon, a surpisingly wiser and kinder version that we found in Graceling, as well as her librarian, Death (rhymes with "teeth") who is cursed/blessed with an eidetic memory and so remembers in painful detail all that Leck stole.

Most of the book Bitterblue spends confused. The pace at which she gets clues from Death's recreations of books Leck destroyed, from the true state of her kingdom, and from clues her dead mother left behind is agonizingly slow. While I chafed at the pace, I have to admit that if Cashore had spent any less time letting us see how confused Leck left anyone we would not have truly understood the depth of Bitterblue's advisors' pain, nor let us join in horrified discovery of Leck's truly sadistic actions.

And then there's Po and Katsa, and Cashore lets us see the aftermath of the Happily Ever After when the hero and the heroine find joy in each other but can not stay in the same place nor entirely condone the choices the other has made.

So there is no Happily Ever After for Bitterblue or her Kingdom, either. Pasting a tidy ending onto Bitterblue or Po/Katsa's story would be an injustice, it would demean the struggle that the book takes us on to discover the strength of the human spirit despite the most terrible adversity and pain.

So bravo Cashore for taking us on that journey, even as I struggle to let myself care for the complex, frail characters created here.

This Book's Snack Rating: The darkest of dark chocolate-covered cacao nibs for the bitter, bitter taste of pain on your tongue

BITTERBLUE! After reading Graceling, I could not wait to read Bitterblue, which takes place eight years after Graceling. I did read Fire before starting Bitterblue, but it's not a necessity to read it prior to digging in to Bitterblue. Where Bitterblue is the sequel to Graceling, Bitterblue is the a companion novel to Fire. The plus side to reading Fire first was that I got more insight on the time of Leck, before he became king, and information on the Dells and Pikkia.

I absolutely, unequivocally, whole heartedly loved this book! It was everything I had hoped it would be. At eighteen years of age, Bitterblue, a young queen since the age of ten, is still trying to learn what needs to be done to rule her kingdom or Monsea, and to clean up the painful memories left during the terrifying reign of her dead father, King Leck.

Wanting to learn more about her kingdom first hand, Bitterblue decides to wander the streets of her Bitterblue City. She chances upon Story Rooms, where someone is on stage telling a story. The stories differ from Story Room to Story Room, but a lot of the stories revolve around her father and the friends she is surrounded by (Katsa, Prince Po, etc.). It is in one of these Story Rooms that Bitterblue meets Saf, a thief and ruffian, and his friend Teddy. It is upon this chance encounter where the "simple" life that Bitterblue has known all her life is about to be changed forever.

What did I love the most about this book? Well...everything! But what I really loved was being able to read about Po, Katsa, and Giddon again! Ahhhhh! Although I'm sure that Saf is suppose to be the crushable male lead in this book, my toss-up was between Po and Giddon. I crushed oh Po like crazy in Graceling, but Giddon was unbelievably sexy to me in Bitterblue. He seemed more vulnerable and sweet, and absolutely swoon worthy.

This book was totally full of unsuspecting twists and turns. I was left guessing up to the near end who was responsible for the various attacks and murders that was happening to Bitterblue and her friends. Once I had my mind dead set on who the responsible person(s) was, the next page would completely throw me off and have me guessing all over again. Where in Fire we learn about Leck before his reign as king, in Bitterblue, we read more about the horrors that happened during his reign. We also see the dire consequences of such acts, and how it completely affects those around Bitterblue, whom she is to trust, as well as how it affected the people in her kingdom.

Action packed and the return of characters that we have grown to love, Bitterblue will not disappoint any fans of Graceling and Fire. This book had me gasping, wide eyed, and yearning for more.

I love the Graceling realm!! Another fantastic addition to this series. I loved Bitterblue -- and the romance in this book was beautiful, even if it doesn't have a happy ending (yet.) Hoping there's more to come in this wonderful series! I also loved the connections between the Graceling Realm and the Dells.

One of my favorite things about this book was that unlike Katsa and Fire, Bitterblue does not have a special power. Katsa and Fire are physically strong women, whereas Bitterblue is small. Bitterblue's strength comes from her mind -- her way of not allowing Leck to control her mind was by doing complicated math problems in her head, and this mental way of overcoming a problem symbolizes Bitterblue's general method of dealing with anything that crosses her path. She is strong, but still vulnerable. Her love for others and determination to do what is right even if it's hard for her is what makes her a great and respected ruler.

And the LOVE STORY is fantastic! It reminds me of the beginning of Aladdin, when Jasmine sneaks out of her palace as a commoner. When Bitterblue is pretending to be "Sparks," the reader gets to see a side of her that we might not have otherwise, a side of her that isn't weighed down by royal obligations and can have fun and have a romantic tryst. This makes her such a three dimensional character. And the royal reveal scene was done so wonderfully! It was heartbreaking to read!

There are also so many great mysteries in this book that are solved through the story. Yes, it's long, but I found myself needing to know what was going to happen next.

I hope Kristin Cashore continues this series, because I want more of the Graceling Realm!

Bitterblue is a book I really wanted to like. Graceling was the book on which my own writing style was built, and to this day, I love it to death. Fire, though a bit romantic for my tastes, was nonetheless a great companion to the first book, even if it didn't feature the familiar cast of characters I'd grown fond of. So it pains me to look back and see how much I didn't Bitterblue, and the number of times I closed the book out of boredom, frustration, or the mind-numbing stupidity.

Like some other reviews have stated, the prologue is strong enough. As a rule, I tend to skip prologues, but Bitterblue's was interesting enough that I sat through it all the way to chapter one. It left me intrigued, and eager for what would inevitably be an incredible addition to the series that defined my literary life.

Jesus, it pains me to see just how wrong I was.

Though my thoughts on the books contents are long, I will paraphrase: it reads like fanfiction. Close to three-hundred pages in, I closed the book and was reminded of the many stories I've trudged through on that shitstain that is Fanfiction.net. Though it gives me no pleasure to do so, I must compare Bitterblue to them. They way characters show up, only to be shoved to the back of the story and driven HORRIBLY out of character reminds me a great deal of fanfiction. What's sadder is that Cashore is doing this to her own characters.

Sadly, the old characters are the only interesting ones. Outside of Teddy, a Graced writer who doesn't see enough screen time for my liking, none the new characters endear me to them. Bitterblue herself is a bland, empty vessel, existing only so that the story might revolve around her. She lacks the charm and personality that made Katsa and Fire so much fun to follow. There came a point where I would dread reading her internal narratives, hoping (often in vain) that some other character would save me from the sheer monotony of it all.

What must also be mentioned is the plot, or lack thereof. At three-quarters of the way through the book, I still wouldn't have been able to tell you what the long-term conflict was. There was isolated incidents of conflict, sure, and there was the premise of Bitterblue inheriting rule of the kingdom of Monsea from her psychotic father, but that's just a premise. The book trundles through hundreds of pages while only ever teasing at a true plot. Admittedly, I've not reached the end yet, so I don't know if it ever wraps things up, but the plot is still a load of old crap.

It's just so

much

crap.

There is so much bad in this book that everything redeeming is canceled out. The writing style is still solid, but it's buried beneath so much shit that it's left floundering. Pass on this book. Don't make the same mistake I did when I sank twenty bones into a hardcover copy.

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Excellent fantasy that focuses on mystery, problem solving and political intrigue. The story raises so many questions that it will have you hooked waiting for the answers.

Opening Sentence: When he grabs Mama's wrist and yanks her toward the wall-hanging like that, it must hurt.

The Review:

Eight years have passed since the events of Graceling, when Bitterblue became Queen of Monsea. She is getting tired of the tediousness of life as a Queen, staying in her office and signing documents all day. She wants to know more about her kingdom and the people that live in it. She begins to sneak out at night. She begins attending secret story houses where she meets two mysterious boys, one of whom she knows is a thief. She spends her days dreaming about sneaking out again at night. She begins to develop a relationship with Teddy and Saf, learning that things in her kingdom aren't as she is led to believe.

Bitterblue questions her advisors about the secrets she has been hearing when she leaves the castle at night and about her fathers' reign. She wants to know how to make her kingdom better. Bitterblue's advisors help her with uncovering the truth but strange things begin to happen, people in her kingdom are acting out of character. She believes it has something to do with her father but she can't quite figure it out.

Bitterblue is joined by Katsa, Po, Giddon and others as they work for the Council and use her castle as a base as they plan their next operation. Po and Giddon seem to spend the most time with Bitterblue but she does spend a little time with Katsa as she comes and goes from the castle. She does get their help and advice when she needs it most. Saf is the thief that Bitterblue falls for in the heat of the moment. He is very hot and cold and treats Bitterblue harshly at times. Saf has some potential but he is a free spirit. I do like him but I have my hopes set for someone else for Bitterblue. Teddy makes friends with Bitterblue very easily, he believes he can trust her. He is a truthseeker and he reveals to Bitterblue the problems with her kingdom. Teddy is a nice, sweet character and I would like to see more of him in the future.

Bitterblue is left out of quite a bit of the action. Other characters get to go off and have the adventures while she is stuck in the castle. Of course, this doesn't mean nothing happens to her, she gets her share of action in the beginning half of the book while the second half is filled with political intrigue and problem-solving. Bitterblue does come off a little naïve at times but she has good intentions. She wants to make her kingdom and the people living in it better.

The world that Kristin Cashore has created is still engrossing and mesmerizing. Many new characters and abilities have been added into the story. Since the story is strictly from Bitterblue's point of view, the world only takes place in Bitterblue City and her castle. Some places are elaborated by stories that other characters tell.

