Graceling [ Graceling Realm #1 ] by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling
Series: Graceling Realm
Author: Kristin Cashore
Publication Date: October 1st, 2008
Publisher: Harcourt
ISBN: 015206396X
Rating: 3 stars

Some people in the Seven Kingdoms are born with a “Grace”, an extreme skill that manifests itself at a young age, and is marked by heterochromia. One can be graced with a multitude of different things, from cooking to dancing to mind-reading. Our heroine, Katsa, is graced with killing, and she is exploited as King Randa’s personal assassin slash torturer. Unexpectedly, she meets a graced fighter, and she cannot help but become his friend.

The world of Graceling is fascinating, and one of the strongest points of the novel, although fans of intricate worldbuilding ala George R.R. Martin are bound to be disappointed.