This came up in a Goodreads list of YA books with "strong female characters." The list wasn't actually that great, namely because there seems to be some confusion over the word "strong" (with some taking it to mean that the female character can beat people up, and others taking it to mean that the female character is complex and has a proper story arc that doesn't exclusively follow the "begins without man, ends with man" pattern). 
 But this one stood out to me - both because the cover art is gorgeous (hear that, marketing people?) and because the premise seemed like it might have somewhere to go. 
 And it was pretty good! The Graces could have had a bit more depth and some of the side relationships could have done with some more exploration, but it was a thoroughly solid YA novel. 
 Graceling reads like Jessica Jones in Medieval Times. The main character, Katsa, is a young woman with heightened strength (among other survival skills), and she must defeat a man with the power to influence people's thoughts with this words. Katsa's Grace make her seem almost over powered, but because of what her enemy's power is, her own strength is a liability against herself and her allies. 
 It's a fantastic concept, one that I loved in Jessica Jones and love here. The difference is that King Leck just isn't ominous the way Kilgrave is. He doesn't feel nearly omniscient, his influence isn't felt (despite the narrator telling us frequently that it is). There was a bit of suspense because I didn't know how Katsa would be able to defeat him (and the way she managed it was satisfyingly set up), but Leck just wasn't terrifying the way Kilgrave was. 
 Instead, the focus of the story seems to be on Katsa's relationship with Po. Which means, of course, that we get to go through the standard "headstrong young woman who isn't interested in men and just wants to be independent learns to love and be vulnerable." Which would be a fine plot, except that it is apparently the plot where strong female characters are involved. But while the romance was a bit of a cliche, it wasn't offensively so. 
 All in all, this isn't some new feminist manifesto, and it isn't some pseudo-feminist schlock where a "strong female character" learns to be weak for love. It just was. It was interesting, it carried me through from start to finish, and it never caused me to face-palm. 
 Though only the first book in a series, Graceling is a complete book on its own. So it's safe to read without a great commitment. This would be perfect summer reading for 11-15 year olds.