At the age of eight, Katsa killed a man. In a land of seven kingdoms, rare individuals have talents called a Grace. They can manifest themselves at any time - some come early and some have talents develop later. The only physical attribute of a Grace is that they have two different colored eyes. Katsa is grace with the talent of killing. As the niece of the king, she is used as a pawn. He sends her to torture people that has gone against his wishes.After one of her missions, Katsa decides to create a Council to help people. It was on one of the Council’s missions that she meets Po for the first time. A prince, he is on a mission to look for his kidnapped grandfather. Katsa gets drawn into this mystery as they fight the strange attraction between them.I love this book! Love it! We have adventure, mystery, romance and fantasy. I was completely engrossed in it; started it in the evening and finished it the next day. The characters were realistic and the plot was well crafted. I loved the character of Katsa - both brilliant and flawed and the way her relationship with Po developed. Kristin Cashore made it seem so real. So fans of Tamora Pierce or just fans of good books, you don’t want to miss this book.Warning: This book does have violent descriptive scenes. Also, it has scenes that allude to sex and incest.