‘I still don’t feel powerful. I feel forsaken’

The Grace Year is a fantastic read – a real mix of The Hand Maiden’s Tale meets The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Flies. It’s written in a way that draws you in and keeps you hooked and is actually very quotable, but not in a way that feel pretentious.

Narrated by one of the Grace Girls Tierney throughout, the pace nicely ramps up and the tension is kept up well. Tierney starts off as a powerful tomboy who has no desire to fall in love or marry which is refreshing change from a lot of YA literature. The story is so tied to feminism, the power of women and not following social constructs created by the patriarchal society that it makes complete sense to have a strong heroine in the lead role. However, I felt this then fell a bit flat for me when she does actually fall in love with *someone* (no spoilers). When you are trying to portray such a strong message this felt a little like a stab in the back and deflated her as a character a little for me.

The world building was nice in some respects and you did feel drawn into world, however some things did confuse me a little. It’s supposed to be quite a small village and yet they have about 20 girls each year turning 16? I did also think that a few of the revelations that are revealed about the origins of the Grace Year at the end of the book were skimmed over a bit – it hardly seemed to be the start of a revolution of kinds! Perhaps there’ll be a sequel although it’s a good standalone story as it is.

Overall The Grace Year is a great read which really hooks you in! Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and Ebury Publishing – Del Ray for a chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When a book's jacket claims it is a critically acclaimed page turner I'm skeptical, but this book lives up to the claim - it survives more than just the year.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

This story is like the Grace Year for you cant speak of it, but you can read it and experience it. It is brutal and honest and shows what vicious things we girls can be, especially to each other. It talks of magic and mystery, the magic and mystery of becoming what is next in life. And it does it all without wrapping it all in pink taffeta and lace.

Tierney James is the girl who dreamed of more, she wanted more and she believed girls deserved more. She is fantastic, strong and courageous, so well written she is tangible. Her journey through the Grace Year became my journey, the writing is immersive and although miles away from the my world the experiences were recognizable of that of a girl becoming a woman. That isn't to say that this is come hair braiding, nail painting girlie retreat - far from it. The Grace Year is honest, raw and filled with the violence that girls inflict on one another - we are not born a sisterhood that sisterhood is forged.

Grab this book for a single sitting read because this book is every bit the page turner it claims to be.

A book that had all in it. Great read, Had every bit of life....I found it a deep book, had to think a bit about what had just happened but loved the tenseness of it

I did think this would be a five star read. But four stars isn't a bad result.
The writing was easy enough to get into. It was fast paced and gripping.
Although it did take me until halfway to really captivate me. I was enjoying the first half just something was missing.
Ryker was clearly that something missing.
The ending was good. It gives hope that change can happen. It leaves it open for a possible sequel. For me the ending can mean multiple things. I'm interested to see which one the author was going for.
Ryker really captured my heart. He was secretly a softie. He would do anything to protect the ones he loves. I needed more from him. I'm also sad for him.

This book had some really good moments both in terms of characters and action but it had a few points that seriously let the book down. Most of the Graces were caricaturist in the style they were written everything was no the extreme with them and there did not seem to be a balance to the characters. Tierney was okay but reminded me too much of the stereotypical YA heroine. She seemed a bit 2-d in places and I never truely cared for her or what happened to her. She was just a bit too shallow and perfect to be realistic. This could have been a good book but it just wasn't there yet.

Another female-led dystopian. Following an oppressed teenage girl as she enters her 'Grace Year' - the year she must be sent away to an isolated island to rid herself of her womanly powers.
What seems to be the first in a series, it is a solid book. with what I imagine to be plenty more to come this was a great read. Perfect for fans of Red Clocks, Handmaids Tale, Vox and the Water Cure.

It has been a while since I’ve read a YA dystopian novel but The Grace Year sounded like a unique take on an incredibly over-saturated genre. Marketed as a speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power, the feminist theme was definitely what drew me in.

