Grace and Fury
Bold, brutal, and beautiful, this must-read fantasy is full of fierce sisterhood, action, and political intrigue for fans of The Selection series, Caraval, and The Handmaid's Tale.
Serina Tessaro 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. It's her chance to secure a better life for her family, and to keep her headstrong and rebellious younger sister, Nomi, out of trouble. But when Nomi catches the Heir's eye instead, Serina is the one who takes the fall for the dangerous secret her sister has been hiding.
Trapped in a life she never wanted, Nomi has only one option: surrender to her role as a Grace until she can use her position to save Serina. But this is easier said than done...a traitor walks the halls of the palazzo, and deception lurks in every corner. Meanwhile, Serina is running out of time. Imprisoned on an island where she must fight to the death to survive, surrounded by women stronger than she is, one wrong move could cost her everything. There is no room for weakness on Mount Ruin, especially weaknesses of the heart.
Thrilling and captivating, Grace and Fury is a story of fierce sisterhood, and survival in a world that's determined to break you.
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Community Reviews
This is a story of fearlessness, strength, betrayal, and determination.
Two sisters set on two different paths, but their course is interrupted by an unexpected life swap. They have to learn to navigate through their new destiny. Both are determined to get back to the other and does everything in their power to accomplish this goal.
One succeeds in her intentions and grows to learn her new self in the process. The other made a mistake in who she trusted and it cost her.
Both sisters show that with fearlessness, strength, and determination, they can accomplish the unthinkable.
Great read! I saw every scene play out as I consumed it.
OwlCrate strikes again! I don't know why I keep doubting OwlCrate. I had a subscription for something like seven or eight months, and although I've only read five of them so far, every single one has been great and absorbing and quality. (The others, if you are wondering, are [b:Wild Beauty|33158561|Wild Beauty|Anna-Marie McLemore|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1496161758s/33158561.jpg|50370943], [b:Foolish Hearts|33275690|Foolish Hearts|Emma Mills|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1487081647s/33275690.jpg|53998283], [b:The Cruel Prince|26032825|The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)|Holly Black|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1493047153s/26032825.jpg|45959123], and [b:The Hazel Wood|34275232|The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)|Melissa Albert|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1500549460s/34275232.jpg|53292100].) This book is also part of my "Summer 2019 Bucket List," comprised solely of books that have been hanging out on my bedside bookcase for far too long. Marie Kondo is telling me to keep only the books I love, and I can't tell if I love them if I haven't read them. And I could use the space if I don't love them and don't want to keep them. Anyhow.
This book is what [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1322103400s/10507293.jpg|15413183] would be if it were good. (See my review of The Selection if you'd like to understand why I thought it was a truly cataclysmically bad book https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2589341664?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 ) A dystopian society that runs on strict rules and very few freedoms. A society that has punishments and secrecy. A society that is built on the oppression of others. A society that has a competition with no real winner, because the competition is for the most beautiful and demure woman to be offered up to the ruler to be used at will.
Except, where The Selection falters because of inadequate world-building, Grace and Fury rises up. This society has a clear backstory outlined in another book read within by one of the main characters (#someta), where a woman and her daughters ruled the country. The deposed rulers didn't like being ruled by women, so they staged a coup, revised the historical narrative, and set up new rules to keep women as powerless as possible so they couldn't rise up again. Very Empress Wu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian. Okay, so then, onto the choosing of the women. It affords them an opportunity out of a life of drudgery to be chosen as a Grace to either the main ruler (the Superior) or his son (the Heir). Your job as a Grace: look pretty, be submissive, be a plaything for the Superior or the Heir. They choose three every three years and then those women get to live in the palace and be pampered until death do the Superior and his literal multitudes of Graces part. And, of course, much like The Selection and every teen dystopian drama ever, there's a love triangle, this time between one of the two sisters and the two brother princes. Only, who to trust?? In The Selection, the choice is between bumpkin boy from home and prince we're trying to get to choose us so lead life of luxury. In Grace and Fury, there's attraction, yes, but it's more about their personalities and how they can help or hinder the main character in her achieving her true goals, of reuniting with her sister.
Because the true point behind this book is the power of women and the strength of women. The two main characters, Serina and Nomi, are sisters. They've trained together for years for Serina to become a Grace and her rebellious little sister to become her handmaiden, thereby saving both of them. First twist: Nomi is basically caught with a book but instead of being punished, the Heir chooses her to be his Grace. Big ol' role reversal, but the sisters are like, "okay, this could be worse". Things do get worse and go horribly awry when Serina is accused of reading (it's forbidden for women to read... pretty soon they start getting ideas... and thinking... ). She gets taken to a prison island. Yeah. A prison island. Where women are pitted against each other for men's sport.
