"The Handmaid's Tale" meets "The Crucible", by way of "The Hunger Games". Kim Liggett's "The Grace Year" is addictive and gripping. It speaks to the nature of womanhood; our place in society and the ties that bind us. I enjoyed the plot and character development. It's a great read.

Think The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games meets Lord of The Flies…

Tierney and her fellow 16 year olds are marched away to experience their grace year – locked up together in an encampment to ‘lose their magic’ and return to the husbands who have selected them as brides. This is a brutal time – never do all the grace year girls return and why should this year be any different? Yet Tierney is a questioner and an observer, and pushes the girls to discover new things about themselves and about the grace year.

I really enjoyed this, and it got more gripping the further I read - very much recommended.

A dystopian novel about a community where women are thought to have dangerous magic. In order to purge it and be worthy of marriage, they must survive in the wilderness for a year. The biggest problem isn't the magic, or the poachers waiting for them to step out of line. It's each other.

I didn't want to put this read down; I raced through it all, right up to the very end, which was slightly disappointing. Up until then, though, this was a fantastic, terrifying, horrific read, and I'll be recommending it to everyone I can. This is going to be spoken of alongside The Handmaid's Tale and Vox.



I received an ARC and chose to write an honest review.

I thought this book was enjoyable.

It is set in a dystopian society where each year a group of young women are sent to live and survive in the wild in order to dispel their magic.

I don't generally read YA fiction but I found it fairly balanced and well written. It was generally reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale / Lord of the Flies but was less tension and the plot was quite predictable in places.

The romance made me cringe and the ending didn't seem to fit with the general tone, but I suspect this is down to the genre.

"The Grace Year is The Handmaid's Tale meets Lord of the Flies" is what sold me on this book and it definitely is an accurate comparison.
I was completely absorbed by this story and its world from the first page and Its been a long time since I've been as engrossed as i was in a book.

The basic premise is that girls are banished at sixteen to brave the wilderness - and each other - for a year.
It is completely forbidden to speak of the grace year amongst them so no one (including the reader) has any idea of what to expect.
As you would expect the characters swiftly become wilder and wilder and chaos ensues.

Tierney was an excellent main character, she wasn't utterly obtuse like many YA leads but she had enough naivety to feel real and believable. Her struggles were well thought out and resolved in a realistic manner too which i really appreciated.

The writing was brilliant, haunting and gritty, and the pacing was some of the best I've seen in the genre. At no point during this read was i bored and i really didn't want it to end.

Cannot recommend this book enough.

The Grace Year is billed as a mix of The Lord of the Flies and The Handmaid's Tale, and while that is a huge comparison to live up to, in most areas this book doesn't fall short. The premise of sixteen year old girls being banished for a year to expel their "magic" all the while being stalked by poachers is a fantastic baseline and the MC is a great, strong-willed woman in a society not meant for her. The insanity of the camp and cult leader-esque antagonist makes for some really terrifying reading, but the "romance" is intensely rushed and short-lived. I was surprised this book made room for any kind of romantic interest and it was a fairly predictable "forbidden love" storyline. That being said, the power dynamics, the world-building and the premise are so interesting, fast and fun that the book has some serious teeth.

This was a unique dystopian depicting an extremely oppressing society that somehow managed to stay incredibly realistic and I became instantly invested in the story. This is a feminist story of survival and superstition that was beautifully written. A harrowing read that I will be recommending to everyone.

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK and NetGalley for providing an advance copy for review.

Thank you to Net Galley and Del Rey for providing an review copy of The Grace Year in exchange for an honest review. This book caught my attention from the first paragraph - the writing style and description were brilliant, the world was built in stages slowly increasing in level until you fully realise the horror of this dystopian fantasy world. I loved the characters, the ending had me in tears and I will absolutely be looking out for more writing from Kim Liggett. Highly recommended read.

The resistance starts here...

No one speaks of the grace year.
It's forbidden.
We're told we have the power to lure grown men from their beds, make boys lose their minds, and drive the wives mad with jealousy. That's why we're banished for our sixteenth year, to release our magic into the wild before we're allowed to return to civilization.
But I don't feel powerful.
I don't feel magical.

Tierney James lives in an isolated village where girls are banished at sixteen to the northern forest to brave the wilderness - and each other - for a year. They must rid themselves of their dangerous magic before returning purified and ready to marry - if they're lucky.

It is forbidden to speak of the grace year, but even so every girl knows that the coming year will change them - if they survive it...

