The Grace Year by Kim Liggett Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on October 8, 2019
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian, Thrillers & Suspense, Girls & Women
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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The Instant New York Times Bestseller!A speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power. Optioned by Universal and Elizabeth Banks to be a major motion picture!
“A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner. Liggett’s deeply suspenseful book brilliantly explores the high cost of a misogynistic world that denies women power and does it with a heart-in-your-throat, action-driven story that’s equal parts horror-laden fairy tale, survival story, romance, and resistance manifesto. I couldn’t stop reading.” – Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author
Survive the year.No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Why Did I Read?
The synopsis grabbed me right off the bat. It sounded riveting and interesting and then I started seeing all these glowing reviews come flooding in!
My Thoughts:
I had a really complicated relationship with this book! I really liked parts of the story but some areas also felt lacking. Let me explain.
The world that The Grace Year takes place in is one where the men have all the control. The women are expected to be and do certain things. The men get to choose their wife and the women are supposed to be happy and grateful and want to be chosen. If you don’t get chosen, you get placed in the outskirts or do menial tasks or hard labor for the rest of your life. Talk about a male dominated society. And in every girl’s 16th year, they get sent out to “release their magic”.
The set up really drew me in and I was so interested to see what was going to happen and how Tierney would tackle this year out in the middle of nowhere with all these other girls and poachers – hunters who will kill girls and sell their body parts on the black market due to the supposed “magic”. All the girls have to do is not leave the marked confines.
Tierney’s character was riveting and I really admired her strength and tenacity. She knew what she believed in and was willing to stand up for it. She was fierce and a survivor. One of the best parts of this book was Tierney.
I was also so interested to see where the plot was going to go. I think the book had a lot of great feminist themes and things to say about sisterhood, womanhood and female empowerment. There were a lot of great threads that I appreciated.
However, the pacing was not the best in my opinion. After the first third of the book the pace stutters and I felt a lot of “come on, what next”. It definitely dragged for a section. It picks up but the end also subsequently felt too fast. I almost wish that it went deeper into some aspects but that may have exceeded the scope of a standalone novel. I just felt like I wanted more. View Spoiler »
In Short…
I recommend for those interested in a unique, dystopian story with a strong tenacious MC! Great thoughts on female empowerment and female relationships. Ultimately, it fell a little short for me as I wasn’t a fan of the pacing but I know most people loved this one!
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