The Gracekeepers, Kirsty Logan: review

As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance.
In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives--offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.
Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age. 

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan is by far the best book I’ve read this year, I had very high expectations of this book and it surpassed them easily! Normally when I plan a review I write what I liked and what I didn’t like; while the good pretty much always outweigh the bad for me- it is very I do not like a book- when it came to planning this one I genuinely couldn’t think of any bad points, therefore I’m just going to tell you good points!

First off I have to talk about the writing, it was so beautiful and eloquent but not one of those books that is overly descriptive or poetic if you know what I mean. I found myself being drawn into the writing and it paints such a vivid picture in your head.

Something that really stood out to me was the world, the book isn’t that long yet I feel like I have a very good and wide understanding of the world and the divides in it. The world itself is very unique and interesting, all the customs and the differences between Damplings and Landlockers, selfishness, greed and prejudice was rife and though this world is flooded and is quite different to our world there are parallels which are interesting to think about.

The characters. The main two people this book follows is North and Callanish both who have secrets and in a way are trapped. However each chapter changes perspective and sometimes go to other characters such as the rest of the performers in the circus that North works in and having these every now and again allowed you to understand all characters on some level meaning even minor characters you saw at least a glimpse of their complexity which made the novel so rich.

The last thing I want to mention is something I don’t really notice or think about outside school and that is the pacing of the novel. It is quite slow, which sounds like a bad thing but it suited the novel so well and it meant it was very relaxing to read and created such a contrast when things came to a head. It isn’t something I think of and I would automatic say that a fast pace is the best but this novel taught me that it depends on the story as I enjoyed the calmness of this.

Obviously I gave this 5 stars and would recommend it to any who is even the tiniest bit interested. It is now one of my favourite books and for a pretty short novel it is so full and rich! Also just look at that cover that is reason enough alone to pick it up. ;)

Speak soon,

Jade xx