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Bitterblue
May. 28th, 2012 08:33 pm4/5. Third in the series beginning with Graceling and Fire, and by far the best of the three. Yeah, I feel like Cashore uses each book to really figure out what she's doing with the next. This one in terms of craft and skill was light-years better than Fire, which itself was light-years better than Graceling. The beginning was much better machined and much less clumsy and boring than the first two. The clumsy expository flashbacks are gone. There appears to be actual thought put into the way the kingdom's run, instead of just, well, assuming that Kingdom Things Happen.
This book is a departure from the theme of Powerful But Angsty Woman Has Action-Oriented Adventures of the first two books, and I might have loved it just for that -- I've talked before about how really good authors will not be content to stay with a Formula that Works, and Cashore has proven herself to be That Kind of Author by what she does here. Bitterblue, the young monarch of a kingdom recovering from being mind-controlled, doesn't have special powers -- but she does have Power by virtue of being queen, and that's one of the themes explored in the book. The book is also about abuse, and about surviving abuse, and about handling loved ones surviving abuse, and about forgiveness. I am not the person to ask how well she handles this, but I think she handles it well.
The characters are also presented in a much more nuanced way than in the first two books, and in ways that I was very happy to see. Katsa and Po get called out on their DRAMA-filled relationship! Giddon gets over his Issues! I also very much liked the way Bitterblue's romance was presented. ( Mild spoiler: )
Oh, and it has ciphers! Like, the action all stops in the middle while she explains how simple ciphers work, and although I suppose this might not be a selling point for some, it totally was for me. (Although I will confess that I get a little weirded out by books set in a fantasy world where the characters are all speaking and writing English. Because... uh?)
It's not perfect. The politics are a little... murky? seeming to involve a large amount of paperwork and no actual, um, political structure. I mean, I'm totally down with politics involving paperwork, but I never got at all a sense of what the papers were for, and in fact I got the sense the author might not have either. Somewhat related is the part where this series has apparently heretofore has inhabited a part of my head that's distinct from the part that the Attolia series inhabits, but this book, being told from the POV of royalty, tended to invite the comparison -- and unfortunately, I think it suffers from it. Fire was distinct enough that I didn't think to compare them at all, but this book... every so often Bitterblue would be angsty about something she didn't know/understand and I'd be all "If this were Gen and Irene, not only would they understand it but it would become part of their MASTER PLAN" and it would sort of distract me.
...And then the last ten percent of the book happened and my brain sort of overloaded on awesomeness. AWESOMENESS. Just. All my buttons got pushed like whoa. (Warning: For maximum effect, one needs to have read the other two books, which unfortunately are not nearly as good, though I still do recommend Fire. Graceling you might want to skim, or read a synopsis.)
What is Cashore going to do after this? No idea, and I'm excited that I have no idea. And I'm sure as heck going to be there when she does. Best book I've read this year, so far.
This book is a departure from the theme of Powerful But Angsty Woman Has Action-Oriented Adventures of the first two books, and I might have loved it just for that -- I've talked before about how really good authors will not be content to stay with a Formula that Works, and Cashore has proven herself to be That Kind of Author by what she does here. Bitterblue, the young monarch of a kingdom recovering from being mind-controlled, doesn't have special powers -- but she does have Power by virtue of being queen, and that's one of the themes explored in the book. The book is also about abuse, and about surviving abuse, and about handling loved ones surviving abuse, and about forgiveness. I am not the person to ask how well she handles this, but I think she handles it well.
The characters are also presented in a much more nuanced way than in the first two books, and in ways that I was very happy to see. Katsa and Po get called out on their DRAMA-filled relationship! Giddon gets over his Issues! I also very much liked the way Bitterblue's romance was presented. ( Mild spoiler: )
Oh, and it has ciphers! Like, the action all stops in the middle while she explains how simple ciphers work, and although I suppose this might not be a selling point for some, it totally was for me. (Although I will confess that I get a little weirded out by books set in a fantasy world where the characters are all speaking and writing English. Because... uh?)
It's not perfect. The politics are a little... murky? seeming to involve a large amount of paperwork and no actual, um, political structure. I mean, I'm totally down with politics involving paperwork, but I never got at all a sense of what the papers were for, and in fact I got the sense the author might not have either. Somewhat related is the part where this series has apparently heretofore has inhabited a part of my head that's distinct from the part that the Attolia series inhabits, but this book, being told from the POV of royalty, tended to invite the comparison -- and unfortunately, I think it suffers from it. Fire was distinct enough that I didn't think to compare them at all, but this book... every so often Bitterblue would be angsty about something she didn't know/understand and I'd be all "If this were Gen and Irene, not only would they understand it but it would become part of their MASTER PLAN" and it would sort of distract me.
...And then the last ten percent of the book happened and my brain sort of overloaded on awesomeness. AWESOMENESS. Just. All my buttons got pushed like whoa. (Warning: For maximum effect, one needs to have read the other two books, which unfortunately are not nearly as good, though I still do recommend Fire. Graceling you might want to skim, or read a synopsis.)
What is Cashore going to do after this? No idea, and I'm excited that I have no idea. And I'm sure as heck going to be there when she does. Best book I've read this year, so far.
