Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

El año de gracia by Kim Liggett

25 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

abi224_'s review against another edition

dark inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, and Bullying

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Infertility and Stalking

lilawsahar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Holy shit. That was addicting. 

The author writes about society that believes women have to burn off their magic at the age of 16, so they banish them to a wooded encampment. During this time, the girls have to fed for themselves for a year, but some don’t make it back alive. When in reality, this year of grace is a way for the men to break young women’s spirits, so they don’t revolting against the misogynist practices of their society.

During this year of grace, the main character discovers that the girls are slowly going mad. And she becomes banished from the group for not accepting that it’s magic. This drives her to leave the encampment and fall in love with someone who would kill her if it weren’t for a promise. The man is a poacher who is tasked with killing girls who leave the camp so they can terrorize the girls in the camp. With him, she realized the girls in the camp are going mad because where the girls drink water is a well full of poison. The society had poisoned the well, so the girls go crazy and do horrible things to believe they are the weaker sex. She goes and helps the girls wean off of well. This starts a new movement of the final year girls, where women start to silently rebelling again the misogynistic society. What a wild plot. However, I didn’t like the happy ending, but I’ve never liked where everything ends perfectly.  

If you like dystopian novels, you’ll enjoy this read. This book is similar to hand maidens tale, lord of the flies, and hunger games. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexism, and Confinement

Minor: Suicide, Stalking, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Vomit

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

ebrown0789's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

elysianbud's review against another edition

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

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

3.5

Went into this expecting a bit more survival and a lot less love story, but overall I still enjoyed it. 
Quick read, finished it in one day. 
I do like that at the end of the book the main character hasn't magically fixed everything in society through the power of gutsy honesty, and that it takes a more realistic approach of showing small steps towards change instead. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Vomit, Confinement, Gore, Body horror, Death, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Stalking, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Outing, Physical abuse, and Homophobia

tays_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Stalking, Pedophilia, Animal death, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, and Infertility

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Pregnancy, Suicide, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Child abuse, Deportation, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gore, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Fire/Fire injury

raquelles_reads's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I definitely read this fast. It filled that desire for dystopian ya that’s been missing for years. The romance, surprises, reveals, and decisions made by characters were quick and explained with words… but actions/seeing it was missing for me. 

About 78% of the way in I had to switch to a print version; the audio version was giving me whiplash and I couldn’t follow the story anymore. Overall, enjoyed the journey this book went for and rooted for the romance even though it didn’t fully make sense… but that ending?! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Blood, Suicide, Stalking, and Death

d0505's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Gore, Child death, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Stalking and Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy