Reviews

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Only show reviews with written explanations

breezy610's review against another edition

4.0

after reading this book, you realize that the companion, Fire, was 15 years ago in past while Graceling and Bitterblue are set in the same time period of each other, only couple years apart. a pretty good. It has answered a lot of question that any person might have from the previous book.

yerawizard_kristen's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Alright. This book was nice to read because it finally connected the previous books in this series. I finally got to see what happened with Katsa and Po, which turned out to be more of nothing, and I also got to see what was to become of Bitterblue.

That said, once again the author leaves too much of the story unfinished. It is so frustrating to read and get invested in the characters, and then have no resolution! And honestly, what is it with this author and her strange take on relationships? Is she afraid to have any of her characters fall in love and actually stay together? Is that really so bad?

Another question comes to mind - is this series really just a Trilogy? Or is it meant to be a Saga? The way Kristin Cashore never ties up the loose ends at any of the books has me expecting another. Oh well. Only time will tell!

I am so glad to be done with the Graceling Realm.

em_moonchild's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.75

The author really created one of the most horrifying villain character. It made me sick, cry and stare at the wall.

Aside from that, I loved Bitterblue as a character and I loved seeing her growth in this book.

I definitely recommend this book but do look up the content warnings

catinaflatcap's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

laerugo's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

this might be my favorite of the graceling series so far, but it is very different than the others. i liked the mysteries, and i think bitterblue might be the strongest voice of all three protagonists—or maybe cashore had just improved as an author by the time she wrote it, because i think bitterblue felt the most relatably and understandably appropriate for her age. although i wasn't entirely satisfied with the way some things resolved, the way the questions were teased out over time and the politics of monsea kept this an interesting read for me.

there were a few things that i think didn't work—i appreciate the effort to tie both universes together, the seven kingdoms and the dells, but i think the introduction of fire and the dellians was a little hamfisted and unnecessary. the katsa/po scenes were also a little over the top but i didn't mind it so much because bitterblue loves them both and they are very dramatic people, so it's understandable they would be a big part of her point of view whenever they were in the room. i also think this could've been at least a hundred pages shorter, because it suffered from pacing issues at times, but i liked the characters so for the most part, i didn't mind it when it dragged because i simply enjoyed reading about them.

dayamarie's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This was the least favorite of the series for me. The plot wanders for three quarters of the book, but I did enjoy the ending and how it all came together. I was glad that the author brought back Katsa, Poe and Fire in book three. It made for good closure to the series.