3/5 - Every now and then I just need a fun, young adult fantasy novel to meet my guilty pleasure book quota. "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore was almost that book...but not completely. The protagonist Katsa has what is known as a "Grace," which, in Cashore's fantasy world, is essentially an uncommon, extreme skill. This skill can be anything. (view spoiler)[ Katsa's Grace is fighting which means she can take down anyone with anything (or nothing but her bare hands), and it is never a struggle for her to do so. (hide spoiler)] 
 The book follows Katsa's relationship with her new friend Po and a rescue mission that teaches her more about her Grace. The story absolutely kept my attention and I was invested in finding out the end, but the action was slow to build and the ending came about kinda quickly. I'm usually okay with that though, as long as the characters are really developed. Here I wanted more development and background information as I read; sometimes young adult novels are so great I can ignore the gaps in background (ex: Hunger Games) but this one didn't quite get me there. There are two more books in this series that I will probably read eventually but I'm in no rush. I rate it 3/5, check it out for an easy read with a strong heroine.