Book review - The Grace Year

Title: The Grace Year
Author: Kim Liggett
Genre: dystopia
Similar books: How We Became Wicked by Alexander Yates
                      Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Rating:

dark but brilliant

Summary (provided by publisher): Survive the year.
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between. 

My opinion: Let's be frank: the plot of this book is grim and cruel. There's blatant death and violence. Liggett doesn't hold back in portraying repression and the cruelty women inflict upon one another. This is a society where females have absolutely no freedom. They can't even have friendships. So, when they are given a year of absolute freedom, they turn on each other rather than banding together and fighting their oppression. They wield their small amount of power as a weapon against their peers. I got a little frustrated by all of the twists, the ways that the plot seems to constantly circle back on itself. The ending isn't neat and tidy but rather a first step towards change for the future.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.