Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

El año de gracia by Kim Liggett

9 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Trafficking, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Medical content, Ableism, and Sexual content

Minor: Infertility

mmestitches's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Blood, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Outing, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

katemarie99's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

1.5

This book was pretty much triggering in every way that a book could be... I am being generous and giving it that little .5 extra bc I did feel a little *seen* in the beginning with the intersection-between-religious-conservatism-and-sexism bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cannibalism, and Homophobia

kshertz's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book. I loved it. It has a hunger games vibe but with girls who go out to get rid of their magic into the middle of nowhere. If they leave safety, poachers can kill them. It is masterfully done. I love the psychological pieces and power dynamics. I will definitely recommend for anyone who likes Hunger Games and YA novels. Fantastic. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Self harm

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The Grace Year was a wonderfully entertaining, heartbreaking, gruesome, and yet hopeful read that is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale. Set in a society where sixteen year old girls are sent into the wilderness for a year to release their evil magic tied to their womanhood, we are left questioning what truly is the magic found in pages of this book. Tiernay is introduced as angry at the shackles of her birth, where she seems to hold herself distant from other women. As she uncovers the truth of the Grace Year while struggling to survive the horrors faced in the encampment, she also strives to do whatever she can to save her fellow grace year girls (as well as striving to survive for the sake of her younger sisters). The juxtaposition with how she almost views the girls in the same way men do (evil and like sheep/cattle) and her actions towards ensuring their safety even when her life is on the line does a wonderful job indicating the many different facets of how misogyny affects those it oppresses. The romance felt believable for the circumstances (both enemies to lovers and best friends to lovers), though I was a bit devastated on how a certain situation resulted. All the gruesome acts and morbid situations worked itself into a hopeful and open-ended last scene. There is so much more I want to say (really an essay worth of discussions), but I do not want to ruin the book for anyone. I would definitely recommend this book as it was a beautiful and devastating read while leaving me hopeful for the future of Garner County. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

moira_kelly's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

loved the premise, raises some interesting questions/ideas when you think about the implications of the novel, it never felt like enough detail about anything but overall still really good, wish the character flaws were discussed more rather than just pointed out in some places but the end was satisfying!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Self harm, Torture, and Violence

ravenclawincabin13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is the best distopia I have ever read!!
PLEASE READ THIS, here’s a few reasons;
•Hunger games but feminist but also •stand alone and no love triangle or technology 
•Enemies to lovers but not quite 
•Friends to lovers but not quite
•Silent revolution 
•Bring down the patriarchy 
•Really strong and badass main character 
• amazing plot twist
• every woman has an amazing power within themselves 
• beautiful family bond
• low-key lgbtqia+ representative (with phobia so beware) 
• so well written 
• really empowering 
• Almost none named male characters 
• “trust no one, not even yourself”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Violence, Torture, and Suicide

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Alcohol, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Outing, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Grief, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

sophie42's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Violence, Murder, and Excrement

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

Minor: Infertility and Outing

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful, heart-wrenching, unbelievable. This book about a society that uses extreme measures to belittle and minimize women made me think deeply about the parallels we might draw to our own society. This is a story about growing up and growing into who we’re becoming even when our becoming could cost us everything and this is a story about the magic and power of women, especially when they bind themselves inextricably to one another. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long, long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Violence