Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Publisher: Dutton
Pub.Date: September 16th 2010
Age Range: young adult
Pages: 208
Format: ARC
Source Of Copy: from the publisher - Dutton
A fable of a terrifying near future by critically acclaimed author Elizabeth Scott.

Grace was raised to be an Angel, a herald of death by suicide bomb. But she refuses to die for the cause, and now Grace is on the run, daring to dream of freedom. In search of a border she may never reach, she travels among malevolent soldiers on a decrepit train crawling through the desert. Accompanied by the mysterious Kerr, Grace struggles to be invisible, but the fear of discovery looms large as she recalls the history and events that delivered her uncertain fate

This book is definitely one of the harderst that I've ever reviewed. Elizabeth Scott totally blew me away with how she twisted one heavy subject into one another, leaving me full of questions and emotions.

Grace is a story about a terrorist, called an Angel in her society, a society which believes that death is the sacred destionation of life and should never be questioned. Grace refuses death and that's how the story begins, that's where the auhor starts to challenge the readers to go on a thought provoking ride.

A quick review on how Elizabeth writes in this book, still the same laid back voice that makes everything flows smoothly. I've said it once ot twice before but I still want to repeat how she needs no flowery words or too complicated sentence structures to make me fall in love with her writing. It's just simple and honest. Hence, I'm rather impressed at her ability to bring such a subject alive.

I've never read about terrorism before, let alone from a point of view of a suicide bomber. I wasn't sure if I could handle a book on that matter and thankfully Grace makes it easier. Rather than exploring the terrorism - the conspiracy, the practice, the consequence, Grace focuses more on the people involved, their belief, their doubt, their choice of life. In one's respective, it's brave to live but in one another's, it's cowardly. That's the main message of the book and I think it will totally make you question what's the true values of your life and what you're living for.

Kerr and Grace are both young people with difficult lives and past. They're struggling to understand themselves, to understand life and trying to make the right choice for what they believe. They're dark, almost empty it feels life I've been sucked dry just reading about them. To me Elizabeth Scott has succesfully created these two characters because while they might or might not be liked, she makes sure they're impossible to forget.

By the large it's a book worth reading and dwelling on. Recommended to everyone.

Rating: 4/5