TO READ: Bitterblue

SPOILER ALERT FOR GRACELING

(also, click here for a series of letters between the characters of Graceling and Bitterblue set before the beginning of Bitterblue, written by Kristin Cashore)

The third instalment in Kristin Cashore's The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy is Bitterblue, set eight years after the first book Graceling and on the same side of the mountains as the aforementioned novel - in the kingdom of Monsea, where young Queen Bitterblue now rules, still attempting to help her country recover. This book most certainly has the most complicated plotline of the series, and the darkest themes as well.

Bitterblue is the coming-of-age story of a young queen struggling to find herself and to take control of a kingdom she is supposedly in charge of. Feeling disconnected from the people she rules, Bitterblue begins to sneak out into the city at night to hear stories of her late father, a corrupt king, and it is there that she meets Teddy and Saf - two young men known as truthseekers who use thievery and publishing to try and put right what they believe to be wrong in the world, although there are many who would take extreme measures to silence them. And so it is just as the web of lies set up to make her transition to the throne as a ten-year-old is beginning to fall apart that Bitterblue starts spinning her own web of lies to hide from her advisors that she is trying to uncover the truth, and to hide from her newfound friends the power she truly wields.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bitterblue; I loved seeing characters we met in Graceling return and I very much liked how relatable the character of Bitterblue is - she might be a queen, but that doesn't mean she can't get just as annoyed and confused as the rest of us (what I would like to know is, who had she been hanging around with who would teach her to use the word "balls" as a curse word?). Of course I particularly love Cashore's writing style, and her use of humour (there are a number of brilliant quotes I could point you to which I found rather amusing). Overall, I would say that Bitterblue is my least favourite in the series - however, please consider that there are only three of them, and that they are all favourite over pretty much all other books I have read.

Adults Reading Young Adult Books?

This is a response to this article by Joel Stein, who clearly doesn't know what awesomeness he's missing. I do, I suppose, see his point about children's books, but sometimes people want to see what they missed by not reading a certain book as a child, and certainly there are some people who even in adulthood could learn a few things about being kind etc etc etc from children's books. And I agree that an adult reading a kids book in public can seem weird and embarrassing. My problem with this is that he doesn't seem to quite get the distinction between "children's book" and "young adult book".

Now, what do you think of as a children's book? The thing that comes to mind is a cardboard full-colour picture book, or, for older children, a not-very-thick book with large print and the occasional cartoon illustration, usually filled with great adventure in which nobody gets hurt and gets home in time for tea, or has at least some form of happy ending. And what about these books Mr Stein is referring to as children's books? Twilight; The Hunger Games - and now you'd all better pay attention because I won't be defending Twilight again anytime soon.

Fair enough, Twilight may seem melodramatic and some of the whole love triangle thing unappealing to many people over say fifteen, but vampires, werewolves, that level of romance, all topped off with the odd bloody battle - is that for children? Fantastic for "tween girls" - yes (it wasn't that long ago that I myself was a Twilight-obsessed "tween girl") - but maybe not so great for adults (especially adult males), but most definitely not for children.

And what about The Hunger Games? Well, I'm sure an innocent eight-year-old would absolutely love three full-length illustration-less novels documenting at best heartbreak and a bittersweet ending, and at worst the gruesome slaughter of teenagers forced by a violent dictatorship, followed by a political campaign to overthrow the corrupt government.

What I am saying is that, as I hope is obvious by now, young adult books are not children's books. Did Mr Stein not notice the bit in the title of the genre that uses the word "adult"? To me, a young adult book doesn't have to only be read by the young adults in our world. It is not fair to look down upon them simply because of those who happen to connect with them best due to the age of the characters. Because in my view, a young adult book simply is a book that deals with young adults, and who understands being a young adult better than real young adults themselves?

I am going to use the example of Kristin Cashore's The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy here, simply because it was through looking through Kristin Cashore's blog that I found her response to this article, and thus found this article itself; also, these fantastic books are most certainly not well-known enough.

The trilogy is in the Young Adult genre, so how serious is it? Could a more mature reader stomach this stuff that is enjoyed by younger audiences? I'd like you to read this blog post by Kristin Cashore herself about why she wrote the second book in the trilogy Fire and tell me yourself. Tell me that it doesn't contain adult themes and a message that Ms Cashore wants to get out to the world - the world of adults.

And if, despite this, you automatically think that because of the series' genre, the storylines are simple, there are no underlying morals, the characters are immature or are stock characters, then think again. Let's take a look at Ms Cashore's third book Bitterblue, which has won awards for children's books. Its protagonist is an eighteen-year-old queen of a fantasy world. So far it's sounding like a children's book.

But now let's look a bit deeper - which basically would mean reading past the first page. Firstly, when I gave it to my mum to read, I had to try and explain half of it to her. The plot got that complicated. I already mentioned the protagonist is a queen - she has a kingdom to rule - therefore there are going to be some politics involved here. Then her late father was a sick, power-hungry psychopath, and eight years after his death, she's still finding evidence of his cruelty and trying to fix the many, many things he did so badly wrong. So she's confused, she's overwhelmed - but she's strong, strong enough to fight back and survive assassination attempts, and she's clever, with a good mind for numbers and ciphers. And that romantic interest who in teen books are always so perfect - he's a thief, but a good thief, although he acts rather too rashly at times. Oh, and sexual acts may or may not be hinted at throughout the course of the novel. Still sounding simple and stereotypical and "dumbed down"? Still sounding like you'd give it to your kids as a bedtime story? Or maybe it sounds like something you'd prefer to read yourself?  Are you believing me that Young Adult books such as this one can be read by more mature people yet?

