Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
Maneater
Maneater, Lady Killer, whatever you want to call her, Katsa has been her uncle's trained enforcer for ten years now and it's beginning to wear on her, along with the mystery of a kidnapped grandfather (Prince Tealiff) and a strong sense that something is seriously wrong in the seven kingdoms—something beyond the fact that most of the kingdoms are ruled by foolish, power hungry, untrustworthy kings.
Rising Action
She's Got the Power
Thanks to Po, Katsa finally breaks free from her uncle's tyrannical rule and sets off (with her new friend and romantic interest) to uncover the motivation behind Prince Tealiff's abduction as well as the sinister secret behind King Leck of Monsea's reign. Relationship and commitment issues, as well as the discovery of a kidnapping plot that turns out to be way more convoluted than anyone imagined, keep the action rising—and the tension increasing—throughout this section.
Climax
Hear No Evil
After surviving Leck's initial attack, life without Po, a grueling battle with a mountain lion, and subzero temperatures—all in order to rescue Princess Bitterblue—Katsa finds herself once again face to face with the evil king, this time finding the strength to defeat him. You can't miss the climax in this one. It's clearly marked when Katsa hurls a dagger at Leck and pins him to his throne, and you—the reader—start breathing again.
Falling Action
Putting the Pieces Back Together
Katsa returns to Po, Po returns to himself, and Bitterblue is installed as the next Queen of Monsea. Unlike some books in which the falling action is kind of inconsequential, a lot happens in the last chapters of Graceling. But it's definitely falling action, because even though there's some tension and some stuff to resolve, it never has the urgency of the events leading up to the climax and the climax itself.
Resolution
Taking Care of Business
Katsa and Po decide to divide and conquer: Katsa will confront Randa, from a place of strength this time, and Po will return to Lienid and get his life there in order. At first it may seem that not everything has been resolved here, but when we realize that Po and Katsa are at peace with their decisions around their relationship, and that Po has recovered his ability to see beauty, we know we've hit the denouement.