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Winterkeep  By  cover art

Winterkeep

By: Kristin Cashore
Narrated by: Xanthe Elbrick
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Publisher's summary

The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times best-selling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.3 million copies.

For the past five years, Bitterblue has reigned as queen of Monsea, heroically rebuilding her nation after her father's horrific rule. After learning about the land of Torla in the east, she sends envoys to the closest nation there: Winterkeep - a place where telepathic foxes bond with humans and people fly across the sky in wondrous airships. But when the envoys never return, having drowned under suspicious circumstances, Bitterblue sets off for Winterkeep herself, along with her spy Hava and her trusted colleague Giddon. On the way, tragedy strikes again - a tragedy with devastating political and personal ramifications.

Meanwhile, in Winterkeep, Lovisa Cavenda waits and watches, a fire inside her that is always hungry. The teenage daughter of two powerful politicians, she is the key to unlocking everything - but only if she's willing to transcend the person she's been all her life.

This audiobook includes a PDF containing a cast of characters.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Kristin Cashore (P)2021 Listening Library

Critic reviews

A New York Times best seller

"Cashore's fourth Graceling novel features two strong, but very different, female protagonists...this gripping tale of spies, romantic tension and moral dilemmas.... [A] magnificent addition to the series. (Shelf Awareness, starred review)

"Delicately, inexorably plotted, this is a captivating novel of action and ideas...an accomplishment all the more admirable in that Cashore achieves it largely through characterization." (Horn Book, starred review)

"This long-awaited addition to the series exceeds expectations - with the action of Graceling, the political theater of Fire, and characters from Bitterblue, this title has something to offer all Cashore fans." (School Library Journal, starred review)

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What listeners say about Winterkeep

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Ugh

Louvisa is just the pits. I cannot get past her and her obsessions with sex and playing a ‘part’. I’ve loved the graceling series but this shouldn’t be part of it. She ruins it.

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5 people found this helpful

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Not sure, but then it grabbed me!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this story. While I appreciated Bitterblue, I didn't enjoy the book very much-- it was pretty dark, and I had a hard time keeping track of the characters. However, Winterkeep grabbed me from pretty early on. I was much more invested in all of the characters (including Bitterblue), and especially enjoyed the insight into Giddon and the chapters he narrated! I thought that all the different narrators would be too much, but it was beautifully done. I would highly recommend this book.

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4 people found this helpful

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Call me prude, but . . .

This book should not be labeled as young=adult. I would not want my teenager to read it. It's unfortunate that Ms. Cashore felt the need to be so graphic in her descriptions of sex (with teenagers). The story in and of itself would have been just as effective without it. I have enjoyed all of the other books in the Graceling Realm, but won't be reading this one again. Definitely not PG.

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4 people found this helpful

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Greta narrator, poor story

Thank you to the brave and gracious narrator who trudged through this miserable, depressing book! You are a wonder!

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Could have been better/ A little bit of spoilers

I love the other three books in this series. I like the multiple perspectives in this book, the ranges of all the different characters. I do not like the fact that a good percentage of this book was from the perspective of a sixteen year old. This book does not seem appropriate for teens or adults alike. Teens should not be reading such detailed romance scenes and if you are an adult like me, I was grossed out by hearing such details about a child's love life. At least in Fire, Fire was a seventeen year old, but acted like and was treated like an adult with a house, holding, and employees. This sixteen year old protagonist was treated like a child in her society and acted like a child. Her perspective is important, but not the most important. A year's difference in her age would have helped.
Another issue I had was how Queen Bitterblue was portrayed as silly or stupid in some parts of the book. Especially by the child. In one part of the book, the child does not trust the Queen to make rational decisions, but is then proven wrong. Why on Earth would a random child know better than a Queen of a nation, who has been through much more trauma than most people? Why did Bitterblue never comfort this child with her own story of a abusive childhood?
Did Death ever finish rewriting all the destroyed books and Leck's journals?
How is Fire and Katsa, the other two books protagonists?
How did the courts proceedings go? Why was this lefts up to assumptions?
Why did Saf and Bitterblue drift apart? Though, I am happy they did.
I feel like this story would have been much better if told more often from someone else's point of view and it gave updates and explanations on the stories previous characters.
If you can get past all that it is a good book.

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1 person found this helpful

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Absolute Masterpiece

I’m really not sure what the negative reviews were all about when the book first released. This is an absolute masterpiece like every other book in the series. So fantastic, and extremely fun to see the bouncing between characters in the partial 3rd person omniscient. 1000% worth the wait and worth every penny. I’m always hungry for more of her art.

And of course, special nod to Xanthe Elbrick who never disappoints. Incredible as usual. Perfect choice.

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darker and more adult in nature

I enjoyed that this book was more dark, more traumatic and more sexual than the prior books. Bitterblue is a matured (maturing) young adult and dealing with the problems of the world not only her own country makes sense. Her country connected to other countries and they all don't always play nice. On a personal level sex would be a natural thing she would be dealing with. So I didn't mind the rather great sex scenes. Not the cheap unrealistic trash from romance novel, but good old fashion sex.

The telepathic foxes at the beginning of the book just weirded me out. Like the newest creepy evil thing. As the story evolves they become less evil and more about how the humans use them. The foxes are not resolved of their wrong doing but mostly this wrong doing is because of the human they are bonded with.

The political/ecological/equality babble most authors seem to think they need to include in their books, I guess to be cool an a good standing citizen of Earth, kind of disappoints me. The story doesn't need this added layer.

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Love Cashore but not this one

I really wanted to love this book unfortunately it just didn’t engage me in the way that I thought it would. I spent a lot of time wondering where things were going and whether or not I was actually interested in the outcome. I think Cashore is an incredible writer and her characters are so deep and relatable while also being unique individually, I just think the plot here felt too contrived and I never felt invested in the outcome, unfortunately. The main storyline was familiar and the villains were unique, but the protagonist felt somewhat hollow. It’s took me a while to understand that she suffered from emotional abuse and the depth of that, so I found myself wondering for a long time why she was so flippant about everything. I don’t know if there was a way to make this better other than having, perhaps, a different protagonist that was more aware (such as the fox) who relayed this more succinctly early on.

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healing

I have enjoyed every book in the graceling series but this one holds a special place in my heart as it has been an aid in healing from my own family trauma. beautiful, raw, and well read

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Too much sex, not enough plot

This is part of a series that’s said to be for kids. The amount of teenage sex on the book is gross for adults to read, and while may be realistic for teens, just isn’t necessary. It ruins the plot.

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