The plot isn't very strong, in the way that there are a lot of plot points going on: Saf's graceling ability is a mystery, why are people acting strange, the Council wants to overthrow the government in Estill (the country to the north of Monsea), a mysterious tunnel appears (where does it go?), tons of bones are found (whose are they?), and what did King Leck do during his reign as king. Most of these points are resolved but a few are left hanging, presumably for the next book.

Overall, Bitterblue is an entertaining fantasy about a lonely girl who wants her friends to be by her side and wants to be a good Queen. If you enjoy a good young adult fantasy then I would recommend this series.

The Graceling Realm Series:

1. Graceling

2. Fire

3. Bitterblue

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Dial provided me with a copy of Bitterblue. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review.

If you ask me to make a list of my most anticipated sequels, companion novels and/or books part of a series, Bitterblue would be one of those on the top half. Reading Graceling made me adore Bitterblue so much, being only a child with a big responsibility already weighing on her shoulders, I wanted to see how she faired.

Nine years after the events of Graceling, Bitterblue is now 18 years old and has been ruling the kingdom after Leck's death. The people of the kingdom have been left broken and disoriented, and it's Bitterblue's job to help them get back on their feet. But how do you heal an entire broken kingdom that is still haunted by a deceased powerful mind-manipulator's oppression?

I have somewhat established a love and hate relationship with this book. There are times that I find myself loving the scenes then finding myself agitated to move on to the next event a moment later. And did I mention that this is a bit of a hefty book? So I guess that's where my agitation came from, I'm worried that it would be all talk and there aren't many things happening that would surprise me. Unfortunately it was more or less true.

Bitterblue (the book) had some of these really strange characters. Bitterblue (the character) has advisers who have too many secrets haunting them that hinder to let them function coherently. Most of the time they were just so annoying that I wish Bitterblue just fired them and pick someone else to do their job. It's frustrating to see Bitterblue try to get them to open up about what happened but each time they just get lost in thought or space out, the more Bitterblue pushed only made the situation worse and I hate that these advisers were too loose-on-the-head to comprehend that their queen is willing to let them make amends from their mistakes.

The love story of Bitterblue and Saf is a short lived. I mean, come on! This girl is already carrying so many burdens and you couldn't even give her someone to support her in a more affectionate way? I know Saf was angry but it consumed too much of the time in this book that they could've spent in a...I don't know, probably a more romantic couple approach. The only time they had a deeply meaningful moment was a time when Bitterblue just witnessed a suicide. Now that moment, no matter how beautiful, is already tainted with something awful!

I still did like a lot of things in Bitterblue; like when Bitterblue had the initiative to take matters into her own hands, she went about the kingdom discovering things she never thought was happening under her reign and she's willing to do anything to finally put things in perspective, even though people somehow see her differently.

I enjoyed Katsa and Po's crazy PDA. Can you believe these two find it alluring to wrestle each other? They are really childish most of the time. But I love seeing the lighter side of Katsa compared to her stoic and oh-so-serious times in Graceling. They can be a little ridiculous but cute all the same.

A good surprise in this book was finding out about another Graceling in the palace that has been in hiding for several years already, and finding out about her relationship with Bitterblue... *sigh* I'm glad she finally got a bit of a break here. Another nice surprise here is the appearance of a very unusual set of people from another part of the land that Bitterblue and the rest of the kingdom only thought existed in Leck's mind and never in real life.

Overall, Bitterblue is an enjoyable book to read. It may have been a bit too long for me but the mystery, characters, and most especially this imaginary world was a very vivid and pleasant experience. It might not have been an ending I would welcome with open arms, but it definitely provided closure in some way. I wonder if there's another book though, the ending still seems to be open for another adventure.

I absolutely loved Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore, so I was looking forward to reading Bitterblue. Unfortunately, I was majorly disappointed in it and felt as though I wasted my time. The characters that are so in depth and unique in her other writings make Bitterblue fall short. For such a lengthy book you don't really get to know the character herself very well and it leads to a complete lack of connection to the character; in fact, I would say there is a complete lack of connection to any characters that were not brought into this story from the other two books. Since I loved the first two books so much, I would consider reading more by this author, but I could have done without Bitterblue. The best part of this book is getting to revisit characters from Graceling and Fire.

Eight years after watching her father, King Leck, be killed and inheriting the troubled kingdom of Monsea, Bitterblue still feels a long way from being settled as Queen. Secrets surround her. Secrets from her father's reign of terror, secrets about her own memories of her childhood, and the secrets seemingly everyone seems to hide in Monsea. Well Bitterblue is tired of secrets and the endless drudgery of pushing papers and signing documents -- she wants a chance to truly understand her people and their struggles. And so one night she decides to secretly leave the castle to do just that. Disguised and alone, she begins her exploration of Bitterblue City. What Bitterblue discovers on her nighttime wanderings is confusing, exhilarating and depressing all at once. In the secluded story rooms her people gather to recount tales of Leck's reign (often different from Bitterblue's own memories) and the adventures of renowned Gracelings such as Katsa and Po. There she also meets Saf and Teddy, two thieves who only steal what has already been stolen and who slowly teach Bitterblue about the real underlying problems of Monsea. Underscoring all this new information is the fact that as much as everyone seems to want to forget Leck and his horrible legacy, Bitterblue begins to understand that her people must uncover their hidden past before they can ever move forward.

Well, well, well. Talk about your emotional read. Like many of you I'm sure, Bitterblue is one of those books that I have been building up in my mind for a long time. Graceling effortlessly wowed me and Fire left me stunned beyond recognition so that I have been earnestly waiting this sequel of sorts ever since. What Kristin Cashore delivers is extremely different from her previous novels although strikingly similar at the same time. Bitterblue centers around many of the same characters we've come to love, like Katsa, Po, Giddon and even Fire makes an appearance but Bitterblue is decidedly a more quiet novel filled with political maneuverings and inner turmoil. For much of the book, Bitterblue is frustrated by her lack of understanding for what her people faced during her father's reign. Especially since she feels that to finally overcome their struggles, she has to know what demons they face daily. This is never more apparent within her own set of advisers, talented men who also served under Leck but who cannot seem to help Bitterblue move the kingdom in the direction she knows it must go. I'm sure partly this is intentional, but I became extremely frustrated with the runaround Bitterblue got from her advisers. Too much time was spent agonizing over and over the same details that I wish certain parts had been resolved a little more quickly.

Although I cannot say enough about the quality of Kristin Cashore's writing, in my opinion Bitterblue is not as strong a book as either Fire or Graceling. While excellent at developing feelings and the unraveling of secrets, I felt as if too much time in Bitterblue was devoted to political intrigues and the quest to understand history. I was not able to spend as much time with the people I really wanted to learn more about: Saf, Death (a fearful librarian who utterly stole my heart), Teddy, Giddon and many others. Frankly, although I was pleased with how Bitterblue's story was concluded as far as Monsea is concerned, I was not at all pleased with how we left her personally. Especially since Ms. Cashore gave us over 500 pages to get to that point! In the interest of not getting spoilery, suffice to say I feel like I still need yet another Bitterblue book to assure myself that she is truly going to be alright. I understand that such an emotional book was not meant to wrap up everything in a pretty little bow but I would liked to have seen a bit more resolution regarding her personal relationships. But that is not to say that Bitterblue isn't a beautiful book full of drama and ciphers and danger. It is. It's just not what I was expecting -- for good or bad.

This is the third book in Kristin Cashore's brilliantly imaginative fantasy series set in the world which was introduced in "Graceling" and revisited in the prequel, "Fire."

The series is sometimes known as the "Seven Kingdoms" series though there is a slight problem with this title: in the first book the characters thought they were living in a world with seven kingdoms, but readers of "Fire" will be aware that there are another two kingdoms on the other side of a mountain range.

Like the first two books, "Bitterblue" has an extraordinary young woman as the central character, but where the heroines of "Graceling" and "Fire" were remarkable partly for their magical abilities and partly for their strength of character, the eponymous heroine "Bitterblue" is not remarkable for any magical powers but for even greater courage and strength of character than the other two.

In the first book the heroine, Katja, ran into King Leck of Monsea, a cruel tyrant who had the "Grace" or special power to make anyone believe whatever he said. With some difficulty Katja rescued from Leck his young daughter Bitterblue and eventually overthrew him.

The prologue to "Bitterblue" is set shortly before this rescue and gives an idea of how unpleasant Bitterblue's childhood had been as the daughter of a tyrant who could make anyone believe whatever suited his twisted purposes. The main body of the story begins nearly nine years later: having become Queen in name after her father was killed, Bitterblue has recently reached adulthood, assumed power, and is learning how to rule a country which is still damaged by her father's cruelty and lies. It soon becomes apparenty to her that, even eight years after his death the people of Monsea have been unable even to start to repair much of the harm which King Leck did during his thirty-five year reign because his power still keeps them in denial about many aspects of that harm.

Queen Bitterblue's advisors, who were themselves among Leck's victims, believe that to move forward Monsea must recognise that many citizens were forced by Leck to carry out terrible crimes against one another, and that an amnesty is necessary for all past crimes. Bitterblue sees the sense in this, but the more she learns about the country she is trying to rule, the more she realises that her government and people must confront the atrocities of the past in order to start repairing them and not apply the amnesty in a way which means trying to pretend that Leck's crimes never happened.

Wandering her capital in disguise as part of her attempt to find out what her father really did, Bitterblue finds more questions than answers. She meets a thief who only steals things which have already been stolen, and Leck's cyphered notebooks which may help her understand her mad father's actions if she can break the code. Bitterblue will find allies in the most unlikely places but those who appear to be friends may be those who put her in the greatest danger ...

There are some wonderful characters in the book, some of whom are heroes or heroines of the previous two books but most of whom are new: from Death, which is the name of a cranky and bad-tempered librarian, to Saf, the theif with the unknown magic talent.

