Written by: Kim Liggett
‘Horrifically good. But also so amazingly beautiful.’
Summary
In a world where men hold sway, all sixteen-year-old girls are sent to a remote camp every year. They call it the grace year, and is meant to make the girls get rid of their magic abilities. Tierney is one of the 33 girls that get sent into the forests, scared, but determined to return as pure women. But the ambiance changes quickly when the girls discover in what circumstances they will have to live the next twelve months. Maybe it’s the creepy stories that rumor, or the everlasting fear of falling in the hands of a poacher, but there is something that makes the girls go mad, one by one. Tierney is determined to change her horrific fate, and with hers, the fate of all the other girls. But will she be able to cope with the abominations?
Review
I thought this book was just horrifically amazing! I just didn’t really know what to expect, because I was given the honor to read this book before it even came out. The back cover sounded very promising, which gave me a little bit anxiety because I was scared to get dissapointed. But I couldn’t be more wrong. Everything they say about it is true. Simply amazing!
Okay, back to the story itself. The Grace year is in many ways a refreshing read for me. Not only the story, but also the writing was completely new to me. Months flew by with the flip of a page. This was a bit frustrating from time to time, but it also kind of made sense? The time passing by so quickly really matched the overall tone of the story. And besides that, describing a whole ‘grace year’ in 300 pages would be nearly impossible if Kim Liggett didn’t do what had to be done.
The many shocking scènes that appear in this book, are all written in such a way that it hits you pretty hard in the beginning of the book, but slowly changes into ordinary business, which might be even scarier than the scène itself. From time to time, the scènes get só intense that I just had to put the book away and recover for a while. But not for long, of course, because the short lenght of the chapters ensured I didn’t stop reading.
Conclusion
I can’t give this book any other than five bookies. It doesn’t happen to me that often that a book gets me só caught up. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, either grinning, weeping, or gaping at this wonderful book. A real recommendation for fans of The Hungergames, The Handmaids Tale or Lord of the Flies. Or for people who just want to read an awesome book.
