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witcheep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This Vicious Grace is a book that explores the themes of duty, belonging, and connection through FMC Alessa's character and offers different points of view with different characters. Even if the themes are heavy and the subjects often near traumatic, the tone of the book is quite lighthearted and makes it an easy and fast read.
"I'm tired of being a title rather than a person, I guess."
The main character Alessa is the Finestra, a goddess-chosen magical person who holds the highest rank of the country, but in return is required to give up everything from her previous life, including her name, family, and even the ability to touch people. The Finestra is also expexted to fight an army of foes of the enemy god together with another magical person, a Fonte. She hasn't found that other compatible Fonte yet, and time is running out. Because of this, Alessa has become a secluded young woman who has been touch-deprived for years – a husk of a person, really. This seclusion and touch-deprivation echo the struggles familiar to so many from the pandemic, and makes Thiede's writing more powerful because of it: so many of us can relate to the extreme situation that Alessa is in.
When Alessa gets the chance to touch again by trying to connect with a Fonte, she takes it ravenously – and it ends in the death of the Fonte too many times because her magic is too strong for the touch. This grants the secondary foes in the book, a religious group of men, a somewhat justified claim to want to murder her as a false Finestra. After multiple attempts on her life, Alessa doesn't trust anyone, and seeks for protecion from a disinterested party by hiring a lone street fighter Dante as her body guard.
Dante says he is not kind, but Alessa decides his actions show otherwise: Dante builds Alessa's confidence up by gentle bullying, and Alessa begins to regard them as friends with the potentiality for more.
When Alessa gets the chance to touch again by trying to connect with a Fonte, she takes it ravenously – and it ends in the death of the Fonte too many times because her magic is too strong for the touch. This grants the secondary foes in the book, a religious group of men, a somewhat justified claim to want to murder her as a false Finestra. After multiple attempts on her life, Alessa doesn't trust anyone, and seeks for protecion from a disinterested party by hiring a lone street fighter Dante as her body guard.
Dante says he is not kind, but Alessa decides his actions show otherwise: Dante builds Alessa's confidence up by gentle bullying, and Alessa begins to regard them as friends with the potentiality for more.
Dante squinted, and she smiled brighter. If he was going to tease her about reading smutty novels, she'd fight back by working innuendo into every conversation.
They both are lonely teenagers with recent years in their lives holding such dark times for them that they both have had to grow up fast and become as adult-like as they can to fill in the roles that keep them alive. They open up to each other about their secrets and offer each other support.
Quote in spoiler:
She patted his arm with a perky, "You're doing fine."
"You're desperate, and I'm here, eh?"
"Exactly." She paused. "Thank you."
In the plot, slowly, the concrete truths and rules of ancient sacred texts are questioned by finding alternative translations and interpretations, and Alessa pieces together that the core of the sacred text is community: "Together, we protect. Divided, we unravel." This has traditionally been interpreted to mean the connection between the Finestra and their one Fonte. Gradual spoilers of plot progression: 1.
Hope is what must be found in a YA book, and that is what is drizzled throughtout This Vicious Grace to finally be bathed in at the end. The ending of the book sets up the premise for the sequel, and I'm interested to see where Thiede takes the main characters from here.
Review written 17.3.2024
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, and Racism
Moderate: Hate crime, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and War
Minor: Bullying, Classism, Child abuse, and Death of parent
zarhara's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, War, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
Minor: Torture and Child death
readwithria's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This Vicious Grace absolutely blew me away! One of the best books I’ve read this year, 5 stars!
Alessa goes through so much growth in this book! She steals every inch of agency she can find, and I love her so much. She learns how to ask for and accept help, she learns how to advocate for herself, and she learns so much about her strength. She’s told for so much of the book that she’s too much - too much power, too much time, too much effort - and she proves to them all that she’s exactly what she needs to be.
This book has such strong themes of connection and community. The found family element was such a surprise, but an absolutely lovely one! The romance was SO CUTE 🥰 Dante is such a sweetheart, even if he acts like an asshole, and he stands up for what he believes in in so many ways. He has so much strength, and he shares it so willingly!
There were twists I didn’t see coming, new informations that I discovered as the characters did, and so many quotes I will want to revisit in the future! But for now I’ll leave you with this:
“We have a bad habit of locking up people who scare us, and the thing that scares men with power most is a woman with more of it.”
I absolutely cannot wait to read the sequel. 5 stars!
Alessa goes through so much growth in this book! She steals every inch of agency she can find, and I love her so much. She learns how to ask for and accept help, she learns how to advocate for herself, and she learns so much about her strength. She’s told for so much of the book that she’s too much - too much power, too much time, too much effort - and she proves to them all that she’s exactly what she needs to be.
This book has such strong themes of connection and community. The found family element was such a surprise, but an absolutely lovely one! The romance was SO CUTE 🥰 Dante is such a sweetheart, even if he acts like an asshole, and he stands up for what he believes in in so many ways. He has so much strength, and he shares it so willingly!
There were twists I didn’t see coming, new informations that I discovered as the characters did, and so many quotes I will want to revisit in the future! But for now I’ll leave you with this:
“We have a bad habit of locking up people who scare us, and the thing that scares men with power most is a woman with more of it.”
I absolutely cannot wait to read the sequel. 5 stars!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Cursing
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, War, Vomit, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Body horror, Physical abuse, Murder, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Stalking, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Police brutality
wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Imagine, if you will, Rogue from X-Men but transported into a historical quasi-Italian island setting. That's basically our heroine, but with the addition of a chosen one trope. Her power is to amplify that of someone else but if she touches the wrong person, they die. Her divine goal is to save the world from an apocalyptic event that occurs roughly every 5 years and once the chosen one has saved the island, they lose their powers and another person awakens theirs. Rinse and repeat.
The chosen one chooses a (life) partner to weather the battle with, and with our main character, she has chosen and killed three times while trying to train for the end of the world.
I have some issues with the book, but overall it was very readable and the ending left enough questions and plot for the next installment. Not sure if I would continue, but I'm not immediately opposed.
The chosen one chooses a (life) partner to weather the battle with, and with our main character, she has chosen and killed three times while trying to train for the end of the world.
I have some issues with the book, but overall it was very readable and the ending left enough questions and plot for the next installment. Not sure if I would continue, but I'm not immediately opposed.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Outing, War, Child abuse, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Police brutality, Torture, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Sexual content
mariareardsromance's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
demjin's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
3.5
Pre-review 3/Jul/22
This is 3.5 stars, it was gonna be 4 but the ending ruined it for me. I was here for the book and fine with the lackluster worldbuilding when I was enjoying the romance but the ending brought too much plot into the picture that I didn't care enough about. It was like it was trying to be something it didn't need to be.
But I'm always here for grumpy-sexy-deadly bodyguard would do anything for girl when she bats her eyelashes at him trope and I'll stand by that
This is 3.5 stars, it was gonna be 4 but the ending ruined it for me. I was here for the book and fine with the lackluster worldbuilding when I was enjoying the romance but the ending brought too much plot into the picture that I didn't care enough about. It was like it was trying to be something it didn't need to be.
But I'm always here for grumpy-sexy-deadly bodyguard would do anything for girl when she bats her eyelashes at him trope and I'll stand by that
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Murder, War, and Suicide attempt
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