But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisers, who have run the country on her behalf since Leck's death, believe in a forward-thinking plan: to pardon all of those who committed terrible acts during Leck's reign; and to forget every dark event that ever happened. Monsea's past has become shrouded in mystery, and it's only when Bitterblue begins sneaking out of her castle - curious, disguised and alone - to walk the streets of her own city, that she begins to realise the truth. Her kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year long spell of a madman, and now their only chance to move forward is to revisit the past.
Whatever that past holds.
Two thieves, who have sworn only to steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, who possesses an unidentified Grace, may also hold a key to her heart . . ."
Title: Bitterblue
Series: The Graceling Realm #3
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 563
Ages: 16+ (CONFUSING BOOK)
My Rating: 3 stars
One Word: disappointed, wants more Teddy and Saf :(
Fave Quote: “Teddy grinned again. 'Truths are dangerous,' he said.
'Then why are you writing them in a book?''To catch them between the pages,' said Teddy, 'and trap them before they disappear.'
'If they're dangerous, why not let them disappear?'
'Because when truths disappear, they leave behind blank spaces, and that is also dangerous.”
Review
When I began reading this book, I immediately fell for it; the characters, the setting, the plot....and then everything went to shambles. After about a hundred pages or so, it felt as if I were reading a totally different novel. It went from Bitterblue's simple plot of the mystery of the storyteller's and Saf's true identity to the Truthseekers and the Estillians and Katsya, Po, Giddon and Leck's rooms and all these chiphers and before I knew it I was holding my head in my hands thinking What is happening?! I'm sooo confused. If Cashore had stuck to one or two conflicts in the story I would've fell for it just as I hoped, but with all these ugly twist and turns it became just so hard to follow.
All these political issues that seemed to appear out of nowhere took away the best pieces of the story. Saf and Teddy; once great potential main characters become just a small part of the novel. The storyrooms; mentioned a great many times at first and left to dust at the end. More and more large aspects of the story no longer existed as such as these other random mysteries kept popping up that some were not really even solved at the end.
And what vexes me the most is that this book had so much potential, not because of it's artistic beauty (although the drawings are stunning) and its amazing first and second novels,Graceling and Fire, but because it was so good at first, and then it became way too complicated.
Don't get me wrong, Cashore's writing is beautiful and descriptive and I did give it three stars for a reason meaning I didlike it, but it could so easily have gotten five stars from me if it were simpler. Honestly, I at least wanted more Saf in the novel because Cashore is so brilliant at writing romance novels, yet this had little to none romance in it.
Altogether, I was thoroughly dissapointed with it, because page after page was filled to the top with information that should not have been needed and whenever I may have lost my concentration, I had to re-read thoroughly in order to not miss anything. I wish the plot were a lot simpler.
All these political issues that seemed to appear out of nowhere took away the best pieces of the story. Saf and Teddy; once great potential main characters become just a small part of the novel. The storyrooms; mentioned a great many times at first and left to dust at the end. More and more large aspects of the story no longer existed as such as these other random mysteries kept popping up that some were not really even solved at the end.
And what vexes me the most is that this book had so much potential, not because of it's artistic beauty (although the drawings are stunning) and its amazing first and second novels,Graceling and Fire, but because it was so good at first, and then it became way too complicated.
Don't get me wrong, Cashore's writing is beautiful and descriptive and I did give it three stars for a reason meaning I didlike it, but it could so easily have gotten five stars from me if it were simpler. Honestly, I at least wanted more Saf in the novel because Cashore is so brilliant at writing romance novels, yet this had little to none romance in it.
Altogether, I was thoroughly dissapointed with it, because page after page was filled to the top with information that should not have been needed and whenever I may have lost my concentration, I had to re-read thoroughly in order to not miss anything. I wish the plot were a lot simpler.
★★★
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