This book was dark but good. It's about a kingdom where executioners are praised above all others. This scrawny boy gets insulted by his dad, the executioner, in front of everyone. There will be a tournament to determine the new executioner, but only the best can win. So our protagonist decides to go on a dangerous journey that he's likely to fail in order to gain honor and the strength to win. better then it sounds. theres lots of cool dark stuff! like theres this emo suicide cult... and stuff. and it's unpredictable- which is rare in books these days. very very interesting- go read.

it'd be pretty easy to do a book project on it.

fun fact -  it's written by the same guy who wrote the cirque du freak series, only this is infinitely better.