Ahira's Hangar

In a world of seven kingdoms, a few people are born with Graces - magicly enhanced talents that border on the supernatural. They can be useless (the person can climb a tree like a squirrel!) to very useful - such as cooking or archery. The people born with a Grace are set apart with bicolored eyes - one blue one green in one person, one gray one brown in another, and so forth. The change in eye color comes early, and marks the person as a Graceling sometimes long before the talent shows up.

The eight year old orphaned niece of a petty bully and king shows herself to have a terrible Grace - one that allows her to kill grown adults with her bare hands. The King has Katsa raised as a vicious attack dog, showering her with plenty of isolation and emotional abuse, so that when she is older she can be his enforcer - intimidating, injuring, or even killing those who have insulted him in some way, or who have something that he wants.

But as she enters her late teens, Katsa is proving to be stronger than all of this. Her "job" sickens her, as somewhere along the line she has developed a strong sense of justice. With the help of others, both noble and common born, she helps form a secret council that spans across the kingdoms, to help protect people from the petty greed and injustice of the kings. She chaffes under the cruelty of her uncle.

Over the course of the story, she will have to face down the petty evil of her uncle's orders. She will have to help rescue an elderly kidnapped prince from the dungeons of a king. And she will have to help rescue a helpless and innocent little girl from her monstrous and powerful father who has a horrifying Grace.

It was refreshing to read a story with a romance that was a true partnership of equals - a strong and capable heroine paired with a strong and capable hero. They are different, with complementary strengths and weaknesses, and truly respect and love each other. Both were very well written and developed.

The story moves well, with good pacing and plotting.

And also very welcome for a fantasy novel - there was no cliff hanging ending. It was a complete story in and of itself, though there is room for possible sequels somewhere along the line.

If I had one quibble, it was that there was no real stated motivation for the primary villain (the monstrous father with a terrifying Grace) and his crimes. While the main "good" characters were all well developed, this guy seemed to be the bad guy simply because he was a bad guy.

All in all, though, it was a very solid debut novel, and I would gladly read any further stories set in this world with these characters.

The US release date for Graceling will be October, 2008. In the US it is being marketed for older teens (age 14 and up); in Europe it is being marketed towards adults from what I understand. There is violence and very PGish sex scenes. But what will get conservative parents going is the preferrence of a main character for taking a lover rather than making a marriage.