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Katsa was most definitely a good leader. She stood up against her tyrannical uncle and gained her freedom. It says in the book, "Where is your faith in your power? the voice whispered now. You don't have to shed blood. And Katsa saw what she was doing, here in the throne room. She saw Randa, pale, gripping the arms of his throne so hard it seemed he might break them. In a moment he would motion to his archers to strike, out of fear, out of terror of waiting for her to make the first move...Katsa raised burning eyes to the king. Her voice shook 'I'm leaving the court,' she said. 'Don't try to stop me. I promise you'll regret it if you do. Forget about me once I'm gone, for I won't consent to live like a tracked animal. I'm no longer yours to command'" She stood up against King Leck of Monsea after she heard of what he was doing. It says in the story, "The dagger flew straight and true. It embedded itself in Leck's open mouth and nailed him to the back of his chair. He sat there, arms, and legs sagging, his single eye wide and lifeless. Blood spilling around the hilt of the blade and down the front of his robes." She created an entire Council that helps save the common people from the dishonorable Kings that run their kingdoms. She took control in every situation and came up with a plan that more or less succeeded every time. She took the reins and got done everything that she needed to get done. All of these facts prove that she is a  good leader.

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I absolutely loved this book. It was an adventurous, entertaining, and funny story that grabbed my attention in the first chapter. Katsa's character development was awesome to watch. Katsa and Po's love story was beautiful and left me feeling very warm. The plot of this story makes it very easy to lose track of time as you get sucked into the book. The dialogue is fun and can make you laugh as easily as it can make you cry. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an escape from reality. You will quickly fall in love with the characters and their highly amusing banter. The battle scenes are extremely detailed which makes this book so much better. If you are looking for a book with a little bit of everything in it, this is the book for you.

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The theme of Graceling is in order to help others, you must know who you are and help yourself first. I think this because in the beginning of the story, Katsa is like a wild animal. She doesn’t know who she is as a person so she walks around like she’s not a person at all. As soon as she meets Po, this all changes. Po makes her fall in love with herself as well as him. It says in the story “If her uncle died, she didn’t think she would grieve. She glanced at Giddon. She wouldn’t like to lose him, but she didn’t think she would grieve his loss, either.” This shows that she has a somewhat animalistic way of thinking about life in the beginning of the story. As the story progresses, she starts to care for Po and then starts to care for Bitterblue. Both of them make her extremely happy and she starts to become a new person. It says in the story, “Leave Po behind, in this forest of soldiers. It was unimaginable to Katsa, and she sat on a rock in the cold and the dark, she wouldn’t let herself think about it.” This proves that she really truly cares about Po and leaving him behind (which she eventually has to do) seems unthinkable to her at that time. Po changed her into a better person because he showed her how to be herself.

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The other conflict is between Katsa and herself. In the beginning of the story, Katsa is so terrified of who she is that she is easily bent to do her Uncle, King Randa’s, bidding. She hates who she is and only thinks of herself as a bully and a murderer. As the story progresses, she develops some confidence in herself and changes into a person that she actually likes. Her love story with Po and her sister-like nature towards Bitterblue definitely helps her find out who she is.

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One conflict in the story is between Katsa and King Leck of Monsea. Katsa and Po find out that King Leck has a Grace ( a power) of manipulation. Anyone who hears his voice or hears something from someone who is close to him, immediately is fooled into thinking that he is right and they obey anything that he says. King Leck’s wife, Queen Ashen, and their daughter, Princess Bitterblue, both find out the truth of his Grace as well and hide away in their rooms. They escape, but Ashen is murdered on the way out of the castle. Bitterblue is  found and taken care of by Katsa and Po who are plotting to kill the king. They hide in the forest to devise a plan of action. Po gets severely injured by some of Leck’s guards and Katsa and Bitterblue have to flee Monsea without him. The conflict continues when Leck figures out where they are and tries to manipulate Katsa and Bitterblue into going with him. The conflict ends swiftly when Katsa throws a dagger into Leck’s head to prevent him from telling Po’s secret to his family.

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The antagonist of the story is King Leck of Monsea. He is Graced with Manipulation and has an eyepatch over his eye to disguise him for being Graced. In the story, he tries to murder his own daughter for sport and murders his wife when she tries to escape his tyrannical rule. Leck harms animals and small children for fun and ends up making Po go blind after a run in with his soldiers.

“...an army of men on galloping horses, led by one man with streaming robes and an eyepatch…”

“That man with the eyepatch and the bow in his hands was Leck”

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Katsa is an 18 year old female with long dark hair that she cuts into a pixie cut. She has one green eye and one blue eye that marks her as Graced. In the beginning of the story, she thinks that she is Graced with Killing but in all reality her Grace is Survival.

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Katsa fights like she was born to fight and she loves fiercely. This reveals that Katsa is a very courageous person who is a leader among her peers. She will fight for what and who she loves and she will love the cause that she is fighting for.

