Book: Grace And Fury by Tracy Banghart

Published July 2018 by Little, Brown Books For Young Readers|320 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the hardcover from the library

Series: Grace And Fury #1

Genre: YA Fantasy

In a world where women have no rights, sisters Serina and Nomi Tessaro face two very different fates: one in the palace, the other in prison.

Serina has been groomed her whole life to become a Grace – someone to stand by the heir to the throne as a shining, subjugated example of the perfect woman. But when her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, catches the heir’s eye, it’s Serina who takes the fall for the dangerous secret that Nomi has been hiding.

Now trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one way to save Serina: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to release her sister. This is easier said than done. A traitor walks the halls of the palace, and deception lurks in every corner. But Serina is running out of time, imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive and one wrong move could cost her everything.

I really liked this one!  In some ways, it’s really predictable, but in other ways, it was really cool.

It’s predictable in the sense that the sister who’s been training to be a Grace doesn’t become one, and the sister who doesn’t want it is the one who becomes a Grace.  There were a couple of other things that were predictable as well, particularly with the heir, but I didn’t mind, for some reason.

When I was reading Grace And Fury, I was very much reminded of The Handmaid’s Tale.  The way women have no choices, aren’t allowed to read or write, and how they get sent to an island prison if they do anything deemed unacceptable.  How the prison was set up was different- all of them are divided into different groups, though I can’t say I’m surprised by how they’re treated once there.

I really liked the bond the two sisters had, and how willing they were to protect each other.  All they could think about, especially after Serina goes to prison for Nomi, was making sure the other one was okay.  I liked the relationship they had, and I liked seeing how both of them changed throughout the book.  They were both so determined to fight and make things better for all of the women in…wherever it is they live.  I, for the life of me, cannot remember where it is, but at any rate, they do want to make things better.

I did want a little more with the world- I wish we knew how they got to this point.  I’m not convinced that we’ll get more in the next one, and I’d be surprised at we did.  I am curious, especially since it’s mentioned that women were in power at one point, and that the history Nomi knew isn’t the one that actually happened.  I get why that history was erased, but I still wish we had more of it.  I just want to know how we got to that point.

4 stars.  I really liked it, and though it was predictable at times, I still want to know what happens next.