A delightful book, particularly suitable for young adults but quite capable of being enjoyed by older ones too. Not as appropriate for younger children to read because some of the atrocities from which Bitterblue is trying to help her country move on were horrible enough to make the tone of the book quite dark in places. But still a joy to read.

Oh Bitterblue. Oh Kristen Cashore.

This is what fantasy was meant to do; challenge us, make us writhe in agony, and ultimately force us to experience first-hand the plodding, tedious agony of heroes who withstand rape and horror and betrayal- and live on.

This book challenges you. It is not an easy read. It is not an evening's light entertainment. With each layer peeled away, it's like ripping duct tape from bare skin; another layer of pain is revealed.

Bitterblue and those around her have been living for 35 years under the reign of terror of her father, King Leck. If you've read Graceling and Fire, you'll know him as the man with the Grace of making people believe what he wants them to believe.

And as King, he has spent his last decades creating the kingdom of Monsea into his own private torture chamber where he hurts people and makes them believe they did it themselves, or to forget it ever happened at all.

Now Bitterblue is Queen of Monsea and Leck is dead. She reigns with the help of her four advisors. But the advisors are fragile, questions of Leck or what he forced them to do make them shut down. They bury her under piles of paper work and she knows nothing of the real lives of her people.

Until one day Bitterblue has had enough and ventures out into her kingdom where she meets an ex sailor and a visionary printer who will be the first stop on a road to recovering pieces of what Leck tore away. This journey will force Bitterblue not to face the truth, but to weigh justice versus compassion, and forge a new road for her bitterly hurting kingdom.

This is a book of recovery. How one abused for so long one believes there is no other road than more lies and more death can scrape out a little truth and light. There's some action. There's people after Bitterblue, and a plot against her friend the ex-sailor, and Po and Katsa are stirring up trouble with eachother and with other kingdoms with tyrannical kings.

Bitterblue has on her side her commoner friends, and Giddon, a surpisingly wiser and kinder version that we found in Graceling, as well as her librarian, Death (rhymes with "teeth") who is cursed/blessed with an eidetic memory and so remembers in painful detail all that Leck stole.

Most of the book Bitterblue spends confused. The pace at which she gets clues from Death's recreations of books Leck destroyed, from the true state of her kingdom, and from clues her dead mother left behind is agonizingly slow. While I chafed at the pace, I have to admit that if Cashore had spent any less time letting us see how confused Leck left anyone we would not have truly understood the depth of Bitterblue's advisors' pain, nor let us join in horrified discovery of Leck's truly sadistic actions.

And then there's Po and Katsa, and Cashore lets us see the aftermath of the Happily Ever After when the hero and the heroine find joy in each other but can not stay in the same place nor entirely condone the choices the other has made.

So there is no Happily Ever After for Bitterblue or her Kingdom, either. Pasting a tidy ending onto Bitterblue or Po/Katsa's story would be an injustice, it would demean the struggle that the book takes us on to discover the strength of the human spirit despite the most terrible adversity and pain.

So bravo Cashore for taking us on that journey, even as I struggle to let myself care for the complex, frail characters created here.

This Book's Snack Rating: The darkest of dark chocolate-covered cacao nibs for the bitter, bitter taste of pain on your tongue

BITTERBLUE! After reading Graceling, I could not wait to read Bitterblue, which takes place eight years after Graceling. I did read Fire before starting Bitterblue, but it's not a necessity to read it prior to digging in to Bitterblue. Where Bitterblue is the sequel to Graceling, Bitterblue is the a companion novel to Fire. The plus side to reading Fire first was that I got more insight on the time of Leck, before he became king, and information on the Dells and Pikkia.

I absolutely, unequivocally, whole heartedly loved this book! It was everything I had hoped it would be. At eighteen years of age, Bitterblue, a young queen since the age of ten, is still trying to learn what needs to be done to rule her kingdom or Monsea, and to clean up the painful memories left during the terrifying reign of her dead father, King Leck.

Wanting to learn more about her kingdom first hand, Bitterblue decides to wander the streets of her Bitterblue City. She chances upon Story Rooms, where someone is on stage telling a story. The stories differ from Story Room to Story Room, but a lot of the stories revolve around her father and the friends she is surrounded by (Katsa, Prince Po, etc.). It is in one of these Story Rooms that Bitterblue meets Saf, a thief and ruffian, and his friend Teddy. It is upon this chance encounter where the "simple" life that Bitterblue has known all her life is about to be changed forever.

What did I love the most about this book? Well...everything! But what I really loved was being able to read about Po, Katsa, and Giddon again! Ahhhhh! Although I'm sure that Saf is suppose to be the crushable male lead in this book, my toss-up was between Po and Giddon. I crushed oh Po like crazy in Graceling, but Giddon was unbelievably sexy to me in Bitterblue. He seemed more vulnerable and sweet, and absolutely swoon worthy.

This book was totally full of unsuspecting twists and turns. I was left guessing up to the near end who was responsible for the various attacks and murders that was happening to Bitterblue and her friends. Once I had my mind dead set on who the responsible person(s) was, the next page would completely throw me off and have me guessing all over again. Where in Fire we learn about Leck before his reign as king, in Bitterblue, we read more about the horrors that happened during his reign. We also see the dire consequences of such acts, and how it completely affects those around Bitterblue, whom she is to trust, as well as how it affected the people in her kingdom.

Action packed and the return of characters that we have grown to love, Bitterblue will not disappoint any fans of Graceling and Fire. This book had me gasping, wide eyed, and yearning for more.

I love the Graceling realm!! Another fantastic addition to this series. I loved Bitterblue -- and the romance in this book was beautiful, even if it doesn't have a happy ending (yet.) Hoping there's more to come in this wonderful series! I also loved the connections between the Graceling Realm and the Dells.

One of my favorite things about this book was that unlike Katsa and Fire, Bitterblue does not have a special power. Katsa and Fire are physically strong women, whereas Bitterblue is small. Bitterblue's strength comes from her mind -- her way of not allowing Leck to control her mind was by doing complicated math problems in her head, and this mental way of overcoming a problem symbolizes Bitterblue's general method of dealing with anything that crosses her path. She is strong, but still vulnerable. Her love for others and determination to do what is right even if it's hard for her is what makes her a great and respected ruler.

And the LOVE STORY is fantastic! It reminds me of the beginning of Aladdin, when Jasmine sneaks out of her palace as a commoner. When Bitterblue is pretending to be "Sparks," the reader gets to see a side of her that we might not have otherwise, a side of her that isn't weighed down by royal obligations and can have fun and have a romantic tryst. This makes her such a three dimensional character. And the royal reveal scene was done so wonderfully! It was heartbreaking to read!

There are also so many great mysteries in this book that are solved through the story. Yes, it's long, but I found myself needing to know what was going to happen next.

I hope Kristin Cashore continues this series, because I want more of the Graceling Realm!

Bitterblue is a book I really wanted to like. Graceling was the book on which my own writing style was built, and to this day, I love it to death. Fire, though a bit romantic for my tastes, was nonetheless a great companion to the first book, even if it didn't feature the familiar cast of characters I'd grown fond of. So it pains me to look back and see how much I didn't Bitterblue, and the number of times I closed the book out of boredom, frustration, or the mind-numbing stupidity.

Like some other reviews have stated, the prologue is strong enough. As a rule, I tend to skip prologues, but Bitterblue's was interesting enough that I sat through it all the way to chapter one. It left me intrigued, and eager for what would inevitably be an incredible addition to the series that defined my literary life.

Jesus, it pains me to see just how wrong I was.

Though my thoughts on the books contents are long, I will paraphrase: it reads like fanfiction. Close to three-hundred pages in, I closed the book and was reminded of the many stories I've trudged through on that shitstain that is Fanfiction.net. Though it gives me no pleasure to do so, I must compare Bitterblue to them. They way characters show up, only to be shoved to the back of the story and driven HORRIBLY out of character reminds me a great deal of fanfiction. What's sadder is that Cashore is doing this to her own characters.

Sadly, the old characters are the only interesting ones. Outside of Teddy, a Graced writer who doesn't see enough screen time for my liking, none the new characters endear me to them. Bitterblue herself is a bland, empty vessel, existing only so that the story might revolve around her. She lacks the charm and personality that made Katsa and Fire so much fun to follow. There came a point where I would dread reading her internal narratives, hoping (often in vain) that some other character would save me from the sheer monotony of it all.

What must also be mentioned is the plot, or lack thereof. At three-quarters of the way through the book, I still wouldn't have been able to tell you what the long-term conflict was. There was isolated incidents of conflict, sure, and there was the premise of Bitterblue inheriting rule of the kingdom of Monsea from her psychotic father, but that's just a premise. The book trundles through hundreds of pages while only ever teasing at a true plot. Admittedly, I've not reached the end yet, so I don't know if it ever wraps things up, but the plot is still a load of old crap.

It's just so

much

crap.

There is so much bad in this book that everything redeeming is canceled out. The writing style is still solid, but it's buried beneath so much shit that it's left floundering. Pass on this book. Don't make the same mistake I did when I sank twenty bones into a hardcover copy.

For me, the main plot of Bitterblue seemed to be "This is what happened before, this is how we're going to fix it". For a while I thought that something concrete was going to happen between Saf and Bitterblue, but no, that just ended in an oh hum kind of way.

We already knew a lot about Leck from the previous two books and I don't see the point of being told about every little detail - who cares about the Hava's mom, or what happened to the head gardener? We know Leck is a psychopath and we don't need to keep being told that he could control people. And compared to the rest of the city, Bitterblue had a good childhood because the worst thing that happened to her seemed to be a lot of confusion. It wasn't until she escaped her dad that she started to really get hurt. We didn't need to hear so much of the math or the ciphering. I still can't figure out how having council meetings was important to Bitterblue's story, except maybe as an excuse for the other characters to visit her?

