Monday 23 July 2018

Fierce and feministic - Grace and Fury ARC Review

Title: Grace and Fury
Author: Tracy Banghart
My rating: 5 hearts
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Pub. date: July 31st 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
SynopsisIn a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison.

Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace - someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir's eye, it's Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding.

Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to release her sister. This is easier said than done. A traitor walks the halls of the palace, and deception lurks in every corner. But Serina is running out of time, imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive and one wrong move could cost her everything. (synopsis from Goodreads)

Grace and Fury turned out to be very different from what I expected, and yet exactly the same. But no matter what I did or didn’t expect, it turned out to be an amazing read. Not only is it a great fantasy world, with fierce heroines and shocking plot twists, but it also deals with a very current topic, which made it even better. See, the fantasy world is literally the nightmare of every feminist; women have no rights whatsoever. They aren’t allowed to read, they can’t decide to cut their own hair, and they have to be submissive and graceful. 

The book starts with a huge plot twist. After that, I was hooked. The plot may not have been the most action-packed, or fast-paced, but I still loved it. It was filled with tension, which made up for the lack of action. It never got boring, was always interesting and kept me wanting to read, and that, after all, is the most important thing. Obviously all books don’t need to be action-packed to be great reads, and this was one of them.

I liked the characters. From the start, I loved Nomi. She’s rebellious, she wants to make her own decisions and have the same rights as her twin brother, and she refuses to settle. In a world like the one she lives in, that is truly admirable. It’s an uphill battle, but she’s willing to fight for women’s rights. Her sister, Serina, is the opposite; she strives to be everything women are supposed to be, and she hates Nomi’s rebellion. At first, I really didn’t like her. She was just too submissive and seemed to have no real thoughts of her own, except judgment for her sister. But she went through a lot of character development, and by the end of it, I loved her just as much as I did Nomi.

The feminism in this book, and this entire world that is hell for women, really fits into the world today. I think we need more books like this one, to show us how unfair and wrong the treatment of women is. It might help raise awareness of the situation, and that’s important. But reading this, it also made me very grateful that where I live has better conditions.

Grace and Fury was, simply put, amazing. It was such a feministic, interesting story that caught me from the beginning. It’s an important story, and I will yell it from the rooftops until everyone just reads it. Or, you know, you can just pick it up and read it. Save me the trouble. 

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I receive some books from authors, publishers and third party sites (such as Netgalley). This does in no way affect my opinion, and all thoughts expressed on this blog are unbiased and my own. I do not get compensated in any way or form.