The Grace Year is The Handmaid's Tale meets Lord of the Flies - a page-turning feminist dystopia about a young woman trapped in an oppressive society, fighting to take control of her own life

This has been my favourite book of 2019 (so far). I know it's a bold statement to make, considering we're only halfway through the year. This book served as a fantastic reminder of why I used to read so many dystopian YA novels. It's been a while since I've been able to hold a really good dystopian book in my hands, and I think I've finally found a book that does the genre justice. I would definitely caution any future readers that this book is truly violent. Not violent like the Hunger Games, but actually gruesome and frightening and gory. This doesn't take away from the over all feel of the novel and the story itself. I did end up having three consecutive nights of violent nightmares. It's been a while since a book has been able to have that kind of an effect on me!

In The Grace Year women are thought to have magical powers. In order to rid themselves of their dark magic, at the age of sixteen they are sent out to spend a year living in a clearing, in the wild. It's a society of intense control and violence towards women. Though it can seem extreme and maybe over exaggerated at times, it is worth remembering that in a lot of countries, including our own, women's bodies and freedoms are policed.

This book has been lauded as a YA marriage between Lord of the Flies and the Handmaid's Tale. I don't think this is inaccurate at all, though I would perhaps add a touch of the Hunger Games as well. For once this was a YA novel where I didn't hate the fact that a romance was added. Normally I'm a bit frustrated at the forced inclusion of romance, seemingly for romance's sake. In this case the relationship(s) was believable and the character's motives were entirely credible.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in dystopian fiction and those who can handle some violence.

I raced through The Grace Year. Think of all the speculative fiction you’ve read about how men control women, particularly in religious communities - Vox, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Farm, The Power - and you’ll understand where The Grace Year is coming from, though it feels a bit like The Hunger Games has had an influence too. If you like this kind of book, you won’t be able to resist The Grace Year.

Tierney is approaching her sixteenth year and is therefore next in her family to be sent away for her grace year. Her community believes that a girl on the cusp of womanhood is filled with magic, the evil witchcraft used by Eve to deceive Adam and curse the human race, and must be banished for a year to release their wayward, dangerous powers into the wilderness before they return. 

Girls return from their grace year with scars, missing digits, ripped out plaits (all women plait their hair and wear ribbons whose colour is symbolic of their status), or sometimes don’t return at all. Poachers kill girls who stray outside of the confines of the path or their designated living area and are cut into pieces and sold for their magical powers. Some girls simply disappear but as no one is allowed to speak of the grace year, no one knows why or how.

But before they can go, these girls in their sixteenth year must go through the veiling ritual. Which of these girls will be chosen for marriage? There are only a small number of men in need of a wife, the other girls will be given different roles in the community, but the wives are the lucky, valued ones.

Tierney is an unusual girl, clever and a little wild, who finds the idea of being a wife distasteful. She also dreams - something the community considers to be evil, suggestive of magic unsuccessfully purged and punishable even by death - of a young woman with a particular flower who promises a different future for the women of the community. This is how Tierney’s story begins and it’s enthralling. 

I’m not going to say more about the plot because that would spoil it. It’s full of twists and interesting turns that reflect on Tierney’s society and our own. I will admit to wishing there wasn’t so much of a romance during one part of the novel, but perhaps that speaks to my desire for the unsentimental as I’m sure this will be very appealing to some and it does become an integral part of the developing narrative.

Regardless of this little wish of mine, I really enjoyed seeing how women are always ready to rise up in resistance. It would be hard not to enjoy this novel and if it doesn’t get adapted into a television series I will be sorely disappointed.

This book. Oh. My. God. Amazing. I knew it was something special after only one page. The writing is beautiful. The premise is haunting. Dystopian, yet also too close to home. Utterly spell-binding and oh so clever. I had chills running up my spine by the end of it. I'm speechless really! It was honestly one of the best books I've ever read,.
That's all I have to say really. Everyone needs to read this book!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for an ARC of this book.
Even more thanks for having it nicely formatted ready to read.

In the county, women have to obey their men. They have no rights. No free will. When a girl comes of age, she's sent 'out' for a year, so that she can get rid of her magic. That's the one thing the men worry about: a woman's magic. When it comes to Tierney James' turn, her future hangs in the balance. What will she do to survive The Grace Year?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. The pace never let up. And the ending was as satisfying as the beginning and middle. All the threads were tied off. I suspect a sequel may be in the offing ... I hope so. I can't recommend this novel or this author highly enough. I don't think I've read Kim Liggett before now, but I'll be looking out for more of her books.

