Last edited on November 25, 2023 by Sarah Pereira
Does Grace and Fury live up to its stunning cover and hype? After reading this Grace and Fury book review you’ll know exactly whether you should pick this up. Skip to Should You Read Grace and Fury below for the final verdict!
Grace and Fury Summary
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.
Grace and Fury Book Review
Before I get into this review, I think we need to have a moment for this stunning dedication: “For every woman who has been told to sit down and be quiet… and who stood up anyway.” It’s not often that you see an author dedicate a book to someone other than friends or family so this was a breath of fresh air.
Firstly, the pacing in Grace and Fury was pretty bad. Going into it, I knew Grace and Fury was going to be a short book. What I didn’t expect was for it to move so quickly it seemed that everything took place in two days at max.
Not just that, the characters and their irrational decisions makes the book ten times worse than it could’ve been. As a book that’s labeled as a feminist Hunger Games meets Red Queen, I didn’t realize that meant girly girls were going to be shunned for liking dresses and rebels were going to be praised. Weirdly enough, this book relies a lot on the men (like at the end with the sister’s brother) and Nomi is so gullible around men. I’m so tired of YA protagonist’s life changing the moment they meet a hot guy.
I hate how the author tries so hard to make Nomi and Serina different. They’re sisters it’s fine that they’re similar. Like Serina isn’t as pretty as Nomi because she’s a girly girl and not a rebel. Nomi is special because she’s not like other girls. The two were so starkly different and they just felt like a forced mouthpiece for the author to make a prolific point about feminism.
The biggest reason I was upset about their differences was because I’ve seen authors write strong female characters and make feminist points, like The Hunger Games, Throne of Glass, and The Handmaids Tale.
In terms of plot, the stakes were as low as they could possibly be. There were just too many cliché tropes for me to actually enjoy the story because I knew everything that was going to happen. There’s mistaken identity, bad boy is good and good boy is bad, enemies to lovers, unassuming rebel girl is super pretty, hot manipulative villain.
Should You Read Grace and Fury?
One word comes to mind when I think of Grace and Fury: predictable. The author tries to do to much and limits herself to a novella length book and falls victim to the popular tropes that weren’t even well executed. Unfortunately, this was two stars for me!
Page Count: 320 | Publisher: Little, Brown Books | Genre: YA Fantasy | Publication Date: July 31, 2018
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