School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Hava's Grace lets her disappear in plain sight, making her the perfect spy for Queen Bitterblue, her secret half-sister. Bitterblue learned the truth about zilfium in Winterkeep, and now travels home with zilfium weapon plans where Hava must play a part. Hava's insatiable curiosity and ever-listening ears discover a mystery aboard the royal ship Monsea, but before she can get to the bottom of it they're blown off course. Shipwrecked and stranded on the ice in the far north, Hava uncovers a number of other questions as court and crew begin their long, treacherous walk back to Monsea. After a childhood spent in hiding, Hava's journey forces her to reckon with who she is and how she wishes to be seen by the world. Cashore's writing and character arcs are exceptional as always, but Hava's juvenile narration strikes an odd tone for such a dark series, and her musings often lead nowhere, making this story harder to follow than its predecessors. While they're marketed as companion novels, the series from Bitterblue onward really does need to be read in order to understand what's at stake. There is some racial diversity among the cast, with Bitterblue being biracial. VERDICT Cashore never misses the bestsellers lists. That said, this harrowing adventure is probably best for libraries where the rest of the series already has readers.--Emmy Neal
Horn Book Review
This fifth of Cashore's Graceling Realm novels (Graceling, rev. 11/08, and sequels) encompasses a sea voyage, a shipwreck, a life-threatening trek across the frozen north, the discovery of a powerful explosive and related national conflict, several survivors of abusive childhoods, a pregnant blue fox, and a few romances. At the center of its eventfulness and its attention to information and imagery related to ships, sailing, and the far north is narrator Hava, Queen Bitterblue's Graceling half-sister and a handy, multilingual spy. Hava's Graceling magic is to be able to make herself invisible by blending into the setting, a gift that seems as much a burdensome outcome of a traumatic childhood as it is a useful ability. In amongst the threads and pressures of physical survival, plots and plotting, romance, and care for the blue fox and her kits, Hava begins to understand and resolve some of her own emotional damage. Cashore has included a great deal in this novel; it tends toward the sprawling. But as ever, her colorfully realized world presents readers with serious ideas, both psychological and political, and an appealing warmth in its human relationships -- and here, the delight of bumptious, telepathic baby foxes. Deirdre F. BakerJanuary/February 2023 p.77 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Weeks after the events of Winterkeep (2021), Queen Bitterblue and her companions are traveling home to Monsea by ship. Hava, Bitterblue's half sister, uses her Grace--she's able to change how people perceive her--to work as a spy. She's also translating previously obtained weapon plans. Left mostly to her own devices, Hava thrives onboard, mentored in the ways of the sea by a kind captain. But when tragedy strikes and they are shipwrecked, the crew members are forced to rely on each other in an unforgiving landscape littered with icebergs. Prickly, curious, and furious, Hava is a singular hero, charting their grueling way home with humor and anguish. Embedded in her first-person narration, the journey is also internal, as Hava reckons with how a childhood spent hiding (both through her Grace and from her feelings) has shaped her and how she relates to and understands creatures around her, human and animal alike. Within her fantasy world, Cashore never shies away from showing the charming mundanities of the everyday and the brutal realities of the harshness of wilderness and emotions as well as exploring how enduring trauma shapes a person and a kingdom. While the story feels overlong, the chance to spend time inside Hava's head as she learns who she is and what she desires is ultimately a worthy experience. Hava reads White; the supporting cast is cued racially diverse. A harrowing, rewarding tale of survival. (map, author's note, ship diagram, cast of characters) (Fantasy. 14-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Hava, a Graceling with the power of invisibility (or, really, the power to go unnoticed), opens her tale wondering what it means to eavesdrop. Hava acts as a spy for her queen, Bitterblue, who is also secretly her sister. Hava, her sister, and a host of other useful people are on the ship Monsea, trying to get home, but traveling during the cold of winter is not making their journey easy. Distrust amongst the sailors causes more problems, adding elements of a political thriller to an already rollicking sea adventure. Hava's ponderings about words are amusing, though they lead her narrative astray more often than not, making this adventure a little harder to follow than earlier entries in the series. While the Graceling Realm books are billed as a companion series that can be enjoyed in any order, it's best to have at least Bitterblue (2012) and Winterkeep (2021)--the stories most closely tied to Hava's--on hand for continuity.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Cashore's Graceling books have hit bestseller lists and kept readers fascinated for almost 15 years. This fifth installment promises the same.
