Reviews with content warning for Gore - El año de gracia

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

El año de gracia by Kim Liggett

124 reviews

enchante's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

This started off so strong and I was so invested! The characters were intriguing and the world was really interesting.

However, towards the last third of the book, it really went downhill. By the end it kind of felt like everything the mc went thru and everything that happened was for nothing and had no effect on the story. There was the whole buildup with Riker and then he died but she got over it really fast. And then when she was pregnant, I was like okay this book ruined itself. I just hate pregnancy in books! And nothing was ever really resolved at the end- the mc knew the truth about the world she lived in and was planning on changing things, but we the readers saw none of that change. Just disappointing overall.

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emilywemily6's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was a lot and I am still sifting through my feelings. It felt like a mix of The Handmaid’s Tale, Lord of the Flies, and The Hunger Games. This story was gruesome and the oppression the women are conditioned for within this society is horrendous. Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, this book was more bizarre and less relatable to our current day, definitely leaning more towards horror than pure dystopian fiction. There was a lot of mystery inherent to the plot since no one in the community talks about what happens during the grace year, and I think my lack of knowledge about the book beyond the synopsis helped me enjoy the reading experience more. There were a lot of twists and turns and I really didn’t know where the book was headed! I really hated reading about the magic/madness of the girls in the enclosure and almost DNFed because I was very unsettled and frustrated with the behavior. This book was also pretty gorey. The romantic subplot was sweet and wholesome but I wanted more depth/deeper connection between the characters; they seemed to jump from trusting each other platonically to becoming intimate. The last 50 or so pages broke me. This book also uses a lot of ambiguity, which was intriguing yet sometimes frustrating. I really liked the realistic approach at the end where the girls supported each other in public for the first time, and while the world was the same, the girls and women were not. A sequel would be really fun to read to see how this world changes overtime! Revolution doesn’t happen in an instant. Lots of interesting themes that make this a great discussion book for YA and adults alike, though some of the author’s choices seemed to be more for shock value than for furthering the plot. Reading about sixteen year old girls was also not my favorite because these are the worst sixteen year old girls I have ever heard of.

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rachellekcmo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

3.5

Gore. Blood. So much violence towards and among girls and women. It’s all in your face through the entire book. I guess the sexual violence is more implied than explicit, but everything else is pretty dang explicit.

I wanted more from this book. The main character had some complexity and was certainly brave and resourceful, but the romantic subplot really undercut the power of her narrative, I think. (Is a romantic subplot required for YA sales?)

And then she got pregnant? Eye roll.

A few other characters stayed flatter than I wished - Kiersten especially - although others were more interesting by the end.

I’m sure there are a lot of comparisons of this book to The Hunger Games. I feel like the violence/gore in this book was more gratuitous than that in the other series.

Anyway, I probably would have quit reading this one if I weren’t doing a buddy read. It would be a good choice for readers looking for dystopian novels who don’t mind a ton of gore on the page.

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bookwormigr's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book is one of my favorite dystopian novels.

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curlyewe's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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mmestitches's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mommah's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed reading this story.

The men in this book are awful in their beliefs and the way they treat women. There are a lot of vivid imagery that is very graphic through out this book. My favorite character is Tierney. She is a very strong protagonist. She cares deeply about the other girls and her family. She becomes torn as to what she should do and struggles to come to the her final decision which made me love her even more. She endures physical and emotional things through out the entire story. I personally wonder if I was to face half of the things she faced, would I be able to handle them. Just something to think about .

Overall I really enjoyed reading from this author. I would love to read from her again.

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tkhenry99's review against another edition

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3.0

ehhhhh i guess i had a good time? idk maybe i’m too old for this

some parts were so repetitive. i got tired of reading about how the girls hated tierney pretty fast.

but the end kind of ruined the whole thing for me.

i really didn’t like the tierney had been dreaming of her child. idk it just didn’t seem to match her character, so the surprise pregnancy that she was apparently happy about kind of came out of left field. and to have absolutely no discussion of how tierney felt about the pregnancy, when she was adamant about how much she didn’t want to be a wife, seemed strange.

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mikaylarupke's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Will tear you open and make you sob. But you won’t be able to put it down. So so so good.

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abidavisf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Wow. The Grace Year is so powerful and heart-wrenching, just a must read for everybody, particularly women but I urge men to read this to gain this perspective.

There were so many elements of The Grace Year that took me by surprise and so many that made complete sense to me like I’d been waiting for them forever. This dystopia is so real to me. Nothing feels out of the realm of possibility and that is terrifying. I’ve only just finished listening so I can’t gather my thoughts right now but please read this book.

[Edit] I've had time now to process so here are my thoughts!

Every sentence in The Grace Year is purposeful. Everything sits just where it needs to. The premise of The Grace Year is that all sixteen-year-old girls are sent away for one year to 'rid themselves' of their 'magic'. It is evident from the start that this 'magic' is clearly the fact that the girls have gone through puberty and are now attractive to the men of their county. They must therefore be sent away so as not to 'seduce' the men. Upon their return, they are either married off to men of the county or sent to work as labourers, if no man chooses them.

It is rare for a baby boy to be born, and so not all girls will be married, making those who are chosen 'worthy' and 'superior'. It is an excellent interpretation of classism, as well as the misogyny that women can feel towards each other, having been raised to compete against each other. Yes, this is a dystopia but it feels very real.

Our protagonist, Tierney, spends large portions of the book in isolation, meaning that Kim Liggett relies on internal monologue and description to tell this story. It can be hard to feature strong character development in such tales, and yet The Grace Year does this beautifully. Every character you meet has their own journey, particularly the Grace Year girls and it is testament to Liggett's story-telling that, as a reader, you love them all, regardless of their flaws.

I truly recommend The Grace Year to everybody. If I hadn't have had work, I would have blitzed through this in a day. I can't wait to reread.

”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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