Winterkeep (Graceling Realm)
The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.7 million copies.
For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father's horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep—a place where telepathic foxes bond with humans, and people fly across the sky in wondrous airships. But when the envoys never return, having drowned under suspicious circumstances, Bitterblue sets off for Winterkeep herself, along with her spy Hava and her trusted colleague Giddon. On the way, tragedy strikes again—a tragedy with devastating political and personal ramifications.
Meanwhile, in Winterkeep, Lovisa Cavenda waits and watches, a fire inside her that is always hungry. The teenage daughter of two powerful politicians, she is the key to unlocking everything—but only if she's willing to transcend the person she's been all her life.
The Graceling Realm books are a companion series, not direct sequels, so they can be enjoyed in any order.
For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as Queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father's horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep—a place where telepathic foxes bond with humans, and people fly across the sky in wondrous airships. But when the envoys never return, having drowned under suspicious circumstances, Bitterblue sets off for Winterkeep herself, along with her spy Hava and her trusted colleague Giddon. On the way, tragedy strikes again—a tragedy with devastating political and personal ramifications.
Meanwhile, in Winterkeep, Lovisa Cavenda waits and watches, a fire inside her that is always hungry. The teenage daughter of two powerful politicians, she is the key to unlocking everything—but only if she's willing to transcend the person she's been all her life.
The Graceling Realm books are a companion series, not direct sequels, so they can be enjoyed in any order.
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Community Reviews
Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop
While an interesting novel, Winterkeep does a lot of world-building and exposition, making this a challenge.
Storytelling
I’ve never been one to wait until a series is complete before I begin a book. I have a good memory of what happens from book to book, so I read books when they are published.
However, Winterkeep made me understand why so many readers will wait until the series is complete.
Winterkeep relies heavily on world-building. It takes the reader to another part of the kingdom, rebuilding the world for the reader. There is definitely a lot of info dumping throughout the novel that slows down its pace.
I like it when authors trickle in world-building and history throughout the story, but for it to work, it has to be done well. Cashore does pages and paragraphs of it that became more tedious and boring than anything else.
And while I don’t mind when novels shift between characters (personally, I love it because I think it adds more to the story), the shifts here were jarring. There was something off about the characters and the story’s tone. It all sounded the same. This might be due to the audiobook nature of the book. Mind you, I began reading the physical copy of the book. Still, I struggled so much with it that I figured the audiobook would be better.
While the story had adventure and fantasy, it was so bogged down by exposition that I found it boring. And the lack of personality characterization didn’t make me care about the characters.
Final Thoughts
I wish I could say more about Winterkeep, but unfortunately, the novel was disappointing. It wasn’t that it was a bad novel or anything. Personally, I found the story dragging, the plot slow, and overall, it struggled to hold my attention.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
Winterkeep follows Bitterblue on a journey into politics, mystery, and betrayal.
While an interesting novel, Winterkeep does a lot of world-building and exposition, making this a challenge.
Storytelling
I’ve never been one to wait until a series is complete before I begin a book. I have a good memory of what happens from book to book, so I read books when they are published.
However, Winterkeep made me understand why so many readers will wait until the series is complete.
Winterkeep relies heavily on world-building. It takes the reader to another part of the kingdom, rebuilding the world for the reader. There is definitely a lot of info dumping throughout the novel that slows down its pace.
I like it when authors trickle in world-building and history throughout the story, but for it to work, it has to be done well. Cashore does pages and paragraphs of it that became more tedious and boring than anything else.
And while I don’t mind when novels shift between characters (personally, I love it because I think it adds more to the story), the shifts here were jarring. There was something off about the characters and the story’s tone. It all sounded the same. This might be due to the audiobook nature of the book. Mind you, I began reading the physical copy of the book. Still, I struggled so much with it that I figured the audiobook would be better.
While the story had adventure and fantasy, it was so bogged down by exposition that I found it boring. And the lack of personality characterization didn’t make me care about the characters.
Final Thoughts
I wish I could say more about Winterkeep, but unfortunately, the novel was disappointing. It wasn’t that it was a bad novel or anything. Personally, I found the story dragging, the plot slow, and overall, it struggled to hold my attention.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
CAWPILE score: 64/70 = 9.1 Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I could be a little bias towards these books because of the nostalgia, but I loved this story. I loved learning about the other parts of the world, and meeting new characters and seeing their development. Lovisa ended up being more of a main character than I expected, and she had really good growth. Very excited for Seasparrow.
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