Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Rating : 5 / 5
Goodreads : Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

My review : What can I say? I love this series, I love these books, I love Kristin Cashore ! Graceling was one of my favorite book in 2011. Then I read Fire the companion novel and I was disappointed and didn't like it as much as Graceling so I had high exceptations for Bitterblue and I was hoping that I would like it more than Fire. And... I loved Bitterblue so much !  I think I loved even more than Graceling so that's something. Bitterblue is definetely one of my favorite book in 2012 perhaps my favorite of 2012 we'll see that at the end of the year.
Bitterblue is the sequel to Graceling and it's happenning 8 years after and Katsa is no longer the main character. Now we're with eighteen years old Bitterblue Queen of Monsea.
As we all know the previous King Leck who was Bitterblue father was a Graceling. He manipulated his whole kingdom by his words. After 30 years of this spell the kingdom is still trying to recover even after his death. Bitterblue at the beginning of the book is still naive and innocent. She is surrounded by her advisers and papers in her castle but she don't really know what's happening in her kingdom. She'll sneak out of the castle at night and understand that she doesn't know much about her people and what's going on.
We follow Bitterblue through the book as she matures and learn a lot of things about the world. This sentence is one of my favorite quote from the book : "The more I see and hear, the more I realize how much I don't know. I want to know everything."  The writing is so beautiful I could quote everything.
I can totally identify with Bitterblue. She was not a kick-ass character like Katsa but I loved her because I was much more like her. And I loved that our heroine in this book is a Queen !
I loved every part of this book especially the beginning. I read 70 pages and already know that it would be one of my favorite books. I loved when she was out of the castle. Kristin Cashore gave a beautiful view of the city with its story rooms ect...
It was amazing and interesting trying to understand all her "puzzles" as she said. I loved all the ciphers I want to write like that now ! All the mysteries behind Leck's reign, the forgotten memories, Bitterblue's advisers strange behavior, things disappearing, the bones... gave me chills. It's one of those books when the story is so alive that you're as lost as the main character. I felt trapped just like her.
A huge part of the book is hapenning in the castle it's different from Graceling for exemple where the characters were moving a lot. But the castle parts were not boring. In Fire it was. But here it was so interesting to see how Bitterblue is trying to be a better queen and she is really doing her best to discover what happenned during her father's reign. I also loved all the "revolution" part. The people who are trying to break from Leck's spell during his reign and even during Bitterblue reign trying to educate people and talk about what happened.
The characters are so amazing. There is a lot of new characters in this book but it was so great to see characters from Graceling a well. I didn't think that we were going to see Katsa and especially Po so much ! I love their relationship so passionate but complicated. About the romance part in Bitterblue it was not as good as in Graceling. Katsa and Po love story is beautiful. In Bitterblue it's not the main point of the book and I was a little surprised by that. There is building of tensions through the book and some beautiful scenes between Saf and Bitterblue but it's just a few pages it's not the main focus. But I liked that because it gave a bittersweet feeling to the book and it's very realistic. I didn't want an happily ever after between these two characters. Kristin Cashore was true to her characters here. Saf fell in love with Sparks and even if he still loves Bitterblue when he knows who she is (but after quite some time) they can't be together. They don't to change their life to be together and I understood that.
We also see a lot Lord Giddon. He has a close relationship with Bitterblue and sometimes I wondered if there was true feelings behind....
It was also amazing now that it's the last book in the series to see all the links between the books and especially with the companion novel Fire. We understand Leck's character better. He was obsessed with the world from Fire and he wanted to recreate it in Monsea. I'm glad that I read Fire to understand better this other world that is really important toward the end of Bitterblue.
I was just a little disappointed at the end. I don't know it was too quick, not as well written as the rest of the book... But I liked how it ended anyway.
I love fantasy and Bitterblue is a wonderful fantasy book. I love this series. I spend an amazing time reading this book last week end. I just wanted to leave and live in this world... I already miss Bitterblue... And I really hope I'll meet Kristin Cashore one day !

I also wanted to say that this hardcover copy is beautiful ! I've never seen anything like that. The illustrations are amazing.
Playlist
Where is my mind - Sucker Punch Soundtrack
Breath of Life - Florence + the machine
Florence+the machine album Ceremonials
First Narnia movie soundtrack especially The Battle.