My feelings about Grace and Fury can be summed up thusly: Tropey and kind of predicable, but also quite entertaining. Like, entertaining enough to make me enjoy it despite the issues.

The Things I Liked:

The characters were quite well done, and I enjoyed their development throughout the story. Serina and Nomi thought that they were so sure of their paths in life. And when everything is turned upside down, they're forced to see things from the other person's viewpoint, and I found that a fascinating story. Plus, they loved each other (and the rest of their family) quite fiercely, and I am always here for that in a story.

Literally everything about Prison Island. Idk what it's really called, I could look it up, but does it matter? Anyway, it's awesome. It's all survival and girl bonding, and fighting oppression, and I am here for it.

I loved that the women's friendships and bonds became important. Not just to survival, but to the girls. They each made some wonderful bonds while separated, and I felt that both characters grew a lot because of these interactions. A great message, especially since it really portrayed that women standing together could accomplish great things.

Again, it was super readable and entertaining. It isn't measurable or objective, I just felt compelled to keep reading.

The Things I Didn't:

The aforementioned tropiness. Trying to protect a sister? Check. Women oppressed in a world where men are in charge just because? Check. A crappy royal in charge? Check. So yeah, those things did make some parts kind of predictable.

There were just a few things that... irked me. But they're a little spoilery? (view spoiler)

Will I Read the Sequel? Oh definitely. Is it wrong that I need more prison?

Bottom Line: While a bit predictable and trope-y, the story and characters were definitely entertaining enough to keep me excited to read!

This book was a little slow to pick up but eventually I couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of Venetian Italy during the Medivial times which I loved, as it seems like that’s a genre that’s not explored much.

Serina has aimed to be a Grace her whole life. In a world where women aren’t allowed to learn to read, becoming one of the heir’s paramours is pretty much as good as it gets – otherwise she’ll be relegated to a life of work in a factory. When she’s selected to go to the palace to be considered for a position as a Grace, she’s beyond thrilled and takes her younger sister Nomi along as a handmaiden. But neither Serina nor Nomi are prepared for the backstabbing political machinations at large in the palace, and soon both girls will find their world turned upside down.

This was sold to me as The Selection meets The Handmaid’s Tale, which sounded super intriguing as I enjoyed those books for very different reasons - guilty pleasure and biting social commentary respectively. And one of the girls does have an arc that very much meets that description. Interestingly, I didn’t really like her story. Most of that has to do with the fact that we’re told that the character is smart and rebellious, but we’re mostly just shown her swanning around the palace making stupid decisions. The other sister has an arc that’s much more Beauty Queens meets The Hunger Games, and I really enjoyed that one. It was a much more unique story, and the character experienced a lot of growth.

Because the sisters’ paths diverge, I feel that it’s fairly safe to say that at least one of the two stories will appeal to most YA dystopia and fantasy readers. If you like your dystopia with a dose of feminism, you’ll enjoy this slightly derivative series opener. I liked it. 3 stars.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Netgalley for the eARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review. Grace and Fury will become available for purchase on 31 July, but you can put your copy on hold today!

I was super excited going into this. The premise of GRACE AND FURY reminded me of Kendare Blake's THREE DARK CROWNS series which I absolutely adore and I always enjoy a good dystopian—add in the comparison of a YA THE HANDMAID'S TALE—I was all in for this book. It would be too much to say that I didn't enjoy it, because I absolutely did, but (at least for me) it felt very much like the introductory novel (which, again, it is) to a larger story. I was intrigued by the world that Banghart has created and the characters were great, there was just too much exposition packed in. I'm interested to see where this story goes, and I will for sure be checking out the sequel.

Thank you so much to LBYR for letting me read.

Grace and Fury turned out to be very different from what I expected, and yet exactly the same. But no matter what I did or didn’t expect, it turned out to be an amazing read. Not only is it a great fantasy world, with fierce heroines and shocking plot twists, but it also deals with a very current topic, which made it even better. See, the fantasy world is literally the nightmare of every feminist; women have no rights whatsoever. They aren’t allowed to read, they can’t decide to cut their own hair, and they have to be submissive and graceful.