Also, there was no growth in the characters. It was mostly "I should stop taking things at face value and do my own research" kind of growth, but honestly, the reader figures that out from the first chapter.

I read the book, it was interesting, but it didn't live up to Graceling, or even Fire.

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Excellent fantasy that focuses on mystery, problem solving and political intrigue. The story raises so many questions that it will have you hooked waiting for the answers.

Opening Sentence: When he grabs Mama's wrist and yanks her toward the wall-hanging like that, it must hurt.

The Review:

Eight years have passed since the events of Graceling, when Bitterblue became Queen of Monsea. She is getting tired of the tediousness of life as a Queen, staying in her office and signing documents all day. She wants to know more about her kingdom and the people that live in it. She begins to sneak out at night. She begins attending secret story houses where she meets two mysterious boys, one of whom she knows is a thief. She spends her days dreaming about sneaking out again at night. She begins to develop a relationship with Teddy and Saf, learning that things in her kingdom aren't as she is led to believe.

Bitterblue questions her advisors about the secrets she has been hearing when she leaves the castle at night and about her fathers' reign. She wants to know how to make her kingdom better. Bitterblue's advisors help her with uncovering the truth but strange things begin to happen, people in her kingdom are acting out of character. She believes it has something to do with her father but she can't quite figure it out.

Bitterblue is joined by Katsa, Po, Giddon and others as they work for the Council and use her castle as a base as they plan their next operation. Po and Giddon seem to spend the most time with Bitterblue but she does spend a little time with Katsa as she comes and goes from the castle. She does get their help and advice when she needs it most. Saf is the thief that Bitterblue falls for in the heat of the moment. He is very hot and cold and treats Bitterblue harshly at times. Saf has some potential but he is a free spirit. I do like him but I have my hopes set for someone else for Bitterblue. Teddy makes friends with Bitterblue very easily, he believes he can trust her. He is a truthseeker and he reveals to Bitterblue the problems with her kingdom. Teddy is a nice, sweet character and I would like to see more of him in the future.

Bitterblue is left out of quite a bit of the action. Other characters get to go off and have the adventures while she is stuck in the castle. Of course, this doesn't mean nothing happens to her, she gets her share of action in the beginning half of the book while the second half is filled with political intrigue and problem-solving. Bitterblue does come off a little naïve at times but she has good intentions. She wants to make her kingdom and the people living in it better.

The world that Kristin Cashore has created is still engrossing and mesmerizing. Many new characters and abilities have been added into the story. Since the story is strictly from Bitterblue's point of view, the world only takes place in Bitterblue City and her castle. Some places are elaborated by stories that other characters tell.

The plot isn't very strong, in the way that there are a lot of plot points going on: Saf's graceling ability is a mystery, why are people acting strange, the Council wants to overthrow the government in Estill (the country to the north of Monsea), a mysterious tunnel appears (where does it go?), tons of bones are found (whose are they?), and what did King Leck do during his reign as king. Most of these points are resolved but a few are left hanging, presumably for the next book.

Overall, Bitterblue is an entertaining fantasy about a lonely girl who wants her friends to be by her side and wants to be a good Queen. If you enjoy a good young adult fantasy then I would recommend this series.

The Graceling Realm Series:

1. Graceling

2. Fire

3. Bitterblue

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Dial provided me with a copy of Bitterblue. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review.

If you ask me to make a list of my most anticipated sequels, companion novels and/or books part of a series, Bitterblue would be one of those on the top half. Reading Graceling made me adore Bitterblue so much, being only a child with a big responsibility already weighing on her shoulders, I wanted to see how she faired.

Nine years after the events of Graceling, Bitterblue is now 18 years old and has been ruling the kingdom after Leck's death. The people of the kingdom have been left broken and disoriented, and it's Bitterblue's job to help them get back on their feet. But how do you heal an entire broken kingdom that is still haunted by a deceased powerful mind-manipulator's oppression?

I have somewhat established a love and hate relationship with this book. There are times that I find myself loving the scenes then finding myself agitated to move on to the next event a moment later. And did I mention that this is a bit of a hefty book? So I guess that's where my agitation came from, I'm worried that it would be all talk and there aren't many things happening that would surprise me. Unfortunately it was more or less true.

Bitterblue (the book) had some of these really strange characters. Bitterblue (the character) has advisers who have too many secrets haunting them that hinder to let them function coherently. Most of the time they were just so annoying that I wish Bitterblue just fired them and pick someone else to do their job. It's frustrating to see Bitterblue try to get them to open up about what happened but each time they just get lost in thought or space out, the more Bitterblue pushed only made the situation worse and I hate that these advisers were too loose-on-the-head to comprehend that their queen is willing to let them make amends from their mistakes.

The love story of Bitterblue and Saf is a short lived. I mean, come on! This girl is already carrying so many burdens and you couldn't even give her someone to support her in a more affectionate way? I know Saf was angry but it consumed too much of the time in this book that they could've spent in a...I don't know, probably a more romantic couple approach. The only time they had a deeply meaningful moment was a time when Bitterblue just witnessed a suicide. Now that moment, no matter how beautiful, is already tainted with something awful!

I still did like a lot of things in Bitterblue; like when Bitterblue had the initiative to take matters into her own hands, she went about the kingdom discovering things she never thought was happening under her reign and she's willing to do anything to finally put things in perspective, even though people somehow see her differently.

I enjoyed Katsa and Po's crazy PDA. Can you believe these two find it alluring to wrestle each other? They are really childish most of the time. But I love seeing the lighter side of Katsa compared to her stoic and oh-so-serious times in Graceling. They can be a little ridiculous but cute all the same.

A good surprise in this book was finding out about another Graceling in the palace that has been in hiding for several years already, and finding out about her relationship with Bitterblue... *sigh* I'm glad she finally got a bit of a break here. Another nice surprise here is the appearance of a very unusual set of people from another part of the land that Bitterblue and the rest of the kingdom only thought existed in Leck's mind and never in real life.

Overall, Bitterblue is an enjoyable book to read. It may have been a bit too long for me but the mystery, characters, and most especially this imaginary world was a very vivid and pleasant experience. It might not have been an ending I would welcome with open arms, but it definitely provided closure in some way. I wonder if there's another book though, the ending still seems to be open for another adventure.

I loved reading Bitterblue's story, and knowing all of the things that happened after King Leck's reign. I enjoyed this book immensely. I would even say I liked it better than Graceling, if because of nothing else, there was a million times more mystery to this book. It was wonderful putting the pieces together any guessing what would happen next. I loved that Cashore pretty much covered every detail of the story and wrapped it up. Love details and complicated plots! It kept my attention much better than Graceling as well. Overall I loved it. The writing was awesome sauce, the characters were some of my favorites, this was just a great book.

Set in a fantastical world where some people are born with special skills, known as a Grace, some people use this skills for good, others for evil. Bitterblue, the third book in the Graceling Realm series, takes place eight years after the first book. Eight years after the terrible reign of her dad ended, and she became queen of Mosea. While the kingdom is still recovering from the influence of her father, Leck, Bitterblue is trying to sort out how he terrorized the citizens and find a way to bring healing.

Leck was a violent psychopath, and his grace was an ability to make people believe and do what he wanted them to. Bitterblue was left with advisors who had worked for her father, and were focused on a forward-thinking plan, ignoring the past. Her curiosity leads her to sneak out the castle in disguise, to explore the streets of her city, and discover the true story of what her father did and the impact it still has on her kingdom.

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series (the second is a companion book with different characters), and was looking forward to reading this one for awhile. Although it's set in a mythological realm, I like how believable the characters are, making the plot more true to life then a lot of YA books. While there is romance, it's complicated, and doesn't wrap up cleanly in the end. There is mystery, surprises, but it's never over the top. Not to give too much away, but things turn out really great in the end, and I hope Cashore writes many more books about these kingdoms.

Included at the end of the book, an almost too easy to miss, are breathtaking illustrations of the three bridges that are central to the novel, as well as a map of the seven kingdoms.
(review originally posted: [...])

I have never wanted to finish a book so badly in my life! I didn't want to finish it because I liked it; I just wanted to get it over with! I thought that the idea of the book was interesting enough, but the author just took too long to get to the point. I was also under the assumption that there would be some romance in the book, but any romance between Bitterblue and Saf was very brief. That was a huge disappointment for me. I really wanted to like this book and I try to approach every book with an open mind, but this just wasn't for me.

Kristen Cashore delivers once again, with a profoundly exciting and thought-provoking sequel! Absolutely wonderful; I disagree with people disliking the fact that the book is very involved in puzzles. I find that it was the nature of Leck's terror, and thus the nature of the essence of this book. Cashore writes beautiful, with gorgeous words and amazing sentiments that often times brought me to tears. I was hooked quite immediately and could not put it down - I just wish the previous books were this long.

I can't adequately express how much I adored this book, and I can only fervently hope that she will continue to write more within this realm.

Using a friend's account

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW*
by Moslimah

Bitterblue has been Queen of Monsea for eight years. As she starts exploring and questioning the people and world around her, she discovers that the influence of her now dead father, the previous king and a man with mind-altering abilities, is still affecting her people and city. Strange and unexplainable things are happening and in order for things to move forward, Bitterblue must figure out what happened in the past, during her father's reign.

When I first read GRACELING and FIRE, two books set in the same world of The Seven Kingdoms but with different protagonists, I absolutely loved them. I was drawn into Katsa and Fire's world and swept away by their tales. The novels were each so different, yet so wonderfully crafted. So when I started BITTERBLUE, after patiently waiting for its release for more than a year, I expected the story to whisk me away. There are a few good aspects to this book but overall, I was disappointed.

