So words cannot quite express the amount of excitement I had for this book’s release. I absolutely loved Cashore’s other two books: Graceling and Fire. I remember talking about Fire with a friend who’d read it before me. She told me it was better than Graceling, and of course my response was, “How can anything be better than Graceling?” And now when I find myself describing these books to people, I find myself leaning more toward Fire than I originally thought I would.
It is a rarity for me to ever really like book 2 more than
book 1. Needless to say, I had high hopes for this one. I didn’t like this one
more than Fire, but I was still
really impressed with it. Instead of making this book about someone graced with
a powerful ability or about someone considered a monster for their rarity and
gifts, Cashore finally writes a book about someone normal…or as normal as a
queen with no magical abilities can be. And while the characters of her other
books lived through some seriously harsh situations, they always seemed to
epitomize the word strength to me. They always kicked some serious butt. And I
loved them for this.
Bitterblue, lacking in a grace, kind of comes across as the
opposite. And it took me a little while longer than I was expecting to love her
as a character. Sure, I felt sorry for her immediately. Her life was anything
but easy. But, I didn’t love her until she really seemed to take on her role as
queen, and my goodness did she take this role to heart.
The book takes place almost a decade after King Leck’s
death. Leck, Bitterblue’s father, was as evil as evil tyrants come. He was
graced with the ability to control people’s minds. And he did some extremely
horrifying things with his ability. Bitterblue knows which people she shouldn’t
mention Leck around at all, because each person who suffered through the man’s
reign, is still suffering afterwards.
A lot of this book deals with truth. It’s about Bitterblue
learning the truth about what her father really did, beyond what she saw. It’s
about her advisers wanting to keep the truth about King Leck at a distance from
Bitterblue and away from everyone it could hurt. It’s about keeping certain
truths to yourself out of fear. And then of course it’s about dealing with the
truth and suriviving with it, after you know it.
Bitterblue, in a rather Jasmine-ish fashion has to escape
the confines of her castle at night, dressed as a man, to explore the land she
is meant to be the ruler of. She finds herself loving the nightlife and
learning about her people by going to various pubs and listening to stories.
People tell stories about history, about King Leck, about Bitterblue’s famous
and wonderful friends, and about so many things that Bitterblue has never
heard. And these stories begin her quest for truth. Why does no one in her
kingdom seem able to read, even when her advisors say that most can? And why is
nothing quite as she is told it should be?
She befriends a thief and printer (Saphire and Teddy), and
pretends to be someone she’s not. She learns about truth-seekers and people who
work to steal things back from King Leck. Her new friends steal things her
father had stolen and give them back to their rightful owners (in a Robin hood
type fashion). Though, in a lot of cases, the things go to the owner’s children
because most of the owners were killed by Leck.
There’s revolutions, new lands discovered, old friends
joining up with new friends, romance, treason, hidden passageways, mazes, art,
prisons, lots of betrayals, lots of owning up to past lies, kidnapping
attempts, fighting, suicide, depression, and so much planning!
This was not an easy book to read. So much of it dealt with
recovery. Leck raped, tortured, experimented on, ruined, and hurt so many
people. The extent of his evil is fully learned by Bitterblue, after much
digging, deciphering, and learning. All of the adults in this book had suffered
so much. Everyone has lost someone. And it was horrifying to think of all the
damage just one man could create.
I loved the power of words in this book! Between one
character writing a book of words, all the characters writing in code, the bars
where stories were told, the embroidered words Bitterblue’s mother left for her
in her blankets, the journals Bitterblue and her awesome librarian deciphered
and managed to use to learn about Leck, the powerless people’s illiteracy, and the
illegal printing presses, so much seemed to about language, and it all
connected so beautifully!
I also grew to love Bitterblue. Instead of complaining about
her ignorance, she did something about it. She learned from her mistakes, and
she went about solving her problems so bravely. She’s such an intelligent and
loyal main character. Her attachment with characters from the other books was
wonderful. Her friendships with people in the castle were adorable. And I loved
how much she wanted to learn, how much she wanted to be queen, and how much she
wanted people to be able to move on.
It did move a little too slowly for my liking. I’m not sure
all the stuff about the revolutions and wars amongst the other kingdoms was
necessary. Though, I really did end up feeling as Bitterblue felt, so
frustrated and impatient for news or things to happen, and incapable of making
them happen myself. Cashore knows how to write characters, create worlds,
instigate action, prolong nice romance, and really just make a fantastic book.
I give this one a 10/10. I did not like it as much as the
other two, but I really can’t find much in the ways of flaws. As with the first
two, I’m still letting this book sink in a bit. I really hope Cashore continues
to write, and I look forward to anything she would have to say in the future.
Great review! This is actually one of the first reviews I've read of Bitterblue. I read Graceling ages ago and ADORED it. Then I read Fire and I remember not liking it quite as much. But honestly it's been so long since I've read Fire that I feel like I should read it again before I start Bitterblue. I remember Graceling perfectly but Fire not so much... weird!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've re-read both of her previous books, but I still was a little confused about some of the characters, and had to look certain people up. Granted, my re-readings were a long time ago. I kind of wish I re-read the first two before this one, so if you can do that, you definitely should.
DeleteI really need to read Graceling! I tried reading it once before, but I wasn't in the right mood for it, so I ended up putting it aside for a little while. That needs to be remedied.
ReplyDelete