The book starts with a huge plot twist. After that, I was hooked. The plot may not have been the most action-packed, or fast-paced, but I still loved it. It was filled with tension, which made up for the lack of action. It never got boring, was always interesting and kept me wanting to read, and that, after all, is the most important thing. Obviously all books don’t need to be action-packed to be great reads, and this was one of them.

I liked the characters. From the start, I loved Nomi. She’s rebellious, she wants to make her own decisions and have the same rights as her twin brother, and she refuses to settle. In a world like the one she lives in, that is truly admirable. It’s an uphill battle, but she’s willing to fight for women’s rights. Her sister, Serina, is the opposite; she strives to be everything women are supposed to be, and she hates Nomi’s rebellion. At first, I really didn’t like her. She was just too submissive and seemed to have no real thoughts of her own, except judgment for her sister. But she went through a lot of character development, and by the end of it, I loved her just as much as I did Nomi.

The feminism in this book, and this entire world that is hell for women, really fits into the world today. I think we need more books like this one, to show us how unfair and wrong the treatment of women is. It might help raise awareness of the situation, and that’s important. But reading this, it also made me very grateful that where I live has better conditions.

Grace and Fury was, simply put, amazing. It was such a feministic, interesting story that caught me from the beginning. It’s an important story, and I will yell it from the rooftops until everyone just reads it. Or, you know, you can just pick it up and read it. Save me the trouble.

I took a chance because it was compared to The Selection. I’m so glad I took the chance with this book. This is a YA book and I love that it’s about young women snd women who are oppressed but it they aren’t happy and there are those who are willing to rebel and fight for their rights.
Serina is brought up to be a Grace. She’s submissive, wants to help her family by being chosen to be one of the young women the Heir chooses. She conforms to what she is told and taught. She’s like every woman in Bellaqua.
Nomi is the rebellious one. She wants things to be different for women. She’s her sister’s handmaiden. But Nomi stands out because she’s different from the other girls and she catches the eye of the Heir and someone else.
I must say until almost the end I was like Nomi and I believed everything that she was told. I was surprised by the turn it started taking and what was revealed.
I can’t wait for the next book. I need to know what happens to the sisters and how they will rise together. I highly recommend this book. Loved the that was created and the characters. There’s change and growth in these young women. Amazing work. This will be the perfect gift for my best friend.

The plot was reminiscent of other dystopians, especially The Selection, but my real problem was failing to connect with the characters. It does end in a huge cliffhanger so it is sure a trilogy in the works.

If you love all the tropes, this book is gonna be your jam!

This book has everything- instalove, a love triangle, an unqualified protagonist who prevails among more qualified characters, a gullible martyr, a girl who thinks she's unattractive but isn't, a callous king and all of this in a mere 320 pages.  Please note, if a book one fantasy is under 400 pages-RUN, GIRL, IT'S INFO-DUMPED OR UNDERDEVELOPED!

This book started off okay but I soon realized that the pacing was WAY TOO FAST and that's problem number all of numbers.

Because the pacing is so fast, there's no world building which would have been appreciated because this is a world where it's illegal for women to learn to read for cripes sake. Because the pacing is so fast, there's no character development. Nomi is supposed to be a rebel and she makes attempts but she's so wimpy and needs help to do everything at no time did I believe her to be strong or independent or clever. The other sister, Serina, has no skills but man did she manage some amazing feats.

This was a charming story, told by alternating narrators. The girls are separated fairly early in the story. To keep us as up to date as possible with their lives and changing fortunes, we are given this alternating system. I liked that, mostly because of the timing thing.
Serina and Nomi are sisters in a land that severely limits what a woman can do. The rules are more repressive than you can imagine, and the penalties are totally out of line with what we would consider appropriate. Serina trains for a position with visibility but no more power than any other. In a surprise move, her sister is picked for that position and Serina is accused of one of the many crimes that only women can commit and sentenced to life without parole on a death island prison.
I do hope there are more volumes in this story because it ended suddenly. Serina and Nomi are both in even greater danger that the ones they just defeated, kind of like jumping from the pan into the fire. Now we need to see how hot that fire is and if the sisters can escape and reunite.
I received the copy of the book I read from Netgalley.

I got an ARC of this book.