The world building was simply exquisite. I was drawn in and never overwhelmed with too much detail. It was interesting to see the author weave topics such as education (including dictionaries), mental health and the concept of councelling, politics and sexual orientation, although with the last one, I felt that it was just thrown in there for the sake of the author highlighting her views on gay relationships.

The protagonist, Queen Bitterblue is an interesting, yet typical character, wandering around in her castle, or rather sitting cluelessly in her office signing charters all day until, suddenly, after eight years into her reign, she finally decides to explore both her castle and kingdom. So many scenes in the novel are of her in her office signing charters. You'd think a queen had more important things to do. However, once she got exploring, the novel got better.

Giddon was my favourite character and his wholesome, brotherly and real relationship with Bitterblue was wonderful and refreshing. Saf, Bitterblue's love interest, is likeable. It was nice to see how he looked up to Prince Po, someone who is older and far more experienced than him, instead of being the one others looked up to. His friend, Teddy was quite charming. Overall, the characters and their interactions are wonderfully written.

I was let down by the actual plot. There was no climax despite the interesting and exciting turns in the book. The clues that led to the truth behind Leck's reign kept building up and left me excited to find out what it was that Leck did. Unfortunately, it took me till the end of the book to realise that the mystery had been solved and I had almost not realised it. I was more confused than anything. I was expecting some big revelation; something that would have made my jaw drop open or my eyes bulge out, but unfortuanately, there was no such thing. I barely discovered anything new about Leck that we didn't know previously. We were also not told, in detail, why Leck behaved and did the things he did. It was almost as if the whole plot; the mystery had been for nothing.

One random point I'd like to mention is that I had hoped Saf's Grace would be something that would aid in the solving of the mystery but when we found what his Grace was, it was a let-down.

While I enjoyed this book a lot, I felt like it was a bit to long. It dragged a bit in the middle when a lot of answers weren't making sense, and the politics of who is married to whom and other such things got very complicated and tiresome to keep track of.

All in all, just as satisfying as the other books in the series just needed a bit of editing on the length and the complexity of the story.

Well I thought about it and found the story had its pros and cons. The story is about bitterblue trying to put her kingdom back together ... And she finds herself traveling further and further down the rabbit hole.
The book seemed rather wordy tho . It took too long to get to the point I thought. It's not fire ... and it's not graceling ... Its bitterblue and well worth the read Kristin is a master storyteller

Just as a disclaimer, I haven't read the first two books in the series. I saw Kristin Cashore do a reading of the first chapter of the book at the New York Public Library and had to read the rest. It was that good.

The story is set in a world where some people are born with a magical power known as a Grace. Graces are very specific, which means that the magical system isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. Bitterblue's father had a Grace that allowed him to tell lies that were always believed, which he used to become king and tyrannize his people. After her father's death, Bitterblue becomes queen and is now responsible for healing her kingdom. She quickly realizes how naive and sheltered her life has been, and starts sneaking out at night to learn more about her kingdom. She soon realizes that even though her father may be dead, his influence in the kingdom has not ended.

Cashore's writing has an exquisite literary quality. Unlike many popular YA novels, there are no obnoxious love triangles. It's fantasy as fantasy is meant to be. I would highly recommend it, and I can't wait to read the first two novels in the series!

This ties the first two books together excellently! Finally Bitterblue is an adult and queen. We learn about her kingdom and we get to dive deeper into her past. This book is full of mystery and suspense. The readers learn things right along with Bitterblue. We also get updates on past characters like Po, Katsa and Fire! Really well written. Left me wanting more! Hope this isn't the end!

A beautiful book of healing, coming into one's own and a testament of strength. I have to say that I love reading this author's books. Each one is different and complex and yet gives a heart rending, beautifully written story.

Bitterblue is a story of a young queen coming into her strength and believe me she has more strength than even she knows.

I almost stopped reading part way through the book because it felt that the story wasn't going anywhere. I also had preconceptions of how I would like the story to read. However, because she is a very good writer and I still enjoyed the story enough, I kept reading. I also dropped those preconceptions and tried not to compare Bitterblue to Fire and Katsa. Bitterblue is her own person and she needed to learn that she was strong and that she had the heart of a queen even though she couldn't see it through the pain and the damage she sustained through her father's madness.

Cashore drew me into this book slowly. She made me feel for those lost souls who because they were damaged, because a psychopath controlled them, hurt other people. Then tried to hide what they did by hurting more people. She made me feel for a queen whom I thought was clueless but had been shielded and betrayed by those closest to her. She made me feel for a lost girl who didn't think she was a queen.

I loved this book and I didn't want it to end. I hope Cashore writes more books about this world or any other world because she is that good of a writer.

I, like most people I'm sure who are reading the book, read Graceling and Fire before and Bitterblue could not come fast enough. That being said, I was very let down. I was absolutely stunned by Graceling and it's depth of thought and characters...it was just beautiful to say the least. Po and Katsa were so well developed characters, and in Fire I thought the same. But in Bitterblue, I found myself liking the 9-year old Bitterblue from Graceling better than I did in her title novel. Where did that brave little girl go? All she does is whine in the novel and seemed so self-centered. And don't even get me started on Saf. He had to be one of the most dislikable male leads I have ever read and not developed at all!

Like others have said, what made Cashore's writing so brilliant in Graceling and Fire was her ability to create believable, in depth characters who stole our hearts. Bitterblue did not achieve this at all and even when favorite characters of Po and Katsa came into the novel (my favorite part because I have a crush on Po), I felt there was something missing with them as well...as if they were overly dramatized.

I gave this three stars because, knowing what I know now, I would still read it because I am a loyal fan and it could have been a way worse disaster, but there were still glimpses of amazingness in it and as a fan, we have to know the story right? I am not put off and will continue to read Cashore's books (in the Graceling realm, of course).

Graceling and Fire are two of my favorite books. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Bitterblue. When I finished it, I was disappointed. The story was good, the writing flawless. But the romance element was pathetic and barely there. I didn't like Saf at all. I just felt like some element was missing. I kept waiting for it to get better but it never did. It lacked the luster of Graceling and Fire.

Bitterblue is the third novel in a series by Kristen Cashore, although series might not be the best way to describe this trilogy. Each of the books circles around a different heroine in a different time, and each girl confronts different issues. I found Bitterblue absolutely fantastic, and to anyone who's considering buying the book, PLEASE buy the hard copy. It's far more beautiful in its physical form. The artwork is incredible, including the inside of the cover, which I doubt you get to see in an e-book.
The book itself is also fantastic! I may not recommend it to someone who wants a book that picks up from the first page, but is still intriguing. The less action packed parts and the beginning are excusable though, due to the book's complex plot. Bitterblue's in depth story fascinates me, and I plan to reread all three books when I have time. Please try this book out, it is most definitely worth it.

I was disappointed! I loved graceling. Once I finished it I had to get my hands on the bitterblue. Some parts were good but I felt like the book was too long and I am usually the kind of person that never wants a book to end. Sometimes I felt I was just reading "busy work". I am not going to read Fire right away since I was disappointed with this one.

**** Warning: review may contain spoilers. ****

I love this cover! It is just as beautiful as the covers for Graceling and Fire. Cashore's cover artist did a wonderful job with this one, making it similar but slightly different and unique to Bitterblue's story.

As for the story itself, here is the the store summary:

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.

First off, I have to say that I love Cashore's writing. It gets better with every book. Her diction is elegant and she really articulates well. Secondly, the story itself wasn't too boring for me. At first, it was a little slow but as soon as Bitterblue began sneaking out of the castle at night, then it became very interesting. I read on some of the reviews that this book was boring. I didn't find it so at all. On the contrary, it had an extremely complex plot and the story behind Leck's mad reign was fascinating, if a bit disturbing.

It was great that Cashore kept me guessing. I love puzzles. As Bitterblue discovered more and more about her kingdom (or I should say queendom) she kept asking questions about odd things she noticed. This is what had me turning the pages and slowly, piece by piece, I began to put the puzzle together just as Bitterblue did. I felt like I was there with her, discovering the horrible truths that had been kept hidden for so long and feeling the heartbreak and shame just as she did.

I loved the fact that we got to see more of Katsa and Po and their relationship with Bitterblue. I also loved seeing Fire again. Cashore really demonstrated her brilliance as she weaved the threads of the main characters from the other two books into this one, creating one coherent story. And it wasn't just the threads of these characters that kept the story mysterious and suspenseful. It was also the new characters she introduced that played a key part in the plot and added an extra dimension that I wasn't anticipating at all.

Overall, the only thing I didn't like about this book was that it had to end. I was sad because I wanted to know more. What happens with Sky, Fire, and Saph when they travel back to the Dells? What happens between Bitterblue and Giddon? Do they ever become more than friends? What about Katsa and Po? How does their story turn out? And does Sky ever forgive Po? Cashore left so many things unanswered that I am really hoping she writes another book in this series.

Please, Kristin Cashore! Please write another book! =o)

Happy Reading!

~ Melissa

Melissa Douthit's Blog

Her stories are different and the plotlines complex. They make interesting reads. The concepts of "monsters" held my imagination throughut the series. Bitterblue was even more different. It was trying to follow sometimes but a good story should make one think. The romantic aspects were terciary. And very forgettable.

Bitterblue was my most anticipated read of 2012. Graceling and Fire had me practically salivating, I loved both of those, devoured them, and I'm sorry to say Bitterblue did not live up to the previous books.

