The Grace Year book review [ARC]

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Published by Wednesday Books on October 8, 2019
Pages: 416
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

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.

The Grace Year was an interesting concept, it reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale in all the right ways. I loved the different ways that the girls were categorised and the way that everything comes together really shocked me. I don’t know what I was expecting but it definitely wasn’t that, and I really loved that. One thing that I need to explain and it’s probably why this book didn’t get a 5-star rating is that the story is quite disjointed and it felt at times to be unfinished, as though there were a lot of threads that had been started but not properly worked through. I was a little disappointed in that, especially as it felt as though months went by and we weren’t privy to all those details and I would have loved to have been.

I’m not sure I know an awful lot about the characters to comment on them. I wish they had been a lot more developed but unfortunately, they all seemed to be a little two-dimensional, which I struggled with. I wanted there to be rich relationships and conversations about everything that was happening to them during The Grace Year but there just wasn’t that participation. I wasn’t sure why some of the characters were motivated to be the way they were and if I was sure it always felt a little superficial. Saying that I did like the fact that Tierney wanted better for herself but wasn’t sure how to get there, which was a nice change from the usual storming in and killing everyone.

The ending, and I won’t spoil anything here but the ending of The Grace Year blew me away. I don’t want to say too much but it really took my breath away, I have definitely not seen a more realistic ending in a YA book before. I really enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t a huge amount of closure in anything. I am really hoping that there might be a sequel coming and we can learn about more of the aftermath, but I’m thinking I may be dreaming a little here.

I do think the worst bit of The Grace Year would definitely have to be how disjointed the timelines were throughout this book. There was a lot that happened throughout and I felt like we missed a lot of it because it jumped around a lot. I also think this book could have benefitted from having multiple points of views, something that doesn’t always work but I think it would have given some more much-needed insight into the other characters and what they were thinking, it was definitely a one-sided story, unfortunately.

Yes, I would recommend The Grace Year, I think it has a really interesting concept and I loved learning about the world and the classifications. I just wish there had been less time jumping around and we would have had more time spent with the characters. It was a great read and I really enjoyed it.

Do you think you’ll pick up The Grace Year when it’s released? Let me know in the comments!