I was made aware of this book because of an email I received comparing it to The Handmaid's Tale, which if you have been unfortunate enough to get me going about books in the last five years I have probably mentioned my love a few hundred times. I even used my love of the book to bond with my boss who is a big fan of Margaret Atwood. It was a win-win. I was able to gush about the book and get more books from my boss. I texted my boss about Grace and Fury when I hit about 78%. I told her that it was a mixture of Bitch Planet and The Handmaid's Tale, but for teens. 

Grace and Fury is the story of two sisters who learn how to rebel, despite great odds. It is very much the tale of the underdogs that come to terms with their own powers. One sister comes to term by forced imprisonment on an island where women are nothing but sports to the guards. The other through forced subservience to the Heir and the customs of her lands. The world is one of those dystopians where the characters are unaware of it or so resigned to it that there is no real fuss anymore. There are a few people leading uprisings, but they are unheard of to the general public. This dystopian is not in the future or even potentially on Earth as we know it. Instead it is a quiet one that is only recognized to be bad by those who are not in power, the women and their supporters. The rules of this land don't even seem as far fetched as many of the YA dystopians I have read. There is a hint of Hunger Games in the opening, but that is only because girls are picked from each area and offered to royalty. Three are kept each year. They are now part of his harem, I mean, his Graces.

Nomi was trained all of her life to be a handmaid. She was to care for her sister. Her sister, Serina, was trained all of her life to be a Grace. They are forced apart by Nomi's secret when they are caught in the palace doing "illegal" things. Serina takes the fall for her sister, despite their current issues (Nomi being chosen over Serina as a Grace which was unheard of). Serina is sentenced to an island prison. 

The rest of the book is their adventures trying to save the other from a life they don't deserve or want. Nomi has to deal with political intrigued and learning who to trust in a world of spoiled monsters. She even meets the one gay character in the book. This is only mentioned a few times through the book and is not a major plot point. Instead it was used to show how bad the society was because being gay was outlawed for women, it is not mentioned if being gay was outlawed for men as well. All of the restrictions mentioned in the book were on women and their freedoms. Despite how small this queer interlude was, I didn't feel that the author was using it for token queer representation or as an easy plot twist. I might have felt differently if the two main girls were not described as having olive skin. Though race did not seem to be an issue in this society, it was refreshing to see a non-pasty white person still be the focus in a world where race isn't a factor. The main issue that everything focused on was gender. The inclusion of different skin tones led me more towards a path of seeing the author attempting to have a more diverse group of characters without that being the focus of the book itself. 

Serina meets women that are charged with everything from murder to lying. She even meets another fallen Grace. The minor characters met in the prison were more fleshed out than I expected and I felt for each of them. My favorite being, of course, Oracle. How could I not love her? Her story really throws the fact that women were forced into subservience, no matter how disastrous that was for the woman. Women were not people, they were for male use either through the Grace set-up or hard labor in factories. Oracle is one of those characters that can make a book no matter how long they are in it. She was everything I could want in a character, though I will say I want a book entirely about her rise and fall. 

This book was entertaining, fun to read, hard to read, and very much a dystopian novel. They is blood, there is violence, there is implied rape. This is not a book that will be easy for everyone to read. It was exactly the sort of book I love, but there is content that can be triggering to others. The part of the book that had the biggest impact on me was the idea that consent doesn't matter when you can't say no. You can say yes, but you aren't giving consent. This book nailed that both in idea and having the characters realize it slowly over the course of the book. That should give you some idea of how triggering it can be.

4.5 ⭐️
Two sisters. One raised for obedience, to serve. One who refuses conform, a rebel. What would you do if you were suddenly forced into a life you never prepared for? Could you fight instead of surrender to your circumstance? Could you follow the rules instead of breaking them? GRACE AND FURY is a story of two sisters and how their lives change when the unexpected happens.

“This was her life now. Somehow, she would have to learn how to survive.”

Huge thank you to The Novl for the opportunity to read this book early. It was one of my most anticipated reads this year and definitely did not disappoint. The writing style and story reminded me a little of The Selection Series by Kiera Cass. But more brutal and with more defiance. It's a story that screams of feminism and confronting authority. Not letting anyone control your actions, your thoughts, or your life. I loved every second of this book.

“No one should be made to feel broken or powerless."

