Graceling by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Book " Graceling" tells the story of Katsa who is born into the Middluns one of the seven kingdoms. In the seven kingdoms, some people are born with an exceptional skill known as Grace (Almost like Mutation in X-men series). The protagonist Katsa carries the Grace of Killing, making her most feared among her fellow beings. Since her Uncle Randa is the king of Middluns,Instead of killing her off, he uses her as a soldier for special purposes such as assassinations etc. Katsa can easily fight 10 to 20 armoured soldiers simulataneously without receiving a scratch. Feared by most and shunned by all, Katsa remains defiant, forming a council to do humane activities.

The story starts with Katsa and her fellow council Members Oll, Giddon, rescuing the father of King of Lienid. After drugging almost all of the soldiers at the prison in Sunder, she comes across the Seventh Prince of Lienid (Po) who came in search of his Grandfather and who is graced with fighting. Knocking him down, she reurns to middluns with the Father of the King of Lienid. Po comes to Lienid and becomes friends with Katsa. They together tries to work out the mystery -"Who would want to kidnap the old man, and why? ". Later Katsa comes to a realisation that she no longer wants to kills or do the dirty work of Randa. She defies Randa and then leaves Middluns with Po to pursue the mystery of the kidnapping, to finally learn that something insidious lurks behind the mystery.

The story offers steady flow of suspense, romance and a variety of characters and a very likable protagonist. But the overall plot seems to be meagre in content even though its highly entertaining and a very excellent read.

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