Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Review: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

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bitterblue, fantasy, graceling read along, kristin cashore, Penguin Teen, Reviews

Bitterblue 

by Kristin Cashore

Thanks so much to Penguin Teen for this copy.

Publisher: Penguin Teen
First published May 1, 2012
Paperback
539 Pages
Series: Graceling Realm #3
Genre: Fantasy

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 . . .

My Review:

What can I say? I'm just having the best time with these books.  Although I'm a day late to meeting #TheGracelingReadalong deadline of the 16th, better late than DNF. 😉 To be honest, Bitterblue was such a blip to me in Graceling that I wasn't sure what to expect with this one.  And maybe that's why I may have enjoyed this one the best... so far... I think....

King Leck has changed the history of Monsea to suit his needs but Bitterblue is determined to figure out what has happened to her country and herself.  Thankfully, there is a graceling who can remember every book he's read and is rewriting them, one letter at a time.  These pages are important and Bitterblue wants to try and go back to old traditions.  Not an easy task as you can imagine.  Although I do feel there was a whole lot of extra going on this books (subplots, characters, etc...) I did really enjoy learning abou ciphers/puzzles.  These kinds of things always keeps my attention.  And it was nice to see Katsa and Po again. ❤ But there may have been just a little *too* much going on and I'm not sure if certain characters that were just briefly thrown in will show up perhaps in Winterkeep? Surely they're not just thrown in to be thrown and then we never see them again.  Though I suppose that IS the way of life sometimes.  In any manner, there's a ton happening within Bitterblue's story and while it could seem long winded at times, I really did thoroughly enjoy getting her POV. 

___> also, maybe Saf should've been named BitterSaf because wow dude... just get over it already. *tee hee*

Can we also please talk about how cute it was to get a list of characters in the back written by one of the characters? And I especially loved reading the extra portion in the back where the author shows us the process of this book being written. It's mind blowing what goes into writing a novel and it's incredibly impressive to me how it all comes together. Now on to Winterkeep, which just released as Mariah Carey's song Fantasy just popped into my head. 🤣

★★★★

bitterblue, fantasy, graceling read along, kristin cashore, Penguin Teen, Reviews

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