As harrowing as this read was at times, I loved it. This was one of those books I didn't want to end.

***
NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

The Grace Year by Kim Liggatt is described as a dystopian tale aimed at the YA market but as someone much older I found this an absorbing story with so many characters to love and to hate. It has a feisty heroine in Tierney, the middle daughter of an all girl family, who along with all the other Garner County girls are banished during their 16th year to ‘get rid of their magic’. Steeped in myth, rumour and taboo this right of passage sojourn is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies. The tension is palpable throughout with the setting and scenery vividly imagined. It’s a tale of empowerment but the price is high. Thanks to Penguin for the ARC

This story is narrated by Tierney, a 16 year old girl about to embark with her peers on her Grace Year. The problem is that no-one is allowed to talk about the Grace Year so none of the girls really know what's ahead of them. All they know is that they must participate and may not come back. Thus the plot is established and we learn from Tierney the reality of the Grace Year; the poachers, guards and usurpers. Not everything and everyone are as they seem and Tierney seems to be the only one who questions their experiences, in the process finding she has to use all her resources to survive the year.
At times I found this quite an unpleasant read with the emotional and physical violence rather harrowing. I am glad that I stuck with it however as I felt the second half of the book was much more hopeful while still featuring tragedy and violence. The story is well written and does raise questions about gender roles in contemporary society. As such it could be an interesting (young adult) book club read.
My thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I absolutely love this book. I can see people drawing comparisons with Golding’s Lord of the Flies but the boys were cast up on their island by accident. In The Grace Year, all girls in their teens spend a year as a deliberately isolated group in order to ‘rid them of their magic’. There are poachers in the vicinity to pick off those girls who don’t make it back – often a high number. I enjoyed the way the women were portrayed, both before and after the Grace Year in question. It wasn’t simply the way they were downtrodden, but the underlying conspiracy of women and their hidden strengths. It was easy to engage with the characters, to take sides and to root for those you fell in love with. Tierney, the star of the book, is determined to be herself. The way she does it is exciting and marvellous. I became totally absorbed in this world and I highly recommend the book.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read it before publication.

Tierney lives in an isolated town, where the women are believed to have dangerous magic which must be purged from them when they are 16. The girls are sent to a distant camp, where their magic will manifest and be cleansed, but where not all of them will return due to the risk of the poachers outside the camp. They come from a deeply patriarchal society, where women who don't conform are rapidly condemned and burned and if they disappear during the Grace Year then their families are punished (those who are "poached" are skinned and returned to the village).

It's partially a dystopian novel - the County is clearly cut off from the rest of society, and they don't even seem to know what might be outside the boundaries of the County. The society is deeply patriarchal, aspects of the Grace Year set up reminded me of Gather the Daughters, but with more sinister threats from the poachers. It's a really interesting idea, but there are some logical bits which don't quite tie up - I won't spoiler it though.

This interesting and starkly written book by Kim Liggett feels like a debut. And that's actually a criticism, because this isn't a debut. A cross between The Handmaid's Tale and Lord of the Flies, every year the sixteen-year-olds of the village are banished for twelve months, to live out their year and expel their magic in the woods before returning. Every year many of them will die, poached by the sinister figures who lurk outside the boundaries of safety, skinning and selling young girls for their vitality. So far, so spooky. This is a world built on patriarchy, on male superiority and on women lacking agency, lacking power, lacking choices - they are packaged up to signal their virtues or vices, and sold to the highest bidder. The imbalance in genders means those who are not chosen as wives become workers - slaves to their situations, forced into specific positions. All of this is classic dystopia, and echoes The Handmaid's Tale very closely. But underlying this is the Grace Year. That year at the age of 16 when all the girls are sent out to the woods, banished, to expel their magic and then be allowed to return to civilisation.
But here's what I didn't get about this book - if sixteen year old girls have such magic, so terrifying that they can't even be allowed to be a part of society, why is this a patriarchal society? This feels like it should be a The Power situation, where magical superiority, whether perceived or actual, means that women have control of society, and men are left relegated to the menial jobs, the drudgery, the oppression. Women outnumber men, women outpower men, and yet women are subjugated? This whole imbalance really bewildered me, and I found it hard to understand how this would ever have happened, or why it was believable in any way. So the undercurrents of revolution and resistance, of overthrowing an order that is wrong and oppressive, doesn't make any sense to me, and I found it really hard to get behind it in any way.

