Audiobook Review – Seasparrow (Graceling Realm, Book 5) by Kristin Cashore, Narrated by Xanthe Elbrick (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Length: 16 hours and 37 minutes
Publisher:‎ Listening Library
Release Date: November 01, 2022
ASIN: B09VWD6VH7
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Graceling Realm series
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Hava sails across the sea toward Monsea with her sister, the royal entourage, and the world’s only copies of the formulas for the zilfium weapon she saved at the end of Winterkeep. During the crossing, Hava makes an unexpected discovery about one of the ship’s crew, but before she can unravel the mystery, storms drive their ship off course, wrecking them in the ice far north of the Royal Continent. The survivors must endure a harrowing trek across the ice to make it back to Monsea. And while Queen Bitterblue grapples with how to carry the responsibility of a weapon that will change the world, Hava has a few more mysteries to solve—and a decision to make about who she wants to be in the new world Bitterblue will build.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 5th book in the Graceling Realm series. I borrowed a copy of this book on audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done; the narration is amazing and a pleasure to listen to. It’s been two years since “Winterkeep” came out and I struggled to remember the characters from “Winterkeep” but the book does a fairly good job of jogging your memory. I really enjoyed the beautiful writing style, adventure, and complex characters in this book.

This book is told from Hava’s point of view. Hava is Bitterblue’s half-sister. While sailing across the sea to Monsea their ship is unexpectedly driven off course and wrecked in the middle of the harsh north. Hava, Bitterblue, and crew are forced to make a horrible trek across glaciers and through frozen ice tubes in an effort to find some civilization.

Hava is an intriguing character to learn about and get to know. She is very scarred by her upbringing and always very prickly and anxious, but this journey takes her through horrible challenges that help her to grow. This book is really about Hava’s history and her growth as a character. She is having to learn who she wants to be, instead of being the girl who always hides in shadows.

There is a lot about survival and adventure in this book. The characters spend a lot of time both trying to survive on the ship and then trying to survive in the arctic wasteland. The book does also gets into the politics behind the zilfium weapon and secret formulas that were found around that. Although, this part if focused on more towards the end of the book (but you do hear some about it throughout). We also get to learn more about the blue foxes when Hava rescues a blue fox named Hope.

As I mentioned, I listened to this on audiobook. This was engaging and easy to listen to, I enjoyed the story a lot. The writing is stunningly beautiful and the scenery really comes alive throughout. You can really feel for Hava and get to know her as a person and appreciate what she’s been through.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really enjoyed this installment in the Graceling series and hope that Cashore writes some more books in this series. These are beautifully written epic fantasy stories and I always look forward to the next book being released.