I especially loved watching Serina's character grow throughout this book. To learn that fighting back isn't always bad and there is more than one way to win a war. Both of these girls went through such a transformation throughout the book, it was a delight to watch. As someone who has a sister I found it really easy to connect with the story and these characters.

“You must be as strong as this prison, as strong as the stone and ocean that hems you in. You are brick and barbed wire. You are iron.”

If you're looking for a quick summer read, a book that you can immediately find yourself immersed in, where you will be sitting there reading and mouthing "You GO girl!" and watching an epic story unravel, then this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for! That ending completely caught me off guard and those last 50 pages had me riveted. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out in the next book.


“In all the stories, women give up everything. We are always supposed to give. We are never supposed to fight. Why do you think that is?”

“Because they’re afraid of what will happen if we do.”

I found this book to be enjoyable and thought-provoking. The main characters were likable though at times making odd decisions. The world building was thorough, and the plot was interesting. Like almost every other YA book out there, it had unnecessary (in my opinion) romance. But overall it was entertaining and one I'd recommend.

This book follows two very different sisters, in a country ruled by men. The men are in power, they have the right to go to school, and the right to learn to read. In this world women are to be submissive, gentle, and of course beautiful possessions.

As the story flips between the two sisters each chapter at times I found myself skimming through one chapter to get back to what was happening with the other sister. I felt the story was sometimes disrupted by the switching of perspectives. I will say that I enjoyed the twist that occurs at the end of the book. It left me on the edge of my seat a bit.

Overall I think this was a great YA read and will be recommending it in the future.

There was quite a bit of pleasant buzz surrounding Grace and Fury that made me want to pick the book up. Unfortunately it didn’t manage to move away from average for me but I can see why others might like it so much. I am certainly a bit of an odd one out here.

Grace and Fury focuses on two sisters, Nomi and Serina. Serina is a grace in training, hoping to be chosen by the heir as one of his graces and Nomi her handmaiden. In Viridia it is normal for the king to have various graces by his side if you catch my meaning… There doesn’t seem to be a queen. I hadn’t really read the synopsis so the twist at the start caught my attention. I quite liked that. But after that the plot sunk in a bit of mediocrity. Not the message the book tries to send. But why does Serina need a man along for the ride during the rebellion? I think her piece could have felt a lot stronger had we not had Val there. The love triangle and the twist at the end were too obvious, and for how smart the girl is, she fell into it way too easily.

Like I said, I admire the book for what it tries to do with the message about standing up for yourself, to take your life into your own hands. That your worth as a woman isn’t determined by men. It doesn’t walk around issues and it doesn’t hide the brutal parts of the society.

I loved how there was such a clear sisterhood between the two that felt realistic. They don’t see eye to eye, and yes they get angry at each other for situations they don’t have control over. But sibling relationships aren’t perfect. They will fight for each other though. I also enjoyed how there are other female relationships like Nomi and Maris or Serina and Jacana.

However, as another reviewer pointed out on goodreads, why do we have so many females, and there barely being any kind of lgbtq+ relationships? There is only the mention of one side character who had a relationship with a female. With so many females in one place that spend years together you are telling me nothing developed there? And it being illegal really isn’t a good reason. They already weren’t coming off the island anyway. Some other world building regarding society and history is also a tad shaky.

But even though I loved the sisterhood, I hate that they are separated for most of the book. I really enjoyed the scenes where they were together, with Renzo too. It had a sense of family. I love that. Separately I think both characters are fine and, especially Serina, has good character development. However I don’t turn hot or cold for either of them. I just don’t care about them as separate characters.

I do however have hope for the sequel. A lot of this was about setting up a new situation and in the next book they will be moving on from that. Hopefully we are getting the sisters together and some of these other characters. I think that would be great to see.

Writing this review a few days after finishing this book, I still have a lot of mixed thoughts and feelings. It was a very in the middle kind of book for me, it wasn't the worst, but it also had a lot of room for improvement. The setting of this book is one that resembles a dystopian society in which women are heavily oppressed and basically not allowed to do anything. The main premise of the story is the crown prince searching for 'graces'-women who become essentially mistresses for him as he goes on. To best describe it, it has dark The Selection vibes.

