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Loading... The Grace Year: A Novel (original 2019; edition 2019)1,184 | 99 | 16,514 |
(3.85) | 9 | Suspense.
Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Thriller.
Young Adult Fiction.
HTML: "Emily Shaffer delivers a dynamic performance of this dystopian audiobook... She masterfully connects listeners to the characters' emotions, creating passionate and realistic performances." â?? AudioFile Magazine /> This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.
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! 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 lifeâ??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. Praise for The Grace Year:
"A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner." â?? Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author "The Grace Year seethes with love and brutality, violence and hope. It is a remarkable and timely story of the bonds between women, the cost of breaking those bonds, and the courage it takes to defy a patriarchy intent on crushing feminine strength." â?? Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes "This book is harrowing and absolutely riveting, an insidious journey from reason to madness that manages to completely refresh the concept of the patriarchal dystopia, with a beautifully realized ending that goes to a very different, and even more believable, subtle, and unexpectedly satisfying, place than I expected." - Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel W… (more) |
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Epigraph |
A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze. —MARGARET ATWOOD, THE HANDMAID'S TALE Maybe there is a beast … maybe it's only us. —WILLIAM GOLDING, LORD OF THE FLIES | |
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For the daughters of the world, and those who revere them. | |
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No one speaks of the grace year. | |
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The open water, the breeze, the unobstructed sun glaring down on us—it feels like freedom, but we know it's a lie. This is how they break us. They take everything away, our very dignity, and anything we get in return feels like a gift. We hurt each other because it's the only way we're permitted to show our anger. When our choices are taken from us, the fire builds within. Sometimes I feel like we might burn down the world to cindery bits, with our love, our rage, and everything in between. The things we do to girls. Whether we put them on pedestals only to tear them down, or use them for parts and holes, we're all complicit in this. But everything touches everything else, and I have to believe that some good will come out of all this destruction. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in EnglishNone ▾Book descriptions Suspense.
Science Fiction & Fantasy.
Thriller.
Young Adult Fiction.
HTML: "Emily Shaffer delivers a dynamic performance of this dystopian audiobook... She masterfully connects listeners to the characters' emotions, creating passionate and realistic performances." â?? AudioFile Magazine This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.
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! 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 lifeâ??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. Praise for The Grace Year:
"A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner." â?? Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author "The Grace Year seethes with love and brutality, violence and hope. It is a remarkable and timely story of the bonds between women, the cost of breaking those bonds, and the courage it takes to defy a patriarchy intent on crushing feminine strength." â?? Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes "This book is harrowing and absolutely riveting, an insidious journey from reason to madness that manages to completely refresh the concept of the patriarchal dystopia, with a beautifully realized ending that goes to a very different, and even more believable, subtle, and unexpectedly satisfying, place than I expected." - Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel W ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
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There are little bits scattered throughout the story that say "hey, women fighting each other because of men wielding power over us is BAD and we need to change this" yet so little is done to actually do so. The ending promises a vague hint of uprising at some unknown point in the future, but that does nothing to save the lack of change that actually occurs on page. Despite being action-packed at points the story DRAGSSSS in the middle and often repeats itself. Readers see the same scenes, similar dialogue, and ideas presented over and over again until it feels like walking in circles. This is made even more frustrating because the main character is quite flat, although does become more interesting and fleshed-out as she seeks out other female friendship. Finally, I was very confused and sad to see the underlying queer storyline dropped totally? It sort of felt like Liggett wanted to go places with this and then just forgot to do so.
Again, the core story is intriguing, and I binge read the book in a couple of days, but I think it could have done with heavy editing in the middle and some rewriting to really make everything coherent and more punchy. A younger reader who hasn't read something similar might enjoy this more! I found it to be very similar to books such as "Gather the Daughters" by Jennie Melamed (2017) which I enjoyed totally but definitely made "The Grace Year" less exciting for me personally. ( )