It took me 9 days to finish Bitterblue. I picked it up, I put it down, I read a few chapters, I read one page. At times I would be gripped and not be able to put the book down and other times, I couldn't bear to pick it up. I went in expecting to love it and I came out just liking it. What happened? Why did Bitterblue not keep me interested? Read on.

My first impression of Bitterblue was that I wasn't feeling it. The beginning pages really threw me off and I had a hard time connecting to the story. I loved Graceling and I loved Fire even more, so to have such a start really worried me. Do yourself a favor and reread Graceling and Fire before tackling Bitterblue, it will save you lots of frustration (or it could be just be only me that is very forgetful). Like I said, I had a hard time getting into it until Queen Bitterblue starts sneaking out of the castle and meets Saf- which honestly is just a few chapters in. Before that, the story just seems kind of stagnant and uninteresting and you really just have to push through it. I take that back, there are a lot of parts in Bitterblue that are stagnant and uninteresting, but there are also parts that are very interesting. I'm afraid I found more parts uninteresting than interesting and I'm very disappointed.

I'll get to Saf in a minute but one of my main reasons for not liking Bitterblue was because of, well, Queen Bitterblue. She is a very whiny character. Selfish, whiny, naive, and did I mention whiny? I also think at times she's rather dumb. Let me state that I never wanted to strangle her like some characters, but she has her moments where you just think, "How can she be queen?" At times, I did like Queen Bitterblue, like when she was with Po or with Death and some times with Saf. But for the story to be about her, I just didn't feel for her the way I did Katsa or Fire.

My second reason for not liking Bitterblue was Saf. Don't get me wrong, I like Saf. But instead of one of the main characters, he felt like a character that had been pushed to the side. There, but no really there. He is supposed to play Bitterblue's love interest that takes hundreds of pages to even develop. I honestly do not know why the two are even together. Saf is hardly ever around and I just can't believe that either character fell in love with one another. Don't even get me started with that intimate scene that was so out of place that even now I still side-eye it.
Honestly, honestly (I'm using that word a lot. HA!), I felt Queen Bitterblue had more of a relationship with Giddon than with Saf. I was just waiting for a love triangle to start. There was definitely better development between Giddon than Saf and I'm sad that after over 500 pages, he's left without a love interest.

My third and final reason was the confusion. Confusion over parts that were written. Confusion over the storyline. Confusion over the characters.
The characters would talk and I'd wonder what kind of secret I was left out of. I'd even go back and reread and still not get it or understand. To me, it seems like I was supposed to have prior knowledge of what they were talking about, or it would be explained like I was part of the group and supposed to have known what happened. Honestly, Bitterblue and Po would talk and I'd have no idea what in the hell they were talking about. Maybe I just didn't read well enough, but I love this series, so I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Even the storyline I didn't follow all the way because at times Queen Bitterblue would be thinking about some thing that happened and the next thing you know we're on a totally different subject. It was annoying and it made reading uncomfortable. It just seemed as though for Queen Bitterblue to be trying to find the answers to her puzzle pieces there wouldn't be so many pieces that didn't fit or make enough sense. It was just awkward and crazy.

A slight edit: I forgot to include my thoughts on the gay characters that appear in Bitterblue. While I'm all for people loving whomever they want, Bitterblue struck me as odd. Seeing that I don't remember any mention of gay characters in the previous books, it felt weird that all of a sudden two characters were gay and then, not too long after, there are more gay characters mentioned in Bitterblue. Why did I need to know that two extremely minor characters were gay? What was the purpose other than to say I have gay characters in my book? My personal feelings on this was that it didn't work for me.

For one of the things I loved it would be the banter. I loved hearing Po, Katsa, Giddon, Bitterblue, Saf, Teddy and everyone else bickering. I loved it! What I did't like is Po being overly depressed and Katsa just being...well, overly emotional. They just didn't seem like themselves so even I wasn't too thrilled to see them back again. But almost every time the group would gather they would bring a smile to my face.

The best new character is Death, the librarian. Seriously, his snarky attitude was to die for.
"Lady Queen," the librarian said. "As Your Majesty's request was disobligingly unspecific, I thought it best to deliver a range of maps, to increase the odds that one pleases you. It's my fervent wish to return to my work uninterrupted by your little people."
I loved every sentence I read about him.

I am disappointed that Leck was killed in Graceling. Being the character that, I think, really held together this series, I was disappointed to see him go. Though his presence haunts Bitterblue, it's nothing like the real villain. We do get into some nitty gritty truths about Leck. He's such disturbing character, you can't like him, but reading about what he did was fascinating. I almost wish there was a spin-off or novella recounting the horrors he committed. That's where I think most of my fascination with this series lies. Cashore writes beautifully, but it's when she's telling the horrors of the past that her writing grips me.

Overall, I still think it is an amazing series. Although Bitterblue has its hiccups and it can be quite crazy, I do hope that maybe there will be more stories to tell in the world of the Seven Kingdoms.

What happens after the good guys win? This story is set after Graceling and is about the young princess Bitterblue who is left to untangle the web of lies her father left behind.

It is a dark look into the truth that when someone dies sometimes their deeds linger for a long time.

Bitterblue is the dark side of 'The End' or 'Happily Ever After'. What happens after the fight is over or the bad guy is killed.

The reason I am giving it four stars instead of five is because it was a bit slower than Fire or Graceling. However, if you love the world Kristin Cashore has created, you are sure to enjoy Bitterblue.

I really wanted to like "Bitterblue"-- the titular character won me over in Graceling, so I was quite excited to see her come into her own in this final book. Having said that, "Bitterblue" is a bit of an odd creation: it sometimes captures fascinating moments and relationships between the young queen and her court, interesting excursions and a deep mystery about her past. Other times it feels disjointed, unevenly paced and at the worst moments, reads like fanfiction. So what can you say about "Bitterblue"? There's some good material here, written by the obviously talented Cashore, but it needs the firm hand of a ruthless editor.

Let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the series. I found them extremely interesting and loved the world that the author painted. This book was VERY DIFFERENT from the first two books. Depending on who you are that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it completely is dependent on the types of books you like.

Graceling & Fire were high action, fast paced books. They were so unique because they both painted such a contrasting world in the same series. I have never come across a series that created 2 opposing, yet coupled, worlds in 1 series in my life. I think it is to the authors credit and her hard work and imagination. Most people cannot create 1 unique world in their minds, yet this author created two and brought them together in this new book Bitterblue.

Were as the previous books were light on the plot but deep in the character development and world building, this book contains an extremely HEAVY plot. It took me 2 days to read and I must say that the book took a lot of concentration to keep the plot straight and was not a light read. Not that that is a bad thing, I actually enjoy thick plots.

This, I believe, is what separates those who enjoyed this book and those who found it a disappointment. If you enjoy high action page turners than you may not enjoy this book. Most of the action comes from plot twist and turns and there are very few actual fight scenes that are sparsely described.

If however, you enjoy political and psychological thrillers you will most likely enjoy this book. It is without a doubt not in the young adult category as those who would enjoy this book would definitely be from a more adult perspective.

Overall, I am happy I read this book. If I could I would give the book 3 1/2 stars. I am not one to thoroughly enjoy books like this, I am more of an action packed page turner kind of guy. That is not to say that this book wasnt good. If you enjoy this type of book I would say that this is one of the best books in that genre. It kept me intrigued and reading throughout the whole thing and when I wasnt reading it I was thinking about it.

That said, this book did not hold true to the prior two. So if you know that going in you may leave feeling better about it. I hope this helps those who are trying to decide to read the book or not.

First of all, I had unforgiving high expectation as I have waited more than a year to read this one. Graceling is probably my favorite novel at the moment, and I also loved reading Fire, especially because I love the characters created by Cashore.
I expected a lot from this book and after turning the last page at five in the morning on a saturday, I had to admit that Bitterblue did not quite live up to the standards of the two previous book. Don't get me wrong, it is not a horrible read at all, but more times than I like, I though 'Why did she go there? What does that do for the story?'
So if you're a huge fan of the previous books, just be careful not to expect too much of this one.

As said in the title, I wanted to love this book. I like the main character, she'd smart and funny and carries around a unbelievably rough childhood while having to find a way to heal and lead a broken country. I do like the plot and the idea of the events happening but I found it difficult to care about all the new characters, some seeming to be added without being necessarily or even bring something new to the story. Some of those who I came to care about were Saf, Teddy and Death. I missed some more seems with Bitterbue and the one she falls for. It seemed that surely something else could have been cut out to leave room for more deep conversations - as those between Brigan and Fire - Katsa and Po, because I did really care about what happened to them. The potential of this love story I think called for more.

I was thrilled when I head that the book would bring in some of the old characters. And yes, there were some nice moments that added something to the story, but I feel that when bringing back some characters whose story has been told in another book then the presence of these has to make sense and add something more. A lot of what was presented didn't need as many pages as it got. I mean, I love to here what Raffin and Bran are up too, but it did get to the point - at times - where I thought; It's nice to know this, but get I want to hear about what's going on with Bitterblue so please leave". I've never felt that way about a story before. And there was going on a lot that was relevant for Bitterblue and that I could have used more of, for it made it a bit difficult to care about her story when - all at the same time we had to know what had happened to so many from the previous books. It lost the focus of the main characters and I think that is a shame.

Something I really liked about the other books was that we got to know a lot of the characters as they acted and by the way they acted. We came to know how they thought while something was going on, when Po and Katsa rode through the forrest or when Fire was in the stables, and yet in this third book I miss some of that elegant combination of thoughts while something else was going on. A lot of things are repeated in Bitterblue and a lot of the physical surroundings and actions seem less important than in the other two.