I wasn't a huge fan of the way the sisters developed-Nomi in particular. At the beginning she is this strong girl, with her secret (that she can read), but by the end of it the two girls almost trade personalities? I would've liked to see more individual growth. Serina, on the other hand, became much more likeable by the end and I am definitely rooting to see how she will continue to grow in the next novel. I find myself a bit disappointed that there was no LGBTQ romance with Serina as she was sent to an all female inhabited island and instead falls victim to the dreaded INSTALOVE (oh how small Kait would've loved this, but now it just feels too unbelievable). I love Val this just kinda leads into my next point...

The plot itself was well paced, just it felt too obvious/predictable. I saw the plot twist coming long before the end of the book (SPOILER BEGINS) I mean, Nomi is smart, Nomi shouldn't have fallen into this and not seen this coming too. I saw a review that called it a Red Queen rip off, and I would have to agree. It felt super obvious that Asa was trying to get the crown for himself and frame Malachi right away. ugh, still frustrated that this was a plot twist we had to deal with. I would've loved to see Malachi actually be evil!! (SPOILER ENDS)

Also I need a paragraph to talk about a favourite muffin who must be protected: yes, I mean you Renzo. I hope we get more Renzo in the next novel (please Tracy, you can't kill my baby, he's too pure).

All in all, this is a book filled with girl power! I loved all the badass women we meet at Mount Ruin, and I am excited to see how this story will unfold. From what I gather, this is set to be a duology, let's hope that this story is wrapped up well.

Grace and Fury releases July 31st in North America (maybe sooner internationally, i have been seeing copies floating around).

Grace and Fury is a dual character, third-person limited omniscient book featuring two sisters, Serina and Nomi. The chapters switch back and forth from Serina to Nomi as they each work to help the other because life is 100% not going they way they had planned. Instead, Nomi --destined to be Serina's handmaiden when she is chosen to be one of three of the Heir's Graces (who live like a sultan's harem)-- is selected to be one of the Graces. And not 24 hours after being relegated to handmaiden, Sernia is arrested and sentenced to imprisonment on Mount Ruin, a post-erupted-volcano wasteland-island. There, Serina learns the value in thinking for herself and not accepting the oppression that women of Viridia live every day. So, will she accept the new normal of an imprisoned woman? Or will she take that strength and do force change? Nomi, meanwhile, must learn to dance, wear make-up and flowy gowns, make conversational small talk, and be the embodiment of Viridian Female as a Grace. But, as the rebellious middle child, she's not content to that lifestyle-- plus she feels horrible for being the reason for Serina's imprisonment. She vows to free Serina, but can she find an ally? And is he who he really says he is?

Grace and Fury has some problems that prevent me from giving it a higher rating. The most annoying aspect was how its narration is set up. Yes, I typically prefer first-person narrators, but I can appreciate that some stories call for other types of narration. What I disliked, though, was that the chapters were very short and *had* to switch back and forth between Nomi and Serina. PLUS, Banghart ended each chapter with a cliffhanger. It felt like cheating-- like Banghart was relying on the reader wanting to know the resolution to the cliffhanger to keep coming back to the book instead of compelling storytelling and connections to characters.

In addition, the short chapters did not lend themselves to actual connections with Serina and/or Nomi. I never felt like I was really rooting for them or their causes. One of the things I love about reading is truly melding with characters: feeling their emotions, desiring their wants, aching for their needs, truly living vicariously through them. I never had that with Nomi or Serina; I was much more a fly on the wall. And Banghart's *telling* instead of *showing* didn't help in that regard, either.

[SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH]
Some of the plot points were too convenient and/or unrealistic. There is no way that Nomi is the only woman who could read and who figured out the "secret" history of the women rulers. There is no way that there wasn't a faction --other than the second-born son of the Superior-- that Nomi could team up with. There's no way that Nomi didn't find another dissenter among the older Graces. It's way too convenient that two of the three Graces chosen that year didn't want to be chosen by the Heir to join his bed on his birthday. There's no way that soft and pampered Serina so quickly takes to the fight-or-die situation and that she picks up on fighting so quickly. (That said, we don't get any hints pertaining to the passage of time within the story outside of the Heir's birthday is in 14 days.)

[SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH]
Plus, some aspects, it was obvious (to a more mature reader at least) that Banghart was setting up for a betrayal. Asa. I believed for about the second quarter of the book that he was as kind and magnanimous as he pretended to be. But then, everything just seemed to easy. But with Banghart's obvious love of cliffhangers, it was undeniable that she would throw more "twists" at the end, too, and Asa's involvement with Nomi's rebellion was the obvious choice.

My reactions while reading Grace and Fury were a rollercoaster: I enjoyed it wholeheartedly, and then I was frustrated by its back-and-forth narration, then I was enamored again, and then I was ready for it to hurry up and end. In all, Grace and Fury is a great idea, but in execution, it was rough. It read like a debut author's third draft, not a polished novel.

Grace and Fury is a good fantasy. I enjoyed reading about the characters and finished the book quickly. The plot twist, however, was easily guessed from the beginning.

***3.5 STARS***

Content Warning: Physical abuse, violence, threatened talk of rape, and death

*HUGE thanks to Little Brown Books For Young Readers for the early review copy in exchange for my honest opinion

PLOT

Grace & Fury opens up in an Italian inspired Fantasy setting that has been compared to that of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Women are limited to the role of housewives and the simplest of educations is deemed illegal to them. We meet Serina and her sister Nomi who are complete polar opposites. Serina is in training to compete for a position as a "Grace" for the Heir to the throne. Nomi in turn is being trained to be her handmaiden of sorts if Serina secures a position as a Grace. To be chosen as a Grace is viewed as a honorable thing & blessing bestowed upon a family. In truth, a Grace is groomed in all sorts of manners & etiquette but is also to assume the role of concubine to the Heir. To Serina, being chosen is all that matters & it's what she's worked so hard for. For outspoken & Feminist Nomi, this all sounds more like a life sentence. Free spirited and hungry for knowledge of the written word, Nomi wants Serina to see that this life isn't a choice at all. While Serina aims to please the Heir someday, Nomi can be found sneaking in lessons with her brother on how to read. They both seem to have their life purpose laid out in stone until their world is turned upside down and they are forced to step into each others shoes...LITERALLY! One random run in with the heir leads to Nomi securing a most undesirable spot as a Grace leaving Serina to be her handmaiden. This twisted turn of affairs is one of many that will keep you flipping the pages as fast as you can drink in the words.

CHARACTERS

Grace & Fury is told from the alternating points of view between Serina and Nomi which worked really well to show us just how different these two siblings really are. I started off really favoring Nomi and her refusal to be boxed into a role she never asked for. I found myself really wanting to see more from this character & her contribution to the overall story. About half way into Grace & Fury, I found myself really frustrated with Nomi's situation but understood that it wasn't ideal for either of the two sisters. Made to swap roles, neither Serina or Nomi were prepared for the cards they were dealt. I did however have higher expectations from Nomi who knows how to read & is from the very start is very rebellious. Instead, I feel like we didn't get much character growth from Nomi vs. the immense transformation we see in Serina during the last half of this book. Given, Nomi was in a very subdued position given the very nature of having to fulfill the role of a Grace but it doesn't explain some of her decisions specifically when it came to insta-love. Serina on the other hand really won me over during the second half of the book as she came to terms with the hard consequences of her sister's secret. I also really enjoyed Serina's POV chapters because of the supporting characters we are introduced to on the island she is cast away. Not only is Serina stripped of her chances to become a Grace but she takes the fall for her sisters secret & is discarded on an island where the women fight to the death for their meals. The women on the island all have a story and getting to know them had to be my favorite part of this story.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS

This was such a fast paced easy read that caught me by surprise each & every time I sat down. I easily read chunks at a time every sitting but won't deny that the second half of this story is where all the action and character growth really hooked its claws into me. I also found myself enjoying Serina's chapters way more than Nomi's which is a shame since Nomi and what she represents really appealed to my Feminist soul. There is so much good to this story though, including the history embedded into the ways of the land and why women are not allowed to learn how to read. Fear of what is perceived to be the weaker sex gaining knowledge & one day reclaiming power is at the root of the story. I found Grace & Fury to be a solid start to a Feminist Fantasy that I am very interested in continuing on with. If that ending is any indication of things to come...I am one very excited Bookworm! <3

***REVIEW GOES LIVE ON 7/16/18 7AM EST, LINKS WILL THEN BE ADDED FOR BLOG POST & GOODREADS***

4 Stars

Serina wants to be a Grace, ideal woman and lover to the Heir. Her sister, Nomi, wants to read and be able to make her own choices in life, but she'll settle for staying beside her sister as handmaiden. Until Nomi is suddenly chosen as a Grace, and someone sees Serina with a book and assumes she's reading. Thus Nomi is forced into Gracehood while Serina is sent to the prison of Mount Ruin. Out of their respective elements, the girls struggle to survive: Nomi must survive the complex political world were her defiance and ability to read may cost her dearly, and soft Serina must learn how to fight or die.

