Ahhhhh, the final book in the Graceling trilogy. Like the other two, I listened to Bitterblue on audiobook and it was soooooo good! I think it’s safe for me to say, but Bitterblue is my favourite book in the trilogy… Yes, I thought it was even better than Graceling and waaaaayy better than Fire. 

Eight years have passed since the young Princess Bitterblue, and her country, were saved from the vicious King Leck. Now Bitterblue is the queen of Monsea, and her land is at peace.

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.

The plot of this book seems quite simple: Bitterblue spends the entirety of this book trying to figure out what happened during her Father (King Leck’s) reign, and what he did to their people, and how he ruined their kingdom. That’s pretty much what the whole book is about, and you’re probably thinking, ‘wow… is that it? That seems boring…’ But IT’S SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT! There are so many side-plots that made this book fast-paced and interesting, and I actually loved how many side-plots there were!

 

 

“Find something useful to do with your morning,’ she thought to him as she neared her chambers. ‘Do something heroic in front of an audience. Knock a child into a river while no one’s looking and then rescue him.”

― Kristin Cashore, Bitterblue

 

 

I’ve actually read a lot of reviews where bloggers say that they were so bored of this book and many bloggers actually DNF’d it, which really surprised me. The beginning of the book (maybe the first 100 pages) is slightly slow as Cashore is building the foundations of the characters and the world at that moment in time in the Graceling realms. It was nice to have a slow start as well, because it built the tension of how Leck treated his Kingdom and how Bitterblue has to undo it. The rest of the novel had so much tension and it was like a big whodunnit I guess… Bitterblue was trying to figure out who was betraying her, who she could trust, which meant that there was so much political intrigue which I absolutely love. I can’t get enough of politics in fantasy novels, I pretty much live for it.

It was also so nice to return to character that we had already met in Graceling (such as Bitterblue, Katsa, Poe, Prince Raffin…) Speaking of characters, Bitterblue is one of the best characters that I have ever come across in my reading career. I just loved how REAL she was as a character/person. She is a strong, female character, but not the stereotypical type of YA fantasy strong women who are badass assassins. She is a young Queen who is trying to navigate the world of royalty and politics… She is brave, clever, reckless, and petty; she is everything that I love to see in a female character.

 

“How acutely sometimes the presence or absence of people mattered”

― Kristin Cashore, Bitterblue

 

One of the things that I loved about this book was that at the end of the novel, she wasn’t with anyone. She was strong in her own right and not because a man had MADE her strong. Yes, ok she had the weird little romance with Saf, but they both went their own ways which I really enjoyed. It’s actually one of the things that I really like about this whole series: Cashore has created female characters that are independent and don’t wish for a boyfriend/Prince, and rely upon men to do everything for them. Katsa didn’t want a relationship at all, but then she met Poe (and they don’t exactly have the most steady and stereotypical relationship), then Fire with Giddon (don’t even get me started, but Fire did start out in the book not wanting to be close to anyone), and then Bitterblue.

Overall, I loved this book so so so much and it’s definitely going to be a re-read for me. Like I said, I listened to this trilogy on audiobook, and I do actually own the physical copies as well, so next time I read this series, it’s going to be the physical copies. Also, as a little side-note, there is going to be a 10th anniversary edition released of Graceling (Kristin Cashore tells us on her Twitter), so that’s going to be exciting! And Cashore has also insinuated that she may go back to the Graceling world!!