Grace and Fury Review

 Time for another review for a book y'all have probably read, but for the people that are on the fence, be prepared to be more on the fence because I'm slightly conflicted about this one. Don't get me wrong, it's good and I'm interested in the sequel, but it felt a bit too generic. It felt like a more violent version of the Selection set in a more patriarchy time. I will say this is my main complaint because I've always been a person that looks heavily at a plot for creativity and originality and this didn't really have it for me, BUT this is a book that kept me reading throughout the night and I don't know the last time I did that (maybe one of the Ember in the Ashes books, but if not then before high school!). I just got completely enraptured in the book and the politics and even though this is the first book, I feel like you get a feel for the politics and the dual perspectives does well for showing that.

  Okay, now let's talk about the synopsis. Like I said before, it's like the Selection where the heir to the throne picks the most eligible women from the land to potentially be his wife, but this is where it gets a bit darker because these women are pretty much just a part of his harem and seen more like objects, hell one of their duties was to stand like statues for a period of time, and Serina is chosen. She takes her sister Nomi to be her handmaiden (I think this was the term they used in the book, but basically their servant that helps them into their outfits, apply their makeup, do the cleaning, etc. No mandatory red cloaks). Also in this world, women have no rights, they can't go to school, they are taught to be inferior to men, and they aren't allowed to read, however, Nomi can.

I'm not going to talk about spoilers because I kind of want to be able to discuss the series in full with spoilers rather than just the first book, so this will be another spoiler free review.