Hey ForeverBookers,
Well, my second read of 2019 was great! "Strange Grace" focuses primarily on the relationship between three young people, two boys, Rhun and Arthur, and a girl named Mairwen. The book is like a whimsical fantasy mismatch that has elements of the old world, as well as some magic you’d expect to see it today’s fantasy literature. There’s personification also involved in the story too, as the forest becomes its own character.
4.5 Stars!
“Every seven years their best boy is sent into the forest from sundown to sunrise, on the night of the Slaughter Moon. He will live or die on his own mettle, and by his sacrifice the devil blesses three graces.”
This is the main premise of the book. It’s set out in the first few pages, which I liked as it wasn’t lost in the flow of the story. The best boy is, of course one of our two heroes mentioned above. If he survives he can leave Strange Grace for good...what do the other characters think of this? You’ll have to read to find out. Also, "Strange Grace" is a present tense, third person story. I’m quite surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did because I generally like books to be told from first person POV. I think it gives more understanding to the characters and let’s you in to their minds. Both of the books that I’ve read so far this year have been third person stories and I’ve rated them both highly!
I read Strange Grace for a few readathons this month. They were:
Reading Rivalry on Facebook - Book with the colours of your Sailor Scout. Sailor Moon is one of my favourite fandoms! Sailor Mars is my team's scout and her colours are red, purple and black so it's perfect for Strange Grace as the main colours are those three.
Litwits on Facebook - a book I'd like to be a movie - I think "Strange Grace" would be an awesome adult movie. As I say later in this review, there's a part that I think could potentially be really scary so I'd watch all but that bit.
PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge - A book with a two word title...Strange Grace, no more explanation needed!
Spoilers below...
“If we didn’t love him, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice.”
is what Mairwen says to Arthur when they think that Rhun is the boy who will have to run. The whole of “Strange Grace” revolves around this love triangle, which I’m VERY surprised to say that I enjoyed immensely. It wasn’t annoying, like other love triangles I’ve read have been and was written really well. Also, the characters were all loveable, which always helps. In other love triangles—ones that I haven’t enjoyed as much, there’s always unneeded tension or selfish characters that want what they can’t have. That wasn’t the case with "Strange Grace." All three of the participants were okay to let one of them kiss the other mate without batting an eyelid. This was really refreshing.
“I know how Rhun feels,” she hisses. “About me and you.”
This is Mairwen telling Arthur that she accepts how Rhun, the man she loves feels about Arthur. This was a moment of discovery in the story because we knew how Rhun felt but Mairwen wasn’t sure until that point. The italicised “and” let’s us know this. It’s revealed that Rhun kissed Arthur three years before the book is set also.
“I wanted you to know,” awkward fourteen year old Rhun said. “Next time it’ll be me and I wanted you to know.”
This is Rhun explaining his actions, as to why he kissed Arthur. Arthur didn’t want to be kissed necessarily but Rhun wanted Arthur to know how he felt before he ran in the forest. Rhun loves Arthur deeply, as much as he loves Mairwen. It was interesting to have a love triangle where the characters are all friends to begin with. I feel like in so many love triangle scenarios there’s two best friends and then someone on the outside who is welcomed in. I don’t like these much. There’s one in particular that I find so annoying in another series but "Strange Grace" wasn’t like that at all. I generally only like adult love triangles now because they can go beyond what YA can. I find them interesting, exciting as well as sometimes dangerous. The "Strange Grace" one bordered New Adult, without overstepping the boundary I feel.
Parental figures and a best friend character are in the story, which was nice to see. Mairwen’s mother has a role to play, as does her best friend, Haf, as do Rhun’s parents, although not as much and the same with Arthur’s dad, who is horrible and treats him badly. His mum left them when he was younger. When Arthur was young he thought he was a girl. His mom encouraged this because she didn’t want him to be the chosen one and to run in the forest.
“He knew no better—none did—until an early summer day playing in the creek by the boneyard. All the little girls stripped and splashed, laughing until one girl screamed he was different.”
Arthur’s mom left the village of Strange Grace when she realised that she couldn’t hide her son. Arthur wants to run, to prove himself worthy of being a boy.
There are mystery elements to the plot as well. Those being just who the devil in the forest is. I don’t want to spoil it for obvious reasons but it was a shock to find out who it actually was. There’s quite a horrific scene; that if it had been on television, I know I couldn’t have watched it, where the person who is the devil transforms towards the end of “Strange Grace.”
Another character we meet is John Upjohn, who has run in the forest and is the only boy to ever escape.
“A part of me never left that forest, not just my...not just...but at least here I’m...close to it. I have to stay close.”
I found John’s arc one of the most interesting because he had experienced what others were so keen to experience. He’s warning Mairwen of the dangers above and that the forest will always keep a part of whoever runs. John Upjohn is the only main character we see scared in "Strange Grace". Everyone else appears to be brave and up for the fight. As John Upjohn is the only one who’s survived the run in the forest it proves just how much it can mess the characters up.
Lord Vaughn is another, more mysterious character. He’s older than Mairwen, Rhun, Arthur and John, more Mairwen’s mother’s age. He’s only present in a few scenes but is significant. Just as the Grace who ran before is. Baeddan ran and became the devil last time. We’re never sure what to make of Baeddan. He’s talking to Mairwen about her father, here:
“...his bones were strapped to the Bone Tree, his skull hung with the others!” Baeddan laughs, desperate, delighted. “All the others.”
Mairwen lost her father when she was young. He was one of the Graces that ran in the forest, her mother claims. Is this true though, or are we led to believe this and something else happens? You’ll have to read to find out. Is Baeddan good, is he evil, does he just want to find solace? You’ll again, have to read to find out.
Overall then, I loved "Strange Grace". It had almost everything that I look for in a good fantasy. The only thing it lacked was speed over the middle part. I felt it was a little sluggish at points. That’s why I’m giving the book 4.5 stars. I might pick up "The Queens Of Innis Lear" sometime because that is written by the same author and is based on King Lear, a play that I loved studying at school...stand by for my next review coming soon...
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