--

Going into Grace and Fury, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. And I found I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve never read a YA with Italian base worldbuilding and I found it was a lot of fun to read about. The world Banghart built was fun to explore because it was different than many other things I’ve read.
And of course Mount Ruin was horrible and great. The writing painted such a clear picture of this desolate, eerie island.

I adored Serina and Nomi. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about Serina but she quickly won me over. The complex feelings the girls have for one another, and their sisterly love was nice. In a world where all women are supposed to be competing, it’s good to see good sisterhood between some of the girls. Even Maris displays that sense of female friendship with Nomi. And Nomi & Maris’ relationship contrasts nicely with Nomi & Cassia’s. (I’m a big fan of foil characters/pairs so I’m very glad Banghart showed both sides of this particular coin).

The book flowed nicely back and forth between POVs and I found myself quickly turning the pages to read more. I definitely stayed up way too late reading it the first night.

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Why did I deduct 1 Star?

The only thing I didn’t like was the way the princes were handled.

I felt like we got so little of the Heir, thus I wasn’t able to decide if I liked him or not. It seemed like we got one line of dialogue from him per scene he was in. Based on the last quarter of the book, I assume I’m supposed to be routing for him, but I felt like I didn’t know enough about him to be in his boat.

In the first part of the book, we were being led along to hate the Heir because he’s just like every other man in this society, but then we’re supposed to very quickly change our opinion in the last few chapters, because suddenly, we get to see some of his character depth. I think I would have liked to have seen more balanced character development for him.

And then there’s Asa. I have many thoughts about Asa but they fall into spoiler territory. Suffice to say, he fits into a trope I’ve seen quite a bit of, and because of that I wasn’t too fond of him.

Overall it was an enjoyable book, and I will likely grab the next one when it comes around! I definitely want to find out what happens next and I want to see how this world evolves.

This book was actually a 3.5 for me. I loved the premise and thought it had a ton of potential. It was kind of slow since the author had to paint the world for us and let us see Nomi and Serina in their respective prisons. I was halfway through and realized nothing had really happened in the book. Also halfway through the book, I realized that I had not really connected with the characters. I thought Nomi was too naive and impulsive and Serina was too submissive and scared. I do realize years of being raised and taught a certain way will mean it'd take a long time for the person to break out of those habits and acting the way they did but I wanted them to get it sooner. I did love how this was a world that did not have magic but it would count as fantasy because of how it was not set in a certain place. The system that Banghart created was amazing and I also liked the added history as to why women were so oppressed. This was a much needed book for the time and things we're dealing with right now.

I never connected with Nomi but I did end up liking Serina a lot. I liked how she never let Mount Ruin break her. She was willing to fight to her death for her fellow women and would not bend to the rules of men. She'd done that all her life and being sent to Mount Ruin was just what she needed to see that things could not stay the way they were. She was worth more and could do so much more like her sister had been telling her. She grew so much throughout the book and her thinking and motives and wants expanded as well. Nomi did not grow as much as I would have liked. I loved her rebellious spirit and the fact that she realized early on that the way things were in Viridia was not right. Women should not have to bow to the will of man and the highest honor should not be being a Grace. Her defiance was admirable but it was what got her and her sister in trouble. After Serina is taken, I feel as if Nomi became one track minded and it is totally understandable that she did but it clouded her judgment. It made her see what she wanted to see and she made bad decisions. In the next book, I want to see her character grow and see where she goes from here.

Just because I gave this book a 3.5 does not mean I did not enjoy it. I thought it was so well written and the characters have so much potential. I liked Val, Malaki, and some of the women at Mount Ruin. I cannot wait to see what Banghart does in the next book and how everything is resolved!