In the book Graceling, written by Kristin Cashore, we are taken to this world of Graces and Gracelings. Gracelings are just like you and me but they are special, born with and extra Grace or power that sets them apart from your average person. With a Grace comes a responsibility since Gracelings are generally owned by there rulers, King or Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. This is a story of a girl, Katsa, who is the strongest Graceling in all of the Seven Kingdoms. Her Grace is the ability to kill with her hands. She is controlled by her uncle, King Randa, and is set out to kill people he doesn’t like. Katsa hates the kingdoms and those in power, so she uses her ability to save and protect people living in the kingdom and promotes justice over violence, which is a bit of irony considering she can kill with her two hands. In the book, the author shows how real Katsa’s life is bringing confusion, romance, discovery, and angst that girls usually have as they approach adulthood. Cashore shows the characters being controlled and exploited by rulers, which happens often in our world. What Cashore didn’t do was describe the characters as well as I expected although the scenery was well described and I got a vivid image of the kingdom and other places. She described Katsa’s eyes but I couldn’t really form a clear picture in my head of what she and Prince Po and King Randa look like and that was a little bit frustrating to me. Cashore made Katsa a great heroine, she is not god-like but she can kill with her hands and has overcome many obstacles and encountered many great difficulties. It’s a brilliant and riveting book, full of action and real life problems and it will make your imagination work, bringing you into a different world! Thankfully, Graceling is the first book in a series of three and it leaves you wanting more.