Book Review: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
One of my top books read in 2020, this review for The Grace Year was so hard to write. Why? Because there are so many good things to say and not enough words to say them. If you loved any dystopian books in high school like I did, you’ll absolutely adore this one.
Book Information
Tierney does NOT want to get married. It’s the last thing she wants to do, but in a world where women are not viewed as individuals, there aren’t a lot of other options. When her best friend chooses her as his bride right before Tierney leaves for her grace year, she knows she won’t have any other choice but to marry him. It is during her grace year, though, that she realizes marriage is the least of her problems. Trying to survive with a group of sixteen-year-old girls in an encampment that poachers are forbidden from entering should be easy, right? Wrong.
Review | Heidi Dischler
I cannot tell you enough how much I love this book. It deals with so many different issues that may not seem relevant to us but completely are. Issues like the complex relationship between women, never judging a book by its cover, and always standing up for what you believe in only skim the surface of this powerful book.
Kim Liggett is brilliant in her telling of Tierney’s story not only in the development of her character, but in the way the plot ties together seamlessly. Liggett’s prose is heartachingly brilliant and written in a way that it stays with you long after you close the book. At least, that’s what happened for me!
Spoiler alert ahead.
My absolute favorite part of this book deals with the story. The whole time I’m reading, I’m thinking, “Oh, yeah, this is Tierney’s story. She’s our heroine. She falls in love with a poacher. She’s going to bring the Grace Year girls out of this oppression.” NOPE. While she does change a lot of things in terms of leading women in the right direction for an uprising, she is not the main character of this story as a whole. What I love about The Grace Year is that Liggett gives you these two amazingly complex characters—Tierney and Ryker—and then at the end of the book, you find out that they were only a small part in what will be the dissolution of their world as they know it. Their baby, Grace, is the “chosen one.” She is the one who will lead these women out of their oppression; Tierney merely gathered the firewood for her daughter’s flame. That is amazing storytelling, and I applaud Kim Liggett for her beautiful story.
Sequel, please?
Source: Personal Copy
