Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

13 reviews

winnie_is_swag's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

i really liked this book. 'twas beautifully written, and it made me emotional. the main character is strong and independent. it's like Lord of the Flies meets a Handmaid's Tale. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Animal death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Gore, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Infertility

Minor: Sexual content, Rape, Classism, Abandonment, Homophobia, Cursing, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

aformeracceleratedreader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, loved this one. Very lord of the flies-esque and like Wilder Girls. My only criticism is that the message is like don't let men decide the fate and everything of women (women are their own entity and should fight for freedom/equity) but a lot of the defining moments for Tierney, the main girl, is centered around men. I could've dealt without

Spoiler

two men being in love with her and her falling in love with a poacher. And the fact that her love for some dude motivated her for survival. The ending was giving me "Katniss learning to love Peeta" vibes with having kids even though in the beginning the main character didn't want any domestic life. The guard thinking she was his property and being entirely unhinged was a nice surprise moment in the book for me tho

. Well written and kept me enthralled the whole time. Couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Infertility, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Vomit, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

sierrabedwell's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book! It was very good from start to finish and I couldn’t stop listening! (Audiobook) the plot was unique - a mix between the hunger games and the handmaid’s tale - and the characters were realistic!!! There wasn’t a time when I thought that something wouldn’t actually happen in the given situation. I won’t spoil the end, but it’s not the traditional happy ending, and I liked that, because it was realistic! I also loved the political relevance of the topic and the metaphors that could be pulled from this book while reading. The ONLY thing I didn’t like, was

Spoiler

that Tyranny falls in love. I liked that it was with a poacher because it showed us that side of the community, but the fact that she ended up getting pregnant, and she thought she loved him even though they only really knew each other for a few months… just didn’t sit well with me. I also didn’t like that she got cleared of the charges when she got back.

Overall, the ending was amazing. I never knew what was going to happen, and it was very smart the way that they used the Governor’s words against him to back up Tyranny’s excuse. I also liked that there was no major uprising in the end, because real change takes time, and I think the book does an amazing job at showing that. Amazing read. Would recommend to everyone!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Gore, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

wickedreads's review against another edition

dark tense

4.25

 This book kinda fucked me up but it was really good. But I do have beef with the end 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Abandonment

Moderate: Cannibalism and Violence

haleybre's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

Amazing, emotional, raw.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexism, Pregnancy, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Infidelity, and Lesbophobia

kshertz's review

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

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.0

I love this book. Not a spoiler, but a little trite/maudlin at the end. Still a good ending and an overall very powerful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment and Adult/minor relationship

anger566's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Pregnancy

Several people die throughout, and since most of the main characters are 16 I marked it as child death as well.

the_disreputable_dog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was dystopian, female led, really well written, and suspenseful. This thing is like lightning in a bottle. It makes me happy, because every character has a purpose, and a face they show the world and a back they keep hidden, which is how you know it's a good book. You get the higher class men, see a little of how they're limited with what they can do (at the end), of course the middle class is apparent in how they're limited, and then you obviously see how the bottom class is restricted as well, instead of how some books just show an all powerful, all encompassing top tier of society where they can do whatever the fuck they want with no consequences. Also, there's the classic dystopian fight against oppression, but I like how Tierney realises she can't be on her own in everything if she wants to do good for everyone. The theme is about working together to do things better, which I love. It's less of an individual self determination oriented book, which is common among dystopians. If this were part of a series, I'd already be starting the next one (but it's definitely built to be a stand alone book, so instead it's on my birthday wish list and I'm off to search for recommendations of more like this). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Death, Sexism, Vomit, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Stalking, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Minor: Addiction, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

ginalucia's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

 The book in 3 sentences:

• Feminism, friendship, and betrayal.
• Gritty, immersive, and frightening.
• Lord of the Flies meets The Power.

My impressions:

I’m not usually one to be outwardly thankful for Amazon’s daily deal but in this case, I truly am. I didn’t know I needed to read The Grace Year until I saw its beautiful cover gracing Amazon’s ‘review generator’ list.

Nothing says ‘go on, give me a go’ like a dystopian book sitting next to an unappealing New Year’s diet book for 99p.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the gritty nature of this book. I had expected an empowering YA dystopian with a little bit of added magic. I was pleasantly surprised. When I say this is Lord of the Flies meets The Power, I’m not joking. The Grace Year makes no apologies, it shows you the best and worst of people, especially those forced to be confined together.

The characters themselves are in constant flux. You either hate or sympathize and then you hate again. This in itself was incredibly refreshing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the women within it make constant mistakes and have genuine internal battles with each other and themselves. 

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 though, was the romance. The author’s attempt at a romantic interest simply didn’t slot into the gritty and horrific story. In fact, it was almost like the book morphed into something else halfway through.

Luckily, this was short-lived, which meant we could get back to the parts that made this book great much quicker. Although it was brief, this part of the story felt unfinished and rushed. A real shame.

The Grace Year was so close to greatness, so close. But it did give me hope that we can mix imperfect characters, horror, an empowering storyline and all be better off for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Confinement, Mental illness, Animal death, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Vomit