Graceling ~Kristin Cashore

In the world of Graceling, some people are born with very special gifts called "graces". If one is "graced" his/her eyes turn two different colors shortly after birth, so everyone knows from the beginning there will be something special about that person. It takes a while to find out what the grace will be sometimes. A person's grace could be that one is an excellent cook, able to make meals beyond compare, or the grace could be that one is an amazing juggler, who never drops anything. Some are graced with more incredible gifts like mind reading. Then there is the story's main character, Katsa. Her grace makes her a deadly weapon. She is so good at hurting and killing people that the king employs her to punish those who have crossed him. Katsa is unhappy with her role, and she begins to feel that she should use her gift to do good somehow. She forms "The Council," an alliance between people who do not like how the kings of the seven kingdoms are ruling. The Council seeks to secretly help those in need and begin to set the wrongs of the kingdoms right. On one of these missions Katsa meets Prince Po. His Grandfather has been kidnapped. Both Katsa and Po want to find the person responsible. But Katsa has her responsibilities to her King, and Po has secrets.

This book is very dark in places, and it definitely has an element of violence in it. The violence isn't very graphic though. Also there is some sexual content (also not graphic) that I would only recommend for a reader that is at least in high school. I would recommend this book to older students that enjoy fantasy worlds. The reading isn't hard, but it's not an easy read either. I was about halfway through the book before I really got into the story, so I guess you could say it starts slow.