Graceling

So when (a month or so ago) I had a bit of time to myself, I finally got to pick up one of my sister's books that she is letting me borrow called Graceling written by Kristin Cashore.

This book is simply brilliant. The main character, Katsa, is a strong female lead who can take care of herself and doesn't need anyone to help her. She was born with a 'grace'. 

People who are born with a Grace in this book are considered as outsiders that people do not want to be around except for in one part of this world Cashore made up.

A Grace is a power only select people are born with. For instance, Katsa's grace is killing people easily. For that reason, most people find her as a threat and want nothing to do with her. The king, on the other hand, basically owns her and uses her for his own purposes.

This is a tale of a woman who starts off friendless and all alone, but one day encounters another that also has a 'fighting' grace, Po. This is a tale of their journey to save his grandfather and to uncover conspiracies in the kingdoms of this world.

Graceling is not a female only book. While it does have romance in it, it is mostly full of adventure and fighting. Men and women alike fall in love with this world full of Graces.

The next book in the series is called Fire, and takes place before this world had happened. As soon as I finish it, I will do a review on that as well =)

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

I had to read this for a History class and I thought at first... omg... this is going to be so boring. Only because I'm not a big fan of History, but this was a pretty good book! Also, It's very promoted at my school because the writer of this book is one of the Professors here.

This is a book written by Tom Franklin. I have never read any of his other books, but am tempted to after having read this great read.

Here is what is written on the back of the novel :

"In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed ... and he was never charged.

More than twenty years have passed . Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion.  Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared  forcing two men who once called each other "friend" to confront a past they've buried for decades."

I thought that was the best way tell you about this novel without giving much away! This novel is full of twists and turns and you never really figure out everything until the last minute, which keeps you intrigued and you just want to keep reading more and more.

I fell in love with both of these characters and their stories and each of them had their hard times with their families and other people.

It's a tale of two people who wanted to just be left alone and be able to be friends no matter what their color, but society still hasn't quite accepted that it's okay to be friends with whoever you want.

This is a more serious book than what I usually read, and I'm glad I got to read this book. It truly is a must read.

This author does not have his own website, but he does have a website within the Harper Collins Publisher website. Click here to view it.