I've been wanting to read Graceling for a while now. People are constantly saying how they love Katsa's character and that they loved this book, and I have to say I totally agree with them. This book was amazing. I borrowed it from the library, but I definitely want to get my own copy now because I know I'll be wanting to read it again! 
 Katsa was an incredibly strong character, physically through her grace, but also emotionally and intellectually. She has insecurities too, which made her incredibly easy to relate to because we all doubt ourselves sometimes. I was impressed by just how much she was able to deduce in this book. She figured out so many things that I was like, 'holy crap, how the heck did she figure that out!?' Of course, if I wasn't so enthralled in the story and reading so fast because I just couldn't stop, I might've picked up on some of them too because there were plenty of hints. :P 
 I also loved Prince Po! His chemistry with Katsa was amazing. I loved their banter, I loved their fighting, and I just basically loved every single moment they spent together. Raffin, Katsa's cousin, was pretty awesome too! I wish my cousins invented headache cures that turned their hair blue. :) He and Katsa were so close, and I loved it. The familial relationships in this story were all so different, and the contrast between all of them made it incredibly interesting whenever they interacted. Po's family, for example, were all really close, which seems to be a Leinid custom, while Katsa and Raffin weren't really close at all to King Randa, who was Katsa's uncle and Raffin's father. I especially liked the different kingdoms and the descriptions of the landscape as they travelled through them. Katsa's amazement at the mountains and the sea was incredibly realistic and I was swept up in it with her. 
 Kristin created an incredibly vivid and realistic world in Graceling, and it's one I hope to visit again soon when I read Fire. I would recommend this book completely. It was amazing, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. :)