Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart Review

Grace and Fury

Author: Tracy Banghart

Publication date: July 31, 2018

Pages: 320

Genre: YA fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Pre-Order: AmazonCA | Indigo | AmazonUS | B&N | Book Depository

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Synopsis

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.

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a story about love, deceit and survival. The book is full of twists and turns, brutality, harsh realities and strong women. So many strong women.

This was a wonderful fantasy set in a world where women basically have no rights. They aren’t allowed to read, receive education or cut their hair without a mans permission. Women are raised to become wives, work in a factory or if you’re lucky a Grace. A Grace is the embodiment of a perfect woman she is submissive, beautiful, graceful and obedient. She wont ask questions and she will do as she’s told, shes a concubine for the ruler or heir.

The story is told from two points of view Serina the older sister who wants nothing more than to become a Grace it’s what she’s worked for her entire life. The other POV is from Nomi who is rebellious, questions everything, doesn’t agree with the rules and was brought up cooking, cleaning and taking care of her family she is to be Serina’s handmaiden. That is until everything gets flipped upside down.

The two main characters are both fantastic in their own ways but my favourite is Nomi. Nomi is rebellious, brave, tough, sharp witted, demur and above all else a complete and total rule breaker, my kind of gal.  Nomi finds herself as the heirs Grace a position she never wanted, she has also landed her sister Serina in a horrific situation as Serina took  the fall for one of Nomi’s secrets.

Serina is submissive, beautiful, brave, intelligent and a fast learner. When she finds herself in the most unthinkable place which is basically hell she learns to adapt quickly and stay true to herself and her beliefs. She goes through hell and back to try and free herself so she can save her sister Nomi.

The story was a little slow at the beginning and it took me a few chapters to really get into the story. But once I was into it I was hooked. The plot was excellent it was like a mix between The Traitor Prince by C.J Redwine and The Belles by Dohnielle Clayton which are both books I absolutely loved. The story line of Serina is similar to The Traitor Prince in setting and what she has to go through while Nomi’s story is along the same lines as The Belle’s but with slightly different roles. If you are a fan of either of those books The Traitor Prince or The Belle’s I think you would really enjoy this story.

While i’m not usually a fan of multiple POVs I really did enjoy this . The two POVs are very different from each other from setting, characters to ways of survival, they are complete opposite ends of the spectrum. The world building in this story was done well, I was able to picture the characters and the different settings, I was able to get a sense of the entire world even though we are only shown a few snippets of it.

I did find a lot of the story predictable but what made it different from other stories were the characters and the world.  The plot twist at the end to me wasn’t a huge shock because I guessed what was going to happen early on in the story but I still absolutely loved the book especially the characters and the world. I’m really looking forward to reading the next one, I need to know whats going to happen!

All fantasy lover’s should have this book on their radar especially if you love strong women, deception and survival.

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