Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

38 reviews

paperkindle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It started out slow but then it turned into a good read. Not really overwhelmed by it. And the end was lacked a bit of closure. 

Similar books: The hunger games, The knife of never letting go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

Minor: Vomit

bella613's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The first half of the book felt like all the confusion of watching "Lost" with none of the intrigue. There was absolutely no explanation of how this "Grace Year" idea started or why anyone thought that toughing it in the woods for a year somehow got rid of ~magic~ that no one seemed to have in the first place. Don't even get me started on

the little jars of toes and eyeballs or whatever. Was that included to keep the reader horrified, or are we expected to believe that people in town really buy their daughters pickled phalanges to prolong their youth?

I was pretty sure that even the author had no clue what was going on. The excuse for having no context on anything was "we don't talk about the grace year", which, to me, isn't very believable and doesn't make you more curious.
There's no mystery when there is no clues. If you leave your reader completely in the dark it doesn't hook them in. It's assumed that the grace year is meant to be a way to control young women, but if you want to subdue them, why would you tell them they have strong magical powers? What is the incentive for them to get rid of their magic, and what is the plan for this glorified no-supply camping trip to do the trick? It's a cool idea for a premise but wayyy underdeveloped because none of it made any sense. 

I did enjoy the later-middle part of the book, which introduced a lot of possible outcomes. 

As Tierney gets close to Ryker, I thought they would talk about the community that he is from. Since they're adopting the outcasts of the town they probably understand what is going on. It sounded like the people on the outskirts were more than a few families' worth of people, and obviously if the main civilization only has 30 ish girls each year, it's a fairly small town. Seems like an extremely fragile system they've got going, especially since the leaders are only a handful of middle aged men in a council, and there seems to be no state leadership or anything. Possibilities moving forward from that point could include a mini-rebellion of outcasts against the measly leaders, or a rescue mission to take the women and children to the outskirt community instead. It was not in my reader bingo card for her to return from the woods with a surprise underage pregnancy, abandon her plan to actually tell the truth (to the citizens who somehow believe these teen girls are witches who can be fixed by a year in the woods) and willingly accept the marriage she's been against her entire life. Not to mention that in a matter of months, she falls in love with this guy she previously felt trapped by, despite recently having watched the father of her child be murdered in front of her. And her husband is the new leader (as a minor) but somehow hasn't done anything to change the town except secretly burn one shelf of human remains.

The ending, in summary, was extremely disappointing. I have no idea if there is a sequel planned but I have no interest in reading more of this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Violence, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Pedophilia, Animal death, Biphobia, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Bullying, Infertility, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

kparsons44's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

 Since I'm still processing this book, which I voraciously read in two or three sittings, I'd say I will recommend this book to everyone that loves dystopian fiction! Tierney was a strong, realistic, hopeful protagonist that inspired me to be more present with the conversations I have with my daughters and women around me.
The writing was very fast paced, broken into seasons of the Grace Year, so it reads more like a diary without marked chapters. There is an eeriness left in my imagination after reading this book about how similar our worlds are, or how precious the freedoms women have been "granted" by the men who owned them. Seeing good men represented in a feminist book, identifying what makes a great ally for women's rights, is great to see.
Like Tierney, we all have dreams of the world we want to see reality become. The ambiguous ending frustrates me but I do love getting decide what really happened.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Violence, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

arsmagicalibrorum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Miscarriage and Medical content

emmascout522's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Gore, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment

nat_montego's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, Ableism, Blood, Violence, Death, and Forced institutionalization

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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 book follows the journey of Tiereny and depicts how she matures and adapts to the world she is in and tries to be that change that needs to happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Classism, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Pregnancy

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was a lot and I am still sifting through my feelings. It felt like a mix of The Handmaid’s Tale, Lord of the Flies, and The Hunger Games. This story was gruesome and the oppression the women are conditioned for within this society is horrendous. Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, this book was more bizarre and less relatable to our current day, definitely leaning more towards horror than pure dystopian fiction. There was a lot of mystery inherent to the plot since no one in the community talks about what happens during the grace year, and I think my lack of knowledge about the book beyond the synopsis helped me enjoy the reading experience more. There were a lot of twists and turns and I really didn’t know where the book was headed! I really hated reading about the magic/madness of the girls in the enclosure and almost DNFed because I was very unsettled and frustrated with the behavior. This book was also pretty gorey. The romantic subplot was sweet and wholesome but I wanted more depth/deeper connection between the characters; they seemed to jump from trusting each other platonically to becoming intimate. The last 50 or so pages broke me. This book also uses a lot of ambiguity, which was intriguing yet sometimes frustrating. I really liked the realistic approach at the end where the girls supported each other in public for the first time, and while the world was the same, the girls and women were not. A sequel would be really fun to read to see how this world changes overtime! Revolution doesn’t happen in an instant. Lots of interesting themes that make this a great discussion book for YA and adults alike, though some of the author’s choices seemed to be more for shock value than for furthering the plot. Reading about sixteen year old girls was also not my favorite because these are the worst sixteen year old girls I have ever heard of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Trafficking, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Medical content, Ableism, and Sexual content

Minor: Infertility

rachelcotter1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

mmestitches's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Blood, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Outing, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture