Kristin Cashore

In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisors who surround her with lies as she tries to help her people to heal from the thirty-five-year spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities.

Queen Bitterblue of Monsea has been doing the hard work of rebuilding her kingdom for nearly five years when she first learns about the magical land to east where people and animals perform feats greater than even the most impressive Grace. When her envoy's ships drown, Bitterblue takes off on a diplomatic mission with her most trusted advisors, while politicians in Monsea consider what could happen if the Queen were to disappear as well.

Katsa is a Graceling, one of the rare people born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she lived a life of privilege until the day her ability to kill a man with her bare hands revealed itself during a royal banquet. Now she acts as her uncles enforcer, traveling the kingdom and threatening those who dare oppose him. But everything changes when she meets Po, a foreign prince Graced with combat skills who is searching for the truth about his...