I did want to like this book and I do like it, but not in the same way as i did the two previous. Something was missing - some of that magic that made me care about the plot, care about the characters so much they my mind kept returning to that book, sometimes even weeks after finishing. And Bitterblue is not a bad read as I said before it just lacks something and does not capture me the way the two previous did.
Three starts: Because Cashore does write in a very appealing way, because there were some moments that reminded me of the feeling I got reading the others and because the dialogue, though sometimes not that important in my opinion - is written well and is exciting to read...

Cashore is a talented and good writer, but it lacked some of the magic I so hoped to find when reading the book.

I read Graceling and loved it. Bitterblue was not nearly as complex or well written. The characters were borderline annoying. But the worst part was the political correctness that was being pushed. As the book was coming to a close, her agenda seemed to become the director of the story. She pushed gay marriage, women in the workplace, abortion (or at least the morning after pill), and so on. I actually found it to be incredibly distracting. Very disappointing indeed.

It got a little confusing going back and forth in time and her confusion about past events . Also her thoughts if she was good enough to be queen or if she took after her father by being mean and untruthful . About two thirds of the way through it got better with a good ending . The Bitterblue character left me not wanting to know more about her but more about her kingdom and how they survived . I would recommend this book if the person knew about the confusion .

I loved every line of this book. There is so much emotion, excitement, and romance, and on top of it all, you do not know how the book is going to end. I love that it's not predictable. There are lots of funny parts, mostly having to do with Po. It was great seeing all those old favorite characters once again. Katsa, Po, Giddon, Bann, and maybe even a character or two you didn't expect to see again as well!

I cried several different times because I really felt for Bitterblue and what she was going through. Kristin Cashore is a fantastic author. She makes the characters come alive and causes you to care for them all deeply. The writing is magnificent and vivid in detail and emotion. This book is a spectacular achievement and I know I will be re-reading it many times in the future. I can't wait to see what Kristin Cashore comes up with next. READ THIS BOOK! You won't regret it!

When Bittterblue's father, King Leck is killed, she inherits a kingdom that is in shambles and and still suffers from the evils of her father's reign. With the help oh her cousin Po and friend, Katsa, both Gracelings, she promises her people that their kingdom will recover, but something evil still lurks in the castle and streets of Monsea. Can she trust her advisors? Can she trust her new friends? War is pending, and she needs allies. Bitterblue has difficult choices which include her first love and her responsibility as a monarch.

I loved Graceling and I enjoyed Fire, but nothing prepared me for the emotional force of Bitterblue. It is deep and dark and lovely. I have never seen another novel that tackled the impact of PTSD on a nation, and it was shocking how familiar and right it all seemed. It was particularly poignant for me; I lived for a time in a country that had been free of totalitarian rule for only 17 years, and many of the elements of Bitterblue felt very familiar.

Bitterblue was my most anticipated read of 2012. Graceling and Fire had me practically salivating, I loved both of those, devoured them, and I'm sorry to say Bitterblue did not live up to the previous books.

It took me 9 days to finish Bitterblue. I picked it up, I put it down, I read a few chapters, I read one page. At times I would be gripped and not be able to put the book down and other times, I couldn't bear to pick it up. I went in expecting to love it and I came out just liking it. What happened? Why did Bitterblue not keep me interested? Read on.

My first impression of Bitterblue was that I wasn't feeling it. The beginning pages really threw me off and I had a hard time connecting to the story. I loved Graceling and I loved Fire even more, so to have such a start really worried me. Do yourself a favor and reread Graceling and Fire before tackling Bitterblue, it will save you lots of frustration (or it could be just be only me that is very forgetful). Like I said, I had a hard time getting into it until Queen Bitterblue starts sneaking out of the castle and meets Saf- which honestly is just a few chapters in. Before that, the story just seems kind of stagnant and uninteresting and you really just have to push through it. I take that back, there are a lot of parts in Bitterblue that are stagnant and uninteresting, but there are also parts that are very interesting. I'm afraid I found more parts uninteresting than interesting and I'm very disappointed.

I'll get to Saf in a minute but one of my main reasons for not liking Bitterblue was because of, well, Queen Bitterblue. She is a very whiny character. Selfish, whiny, naive, and did I mention whiny? I also think at times she's rather dumb. Let me state that I never wanted to strangle her like some characters, but she has her moments where you just think, "How can she be queen?" At times, I did like Queen Bitterblue, like when she was with Po or with Death and some times with Saf. But for the story to be about her, I just didn't feel for her the way I did Katsa or Fire.

My second reason for not liking Bitterblue was Saf. Don't get me wrong, I like Saf. But instead of one of the main characters, he felt like a character that had been pushed to the side. There, but no really there. He is supposed to play Bitterblue's love interest that takes hundreds of pages to even develop. I honestly do not know why the two are even together. Saf is hardly ever around and I just can't believe that either character fell in love with one another. Don't even get me started with that intimate scene that was so out of place that even now I still side-eye it.
Honestly, honestly (I'm using that word a lot. HA!), I felt Queen Bitterblue had more of a relationship with Giddon than with Saf. I was just waiting for a love triangle to start. There was definitely better development between Giddon than Saf and I'm sad that after over 500 pages, he's left without a love interest.

My third and final reason was the confusion. Confusion over parts that were written. Confusion over the storyline. Confusion over the characters.
The characters would talk and I'd wonder what kind of secret I was left out of. I'd even go back and reread and still not get it or understand. To me, it seems like I was supposed to have prior knowledge of what they were talking about, or it would be explained like I was part of the group and supposed to have known what happened. Honestly, Bitterblue and Po would talk and I'd have no idea what in the hell they were talking about. Maybe I just didn't read well enough, but I love this series, so I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Even the storyline I didn't follow all the way because at times Queen Bitterblue would be thinking about some thing that happened and the next thing you know we're on a totally different subject. It was annoying and it made reading uncomfortable. It just seemed as though for Queen Bitterblue to be trying to find the answers to her puzzle pieces there wouldn't be so many pieces that didn't fit or make enough sense. It was just awkward and crazy.

A slight edit: I forgot to include my thoughts on the gay characters that appear in Bitterblue. While I'm all for people loving whomever they want, Bitterblue struck me as odd. Seeing that I don't remember any mention of gay characters in the previous books, it felt weird that all of a sudden two characters were gay and then, not too long after, there are more gay characters mentioned in Bitterblue. Why did I need to know that two extremely minor characters were gay? What was the purpose other than to say I have gay characters in my book? My personal feelings on this was that it didn't work for me.

For one of the things I loved it would be the banter. I loved hearing Po, Katsa, Giddon, Bitterblue, Saf, Teddy and everyone else bickering. I loved it! What I did't like is Po being overly depressed and Katsa just being...well, overly emotional. They just didn't seem like themselves so even I wasn't too thrilled to see them back again. But almost every time the group would gather they would bring a smile to my face.

The best new character is Death, the librarian. Seriously, his snarky attitude was to die for.
"Lady Queen," the librarian said. "As Your Majesty's request was disobligingly unspecific, I thought it best to deliver a range of maps, to increase the odds that one pleases you. It's my fervent wish to return to my work uninterrupted by your little people."
I loved every sentence I read about him.

I am disappointed that Leck was killed in Graceling. Being the character that, I think, really held together this series, I was disappointed to see him go. Though his presence haunts Bitterblue, it's nothing like the real villain. We do get into some nitty gritty truths about Leck. He's such disturbing character, you can't like him, but reading about what he did was fascinating. I almost wish there was a spin-off or novella recounting the horrors he committed. That's where I think most of my fascination with this series lies. Cashore writes beautifully, but it's when she's telling the horrors of the past that her writing grips me.

Overall, I still think it is an amazing series. Although Bitterblue has its hiccups and it can be quite crazy, I do hope that maybe there will be more stories to tell in the world of the Seven Kingdoms.

What happens after the good guys win? This story is set after Graceling and is about the young princess Bitterblue who is left to untangle the web of lies her father left behind.

It is a dark look into the truth that when someone dies sometimes their deeds linger for a long time.

Bitterblue is the dark side of 'The End' or 'Happily Ever After'. What happens after the fight is over or the bad guy is killed.

The reason I am giving it four stars instead of five is because it was a bit slower than Fire or Graceling. However, if you love the world Kristin Cashore has created, you are sure to enjoy Bitterblue.

I really wanted to like "Bitterblue"-- the titular character won me over in Graceling, so I was quite excited to see her come into her own in this final book. Having said that, "Bitterblue" is a bit of an odd creation: it sometimes captures fascinating moments and relationships between the young queen and her court, interesting excursions and a deep mystery about her past. Other times it feels disjointed, unevenly paced and at the worst moments, reads like fanfiction. So what can you say about "Bitterblue"? There's some good material here, written by the obviously talented Cashore, but it needs the firm hand of a ruthless editor.

Characters were weak, storyline was overdone and weak, I finish books even if I don't really like them and this one was very difficult to finish. Characters relationships were disappointing and weak. I enjoyed Graceling - don't waste your time/money on bitterblue. - you'll just be bitter and blue.

Let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the series. I found them extremely interesting and loved the world that the author painted. This book was VERY DIFFERENT from the first two books. Depending on who you are that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it completely is dependent on the types of books you like.

Graceling & Fire were high action, fast paced books. They were so unique because they both painted such a contrasting world in the same series. I have never come across a series that created 2 opposing, yet coupled, worlds in 1 series in my life. I think it is to the authors credit and her hard work and imagination. Most people cannot create 1 unique world in their minds, yet this author created two and brought them together in this new book Bitterblue.

Were as the previous books were light on the plot but deep in the character development and world building, this book contains an extremely HEAVY plot. It took me 2 days to read and I must say that the book took a lot of concentration to keep the plot straight and was not a light read. Not that that is a bad thing, I actually enjoy thick plots.