In the small close-knit patriarchal community of Garner County, girls grow up believing they have a magic inside of them that lures men to temptation and sparks jealousy in other women. So when girls reach the age of 16, the brink of womanhood, they are banished into the wild for a year to rid themselves of their magic in preparation for marriage on their return. But the wilds are full of internal and external dangers around every corner and no one ever talks of the events of the grace year.

The protagonist Tierney wants a life of freedom, untied to a husband and living by her own rules. She also dreams of revolution and a future where women aren’t pitted against each other. She ticks a lot of YA dystopian heroine boxes -humble beginnings, quiet feistiness, fierce determination, a hunger for change. There’s more than a touch of Katniss about her but I didn’t really care about her or her fate in the same way. When I first read The Hunger Games, I remember being completely taken in by Katniss from the start and my heart was in my mouth for the entire trilogy because I was so invested in things working out for her. I didn’t have the same reaction to Tierney and her story and this continued for the entire course of the narrative.

There is a lot of Biblical imagery littered throughout the book and it made the ending feel almost allegorical. Like Christianity, Garner County indoctrinates its inhabitants with certain beliefs, honours certain rituals and adheres to strict misogynistic rules. I really enjoyed picking out all of the parallels and thought it was really clever how Liggett managed to weave them in without spelling everything out.

Around halfway through the book, a twist occurred that I was expecting but that I knew wasn’t going to turn out well. I can’t talk too much about what it actually is without spoiling a turning point of the plot that I think you should discover for yourself. However, this section of the book had some truly beautiful, heartrending passages. Although I had issues around my non-investment in most of the characters, I felt quite anxious about this situation and knew that it would end in bloodshed. As well as being wonderfully written, it made for a welcome break from the total chaos that was the rest of the book.

The fact that the girls tear each other down, sabotage each other and are even violent towards each other during the grace year did ring true for me in many ways. Although it turns out that their vicious behaviour is not actually entirely natural in the case of these girls, Liggett clearly doesn’t subscribe to this school of thought. I went to an all-girls comprehensive senior school and I can safely say that this isn’t the case for teenagers. Despite the fact, there are no men around to impress or perform for, this weird need to be queen bee and to eliminate all other rivals is still prominent.

There is an argument that without the presence of men, women actually behave quite harmoniously and co-operate as a nurturing, thriving community. For example, the Amazons lifted each other up and fiercely protected their own but maybe this is because they were privileged enough to have never known men. Perhaps once girls have experienced a patriarchy, it infects them with an innate aggression that never fully goes away without an active feminist revelation.

I smiled to myself when Tierney finally managed to convince them that none of this was necessary and that they have the power to collectively overthrow the system. I felt the wave of hope that passed through the girls at this point and I was incredibly happy for them.

The Grace Year is an incredibly violent and often confusing novel. I found it difficult to understand what was really going on during a lot of the killings and so they didn’t quite have the emotional impact they perhaps should have done. A lot of the action scenes aren’t terribly descriptive and I feel that it may actually translate better on screen. I’m delighted that rights to a film adaptation have already been optioned, so I guess I’ll watch this space!

Overall, The Grace Year isn’t quite as unique as I was hoping it would be. It is very tropey, the setting isn’t vivid enough and Tierney is very much a cookie-cutter dystopian heroine. Despite there being some really lovely writing in there, I know that in a few weeks from now, all I’ll remember is a lot of blood, dismemberment and something about flowers.

Normally I try to keep these reviews spoiler-free but in this case, I'm going to be making at least one major spoiler because otherwise, I can't talk about the bits of this book I liked and didn't like properly. 

You have been warned.

This book was actually pretty good. My scepticism was swept aside by a pretty engaging plot and a wonderful sense of atmosphere. From the oppression and isolation of the town to the freedom and fear of the outside, Kim Ligget really captures the different settings and kept me interested all the way through. 

There is an essence of The Hunger Games in this book, I don't think that can be denied, but there are also feelings of classic horror films in there (one in particular). While the majority of this book follows those classic themes of 'men are terrible aren't they' and 'humans will be the worst towards one another if given the opportunity' there were also some action elements I wouldn't necessarily have expected. A good portion of this book was familiar and predictable (not a bad thing) but it did manage to surprise me on a few occasions. 

