Graceling

Graceling Realm, Book 1

By: Kristin Cashore

Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Discover the Graceling Realm in this unforgettable, award-winning novel from bestselling author Kristin Cashore.

A New York Times bestseller * ALA Best Book for Young Adults * Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner * Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and BCCB Best Book of the Year

“Rageful, exhilarating, wistful in turns" (New York Times Book Review) with “a knee weakening romance” (Los Angeles Times). Graceling is a thrilling, action-packed fantasy adventure that will resonate deeply with anyone trying to find their way in the world.

Graceling tells the story of the vulnerable-yet-strong Katsa, who is smart and beautiful and lives in the Seven Kingdoms where selected people are born with a Grace, a special talent that can be anything at all. Katsa’s Grace is killing.

As the king’s niece, she is forced to use her extreme skills as his brutal enforcer. Until the day she meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, and Katsa’s life begins to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

And don’t miss the sequel, Fire, and companion, Bitterblue, both award-winning New York Times bestsellers featuring Kristin Cashore’s elegant, evocative prose and unforgettable characters.

• ALA Best Book for Young Adults
• Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner
• Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, and BCCB Best Book of the Year

©2023 Kristin Cashore (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

I miss Poes voice :/ Even Leck

This time around it's a woman impersonating men instead of a man joining the audio. Leck does not feel evil and dark, he used to give me goosebumps in his parts.. He feels kind of less intimidating with the womans-faking-a-deep-voice thing. Poe doesn't have that same charm that made me fall in love with the book initially. I wish they could make good audiobook choices. Graceling - Katsas voice was awful and shrieky, then at some point they made her Irish... like the 3rd book lol. Now they've cut out the male voice. Disappointed.

LOVED IT

I'm so happy they re-record this book! Much better performance to match an amazing book.

Loved it!

Loved the story from beginning to end and am so glad it’s a series. Going to download the next one now.

Satisfying story, excellent performance

I was captivated by the characters, the storyline, and the graces. I thoroughly enjoyed the listen. If you like a bit of fantasy and romance, I recommend you give it a try.

So good, so satisfying!!

Holy cow I loved this story. At first I thought there were maybe too many fantasy tropes: a stubborn impossibly talented girl, a dashing prince. But… the cliches end there. I was so engaged and binged the entire second half of the book.

This book is exciting, with an interesting storyline that didn’t feel overdone or too predictable. There’s some romance that is lovely, not over the top or trite, and made me remember how nice it is to read books with relationships.

The author strikes a balance between building suspense by feeding the reader clues and cutting the tension through revelations. There were times I wondered if something was revealed too quickly, but I still think the overall pace was really good.

Oh and the narration was BRILLIANT. I loved the voices and accents. Really added a nice touch and they felt right.

I’m looking forward to reading the series.

AMAZING Story!!

Definitely the best book I've listened to in a LONG time!! It has the best mix of action, suspense, romance, and mystery. Highly recommend! I can't wait to start the next in the series!

I love this book and the series

great fantasy novel with good characters, interesting world, and introspective topics without being too heavy for enjoyment reading

A wonderful and original story.

When I first read this book as a young adult I loved it and couldn’t put it down. Re-reading it as a thirty something year old woman I still stand by my original opinion. By the end of this book I had fallen in love with the Lienid prince and felt sad that the book had come to a conclusion. Katsa will leave some readers mildly annoyed. But I still enjoyed her and the character development of rest of the characters very much. Even it’s villains and the villain of this book is so despicable! Ten stars for the performance of the narrator! She is magnificent and her narration is what I wish all other audiobooks would sound like.

Loved it!!

Great story line, there was never a dull moment!! The narrator gave it more depth!!

Excellent escapism

This is a fine book, well-written by Kristin Cashore and beautifully narrated by Xanthe Elbrick. The characters Katsa and Po, and their relationship, is the greatest strength of the story. It is very well developed and has none of the flaws that crop up in fantasy YA books. No shallowness, no triangle, not whiny, and it is strengthened by an unpredictable development. This makes for strong listening well beyond YA years.