"The arrows made her angry. We could kill these men, all of them, she thought to Po. We should fight. But he kept yelling at her to run, and his hand tightened on her shoulder and pushed her forward, and she had that sense again that was all not right, that none of this was normal, and in this madness, she should trust Po."

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People who do not know Katsa are wary of her because she has a terrible reputation for murder and pain. The people who know her and care about her, are very protective and they love her dearly.

“The more Katsa did it, the better she got at it. And Randa got what he wished, for her reputation spread like a cancer. Everyone knew what came to those who crossed King Randa of the Middluns.”

This quote shows how when she was under her uncle's control,  she did horrible things which made people wary and fearful of her.

“I know you don't want this, Katsa. But I can't help myself. The moment you came barreling into my life I was lost. I'm afraid to tell you what I wish for, for fear you'll... oh, I don't know, throw me into the fire. Or more likely, refuse me. Or worst of all, despise me," he said, his voice breaking and his eyes dropping from her face. His face dropping into his hands. "I love you," he said. "You're more dear to my heart than I ever knew anyone could be. And I've made you cry; and there I'll stop.”

This quote is said by Po. He is an extremely important character in this story because he and Katsa fall in love with each other. Po got to know her very well over the course of their journey and loves her dearly. He completely disregards her past.

“She must not hurt Po’s brothers and his father. And suddenly they stopped, because with one long look at Leck, Bitterblue staggered to her feet. She placed herself before Katsa, pulled out her own knife from its sheath, and held it shakily against them”

In this quote, Katsa has just murdered King Leck of Monsea in front of his daughter and the Lienid royal family. His daughter, Bitterblue, and Katsa were forced to flee Monsea because the King was trying to murder Bitterblue. Bitterblue began to care for Katsa like a little sister cares for her older sister. She got to know Katsa very well over their several month trek away from Monsea. This quote shows how Katsa's kindness affected Bitterblue.

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“Why had Katsa not saved the hides of the rabbits she’d killed? She would have to do something. She would have to find Bitterblue something warmer to wear. For this child’s protection was her charge, and she must think of everything.”

Katsa is always thinking of others no matter what. At this point in the story, she’s worried about Po surviving on his own while he is injured and she is worried about Bitterblue surviving the trek up the mountains. She is not worried that she will be cold. She is not worried that she might die. All she cares about is the safety of her loved ones.

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“When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?"

This quote is very important to the story. Katsa is constantly questioning who she is. After many years of doing her uncle's (King Randa of the Middluns) dirty work, she lost sight of who she was as a person. This quote shows her questioning if she's a monster after all the things that she has done.

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Graceling is written in third person.

"Katsa crouched,shivering, and watched the flames, ignoring fiercely the stabbing of pain they brought to her fingers and the throbbing in her feet."

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Lady Katsa of the Middluns is the protagonist of the story Graceling. She is a very strong person who is Graced with the power of Survival; she has one blue eye and one green eye symbolizing that she is Graced; she ends up falling in love with Po, another very important character in the series.

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Graceling takes place in a land called The Seven Kingdoms. The Seven Kingdoms are Nander, Wester, Middluns, Estill, Sunder, Monsea, and Lienid. Katsa's (the protagonist's) story begins in Randa City in the Middluns. She travels around to many of the other kingdoms in this story including Leck City in Monsea and Po's castle in Lienid.

"It was a land of seven kingdoms. Seven kingdoms, and seven thoroughly unpredictable kings...The Lienid people didn't have enemies. They shipped their gold to whoever had the goods to trade for it; they grew their own fruit and bred their own game; they kept to themselves on their island, an ocean removed from the other six kingdoms...Wester, Nander, Estill, Sunder, and the Middluns-the five inner kingdoms- had once been known how to coexist peacefully. Centuries back they had all been of the same family, ruled by three brothers and two sisters who had managed to negotiate their jealousies without resorting to war. But any acknowledgement of that old family bond was long gone now. The kingdoms' people were at the mercy of the natures of those who rose to be their rulers. It was a gamble, and the current generation did not make for a winning hand. The seventh kingdom was Monsea. The mountains set Monsea apart from the others, as the ocean did for Lienid. Leck, King of Monsea, was married to Ashen, the sister of King Ror of Lienid. Leck and Ror shared a dislike for the squabbles of the other kingdoms. But this didn't forge an alliance, for Monsea and Lienid were too far removed from each other, too independent, too uninterested on the doings of the other kingdoms. Not much was known about the Monsean court. King Leck was well liked by his people and had a great reputation for kindness to children, animals, and all helpless creatures."

The quote above is a small summary of the politics and setting of this story. Each of the kingdoms is slightly unstable and most of them are hostile towards each other. This provides problems for Katsa, Po, and Bitterblue in the story.

"She must arrange passage somehow on a ship to Lienid’s western coast, and Po’s castle.”

This is said when the characters are in Monsea for the first time. They have to evacuate the Princess of Monsea because her father wants her dead. They decide to go to one of the character’s (Po) castles in Lienid.