What I appreciated was that Tierney wasn't a total stereotypical heroine. Yes, she is a person who questions the regime under which she is brought up but it's made clear that she isn't the only one to do so. This book doesn't paint all the other people as mindless drones except for brave Tierney. I think that's in part because this book really acknowledges the tremendous power of indoctrination - even presented with stark evidence of what is real and not real people do cling on to their beliefs - denial is a powerful thing. 

From that perspective, I thought this book was really good - surprisingly so. There were a couple of elements that frustrated me. 

For one thing, I felt like the queer plotline was thrown in for the sake of it? While I was glad that it was there at all, it felt just a little bit hollow and played-out? I'd have liked a bit more meat on those bones. 

The romance, I won;t go into too much because I think it's probably a matter of personal preference. I personally could have done without a romance element especially since -

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

-Tierney's big reveal at the end is that she's pregnant after the Grace Year and I just can't abide pregnancy as a plot device especially when thrown in at the last minute. It felt like it undermined all the other things she'd learned and discovered. 

END OF SPOILER

Overall, this is one of the better 'things are terrible for women' books I've read, and if someone were looking for something to read in that vein I might recommend this. I wonder if, being a little introspective, it's because this book does feel quite removed from the real world, it feels more like a small cult as opposed to a nation like Gilead - maybe I just like the comfort of something feeling like a fantasy rather than something that might actually happen. Oh my. 

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. 

The Grace Year is available now!

If you liked The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tail then this book will not disappoint! Set in a dystopian society where girls are sent away in their mysterious Grace Year to rid themselves of their magic, we follow Tierney as she finds out what happens in this mysterious year, and why not everyone comes home. This dark and twisty novel is a page turner, a clever story that really draws you in.

A well-imagined and intriguing world that, unfortunately, doesn't feel too far-fetched in today's society. I was gripped from the beginning, equally frustrated, horrified and enchanted. Worth a read!

A great read. The concept of grace year was interesting. The way the community saw that young women who are.coming of age are magical in some way is a plausible when you.thinknof a primitive culture were you need to explain a mans lust for a beautiful young woman. The darkness that ensued over the grace year and the things the girls learnt as they strived to survive it were incredibly interesting.
The book is written with flair and one can see.how much the writer loves poetry and prose..
I adored everything about the grace year that I have bought a final copy and I am looking out for more books by this author

Some books you know are going to be one of the best books you've ever read from the very first page. Some books you want to last forever and yet need to sit and finish in one go, if only to go on Goodreads, rate it 5 stars and yell from the rooftops about it.

The Grace Year is most definitely one of those books.

Set in a dystopian land, The Grace Year has been likened to Naomi Alderman's The Power, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and William Golding's The Lord of the Flies - and I agree with all comparisons. In their sixteenth year, the girls of the country must say goodbye to their families and make a two day trek across the countryside to an encampment, designed specifically for them to live out the year in, and lose their magic. This magic is why they're imprisoned for a year, it's what the men are afraid of, what the women have been made to feel ashamed about. 

As the girls set out, they have no idea what's about to come. Nobody speaks of the Grace Year - not their mothers, nor the girls' older siblings who returned so recently from their own experience. That's if they come home at all. With no protection against the guards who take them there, the poachers surrounding the encampment trying to claim the dead body of a girl as a prize, and whatever else lurks in the forest, it's unthinkable to the girls that their biggest danger out there might be each other.

This is an absolutely glorious book to read. And it feels weird to say 'glorious' about a book where teenage girls are abandoned, outcast, hunted, tortured, and so much worse. But when reading it, not only are the prose gorgeous and gripping, but Liggett puts into words the intricacies of being a girl in this world so well. She pinpoints the moments that make you uncomfortable about certain men's interactions with girls, she makes you angry about the tiny injustices that we've come to accept as just part of our lives. This is a heartbreaking book because it hits so close to home - even though the concept on a whole seems somewhat farfetched (there's no way that would ever happen in a million years in our society, right?) but the things that this world is built on is so realistic that it's scary.

