Book Review: Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Grace by Elizabeth Scott
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication date: September 2010
ISBN: 9780525422068
Source: ARC provided by Traveling ARC Tours

Grace is running from who she was and what she did.  Having grown up as an outcast and then an Angel - a bringer of death by suicide bomb- she always knew what she was supposed to do.    Now on a train trying to escape from that life, she finds herself allied with someone she never thought she could agree with.  Are they both working for the same purpose or will she find herself at the mercy of this stranger?

Things I Liked:
Interesting and different.  It was an unusual story that didn't revolve so much around what happened as how people think and how they can change the way they think.  The world she created is not fully formed, we only get bare glimpses of it, but I think that was intentional, so we aren't distracted from the characters and what they think, say, and do.  I like Grace.  I like following her on her journey.  I like seeing how she is different from the others around her and also how she is the same.  The book shows us that different sides of a conflict are often the same, both in the good and in the bad.  It reminds us to cherish life - not only ours but everyone's.  Powerful without using too many words, now that takes talent!

Following us is certain death.  We go to that willingly, but his people won't.  They're too scared.  That's what the little monster did for Keran Berj, scared them so hard they'll follow him no matter what.  It's hard to believe you can be free when you know Keran Berj has made it so you aren't safe with your own family. p 114-115 of ARC

I don't have to do anything.  I don't have to live for others.  I can live for myself, and that's what I want.  That's my freedom. p 175 of ARC

I see that everyone around us is not a thing.  Not a sheep.  I see that everyone is a person.  Everyone I see matters to someone else...It is not just one person, or even one group of people who matter, who deserve to live.  I see that now.  Everyone deserves life. p 199 of ARC

Things I Didn't Like:
It was really confusing at the beginning.  I had no idea who or what was happening and I felt like I was thrown into a time and place with no explanation whatever.  I would like to have had a gentler introduction, one that wouldn't take me 20 or so pages before I figure out basic information.  I had to go back and reread some earlier passages when I finally understood better.  But, it was worth the effort in the end.
 
Read-alikes:

Actually, a little like Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Also, somewhat like the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
maybe one or two

mrg-factor: XX
it is implied and hinted at, not described

v-factor: ->->->
some very disturbing images and incidents

Overall rating: ****

What's the best book you've read that is short on words?

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