This, I believe, is what separates those who enjoyed this book and those who found it a disappointment. If you enjoy high action page turners than you may not enjoy this book. Most of the action comes from plot twist and turns and there are very few actual fight scenes that are sparsely described.

If however, you enjoy political and psychological thrillers you will most likely enjoy this book. It is without a doubt not in the young adult category as those who would enjoy this book would definitely be from a more adult perspective.

Overall, I am happy I read this book. If I could I would give the book 3 1/2 stars. I am not one to thoroughly enjoy books like this, I am more of an action packed page turner kind of guy. That is not to say that this book wasnt good. If you enjoy this type of book I would say that this is one of the best books in that genre. It kept me intrigued and reading throughout the whole thing and when I wasnt reading it I was thinking about it.

That said, this book did not hold true to the prior two. So if you know that going in you may leave feeling better about it. I hope this helps those who are trying to decide to read the book or not.

First of all, I had unforgiving high expectation as I have waited more than a year to read this one. Graceling is probably my favorite novel at the moment, and I also loved reading Fire, especially because I love the characters created by Cashore.
I expected a lot from this book and after turning the last page at five in the morning on a saturday, I had to admit that Bitterblue did not quite live up to the standards of the two previous book. Don't get me wrong, it is not a horrible read at all, but more times than I like, I though 'Why did she go there? What does that do for the story?'
So if you're a huge fan of the previous books, just be careful not to expect too much of this one.

As said in the title, I wanted to love this book. I like the main character, she'd smart and funny and carries around a unbelievably rough childhood while having to find a way to heal and lead a broken country. I do like the plot and the idea of the events happening but I found it difficult to care about all the new characters, some seeming to be added without being necessarily or even bring something new to the story. Some of those who I came to care about were Saf, Teddy and Death. I missed some more seems with Bitterbue and the one she falls for. It seemed that surely something else could have been cut out to leave room for more deep conversations - as those between Brigan and Fire - Katsa and Po, because I did really care about what happened to them. The potential of this love story I think called for more.

I was thrilled when I head that the book would bring in some of the old characters. And yes, there were some nice moments that added something to the story, but I feel that when bringing back some characters whose story has been told in another book then the presence of these has to make sense and add something more. A lot of what was presented didn't need as many pages as it got. I mean, I love to here what Raffin and Bran are up too, but it did get to the point - at times - where I thought; It's nice to know this, but get I want to hear about what's going on with Bitterblue so please leave". I've never felt that way about a story before. And there was going on a lot that was relevant for Bitterblue and that I could have used more of, for it made it a bit difficult to care about her story when - all at the same time we had to know what had happened to so many from the previous books. It lost the focus of the main characters and I think that is a shame.

Something I really liked about the other books was that we got to know a lot of the characters as they acted and by the way they acted. We came to know how they thought while something was going on, when Po and Katsa rode through the forrest or when Fire was in the stables, and yet in this third book I miss some of that elegant combination of thoughts while something else was going on. A lot of things are repeated in Bitterblue and a lot of the physical surroundings and actions seem less important than in the other two.

I did want to like this book and I do like it, but not in the same way as i did the two previous. Something was missing - some of that magic that made me care about the plot, care about the characters so much they my mind kept returning to that book, sometimes even weeks after finishing. And Bitterblue is not a bad read as I said before it just lacks something and does not capture me the way the two previous did.
Three starts: Because Cashore does write in a very appealing way, because there were some moments that reminded me of the feeling I got reading the others and because the dialogue, though sometimes not that important in my opinion - is written well and is exciting to read...

Cashore is a talented and good writer, but it lacked some of the magic I so hoped to find when reading the book.

I read Graceling and loved it. Bitterblue was not nearly as complex or well written. The characters were borderline annoying. But the worst part was the political correctness that was being pushed. As the book was coming to a close, her agenda seemed to become the director of the story. She pushed gay marriage, women in the workplace, abortion (or at least the morning after pill), and so on. I actually found it to be incredibly distracting. Very disappointing indeed.

It got a little confusing going back and forth in time and her confusion about past events . Also her thoughts if she was good enough to be queen or if she took after her father by being mean and untruthful . About two thirds of the way through it got better with a good ending . The Bitterblue character left me not wanting to know more about her but more about her kingdom and how they survived . I would recommend this book if the person knew about the confusion .

I loved every line of this book. There is so much emotion, excitement, and romance, and on top of it all, you do not know how the book is going to end. I love that it's not predictable. There are lots of funny parts, mostly having to do with Po. It was great seeing all those old favorite characters once again. Katsa, Po, Giddon, Bann, and maybe even a character or two you didn't expect to see again as well!

I cried several different times because I really felt for Bitterblue and what she was going through. Kristin Cashore is a fantastic author. She makes the characters come alive and causes you to care for them all deeply. The writing is magnificent and vivid in detail and emotion. This book is a spectacular achievement and I know I will be re-reading it many times in the future. I can't wait to see what Kristin Cashore comes up with next. READ THIS BOOK! You won't regret it!

When Bittterblue's father, King Leck is killed, she inherits a kingdom that is in shambles and and still suffers from the evils of her father's reign. With the help oh her cousin Po and friend, Katsa, both Gracelings, she promises her people that their kingdom will recover, but something evil still lurks in the castle and streets of Monsea. Can she trust her advisors? Can she trust her new friends? War is pending, and she needs allies. Bitterblue has difficult choices which include her first love and her responsibility as a monarch.

I loved Graceling and I enjoyed Fire, but nothing prepared me for the emotional force of Bitterblue. It is deep and dark and lovely. I have never seen another novel that tackled the impact of PTSD on a nation, and it was shocking how familiar and right it all seemed. It was particularly poignant for me; I lived for a time in a country that had been free of totalitarian rule for only 17 years, and many of the elements of Bitterblue felt very familiar.

It's been 8 years since Leck died and Bitterblue ascended the throne. Her days consist of meetings, mounds of paperwork, and attending to the mundane inner-workings of her rule. She is 18 now, living a lonely existence surrounded only by advisers and servants, having essentially been locked away in an ivory tower. Becoming frustrated at her isolation, she begins to disguise herself at night and sneak out into the streets of the city. She has been assured that her kingdom is well-run and that her people are educated and happy, but life outside the castle is very different from what she has been led to believe. She has been lied to about many things. Vast parts of the city are in disrepair, the majority of the people are illiterate, and those who wish to tell the truth about events that occurred during Leck's reign are being attacked and killed. She realizes that her kingdom is broken, still reeling eight years later from the effects of Leck and his sadism. Can she be the queen her people need her to be, when she fears that she may be broken, too?

This book is so rich in its storytelling. Bitterblue is just as smart and fierce as we saw her in Graceling, but she is also sad and lonely and confused. The closer she gets to the truth, the more lengths certain people will go to hide it. Little by little she finds the pieces of the puzzle and begins to construct the true picture of Leck's legacy, but we are never entirely sure whom of those around her can be trusted. The truths that Bitterblue uncovers are heartbreaking and terrible, but she must persevere in order for her kingdom to move forward and heal.

We see quite a bit of Po, and some of Katsa as well as a few other characters from the first book (Giddon, Bann, Raffin, Skye), and it's interesting to see how very little they've changed over the years. I thought one or two of them might be married by now, might have families, etc, but no. They are heavily involved in the Council, which has become much more powerful throughout the seven kingdoms.

The beginning was great, I was hooked immediately; the ending is satisfying, all the loose ends are tied up. My one quibble with the book is the bloated middle. It could have been trimmed down and the story would have flowed better, in my opinion. There are too many subplots involving too many minor characters and after a while it became tedious. Enough bits of the main story kept bobbing up to keep my interest, but I think it should have been more concise. Overall, though, I loved it. I hope Cashore keeps writing about strong female characters. It's so refreshing.

Bitterblue is not for the faint of heart. Bitterblue must find out what evil has been lurking around the kingdom and destroy it or she will be destroyed. The knowing horrors of the former king are just out of her reach. You will be disturbed.

I was very disappointed with Bitterblue. I really liked Graceling and Fire. I didn't think that either book was perfect, but I loved the two worlds that Cashore created. Bitterblue is composed almost entirely of the weak elements of the previous two books.

The whole book reads like a tortured and torturous metaphor for some deep wound. While reading, I constantly felt like every character that I met was not actually a person, but some symbol for something or someone else. The obsession with cyphers felt like like a clumsy metaphor. The characters from the other books who make an appearance here are utterly gutted of their complexity and wholeness. The only characters who actually offer any intrigue, the Truthseekers, are completely under-developed (Teddy) or lose their substance in filling our stereo-typical jerk/love interest tropes (Saf). There is really almost no plot, and the character development is almost non-existent.

And the work could not support the crushing weight of the imposition of the author's personality and worldview. The contraception and gay-rights elements felt so utterly forced, bolted-on and propaganda-ish. They take you out of Bitterblue's world and crash you into ours.

It feels like the whole book is just a vehicle for something else, and because of it, the book has almost no substance of its own. I say skip it, which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to stepping into this world again.

Cashore's writing talent shines with even more depth and nuance than before. But Bitterblue is a very different book than Graceling or Fire. This is no adventure tale. This is a story about being violated, lost, and broken. This is a story about death, grief, and madness. And it is also a story about slowly coming to terms with those things and beginning the long process of healing. This is a powerful, important story. But it is not a story for idle entertainment.

My only quasi-criticism is that the plot often seems convoluted or disjointed. But I suspect this is intentional. Cashore creates in us a parallel sense of the discomfort and confusion that her characters are living. As the story proceeds and the plot begins to resolve, so does it become more clear and centered, again following the inner experience of those we're reading about.

Overall, definitely recommended for fans of Graceling and Fire. Just be prepared for a much more serious tale.