There is news of The Grace Year being adapted into a film and I absolutely hope it actually happens and really brings this amazingly well written, well plotted book onto the big screen.

A very worthy 5 stars from me, and a definite contender for possibly my favourite book of the year!

The Grace Year has been described as Lord of the Flies meets The Handmaid's Tale and this is a fair description. In Garner County, girls in their sixteenth 'grace' year are believed to 'emit a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth'. They are banished for one year, miles away, to find their 'magic' and to rid themselves of it. It is forbidden to talk about what happens during the grace year, so when Tierney and thirty-two others leave their homes, they have no idea of what is in store for them. Left in the middle of the woods, with very little food, the girls have to fight to survive. But without realising it, the well water they are drinking contains hemlock which causes symptoms of insanity and results in powerful visions which are believed to be the ''magic'. Kiersten is the self-appointed dictator of the group, and she turns all the girls against Tierney, and ultimately banishes her to the woods, alone and injured. She faces certain death as she gives up all hope of surviving, but wakes to find that she has been taken in by Ryker, a poacher who made a promise to her father to spare her life if he found her. I don't want to add any more details about the plot as it would spoil things for anyone yet to read it, but it is with this relationship and what it teaches Tierney that the book really becomes interesting. The ending was amazing too. A hugely enjoyable read, highly recommended.

Really enjoyed this. Well written characters and an amazing story. The twists and turns throughout kept me really involved and wanting to find out more.

My thanks to Penguin Random House U.K. Ebury/Del Ray for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Grace Year’ by Kim Liggett in exchange for an honest review. It was published on 10 October.

I bought its audiobook edition narrated by Emily Shaffer and listened alongside reading the eARC.

In the isolated community where Tierney James has grown up it is believed that all women are capable of dangerous magic. Thus, at the age of sixteen all girls are banished to the wilderness of the northern forest for a year. During that year they have to rid themselves of their magic so that when they return they will be purified and ready to marry or take up another role in their society. It is forbidden for them to speak about their experiences during the grace year and not all will survive.

Tierney has no wish to marry and is experiencing vivid dreams. Yet dreams are forbidden by this society and if anyone finds out it could lead to punishment. So she is already an outsider when her grace year begins.

The prevalence of feminist dystopian novels clearly reflects aspects of historical and modern societies that seek to control women. Here we have echoes of Atwood’s Gilead in the extreme punishments meted out to women who stray outside the accepted norms. In addition, their community is Christian, which highlights Christianity’s role not only in subjugating women but the fear of magic that led to the historic witch trials.

I found the way in which the young women formed factions and undermined each other rather than cooperating for survival was even more troubling. While I have never read ‘Lord of the Flies’, I am aware of the savagery of its story. Here the extreme bullying that occurs and the way in which the girls quickly reverted to feral behaviour was at times hard to read.

I found myself totally caught up in this story and felt that Kim Leggitt’s restrained world-building worked well as it increased the sense of claustrophobia. It also allows an opening for a sequel.

Her writing is beautiful with a well paced story and strong characterisations. She also didn’t shy away from exploring the grittier aspects of the experience. Her vivid descriptions made me feel very much a part of Tierney’s journey. I also found her use of a language of flowers and the forays into the dreamscape quite powerful.

Overall, I was very impressed with this novel and recommend it highly.

WOW! This is a must read! With The Handmaids Tale vibes I literally couldn't stop reading this.
Women are very much second class citizens seemed only useful if they are chosen for marriage and able to give birth to sons ideally.
The women are thought to have special magic powers which lures men into doing anything and having ultimate control over them.
The 16th year of a females life is known as the Grace Year. This is the year they go away from society to expel their magic so they come back subdued and ready for marriage.
The main protagonist Tierney doesn't want what all other females want, she doesn't want to be married, she wants a life of freedom.
When Tierneys best friend Michael chooses her in a veiling ceremony to be his wife she has to leave the county with the other girls.
Kiersten has her heart set on being Michael's bride so when he chooses Tierney there becomes a fierce rivalry between them.
Steeped in magic and ultimately female solidarity this is absolutely beautifully written.
It's fast paced and emotive and made me cry on more than one occasion.
I loved the characters even Kiersten although unlikable is written in such a way you still end up liking her.
I loved the Romance although tinged with sadness I thought it added to the story.
This is honestly phenomenal if you haven't read it I urge you to!