Nomi, meanwhile, is still a Grace and is doing everything she can to get back to her sister. Serina is fighting for survival on the island and is also doing everything she can to get back to her sister. This is why I liked this book. Yeah, sure, there were romantic interests. Yes, there's the larger context of wanting to oppress women because they have the capacity to be so powerful. But on every page there's the message of women supporting women. Of women caring about other women. About women needing other women to survive and thrive. Of the bonds of sisterhood being so strong. I loved that. I loved that the book wasn't focused solely on the boy and the romance. It shouldn't be that so unusual. It shouldn't stick out. It shouldn't, but maybe I've just been reading the wrong books but I feel like so many YA novels of this ilk are really only about the love story with the dystopian stuff in the background. Here's a short list I could think of off the top of my head:
1. The Selection series
2. The Twilight series
3. The Hunger Games (yeah, sure, let's rise up against the capital, but who will she pick, Peeta or Gale???)
4. The Divergent series
5. The Matched series (although to be fair, this one I haven't read)
6. The Red Queen series
7. The Mortal Instruments series
I just really appreciated that this book seemed to have more to it than an ill-conceived broken society and a drab romance.
Side note, I did totally put BTS's Jin and Jungkook in as Malachi and Asa, respectively. I cannot for the life of me seem to figure out how to put images in this review, but do yourself a favor and google them.
This book is what [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1322103400s/10507293.jpg|15413183] would be if it were good. (See my review of The Selection if you'd like to understand why I thought it was a truly cataclysmically bad book https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2589341664?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 ) A dystopian society that runs on strict rules and very few freedoms. A society that has punishments and secrecy. A society that is built on the oppression of others. A society that has a competition with no real winner, because the competition is for the most beautiful and demure woman to be offered up to the ruler to be used at will.
Except, where The Selection falters because of inadequate world-building, Grace and Fury rises up. This society has a clear backstory outlined in another book read within by one of the main characters (#someta), where a woman and her daughters ruled the country. The deposed rulers didn't like being ruled by women, so they staged a coup, revised the historical narrative, and set up new rules to keep women as powerless as possible so they couldn't rise up again. Very Empress Wu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian. Okay, so then, onto the choosing of the women. It affords them an opportunity out of a life of drudgery to be chosen as a Grace to either the main ruler (the Superior) or his son (the Heir). Your job as a Grace: look pretty, be submissive, be a plaything for the Superior or the Heir. They choose three every three years and then those women get to live in the palace and be pampered until death do the Superior and his literal multitudes of Graces part. And, of course, much like The Selection and every teen dystopian drama ever, there's a love triangle, this time between one of the two sisters and the two brother princes. Only, who to trust?? In The Selection, the choice is between bumpkin boy from home and prince we're trying to get to choose us so lead life of luxury. In Grace and Fury, there's attraction, yes, but it's more about their personalities and how they can help or hinder the main character in her achieving her true goals, of reuniting with her sister.
Because the true point behind this book is the power of women and the strength of women. The two main characters, Serina and Nomi, are sisters. They've trained together for years for Serina to become a Grace and her rebellious little sister to become her handmaiden, thereby saving both of them. First twist: Nomi is basically caught with a book but instead of being punished, the Heir chooses her to be his Grace. Big ol' role reversal, but the sisters are like, "okay, this could be worse". Things do get worse and go horribly awry when Serina is accused of reading (it's forbidden for women to read... pretty soon they start getting ideas... and thinking... ). She gets taken to a prison island. Yeah. A prison island. Where women are pitted against each other for men's sport.
Nomi, meanwhile, is still a Grace and is doing everything she can to get back to her sister. Serina is fighting for survival on the island and is also doing everything she can to get back to her sister. This is why I liked this book. Yeah, sure, there were romantic interests. Yes, there's the larger context of wanting to oppress women because they have the capacity to be so powerful. But on every page there's the message of women supporting women. Of women caring about other women. About women needing other women to survive and thrive. Of the bonds of sisterhood being so strong. I loved that. I loved that the book wasn't focused solely on the boy and the romance. It shouldn't be that so unusual. It shouldn't stick out. It shouldn't, but maybe I've just been reading the wrong books but I feel like so many YA novels of this ilk are really only about the love story with the dystopian stuff in the background. Here's a short list I could think of off the top of my head:
1. The Selection series
2. The Twilight series
3. The Hunger Games (yeah, sure, let's rise up against the capital, but who will she pick, Peeta or Gale???)
4. The Divergent series
5. The Matched series (although to be fair, this one I haven't read)
6. The Red Queen series
7. The Mortal Instruments series
I just really appreciated that this book seemed to have more to it than an ill-conceived broken society and a drab romance.
Side note, I did totally put BTS's Jin and Jungkook in as Malachi and Asa, respectively. I cannot for the life of me seem to figure out how to put images in this review, but do yourself a favor and google them.
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