Review Redux: Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Grad Student review this A YEAR AGO.  Bitterblue is the third book in the Graceling Series, following Graceling and Fire. Slow to the plate over here:

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart (GoodReads)

See Grad Student's full review here,   and our previous reviews of Book 1, Graceling here, and here.  We also loved Book 2,Fire, reviewed here.  Are you sensing the theme?

My Review Redux:  This book is great! It has all the classic elements of a fantasy story without (too many) eye rolls or ridiculously complex and twisted plots. I loved the characters, especially Po and Kasta,  and Saf, the complexity and how the story carried over from Graceling and Fire.

This series is a real gem, if you too haven't read it yet, what ARE you waiting for!?  Slow claps to Cashore for a very compelling series.