Winterkeep (Graceling Realm)

Product Information

I’m not stronger than my captors. They’re stronger than me. But I’m stronger than the way they’re trying to make me feel.” That was a combination of my early dislike for Lovisa's character and the way the book was divided between characters I cared a lot about and characters I didn't know yet and felt a disconnect towards. It was a necessary evil but an evil nonetheless.

This world kept wanting to be bigger than she was letting it. Why did she keep trapping herself inside small things? a b "Kristin Cashore Books, Author Biography, and Reading Level | Scholastic". www.scholastic.com . Retrieved 2018-05-26. For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father’s horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep—a place where telepathic foxes bond with humans, and people fly across the sky in wondrous airships. But when the envoys never return, having drowned under suspicious circumstances, Bitterblue sets off for Winterkeep herself, along with her spy Hava and her trusted colleague Giddon. On the way, tragedy strikes again—a tragedy with devastating political and personal ramifications.Rubin, Gretchen (2012-05-11). " 'Bitterblue,' by Kristin Cashore". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2017-06-04. This book left me with the same questions I had about the earlier books in the series, but more so. Who is the audience for this book? The world building is ok, but the elements, especially the political elements that drive the plot, are very simplistic -- which makes you think of middle grade fiction, as do the telepathic purple dolphins and blue foxes. And then there is the explicit and promiscuous sex. So not so middle grade. And then there is a sadism that is a feature of the series. I understand that, especially in a quest book, the children or young adults need to be on their own, but every parent in this series is a true sadist, or a homicidal maniac, or dead, often at the heads of their spouse. The story has no moral center, for any of the characters -- their motto is survival at any cost. Just like without Cashore's previous books they're some heavy triggers, and I'm going to list as many as I can recall.

However, in the beginning, I was not sure how I felt about the new characters we were being introduced to. Especially Lovisa Cavenda who was one of the main characters. I found her annoying and really immature and she got on my nerves quite a bit so it was really satisfying seeing her character growth and the place where we leave her made me incredibly proud, a feeling that I didn't think I could feel towards her. While the novel will please fans by following characters familiar from previous books, particularly Bitterblue (2012), Lovisa soon moves to center stage in a sometimes wrenching, increasingly absorbing coming-of-age story. Readers who admire Cashore’s ability to create original settings, complex characters, and engaging narratives will find plenty to enjoy here.”— Booklist Lovisa is the strong female protagonist that other YA books wished they had. Sex is normalized and she said NO to being called a slut. She's cunning but layered. Look at her love for her siblings. Her dynamic with Mari was fascinating. Love it. The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.3 million copies. Though Winterkeep was not without its merits, maybe we didn’t need a fourth Graceling Realms book after all.

The themes of the Graceling series have always been unflinching and mature but delivered in a very accessible way. Winterkeep builds on this, looking at the pushes and pulls between family, between differing nations, between progress and innovation versus environmental concerns, between loyalty and integrity. One of the strongest themes is truth; concealed truth, edited truth, the truths you are too obtuse to see or try to protect yourself from and the truths that other people deny you. The prose is easy and engaging so you could be forgiven for not realising how many complicated strands are woven in here. This is multi layered and clever, funny and sweet and poignant. Sometimes it is our differences and our willingness to accept them that allow us to find common ground. The queen had offered to shoulder her burden, but Lovisa wanted strong shoulders of her own, to carry well whatever she was given.” But when Bitterblue's envoys to Winterkeep drown under suspicious circumstances, she and Giddon and her half-sister, Hava, set off to discover the truth--putting both Bitterblue's life and Giddon's heart to the test when Bitterblue is kidnapped. Giddon believes she has drowned, leaving him and Hava to solve the mystery of what's wrong in Winterkeep. I think you did something terrible, said Bitterblue, because you had to. I don’t think you’re terrible. It’s not the same thing.