YOUth Review: Winterkeep by Kristen Cashore

Kristen Cashore’s book, Winterkeep, coincides perfectly with her last three books in such an unexpecting, wonderful way.

We begin with Queen Bitterblue, who, under the suspicious sinking of the Seashell and the resulting death of her envoys, must travel to a newly discovered continent in the north, Torla. On her way to the closest nation, Winterkeep, something unfortunate happens which sets in motion a trail of confusion and sorrow.

In Winterkeep’s capital, Ledra, Lovisa Cavenda is on the lookout for secrets and stories – things she never expects nor wants once she finds out the truth in the middle of this political, winter-swept nation.

And, among the Keepish confusion and political unrest, a fox or two (or three…or more) find themselves sneaking slyly beneath the turmoil, helping or harming in ways few truly understand.

I, personally, was not aware that a fourth book would be added to Cashore’s Graceling series but when I discovered it, a whole other world was brought to surface, and not just a new continent. The narrative definitely adds to the book and the new characters mixed with the familiar ones from the “Royal Continent” make up a devastatingly perfect realm of more secrets.

This is the story of a girl who thinks she has all the control in her life, just as everything falls apart; a queen who realizes the one fault in her determination; and a nation, or more accurately, the world in full, that has problems which prove to soon be irreversible – if change is not in motion.

Trust me when I say Cashore has paralleled this world to our own which makes it ever more interesting and ever more scarily wonderful.

Grace De Prophetis