We are all used to new novels being compared to amazing books that have taken the world by storm but rarely do they live up to expectations. The Grace Year is a feminist tale set in a dystopian world that is built so incredibly I felt I was there with the characters living through their life and times. I was absolutely blown away and comparisons to The Handmaids Tale, Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games and The Power all have a ring of truth to them. I found that once I had started reading I simply couldn't put it down, and I don't find that occurring very often with fantasy reads. The characters are undoubtedly what make this what it is; they are complex individuals and each comes alive on the page. Tierney, our protagonist, is a fierce, stubborn teenager who refuses to bow to the way society demands her to be; either dedicating her life to unskilled, unfulfilling work or being married off at age sixteen.

What I found incredible was that there was no backstory regarding how the world in which they are living became misogynistic and dominated by the needs and wants of men yet you never miss the details that could have been added; we know enough to completely understand and comprehend but it is not dragged down in the unnecessary. It has a style and flair rarely seen in this genre and I feel many people will be picking this up. It deserves a wide audience as it is so exquisitely plotted. It's multilayered and moving, thought-provoking and haunting, oppressive and claustrophobic. It's young adult dystopian fiction at its absolute finest, and I strongly suspect I won't be swept away by a book as much as this for the rest of 2019.

With a potent mix of superb plot, engaging and independent characters, romance, danger, plenty of thrills and some inspirational moral messages, this story has something for everyone. The ending is astonishing and the perfect way to close. The hype is real, people! Many thanks to Del Rey for an ARC.

This book has been compared to The Handmaid's Tale, The Hunger Games, The Power and Lord Of The Flies. Some big books to live up to, right? But it does, and it does it with a style all of its own.

In a bizarre, dystopian, misogynistic world, there are limited routes for women - they finish school young, and they're either they're betrothed at sixteen or destined for a life of labour working menial jobs. When they come of age there's a veiling ceremony, where girls are desperate to get a veil and be destined for marriage. But not Tierney. She's our protagonist, a headstrong girl who is just about to be sent off for her Grace Year, a rite of passage for all girls her age; a year where they are banished from society in order to purge themselves of their magic. Her veiling ceremony doesn't quite go to plan, but she has no idea what's in store for her in her Grace Year...

"My chin begins to quiver when I think of the year ahead, the unknown, but I plaster on a vacant smile as if I'm happy to play my part, so I might return and marry and breed and die."

Where to start with this book? It truly lives up to the hype. The Grace Year is haunting and creepy, multilayered and poignant and just great YA dystopian fiction at it's best. The world-building is vague, but that worked for me - we don't really need to know how this misogynistic world came about, just that it's somehow become the status quo which everyone accepts. It feels oppressive to the point of claustrophobic, and the atmosphere is spot on throughout.

The world isn't even that important really, because it's as the girls enter their Grace Year that the story really comes alive. In a stark survival environment surrounded by poachers hunting their bodies, the girls quickly turn against each other. Where they should be working together they instead fall apart and it's frustrating and uncomfortable reading. I don't want to give too much away about this part of the novel, but it's safe to say no one is guaranteed to be sae.

This is a book which gets under your skin. The world, the girls, Tierney's fiercely independent character all felt so authentic and points are truly uncomfortable to read. It's not perfect - there's an insta-love/love triangle which seems compulsory for books of this genre, but felt completely unnecessary for me and was the least enjoyable part of the story. But, I can overlook that because there's so much which is good about this book. Liggett exposes a group of girls at their worst; feral and angry but the story comes full circle and also displays some incredible female camaraderie and the unique bonds these women make. It's clever, and it makes the ending all the more powerful.

