The Grace Year by Kim Liggett is about a girl named Tierney who’s about to embark upon her grace year. In her society, it is believed that girls receive magic in their sixteenth year, and therefore all sixteen-year-old girls must spend a year together in the woods to burn through all of their magic. Tierney has spent much of her life trying to discover as much as she can about the grace year but to talk about it is forbidden. All she knows is that many of the girls don’t make it back alive and even the girls that do are never the same. Tierney has been told that the Poachers in the woods and the magic growing inside them all is what will kill them during this year, but soon realizes that maybe the girls she’s supposed to be working together with are the greatest threat of them all. Will Tierney make it back or will the other grace year girls decide she isn’t worth it.
This novel had a great premise and although the storytelling got a little patchy at times, the feeling of living in the story never swayed. The general idea of this novel is a Handmaid’s Tale-like society with a Hunger Games ideal where instead they send you off to Lord of the Flies. There’s also a subplot very reminiscent of Delirium. Liggett did a great job seamlessly blending all of these ideas together so instead of creating chaos, the story gives the reader a more reminiscent feeling of all of its influences that have long finished their story arcs. One thing I really loved about this book was how well the character of Tierney was written. She has a determination to make things fairer and can see what’s wrong with her society, even though it’s all she’s ever known. Plenty of great female characters and positive bonds between them makes this a decent feminist read while still staying in the dystopian genre. Overall, I’m very glad I picked up The Grace Year, and while it might not be one of the top books of the decade, it’s still most definitely a worthy read.
Review written by Ada, Grade 10