Grace by Elizabeth Scott

Summary/Cover Image taken from Publisher's Website:

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.

Told in spare, powerful prose by acclaimed author Elizabeth Scott, this tale of a dystopian near future will haunt readers long after they've reached the final page.

Review:

Grace. There's so much to say, yet I don't think I could ever say enough to justify how amazing and powerful this one book is. It's disturbing, heartbreaking, and yet so beautifully written and eye-opening, you can't help but get caught up in this dystopian tale of life and death and what makes you choose which will be your path in the end.

From the first page, you are transported into Grace's world, a world of chaos and a sick leader controlling it all. Grace is an Angel; though don't let the title make you think she's a heavenly being. You see, an Angel is a suicide bomber used to kill government officials and show that those people won't be in power forever, but Grace took a different root; she escapes, not dying and completing the cause. So now she's on the run with the mysterious Kerr, someone who may have just as much to loose as her, someone who may understand her even though they're far from being the same person.

In Grace's world, she would be viewed as a coward, but to me I viewed her as being an extremely brave and daring person, someone who goes well past the limit on the road not taken to get to the world she wants and knows is best for her. Kerr, oh the mysterious Kerr, is someone who constantly introduced new things that made me, as well as Grace's character, re-think everything I had thought about their world and see new parts that I hadn't seen and understood fully before.

The premise of this was something fresh, and I have to say I don't think I've ever read or heard about anything just like Grace. The execution of the premise was even better, because it constantly had me on the edge of my seat dying to know what big revelation would be revealed next to make me re-think my thoughts on the characters and world they lived in. Also, I liked the discussion this novel held about life and death and everything in between. It was interesting and part of the reason why I'm still thinking of this novel days after reading it.

And this review wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention Scott's fantastic writing at least once, so... Elizabeth Scott is an excellent writer, one that never fails to show her tremendous wealth as a storyteller through the range of different topics she chooses that never fail to be well delivered. She's a writer I admire greatly, one I can't help but want to read more by as soon as possible.

Out of all the fabulous 2010 books this year, Grace is the one you should definitely pick up no matter what. It's fantastic, disturbing, and eye-opening- a book I'm still thinking about days after reading it. Overall, this is one of the best of the year; no doubt about it.

Grade: A+

Grace will be released September 16, 2010.

Source: Publisher. Thanks, Penguin!