Billed as a feminist Lord of The Flies with shades of the Handmaids Tale, The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is a much anticipated YA release and I was delighted to get my hands on an advance copy to review.
The book tells the story of a young woman , Tierney , who is about to embark on her Grace Year, the year after reaching puberty, when all the young women of the town are sent to a remote location to rid themselves of their "magic" so that they will become suitable wife material, submissive to their husbands and dedicated to bearing and raising children, The setting of this book is left deliberately vague, we are given no indication of time or place, but while I did notice this ,it did not bother me or hinder my enjoyment of the book, in fact if anything it lent it a universal feel, like it could be anywhere. While many of the young women are eager to marry and start their families, particularly if their prospective spouse is particularly handsome or high up in the towns hierarchy , this has never been Tierney's dream. As one of several sisters , she has grown up as something of a tomboy, and her father's favourite , given much more freedom than most girls and taught how to fish and hunt and about nature, she has a good chance of doing more than some girls on the Grace Year, and actually surviving. . As we learn more about the practice, it becomes apparent that the year is brutal, and that some will come back vastly changed while others will not come back at all., and not just due to illness. Poachers will hunt the girls if they try to leave their camp, and the black market value of the girls and even their body parts is high.
The majority of the book tells the story of Tierney's time in isolation with the other girls, and in true Mean Girls fashion, a hierarchy soon evolves . As the girls spend more time together they start to experience strange happenings which they put down to their magic, the magic they must purge themselves of before returning home. When a conflict sees Tierney exiled from the camp she must risk the dangerous poachers, but it also helps her to understand more about what is really happening in the camp, and how she can change it. When help comes from an unexpected source, she begins to believe that she may survive the Grace Year after all

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I loved the concept, and did not mind that there were shades of other books in the story, this felt new enough for me to overlook the influences. Tierney was a good character, and I enjoyed following her as the story unfolded, though I wish some of the other characters had been just a little better fleshed out. The pacing is somewhat mixed, the book starts strong but definitely lags in the middle, in the section where Tierney leaves the camp and until she makes it back inside, then it picks up again and finishes strong,. The world building was good, which sounds a little counter intuitive since we don't have a definitive setting, but I found the way the society was set up to be fascinating, and I would love to know more about how it reached the point at which we find it. There is a cool air of mystery about what the Grace Year actually entails, the girls themselves have heard only snippets of rumors, and the women who come back never speak about their experiences, so wondering about what was really going on kept my interest in the book, even in the slower part. I really loved the idea of women working together, and how rebellion can occur in the smallest and most unexpected ways , but I cannot say more without spoiling the book for other readers. I will add a note of caution, this book is quite graphic at times in its descriptions of violence and gruesome injuries, so that may be something to bear in mind for readers planning to pick it up. However it is never gratuitous and fells like it fits the story the author is telling. My only other minor complaint is that on a couple of occasions Tierney has to rely on a man to save her, and that, together with the resulting romance elements felt just a little jarring and out of place but not enough to spoil the book. As for the ending, well it was simply perfect, but to know just why it was so good, you'll have to read the book,
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This book definitely surprised me positively. I really didn't expect much, but I couldn't put it down after I started reading.
It's very much inspired by Handmade's Tale and it has hints of Hunger Games & Lord Of The Flies in it. So, if you like these, you might like this YA dystopia.
It's set in a world where girls are sent to their Grace year after they reach a certain age, to get rid of their magic. Before they go away, they are gathered in a ceremony and they either receive a veil from a man and be a wife on their return, or if they don't receive it, they become a worker. So, all girls want a veil to have their own house. All the men are after having an heir. So, that's how it reminds Handmaid's Tale in a way.
Our protagonist is a girl with a strong will, who actually wants to be free, so doesn't want a veil at all. After they go to their Grace Year, we start to learn about the set up of this world, the magic and what happens there.

I really enjoyed this book, because somehow it drew me in. I also liked the protagonist, Tierney. I connected with her and the author was very successful in provoking emotions in my opinion. I was really curious to see what's going to happen. The secrets behind the Grace Year is revealed slowly, so it definitely made me turn the pages. There's also a lot of content focusing on the friendships between women, how toxic and damaging it can be.

Overall, I think it was a solid dystopia that's very well written and I'd recommend if you're into the genre.

Thanks a lot to the publisher and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.