Felicia's Reviews > The Grace Year
The Grace Year
by
by
How do you review a book that you enjoyed reading immensely yet it has glaringly poor execution?
The plot is sooo good.
Welcome to a world where girls are banished to an isolated camp for their sixteenth year of life (The Grace Year) to vanquish the "magic", or power, they hold over men, only to be married off or assigned duties as an indentured worker upon their return.
"White ribbons for the young girls, red for the grace year girls, and black for the wives. Innocence. Blood. Death."
This camp sounds like a great setup for some serious nightmarish drama, huh?
Well, we'll never know because very little of the storyline revolves around the day to day inner workings of the camp.
I found it difficult to get on board from the beginning because there is no background, no history to tell the reader how we got to this point in time. Little to no character development.
The pacing is so off. Months pass by with the turn of a page. Months that I wanted to hear about.
The MC had so much potential. She is painted to be a strongwillled forward thinking girl in a backwards world. Yet at the camp she allows herself to be mercilessly bullied to the point of near death with no attempts at defending herself. In the end she does little to advance the plight of the women.
I don't think I'm giving anything away here when I ask why does EVERY YA book feature a romance? There's no room for it in this storyline. It's another eye rolling insta-love that does not fit the girl power theme.
This book has been compared to a marrying of Lord of the Flies and The Handmaid's Tale and I think that's a fair assessment in as far as the plot goes. However, The Grace Year doesn't quite reach the level of tension and abject horror found in those stories.
This book lands flatly in the YA genre and teen girls are going to eat it up, thus I suspect it will be an instant bestseller upon release.
5 Stars for entertainment
3 Stars for execution
You do the math.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The plot is sooo good.
Welcome to a world where girls are banished to an isolated camp for their sixteenth year of life (The Grace Year) to vanquish the "magic", or power, they hold over men, only to be married off or assigned duties as an indentured worker upon their return.
"White ribbons for the young girls, red for the grace year girls, and black for the wives. Innocence. Blood. Death."
This camp sounds like a great setup for some serious nightmarish drama, huh?
Well, we'll never know because very little of the storyline revolves around the day to day inner workings of the camp.
I found it difficult to get on board from the beginning because there is no background, no history to tell the reader how we got to this point in time. Little to no character development.
The pacing is so off. Months pass by with the turn of a page. Months that I wanted to hear about.
The MC had so much potential. She is painted to be a strongwillled forward thinking girl in a backwards world. Yet at the camp she allows herself to be mercilessly bullied to the point of near death with no attempts at defending herself. In the end she does little to advance the plight of the women.
I don't think I'm giving anything away here when I ask why does EVERY YA book feature a romance? There's no room for it in this storyline. It's another eye rolling insta-love that does not fit the girl power theme.
This book has been compared to a marrying of Lord of the Flies and The Handmaid's Tale and I think that's a fair assessment in as far as the plot goes. However, The Grace Year doesn't quite reach the level of tension and abject horror found in those stories.
This book lands flatly in the YA genre and teen girls are going to eat it up, thus I suspect it will be an instant bestseller upon release.
5 Stars for entertainment
3 Stars for execution
You do the math.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Reading Progress
February 1, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
February 1, 2019
– Shelved
May 13, 2019
– Shelved as:
digital-arcs-to-review
June 12, 2019
–
Started Reading
June 20, 2019
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 64 (64 new)
message 1:
by
Nadia
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 20, 2019 07:30AM
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I can see you chasing me around a playground, you trying to throw spiders at me. 🤣