Putting that aside, though, there are some brilliant elements in this book. Notions of mass hysteria, groupthink, magic, powers, entrenched attitudes, and power dynamics are all really brilliantly drawn. With 33 girls shipped off to the woods together, there are multiple dynamics to be drawn on and from, and the scope for lots of inspection of teenaged female relationships. And these are really great. They're thoroughly interesting. There's also an interesting and realistic depiction of the work actually needed to survive in an isolated area, combined with some good depictions of bodily functions - I particularly liked that the author specifically mentioned that the girls' periods all synced.
Overall, though, there just wasn't enough good here to outweigh the fact that the entire premise was so flawed. No explanation was given for this huge imbalance in power dynamics, so I struggled to really believe in the world, the dilemmas, or the beginnings of the revolution. Also, it's illegal to dream??
Some people will love this, and think it really refreshing, but it certainly wasn't enough for me.

I can't wait for other people to read this so I can chat to them about it. Sometimes I thought it was brilliant and other times I just wasn't sure. It is an interesting take on the dystopian female repression novel. It is very self contained with little reference to the world outside the world of the novel. It is interesting that men are two dimensional and either bad or good and what that says overall about our literature and novels generally. There is hope at the end and a glimmer of something more to come. Will get people speaking. Try it and then let's discuss!

I was so excited for The Grace Year, it went straight on my wish list ready to be one clicked come publication day, so imagine how pleased I was when the Netgalley fairies granted me an early copy. My feelings were a lot more complicated when I finished the book, my rating veering between a 2 and a 4 star - hence the compromise of a 3.
Tierney lives in a rigid dystopian society where women are closely controlled. They are believed to have an innate magic, and so before they become adults girls are sent out of their community for a year, for their Grace Year, to dispel their magic before they take up their places as wives and workers. Girls outnumber boys and so boys choose their future wives before the Grace Year commences with a formal presentation of a veil, those not chosen become maids, factory workers or field workers. Tierney, granted an unusual amount of freedom by her father, doesn't want a veil and to be imprisoned in marriage, she longs for the freedom of the fields instead.
The girls are told nothing about what awaits them during their Grace Year, but they do see the previous years girls return, emaciated, mutilated and in shock, their numbers drastically reduced. Girls who disappear shame their families, their sisters punished by banishment to the outskirts to live as prostitutes, but if their bodies return cut into parts to be sold as cures then their death is considered honourable. The organs and parts of Grace Year girls are considered powerful and so poachers pursue them throughout their exile; an agonising death befalls any girl who is caught.

Life is brutal in Tierney's world. Women are daughters, wives or workers, their lives subject to the whim of men. Any transgression - real, perceived or manufactured - is brutally punished, by burnings, maimings, whippings or banishment. No one speaks up for those accused. Life isn't better for those on the outskirts, the only way to survive is by prostitution, a life followed by any daughters, their sons forced to choose between becoming a poacher or becoming a guard, a job with compulsory castration.

So, what would make it a four star? The Grace Year is vivid, compellingly written with an engaging heroine and a unique world. It's angry, forceful and brutal, with some intriguing twists and doesn't pull its punches. But, and obviously there's a but, there are many things I struggled with. The society made little sense - has there been a big disaster at some point in the past? There are hints that many different nationalities came together to create the county. Why? And if there are more tolerant and equal communities as also has been hinted, why haven't they intervened? Why are there more girls than boys and why in that case aren't the women more dominant? Where are we and when? A good dystopian tells us something about our current world, it's a warning, but The Grace Year has no relevance, it's torture porn, not a possible future. And that's my biggest problem I think, the violence inflicted on the women is unremittingly grim - it makes Gilead seem positively kindly - especially the poachers particular modus operandi. And there's no reason for it - especially when we get to a twist that reveals more about the poachers motivations. If we understood more about the history of the County then maybe it would make more sense that girls are so disposable, their pain sought and promoted. But without their bigger picture I struggled with the motivations and therefore compromised on a three star.

I enjoyed this book. Some of the issues faced by females in the story are issues women faced before we won equal rights, although in some places I can see society at risk or regressing to such oppressive ways again. The ending was a little ambiguous, I didn't know if the main character was surviving or not but there seemed a sense of hope in the community although any possible changes for the better were a long way off. An interesting and thought-provoking read.