The Gracekeepers

Book Title: The Gracekeepers

Author: Kirsty Logan

Date Started: June 30th 2015

Date Completed: July 4th 2015

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Four stars

Review:

I desperately wanted to live in the world of The Gracekeepers when I started reading - until I came into contact with some of the people, and the prejudices they carry. Of course this still makes a brilliant tale, and though the story lacked the magical flair I had been expecting to overcome the cruel nature of the characters, it was worth the read.

I really liked the perspectives in this book: we're given a chance to look at the world from all its different angles. Even the questionable characters have a unique way at looking at this story, and reading from the whole variety of them enhanced the pacing really well. We also get to look at some of the smaller characters' lives, even if it didn't directly affect the protagonists. There were quite a few times where I found myself disliking the main characters, and so by making some of the secondary characters more important I was engaged again after my attention wandering a little.

My biggest issue with The Gracekeepers was the conflict of themes. It seems like darkness and beauty (as in writing, storyline etc) are the main elements of the story, but for me they were fighting too hard for center stage. The two never seemed in harmony together (there wasn't any beauty to the darkness included, and the wonderful things didn't really have a dark side). They were constantly flipping between each other but they were never working together - some of the most stunning writing is that which can put a dark tone to beautiful concepts, or bittersweet beauty to suffering. It just didn't quite work for me in this story.

We're thrown into the world of The Gracekeepers right from the start, and there's no exposition to the state of the world or even really the circumstances of the characters. At first this felt strange to me since connections were hinted at in the prologue, however the focus Logan has on the characters and their roles in the present is so faithful that it no longer matters what has come before. This in a way reflects the entirety of the book; you can't think about what has happened in the past and end up ignoring what's happening now.

The storyline of the characters intertwine really nicely. Something I'm always worried about with stories where the protagonists cross paths and end up affecting each other in a major way is the danger of the author pushing them together to further the story, rather than creating a reality where these people naturally meet and change one another. Logan brushed these fears aside for me, as each protagonist has their own obstacles to overcome themselves - it just happens that their brief contact with each other has given them something to help them along.

A big element that I didn't predict being included in this book was the use of some darker issues. Where I had thought I would be seeing magic and mystery at every corner, there was mourning and growing old and losing those you love and coming to terms with difficult changes. I would have had no issues for this switch of themes to include, but when I think about it none of these things were explored in detail. There were times when I just wanted to hover over a certain perspective to see how they fared under these issues, but we were pulled away to someone else (who, I have to say, was usually less interesting). But I know one thing: The Gracekeepers is most definitely a book about how people affect each other, as opposed to a story of magic and beauty.

I wasn't really expecting such a heightened ending since the rest of the book had been so calm, and I'm not quite sure if I would've liked a climax that reflected the rest of the book as a whole (perhaps a darker, more thoughtful ending rather than a spiralling chain of events). There were still a lot of issues left unsolved, and though I understand that they no longer matter, I was left wandering what if this, what if that - in some ways it was unsatisfying. However, the story drew to a close nicely, the characters ended up where they needed to be, and really I don't have much to complain about.

The characters of The Gracekeepers were, surprisingly, mean. Even the protagonists had really selfish streaks and the story seems to be fuelled by people acting for their own gain. This is all well and good, but I didn't feel like they were pushed into situations that made them act like this, and so I was left feeling like the world was actually quite unwelcoming. Because of what I was expecting from the book this really bothered me.

I wasn't a fan of North at the start, and though I no longer let out an internal sigh when I see her name above a chapter, I'm still not as engaged with her story as everyone else's. In fact, I was far more engaged in the secondary character's stories throughout the whole book. My issue was North was that when we're first introduced to her, she's acting in a way that's understandable for her situation, but because we aren't aware of it at that point it comes across like she's just being unnecessarily standoffish.

I definitely liked Callanish more, and though her story might have been less heavy on the action the way her world is slowly developed was extremely engaging. I wouldn't call the role of the gracekeepers 'lore', but it definitely had that fairytale-esque feel to it. I also felt like she had the most heartwarming/breaking journey to be followed.

Pacing is an interesting area in this book, since there's no strict story arch that the novel follows. Because of this you do get a natural feeling to the lives of the circus and gracekeeper, and when you begin each new chapter you know it'll be new and different from the one you read before. The perspectives especially help with this as you're always looking at something from a different angle.

The Gracekeepers wasn't what I was expecting, but I still enjoyed it. I don't personally think it's particularly like The Night Circus past the inclusion of a circus - think more Station Eleven. The story definitely revolves a lot more in the meddling of each character for their own gains, with a little bit of magic and intrigue on the side.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23346643-the-gracekeepers