So what is it that Mr Stein has a problem with? Is it the fantasy worlds that many of these books seem to take place in? Are they too childish? That, my friend, is called escapism, and any person of any age is entitled to it. Or is it the genre? Now, tell me Mr Stein, what do parents tell their children? Don't judge a book by its cover? Yeah. Go figure.

There is one last thing I would like to say. I don't find it at all fair the way Mr Stein not only condescends these books and their writers (which completely undermines the ginormous effort and the fantastic skill on their part to actually write a book - an eight hundred page first draft and four years for Ms Cashore to complete Bitterblue.) but openly admits to not actually having read ANY of the books he is complaining about. I have read Twilight. I have read The Hunger Games. I have read Harry Potter. So I think I am perfectly justified in saying that he should go home and actually do his research. He's missed some great stuff by being judgemental and condescending (I'm sure he could find some great children's picture books to help him with that). He has some serious catching up to do.

TO READ: Fire

Fire by Kristin Cashore is the second in her The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, however not only is it technically a prequel to first in the series Graceling but it isn't actually set in the Seven Kingdoms at all. In a land bordering the Seven Kingdoms to the east of an impassable mountain range known as The Dells, approximately forty years before the events of Graceling. This is, I think, my favourite book. My one favourite, ever. (And such a pretty cover the British edition has!!)

In The Dells - one of only two kingdoms known to its people, the other being the northern sea-faring land of Pikkia - there exists extraordinary creatures which can appear as any species, be it cat, mouse, wolf, raptor... These monsters, as they are called, can be distinguished by their unnaturally vibrant colours, and have the ability to take control of others' minds, which is added to the almost hypnotic effect their beauty has on some.

Seventeen-year-old Fire (so named for her flaming hair) is the only human monster alive, and is hated by many - sometimes for jealousy, sometimes for her father's legacy, but mostly for her venomous mind. Fire hides herself away on her late father's estate in a remote corner of the kingdom, where her kind-hearted neighbour raised her along with his son Archer, Fire's lifelong friend, in the hopes of deflecting all attention. But Fire isn't safe, not even here.

The Dells is a kingdom still recovering from a king corrupted by Fire's monster father Cansrel, and the throne of the current King Nash is unstable, and the threat of war is looming from all sides. Despite the royal family's obvious distrust of her, Fire's gift would be invaluable, and Fire is not her father. This is the story of Fire's fight to prove herself; to stay true to herself and to do what she feels is right and pay back the innocent prince Cansrel tried so many times to kill. Because underneath her otherworldly beauty, Fire is just as human as everybody else.

I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone and everyone reads this book - whether you're male or female, old or young. Partly because of a blog post I just found. I was going to comment on it, but then it became a bit long so I shall be posting it separately. But whether you'd rather read something fast-paced, or something political, or something romantic, or something magical, READ THIS BOOK.

Finally, I'd like to just direct people to a blog post that Kristin Cashore wrote about Fire and why she wrote it. Also, please find the list of awards and raving reviews for Fire here. :)

TO READ: Graceling

And at last, I've got to recommending what is probably my favourite series of books: The Seven Kingdoms trilogy by the wonderful Kristin Cashore (whose blog is here). Graceling is the first in the trilogy to have been published, and is Cashore's debut novel, although in the story's timeline it is not the first chronologically.

Graceling is set in a fictional Medieval-esque world made up of seven kingdoms: Nander, Estill, Sunder, Wester, Monsea, Lienid, and the Middluns. In this world, some people - called Gracelings - are born with extra-special abilities and are marked by having one eye a different colour to the other.

One such Graceling is Katsa, the niece of the king of the Middluns, who is Graced with killing, and is used by her uncle as a weapon to fuel his fearsome reputation. Sickened by the gruesome tasks she is forced to do, Katsa also works for a secret organisation called the Council, which she started herself, to do good and help people in order to balance out all those she has hurt and killed.

It is on a Council mission to rescue the kidnapped father of the peaceful king of Lienid that Katsa stumbles onto a dark mystery that will lead her on a journey of survival and self-discovery across the Seven Kingdoms in the hopes of putting right a world gone wrong.

Winner of several awards and nominated for many more, Graceling is a gripping and fast-paced coming-of-age novel for young adults, beautifully written with a touch of romance and humour, as well as believable characters who I myself have become incredibly emotionally attached to over at least five readings of this book. It's also due to be adapted for the big screen, by the makers of Life Of Pi; it's a film I'm very much looking forward to, I just hope they do it the justice it deserves.

Also, while browsing Kristin Cashore's blog for the link to the post in which the film was announced, I found this awesome post (if you read it, remember to read some of the comments too, as Cashore comments to answer peoples' questions with more wonderful insights). I swear it's the most inspirational post for writers EVER. Another of my favourites is this one; Kristin Cashore has some of the most brilliant advice for writers, I could actually spend all day finding links to posts from her blog that would be helpful to anyone aspiring to be a novelist (she is seriously inspirational).