Grace and Fury is an unexpectedly intense story of oppression, sisterhood, intrigue, betrayal, and rebellion, nicely packaged in an unassuming hardcover. While not a favorite, I’m quite impressed by the way Banghart handled the development of her characters and the intricacies of her plot.

Serina and Nomi are sisters and polar opposites. Serina trained her entire life to be a perfect, docile young woman and compete for one of the favored positions as a Grace — basically a mistress to the king figure of the country. Her younger sister Nomi was intended to be Serina’s handmaiden, but had a much more fiery personality and wasn’t satisfied with the life laid out for her. When one takes the fall for the other’s crime, they find their roles switched, and their lives spiral into something unpredictable, unknown.

I’ll admit, I found Nomi annoying almost instantaneously. But as the story progressed, despite her facepalm-worthy inability to react appropriately to situations, she grew on me.

Serina, though, I liked from the start. Her realism was refreshing, her emotions raw beneath her graceful mask, and her character arc? Incredible. Iconic.

What I do feel requires critique is the world-building. There isn’t much of it. All readers are told about the country of Viridia is that men make up the government, that they control everything, while women are limited to menial work or motherhood; they’re forbidden even from learning to read and write. The only history given is in one chapter about halfway through, in the form of an old textbook mysteriously smuggled to Nomi. I know nothing about their customs or culture, about the surrounding countries, if there are any. Granted, none of that is truly relevant, but a sprinkle of additional world-building can make or break a book, in my opinion. You shouldn’t just eat ice cream, you should add whipped cream and chocolate sauce and sprinkles.

Something else that bothered me, upon a bit of reflection, is the romance. Sure, I enjoy some kissing as much as the next hopeless romantic — even if, sadly, the couples in question are heterosexual — but to me, the connections didn’t seem genuine. It felt like Banghart was just checking off a “to include” list. Love interest for one sister, check, and, oh, let’s have the other sister kiss this guy, why not? The book’s length was detrimental to these relationships; neither had enough page time to actually develop, nor get me attached.

One thing Banghart absolutely nailed was her plot twists. I figured out a few of the smaller surprises early, but as I got closer to the end, my suspicion barely came in time for the reveal. Everything fit together in ways I didn’t imagine, and for nearly the entire book, I misjudged the real antagonist. Very clever. Much applause.

All in all, Grace and Fury was a very quick, enjoyable read. It was fierce and fascinating in most of the right ways, and the positive definitely outweighed the negative. I’d recommend this to those looking for a lesser-known fantasy and/or a story centering sisterhood and feminism. I’m not sure when I’ll read the sequel, but I absolutely plan to.

Representation:
• Maris, one of the more prominent side characters, is sapphic. Note that she isn’t in a relationship, and that that part of her identity is a secret to all but one due to country laws.

CW: sexism, blood, some gore, violence/fighting, murder, death