For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father’s horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep—a place where telepathic foxes bond with humans, and people fly across the sky in wondrous airships. But when the envoys never return, having drowned under suspicious circumstances, Bitterblue sets off for Winterkeep herself, along with her spy Hava and her trusted colleague Giddon. On the way, tragedy strikes again—a tragedy with devastating political and personal ramifications. Cashore's fourth book, Jane, Unlimited, was released in September 2017. Jane, Unlimited is her first published novel that takes a step away from the Graceling Realm, and is told in multiple genres. [8] The Graceling saga is rejoined by Kristin Cashore. What should have been a celebration, is really a disappointment. Although continued in the world started in Graceling and with a few characters from earlier books, this muddle does not deliver.

Even though I honestly believed that the series was done with, it's been years since the last book was published, I've grown warmer to the idea and now I am truly into it. I mean, there's still plenty to explore in this world. Winterkeep and the other countries around it having airships. Please, please don't tell me that countries that are in the middle of what is actually an industrial revolution of sorts, and been at it for a few longs years, haven't been able to fly over the the mountains to their...West, I believe, to find out about the Graceling kingdoms. That most definitely includes my absolute favorite character from the whole book Aventure Fox who is, you guessed it, a fox. I was not expecting to like him so much but, well, he was truly delightful to read and I couldn't get enough of his apparitions. Maybe you have too much experience of the bad things that happen when you love someone, and too little experience of the good things. Maybe you’re protecting yourself.”The fox wondered, as he wondered more and more lately, how any fox who cared about any human ever managed to keep the secrets of foxkind.”

But Lovisa is without question the stand-out character and protagonist for me. Her development throughout this book is immense and she goes through so much. There are huge themes of parental abuse, not only affecting Lovisa herself but also her three little brothers. The new world we discover in this one is also so mystical and wonderful, and it was amazing to get to see it through the character's eyes for the first time. I loved the whole mystery that propels the plot forward, and all the angst Kristin Cashore put her characters - and her readers!! - through. The suffering was wonderful and oh, so worth it. The humour is also stellar in this one, as with all of the graceling books, and I laughed out loud so many times. Did I really care about Lovisa and the new characters that were introduced? Not as much as the others for sure. But did I still have the time of my life and will reread this book as soon as possible? Absolutely. Speaking of Bitterblue, I can't tell you how proud I am of my girl in this one. Seeing her grow and understand her own power, and how she should use it, makes me so happy. She has always been one of my faves, but with every book I relate to her and care about her even more. I love how stubborn, kind and thoughful she is, and how she always strives to do the right thing, even if it's not easy. Her insecurities also make her so dear and near to my heart, and I'll always cherish her. The fact that there is a pretty significant age gap between them made me, well, uncomfortable. Usually, I can get behind that fact since both characters are adults and all but the fact that one of the parties had known the other since they were children, and they were already basically adults at that point, did give me pause and left me reeling. I don’t have time,” she said, knowing she could skip her homework, that the homework shouldn’t matter more than her brothers; but also knowing that she couldn’t stay overnight in this house, where at every moment she felt the darkness closing around her like a cold, lonely cave. Knowing that part of the reason she needed to go was to escape the sadness of these boys.”

So, yeah, I ship it, really ship, if it took me a little bit of processing time before I got there. content warnings :: parental abuse (physical, emotional), animal abuse, gaslighting, death/murder, sexual harassment, kidnapping, drowning, depictions of trauma Before reading: Omfg I can’t believe I’m alive to read the continuation of Bitterblue/Giddon in canon. 😱 Trigger and Content Warnings for murder, parental abuse, sexual harassment, slut-shaming, kidnapping, blood, drowning. Winterkeep is a nation that is very different from anything we've seen before. Even though Graceling and Bitterblue took place in a different land than Fire, they were still very similar in many aspects, with the biggest difference being the existence of monsters in Fire.

Bitterblue has lost two of her envoys in a strange sinking of their ship. They sent word before being lost at sea though that something was amiss and Bitterblue needed to look into a fuel that is used by most of the realms. She wants to learn more about it herself and so, with her best friend Giddon and her graceling half sister, she takes off to get answers. Everything does not go to plan and Bitterblue ends up in a new kind of danger. Maybe had I not just reread the first three books I wouldn't have noticed as much (though that isn't to say I would've liked it any more than I did..) but none of the recurring characters felt true to form. Giddon, in particular, felt strange as if he didn't quite fit into the shape he'd once been formed of, and Bitterblue.. I don't know. She was a harder character to like throughout the series but she was a character you could respect, to sympathize with, and yet she also felt a little untethered in this book, too. As for the new introductions? Didn't like a single one. I love the fact that I never saw it coming but at the same time was there all along. Every single detail was very well foreshadowed and it paid off greatly.Once things started to really happen and we left behind the introductory, this is the world, parts of the narration the flow of the story became much more natural and less forced as well as the fact that the mysteries were luring me and I was trying desperately to piece it all together.