Excerpts
1. If you could eavesdrop without anyone knowing--if you could turn yourself into a barrel, or a coil of lines, or a clump of canvas on deck where two people are standing together, whispering secrets to each other--are you sure you wouldn't? Eavesdrop. I wonder where that word comes from. Did people used to climb into the eaves of a house and snoop on conversations? Then drop? Then what? Yell "Surprise!" and watch people jump and throw their papers around? That would be funny. I've never done that. I asked Giddon his opinion, but he had no ideas about eavesdrop. He said he's fond of the word snowdrop, and he's right; it's a good word. It snows almost every day now here at sea, so it's nice to imagine white petals drifting down onto my face. But it doesn't help me with eavesdrop. He said it aloud, "Snowdrop," as we stood on the foredeck of the Monsea, where the plunge of the prow into each wave is more extreme than anywhere else on the ship. I like it there on the foredeck. It feels like exciting things are going to happen. Then he said, "Foxglove, that's a nice word too. Moonflower," he added, staring across the gray water like he was having a revelation. Giddon is big and tall and handsome in a noble sort of way, with a neat dark beard and pale skin like mine, and he has a fire inside him that he reserves for Bitterblue. I could see him mentally picking a bouquet for her. "Larkspur," he said, so I said, "Skunk cabbage," because I was getting tired of Giddon. "Skunk cabbage?" he said, turning a look of indignation upon me. "Of course not." "Impatiens," I said significantly, but he wandered down to the main deck with a dreamy expression on his face, and I wished, as I've wished many times, that Giddon and Bitterblue, who's the Queen of Monsea and secretly my half sister, would confess their newfound romantic relationship to me. I'm not stupid. I'm a spy. It's my job to figure things out. And she's my family, even if hardly anyone knows that. They should tell me. I'll ask Teddy about eavesdrop when we get home. Teddy's part of Bitterblue's Ministry of Education. He's clever with words, cleverer than Giddon. My mother once told me, in a moment of lucidity, to keep a list of cherished qualities I would like in a friend. I never have. It's not like people line up for me to choose from, with their qualities listed on their chests. But if I did keep a list, maybe "Clever with Words" would be on it. Not that Giddon lacks good qualities. He would tear off the head of anyone who hurt my sister. I used to jump out and surprise my mother, actually, now that I consider it. I would hide myself from her, then make myself visible suddenly. Reach for her, arms outstretched, laughing. One time, when I did that, she screamed in such terror that the king, my father, came running. So I hid quickly, and never did that again. It wasn't safe to startle my mother. Too often, she wasn't in her strong mind. Anyway, my point is, I don't have to climb into the eaves to eavesdrop. I can stand right in front of you, plain as plain, do a trick on your brain, and you see something else. It's my Grace. Are you in a room now? Look around. I could be right there and your eyes slide over me and see a coat on a hook instead, or a potted tree that you would realize is vaguely person-shaped if you only looked harder, but you won't. Is there some part of the room that's especially boring to you, some corner you don't seem to want to focus on? That could be me. It's not your fault. I'm discouraging your attention, and changing what you think you see. Anyway, it was just an example. I wouldn't do it as a trick. In fact, I'm not supposed to do it at all, not without Bitterblue's permission, and only on official queen's business. Of course, seeing as I'm a spy, one could argue that I'm always on official queen's business. It's my job to keep her safe. I do that by hiding and snooping. By not trusting people. And by having adventures; I've sailed to the other side of the world and crossed the sky in a flying machine. I've talked to silbercows in the sea and pulled a pin that made a bomb explode. I've stolen formulas for weapons that will make my sister powerful. I've been to Winterkeep, and now we're going home again. Excerpted from Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
