[set star]"This is gorgeous storytelling: exciting, stirring, and accessible. Fantasy and romance readers will be thrilled."- SLJ , starred review
[set star]"Katsa is an ideal adolescent heroine, simultaneously confident of her strengths yet unsure of her place in the world. Every character is crafted with the same meticulous devotion to human comprehensibility, making the villain all the more appalling in his understated, twisted madness. In a tale filled with graphic violence and subtle heartbreak, gentle passion and savage kindness, matter-of-fact heroics and bleak beauty, no defeat is ever total and no triumph comes without cost. Grace-full, in every sense."- Kirkus , starred review [set star]"An impressive first novel, this well-crafted and rewarding fantasy will leave readers hoping for more."- Booklist, starred review [set star]"The writing is perfectly pitched at teens struggling to put their own talents to good use. With this riveting debut, Cashore has set the bar exceedingly high."-- Publishers Weekly, starred review "Here's a WOW of a book! Seeing half-wild Katsa learn humanity as she battles soldiers, storms, and her own obsessive nature-I HAD to know how it ended!" -Tamora Pierce
"Katsa and Po are wonderful: They make me want to cheer. Due to a strong heroine, a supportive hero, political intrigue, and action throughout, this is a book I'll share with my daughter." -Melissa Marr, author of Wicked Lovely
