The Grace Year | A Disturbing YA

4/5 stars

Every year, girls of a certain age in Garner County are sent away. The Grace Year is what they all call it. The girls are banished to rid themselves of their magic before they can return. Not all of them make it back. Tierney has always been different and dreams of more freedom. As she is finally sent away for her own Grace Year she learns hard lessons about loyalty, humanity, and just how far people will go to remain a part of the pack.

I had been holding off on reading this book due to the more disturbing themes within it. It was a mix between Handmaiden’s Tale, the Hunger Games, and Lord of the Flies. I could not put it down, even when I wanted to. I finished in two sittings! The Grace Year is a dystopian novel that follows Tierney and her resilient nature. I was rooting for her the entire time as she questioned her community’s way of life and whether the traditions were truly right. 

Both the plot and character development worked well in this. Watching the Grace Year girls slowly descend into madness in the camp was enthralling, and watching sparks of rebellion amongst them was even better. I found the pacing to feel slightly off. The beginning gave a lot of detail and insights into Tierney’s thoughts and motivation. At about the 50-60% mark, time began to move much faster and much more happened. It was easy to get lost in the timeline. 

This story was bittersweet, disturbing read for me. Watching women come together to protect one another and envison a better future was wonderful, but it was still a heartbreaking story. Overall, this was a great young adult, dystopian novel about what it means to stand up for what you believe in.