Review: Grace & Fury

Grace & Fury by Tracy Banghart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I CAN'T DEAL WITH MY FEELINGS RIGHT NOW.

I mean, DAMN.

This book blew me away.

1. Feminism
2. Nomi
3. Asa vs Malachi
4. Empowerment

JUST WOW.

Story: Serina and Nomi are sisters, inseparable until now. Serina has prepared her whole life to be a Grace - basically a pleasure slave/arm candy/trophy mistress for the prince. Nomi, her spirited younger sister, is destined to serve as her handmaiden. Naturally, things go awry and suddenly Nomi is the Grace and Serina is spirited away to an island prison full of rebellious women where she has to fight to survive.

I LOVE this story. It's all about women being oppressed, so it kinda takes real world problems and magnifies them to make them a thousand percent more obvious and it sets my Inner Feminist raging. EQUALITY FOR ALL, DAMMIT! But really I think what makes me most mad is that women are not allowed to read or write and that's just the most hideous form of oppression I've ever heard of. (I'm exaggerating, obviously. Please don't skewer me. My point is just BOOKS ARE LIFE.)

So straight away I was hooked because I felt an immediate sympathy for these two sisters and their horrible prospects. Plus, they just seem like good people. Obviously I had a softer spot for Nomi because she's the rebel, and who doesn't love a rebel? But I also really loved Serina being the protective older sister. Full marks for sibling love.

The princes confused me. And I'm pretty sure they're not technically princes but I'm gonna call them that anyway. I liked Malachi straight away even though Asa seemed like the cheekier of the two, but then throughout the story I kept changing my mind. They both have good points and bad points. However, I think it's safe to say that I've wound up firmly in Camp Malachi. Super fun dynamics there, though.

Prison Island was so much fun! I mean, brutal, obviously, but who doesn't love a good training montage? And some of these women are so badass! It was all very Wonder Woman - had that real Amazonian vibe. My soul was crying out for them all to rise up and conquer together.

Val was a really important character in that I think it was necessary to have a strong male presence that was in favour of women's rights. Plus he cute and all. <3

The alternating viewpoints were much appreciated: I hated leaving one sister for the other but I got so invested with every single chapter. It's like cliffhangers over and over and over. But gratification like a chapter later. So it keeps the tension up and makes the book hard to put down! Plus it was really interesting to compare the sisters' views and experiences.

For YA fantasy, this just felt like a really powerful novel. I feel like the whole topic of female oppression is handled really well, though I'm looking forward to this world being fleshed out a little more in the sequel. Some fantastic characters, and heart-stopping moments, and from about halfway onward this book was like a thousand anxiety attacks. SO TENSE. I both loved and hated it at the same time.

Highly recommend for lovers of YA fantasy, women who support women, men who support women, people who love twists and turns and battles and plots and basically just go read this book okay?!

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