Author: Kristin Cashore
Rating: 2/5
There’s a new land to the east called Torla, the closest country of which is called Winterkeep. Bitterblue realises that things are a little fishy especially when two of her advisors go missing. So she sets off and shenanigans ensue.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
A new continent called Torlan is found and it’s a lot more advanced than the Seven Nations. Bitterblue’s two advisors drown in mysterious circumstances and her ex-boyfriend (yes, that term is used) Katu who is the younger brother of the President of Winterkeep (named Ferla Cavenda). It’s revealed that Bitterblue is sitting on a LOT of zilfium and there’s been illegal transport to Winterkeep. Bitterblue, Giddon, Hava and a bunch of others go to Winterkeep. On the way, Bitterblue goes overboard and is held prisoner in the Cavenda’s attic. Lovisa is a university student in politics. Her mother is a Scholar while her father Benni is an Industrialist (the two opposing parties). There’s a debate about legalising zilfium which is a gas that is bad for the environment. Giddon and Hava do some snooping to find out what the hell is going on. Ferla has a blue fox named Adventure. Blue foxes can read human minds though humans think they can only read the minds of the humans they’re bonded to. Adventure loves Lovisa and Bitterblue and tries to help them even though Lovisa hates the fox (she doesn’t know about it being a mindreader of all humans–only Bitterblue knows that). Lovisa realises that Bitterblue is being held, prisoner. She gets her brothers out and then sets fire to her home. She knocks Ferla unconscious and escapes with Bitterblue. They go north to Nev’s house. Nev is a vet student and was sent back home by Quona Varana. The Varana family has a monopoly over the airships in Winterkeep but Quona chose to be a vet instead and has bonded to more than seven foxes even though that’s illegal. Lovisa and Nev are a bit meh about each other because Nev broke up with Mari, Lovisa’s best friend. But Lovisa definitely has a crush on Nev. Giddon and Hava were led to Nev’s house too and there’s a reunion. Bitterblue and Giddon admit their feelings and sleep with each other. They decide to steal notebooks from the person who devised uses for that environmentally unfriendly gas. Hava is trapped in a tunnel. Giddon goes to the other end and finds Katu there. He rescues Hava too. They find grenades and destroy the recipe for them (though Hava makes a copy of the original notes). Lovisa decides she will testify against her father (Adventure killed Ferla) and become a politician who is environmentally friendly and sensible and not in it for herself. Giddon and Bitterblue decide they’ll get married.
Throughout all this, there are scenes from the Keeper’s POV who is a tentacled monster at the bottom of the ocean.
Review
Ugh, it’s so disappointing that the Graceling series has gotten worse and worse with every book. I think the main issue with the series is how unwieldy the plots become. Cashore uses the same formula that she used in Bitterblue–created a few new characters and dumped old familiar characters into new settings. I don’t think it was all that successful in the third book and I definitely don’t think it was successful in this book. I thought the worldbuilding was rushed and a little lazy which is a shame because there was a LOT of potential to make it more than it was! I thought the plot was very contrived and heavy-handed in its themes about the environment and corruption. Cashore’s message about free love felt a little much for me too. Literally all the characters are constantly just having sex with each other. I also felt a little weirded out by how many times words like “boyfriend,” “girlfriend” and “sex” were used. The tone of Graceling was VERY different from Winterkeep. It was a little more classic fantasy which is why I found it jarring to read such modern words in THIS book.
The new characters didn’t bring very much into the story. I couldn’t empathise much with Lovisa which is horrid to say given that she had shitty parents and had to take care of her brothers. I just found her a little whiny. Also, I could relate to her feeling like everyone around her was in love BUT this could have been fleshed out SO MUCH MORE AND IT WASN’T AND SDKFJSLDKF. Lovisa came off as very bratty and I KNOW she could have been more than that.
I thought the environment thing was also just a little on the nose. Same with the Industrialists’ and Scholars’ problems in parliament and how everyone was in it for themselves. Also, I thought it was interesting that the family who owned the airships were named Varana because in my language, it sounds very similar to the word for “wind.” The end of Lovisa’s arc where she was determined to become a new kind of politician was very obvious and I wish it had been done a little more smoothly. Her romance with Nev was also kind of icky? I would have LOVED for this story to have been more focused on Lovisa understanding that her childhood was traumatic (I mean her mother would lock her in the attic for hours as punishment without food or water!) and have Nev play a more integral part in that realisation happening rather than Lovisa half-pining from afar and them having ONE conversation about it.
The one scene I did love was when Bitterblue and Giddon were reunited once more and Giddon just fainted lol. I thought that was very cute and I loved how both of them were just crying. HOWEVER, I felt that all the characters always had tears down their cheeks or something similar and I could have done without the thousands of descriptions of Bitterblue tugging at her braid (seriously got some Nynaeve vibes there) or how her eyes were “enormous” as she looked up at Giddon.
The POVs shifted so quickly and the transitions were very choppy. I think there were simply too many perspectives in this book. And what was the point of the Keeper at the bottom of the ocean? Also, did I mention there were silbercows who can communicate telepathically with humans and have a very good understanding of human politics? Because those exist in this world too.
It was interesting that Bitterblue’s backup plan (if she died) was for Monsea to transition into a democracy. I liked that this was the backup plan BUT if Bitterblue was keen on democracy, why didn’t she just make Monsea a constitutional democracy? And why did SHE have to die for democracy to be implemented? Surely if she cared for the people and wanted this for them, she wouldn’t hold that form of government as conditional on her life? Does that make sense? I feel like I’m writing a lot of word vomit here!
I think this book was meant to impress the importance of environmental conservation and the trickle-down effects of having horrendous people in charge of the government. I suppose this book could have also been a call for action to younglings to be proactive and work to make the changes they want to see in the world. Unfortunately, the uneven pacing and rushed plot development didn’t work in this book’s favour and I don’t know how effective Winterkeep was in conveying that.
(Also, I thought some of the given names sounded odd e.g., “Gracelingian” being the speech of the Seven Nations even though Gracelings don’t even make up a significant portion of the population! They’re definitely in the minority right? Doesn’t it make more sense to have something like “Common” or whatever instead? I don’t know. Also, how are people from SEVEN countries speaking the same language? I mean, okay, that’s not weird but surely they’d each have their own native tongues too?)