Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

23 reviews

eggboy397's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

kparsons44's review

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

craftylibrarian10's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

 I wasn't sure I would like this book due to the graphic content and the incredibly slow start. But, it did grow on me. I don't think this book will be everyone's cup of tea, but it is sort of like Lord of the Flies meets the Handmaid's Tale for teens. Tierney James is one of 33 girls attending their Grace Year, a year-long event during a girl's 16th year. The Grace Year is meant to rid the girls of their "magic", which is somehow tied to tempting men into disobeying God. This book is heavy and stomach turning at times. There's also a love story for some reason (probably because it's a YA pitfall). Even with all of the things I didn't like, this book was a solid 4/5 for me. It helps that I am a complete sucker for a dystopian novel. 4/5 stars

Content Warnings: violence, death, religious trauma, suicide, PTSD, forced marriage, hanging, bullying, scalping, prostitution, sexual assault, castration (would not recommend for younger readers) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Suicide, and Bullying

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

I almost feel like I don’t want to do the review for this book because I’ll rather just forget it exists. It makes me sad to think how I waited so long to read this one and I was so excited… and then I read what I read… I was 5% into it and I wanted to DNF so badly but I’m so freaking stubborn I continued and then it was a bit addictive and then the ending was just that?? well. I even had this as one of my 5 stars prediction, stop 😭

Please read the trigger warnings before picking up this book because it’s insane and I felt sick the first 100 pages, I don’t enjoy reading about a town full of sexism, misogyny and let’s be honest, pedophiles. And then this book was way darker than I expected. 

Every year girls who are 16yo are sent to their Grace Year which is basically leaving them on their own in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with little to no supplies while they’re being hunted by men, and all so they can release their “magic” and then come back and be proper women who marry the boys who picked them before leaving. 

So the book revolves around this girl named Tierney because it’s her grace year and we see how the town behaves just before they all leave, and then the group of girls when they leave. It’s divided in the 4 seasons of the year and then the return of the girls alive. 

I hate that this book is promoted as “fantasy” because I kept waiting for the magic but there is none!! This “magic” translates to “this little girls are becoming women and the men are pedophiles who can’t control themselves and use it as an excuse to make the women behave”. But I would say the genres of this book are dystopia and horror, and there’s this little romance. 

I don’t even want to look at my annotations because I was SO angry at everyone here 😭 the more I think about it I keep reconsidering my rating. 

I’m just realizing the fmc did have the “I’m not like other girls” thing and in the end she ended up being just like the other girls and there was no character development lmao. But what makes me mad about the end is how NOTHING changed, everything stayed the exact same so where’s the so called revolution and changed she wanted to make? She’s supposed to join her family in this secret organization but we don’t see that and she says how her child will change things for the future, girl, YOU were supposed to be the change for her! 

If it wasn’t because of the writing, the audiobook and my stubbornness, I would’ve DNF this, but yeah this is a 1.5 ⭐ for me because at least it was addictive and it was something… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism, Infertility, and Sexual assault

Here’s a list of all the trigger warnings, I’m going to be specific about how they appear in the book and I’ll be hiding some spoilers:

Misogyny and sexism: from the very beginning that town is just full of it from both men and women, the way the town works is based on hating women.

Pedophilia: This made me so sick but yeah these men are all pedophiles and you can’t change my mind, the way they looked at the girls or talked about them was sickening.

Sexual assault: In the beginning is mentioned the story of a girl who was taken and she screamed and fought but no one helped.

Cannibalism: They fucking eat the girls parts?? When the girls leave for their grace year they’re hunted by poachers and they skin them alive and cut them in little pieces and sell them to be eaten wtf

Suicide: After the girls leave for their grace year, this girl kills herself in the river.

Death, child death, violence, gore and blood: That grace year is way more dark than I expected 😭 (the girls killed each other or cut their fingers as punishment, the poachers skin the girls alive, the girls fight, etc)

Sexual content: Some nudity and

the fmc had sex.

Pregnancy:

I guess the fmc learned simply biology lol but yeah she ends up pregnant.

Infertility: This is minor, but her older sister is mocked by some woman because it’s been years and she hasn’t had any baby yet.

Lesbophobia: One of the girls kissed another and she was "dirty" ever since.

jbird_reads's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

This started off so strong and I was so invested! The characters were intriguing and the world was really interesting.

However, towards the last third of the book, it really went downhill. By the end it kind of felt like everything the mc went thru and everything that happened was for nothing and had no effect on the story. There was the whole buildup with Riker and then he died but she got over it really fast. And then when she was pregnant, I was like okay this book ruined itself. I just hate pregnancy in books! And nothing was ever really resolved at the end- the mc knew the truth about the world she lived in and was planning on changing things, but we the readers saw none of that change. Just disappointing overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Violence, Sexual harassment, Gore, Pregnancy, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide

curlyewe's review

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Blood, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, and Gore

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

rinku's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Torture, Gore, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

cjreadstoomuch's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Misogyny, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Outing, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

logsbooklog's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.25

there’s a lot i liked and an ok amount i didn’t. the beginning is rough, parts of the middle feel shallow, and the ending rings a bit hollow, but the breathless pace and tense scenes work well and a lot of the individual moments made me shiver. i’m left wanting more both positively and negatively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Homophobia, Excrement, and Vomit

katemarie99's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

1.5

This book was pretty much triggering in every way that a book could be... I am being generous and giving it that little .5 extra bc I did feel a little *seen* in the beginning with the intersection-between-religious-conservatism-and-sexism bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cannibalism, and Homophobia