Name: Bitterblue
Rating: 4.084951456310679 (206 reviews)
ISBN: 9780803734739

Kristin Cashore

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.

Bitterblue

chian

DNF at 4% <br /><br />May try to read again later. Felt too much life Fire as I started to read.

Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisers 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.

For me this was a beautiful book. I loved all the mystery that it had and it made me feel like I was figuring everything out with Bitterblue. I got upset with the ending with Sapphire but I don’t think it could have ended in a different way. Also it really shocked me this book. There were so many things that I didn’t expect and they made me have so many big feelings. It was a really good book and could be relatable to today in many different ways.

🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕

This book is my favorite book in the whole series it’s so good 

Stella

The Graceling Realm keeps sprawling and growing to include insightful narratives on hard subjects through fantastical scenarios. This is a reread from when I was younger, but I still enjoy the series. The characters and the world is complex, and Cashore shows that not every bad act is committed by an inherently bad person.

Emily McMeans

Personally, it's farther than ever from the perfect simplicity that is Graceling. Bitterblue surely was one of the most anticipated read of mine over such a long period of time now. I can't believe how disappointing it was for me. I think that the trilogy wrapped up pretty nicely in the end, but the process of getting there was such a long and drawn-out story. The plot was unnecessarily complex, with our main character making trouble for herself. Bitterblue's portrayal from ten years ago is vastly different from the Bitterblue of the present. Where did that level-headed, perceptive girl go? 

I also found some parts just a tiny bit predictable and cliched, and I guess the resolutions were quite apparent right from the beginning. I don't know.

If you're planning to read this, by all means, don't let me keep you. I warned you, though.

Stefanie  Uwah

I wasted my time with this book. Should have stopped at page 230 when it started getting boring. But alas, I did not stop. And I suffered. This has none of the beauty Graceling and Fire had.

Shay Henrion

this was a book that literally was just word vomit and and had no resolution. WHY DOES IT EXIST.

jess

i was not expecting to enjoy bitterblue as much as i did. 

i remember picking up graceling a few years back and i did not get very far into it before putting it down. perhaps it was because i wasn’t mature enough for the series yet, because when i read bitterblue, i found it hard to put it down, especially after about the halfway point, in which i woke up in the middle of the night, read a bit to distract me from some knee pain, and ended up reading until six thirty. whoops. 

the thing about bitterblue is that it is buried in secrets, and the act of unraveling them was what raised the stakes higher and higher towards the end. bitterblue is not a journey. there’s barely any travelling. heck, bitterblue rarely ventures outside her own castle. but it is a journey for all the characters and they grew a lot during the book, something that was entertaining to watch. 

and i was not expecting this book to be so dark. it was shelved in the young adult section, so perhaps i should have expected it, but it’s dark. it’s dark, and i like stories like that. cashore, while mentioning these things, made me slightly nauseous when reading, which is impressive. 

as for the characters, wow. this is my first foray into the graceling realm (other than the failed attempt a few years ago) and i loved each and every one of the characters. i loved that bitterblue was a queen who knew of her responsibility, yet she acted like a girl not yet out of her teenage years yet. i loved how unsure she was of herself at times and how she knew she had to rely on some people to get her job done. she was charming and determined and always tried to do the right thing, which i appreciate. 

and i loved the rest of the characters, too. saf irritated me a bit towards the middle, but i think that he and bitterblue could have had a good relationship. i do love that it doesn’t end in babies ever after or saf remaining as a romantic interest for bitterblue, too. and oh - speaking of romance - katsa and po. i picked up graceling and honestly, if i still don’t like graceling, i’ll probably continue reading for katsa and po, because this couple is one of the most damn cute couples i have seen in literature in a while. and they’re in their late twenties. like, damn. they’re cute. 

other characters i like: thiel. he was a good character, and really interesting as well. i liked fox, for a while, and also, teddy. i liked the fact that tilda and bren were a couple, and raffin and bann, and how they were treated just as any other couple were by bitterblue. honestly, on the diversity/feminism side of things, this book was excellent. there were characters of color, quite a few queer characters, and women who kicked ass and weren’t just the typical Strong Woman archetype there was. that made me rather happy. 

i also find a bit of wonder in the fact that bitterblue did not actually have that much physical action in it, but it managed to keep me going so that i ended up unable to put it down. it was a lot of talking, and many a page in bitterblue’s room, or investigating the castle, but it was still as compelling as a book with grand battles, and i found that a nice change of pace. 

i give this book a 9.5/10! recommended for any medieval fantasy fans, kick-ass heroines, and people who like a song of ice and fire because yeah, this kind of reminded me of a song of ice and fire (and was nearly as dark in some places).

Livia

2.5

This is probably one of my lowest rated books this year. I thoroughly enjoyed Graceling, has mixed feelings about Fire, and this book doesn't live up to the other two books.

After reading Graceling, I was intrigued to read about Bitterblue and how she would managed to rule in in Monsea after her father ruled with absolute terror. I'm definitely missing the simple yet intricate plot that Cashore gave us in Graceling. The story just felt too long and unnecessary, with ciphers and codes, some weird twist here and there that I feel like isn't adding anything to the story. And the truth about what truly happened is so simple, it shouldn't take that long to figure out.

I do still adore Katsa and Po, and Giddon has definitely grown on me. And Bitterblue's character is frustating at times, even though it's understandable. And I am glad that in the end, she doesn't really ends up with her love interest.

Lauryn Jackson

I thought Graceling was my favorite until I read Fire and that story stole my heart. And then I read Bitterblue and its even better than the first two. I love the Graceling realm so FREAKING MUCH and can't wait to read the 4th book. Highly recommend.

3.5 stars.

I liked it. Just not as much as the previous books. But I still found Bitterblue a compelling narrator. I just thought that this book's pacing could've been improved, especially because the other two were so quick-paced and action-y, if that makes sense.

Solid read. Does anyone know if this is the final book or if there will be more in the series?

Caroline Mao

So, mixed feelings.

Honestly, I feel like there wasn't really a lot of action in this book (view spoiler)[(which sounds silly, considering the revolutions, the attempts to murder Bitterblue, et cetera, et cetera) (hide spoiler)] and it was more of a story that focused on characters and their developments and backstories than anything. Which is okay, but I also feel that it's a bit boring at times, and inconsistent with the previous books. I didn't quite like this as much as Fire, but probably more than Graceling.

I liked Bitterblue - her normalcy, almost, compared to Fire and Katsa. She may not have any powers, but she can hold her own quite well, and her curiosity and compassion I'm very fond of. She's a good queen, really, and I enjoyed her romance with Saf without it quite overtaking the book. At times, though, I kept seeing her as the scared ten-year-old Katsa rescued eight years ago - this spent so much time on the past and King Leck, it's more like a retelling of Graceling from Bitterblue's POV than another story.

(view spoiler)[I also really liked how messed up everyone was - not that because I want them to be, but because it's not exactly realistic to recover from thirty-five years of brainwashing in the space of eight (and with a queen who's basically a teenager, at that). I liked that Bitterblue got them help, because the effects Leck had on everyone's mental health were beyond horrific. I'm pretty sure that the advisers are at least suffering some form of PTSD, although I can't be sure and anyone is free to call me out on this. That's what it's like when someone completely takes over your mind and forces you to become a monster for decades on end. (hide spoiler)]

The characters were lovely, although I wish we got to see more of Katsa (really, she didn't get much more characterization added to her), and (view spoiler)[Fire's appearance was so brief. It honestly felt kind of unnecessary, almost, because she was there for all of twenty pages and pretty much just came to comfort Bitterblue. (hide spoiler)] I also liked Po and Giddon in this book - and more LGBT representation (it was virtually nonexistent in Graceling, and Fire mentioned it a few times but we didn't get any onscreen LGBT characters that I remember of), i.e. Raffin and Bann, and Skye.

A final note - I read the acknowledgments, and it's nice to see the author talking about Po's disability, and caring that she used the "magical cure" trope on it. So that was great.

This was a nice book, even if I found it a bit boring at times, and I don't regret reading it!

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Lush, very dark, immersive fantasy that explores the deep wounds and consequences of cruelty and abuse as equally as it celebrates the joys of friendship and love. 

In the Graceling Realm, there are people born with David-Bowie-style mismatched eyes and a "Grace" that can be as mundane as knowing exactly what food or drink someone is craving, as sophisticated as being able to control people's dreams, or as dangerous as having the ability to kill a man with their bare hands. Being born with a Grace is often more a curse than a blessing, as many unscrupulous rulers in these stories use Gracelings' talents to enrich themselves and intimidate their enemies. 

In Bitterblue, we return to the Kingdom of Monsea and find young Queen Bitterblue, who has inherited the crown from her psychopathic father Leck, a man with the rare and truly terrible Grace of mind control and manipulation, desperately trying to find a way to heal her kingdom, her subjects, her ministers, her servants, and her friends after Leck's sadistic 35 year rule. Everyone she meets is numb, their eyes are dull, they have lost their joy in living and working and Bitterblue does not know why they are still acting like Leck remains in control of their lives when he has been dead for eight years. Even her brain is foggy and she has trouble remembering her lovely mother Ashen, who Leck abused horribly, or what actually happened when she was a little girl living in a nightmare where she could not save her mother from her father. With so many confused and painful emotions in the castle, a place full of people she doesn't know and rooms she has never visited, Bitterblue feels trapped and more and more under the control of her well-meaning, but oddly secretive, royal advisors. 

Becoming increasingly desperate for something to change and to break free, one night Bitterblue decides to slip out of the castle in disguise to finally learn more about her people and city, as well as escaping from the never-ending stacks of paperwork constantly given to her by her councillors. In the smoky taverns down dark alleys, Bitterblue hears storytellers recounting events from her own troubled, famous life, and, as she visits night after night, also draws the attention of some local thieves working to right the wrongs committed during Leck's rule. Bitterblue begins to uncover the depths of her own courage as she finds ways to learn who to trust and as she grows to fully understand her father's horrific legacy, piecing together bit by shocking bit why it is imperative that she get to the bottom of the pain and suffering still affecting everyone around her in both her castle and in her city, no matter the cost.

This fantasy is for mature readers as it includes details of torture and abuse. Recommended for grades 10 and up.

Archita Birla

wow, i loved this so much! this is the book I had the least memory of plot details so it was really enthralling to read (so much so that I stayed up late reading, which I am now slightly regretting but not really)

i have really enjoyed the graceling realm in that the center of the story is not romantic love (some may argue that in graceling it is, but I disagree), but the story of plantonic, friendship, found family love triumphs so hard in this book it makes me so emotional. 

I'm incredibly excited to read the next (!!) book that was released recently and to get to enjoy more out of this universe. 

i am sure that you could say that this story is too lengthy, which I don't think is necessarily wrong, but I personally enjoyed the characters and extra bits, and as always loved the amount of complexity each character receives.

massive massive tw for (view spoiler)[rape, sexual abuse, verbal and physical abuse, discussion of abuse towards others including children, and other very horrible topics  (hide spoiler)]

Bitterblue

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