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

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.

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.

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.