Reviews

Malice by Heather Walter

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book_explorer's review

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

j3mm4's review against another edition

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3.75

The first four chapters of this book are a slog; plot-wise, nothing much happens, and between scant lore-dump conversations are long internal monologues which follow the same pattern - more lore, more lore, more lore, punchline conclusion about how Alyce is seen as a monster and reviled by all. It's no less true the sixth time than the first, but all that does is underscore the ease with which all but the most salient iterations of that equation could be stricken out.
Once the plot actually starts happening, things get a little better. I actually really liked the emotional development and character work - not just Alyce and Aurora, though their romance worked really well for me (until the fakeout breakup climactic conflict, but that's almost always a top three critique of mine in romance arcs), but Kal's manipulations, Laurel's betrayal, Rose's rejection of any kind of growth or redemption - and the nods to other fairy tales (Alyce loses her shoe fleeing the masque à la Cinderella) and myths (Icarus is respun for a new mythological history) were, if not always subtle, at least a fun way to reward the engaged reader's attentions.
The pacing was a definite weak point, and on a line-level, the goal seems to have been atmosphere rather than efficiency or even sentence structure, but all in all, I read it in one sitting, and it's only common sense that's keeping me from cracking open the second half of the duology at 3a.m.

samthesunrise's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

liena67's review against another edition

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5.0

È difficile, impossibile, dare meno di 5 ⭐ a questo libro, nonostante qualche piccolo refuso riscontrato.

Questo non è un semplice retelling di una favola in versione LGBTQIA, questo è un fantasy di tutto rispetto!

Ho adorato Alyce, Malyce, sin dal primo istante. L'ho sentita incredibilmente vicina, "umana". Ho patito con lei ogni ingiustizia che ha subito, ho gioito per l'incontro con Aurora e per il modo in cui si sono avvicinate, trovandosi diversissime eppure simili, prigioniere entrambe delle aspettative altrui e di ciò che la società in cui vivono ha deciso per loro.

Un libro ricco di magia, di creature di ogni genere, un mondo creato che non ha nulla di meno di molti blasonati libri fantasy.

E poi la realtà, nella fantasia, di anime fragili, mai solo bianche o nere, ingenue, a volte corruttibili, non sempre in grado di perdonare e di fare la cosa più giusta.

Il finale è da cardiopalma e ti lascia con migliaia di domande non solo su ciò che avverrà nel prossimo libro, ma anche sulla natura dell'essere umano.

In attesa spasmodica del prossimo, ringrazio Oscar Vault per la copia ricevuta... e anche questo finirà in cartaceo sulla mia libreria.

Assolutamente consigliato!

emkaypee's review against another edition

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3.5

I honestly think that my latent trauma from how badly game of thrones ended made it difficult for me to really enjoy the ending of this book, not that it was meant to be enjoyable. The similarities were just too close for me to not eye roll and skim through the last few chapters.

I just have such a hard time feeling sympathy for a character that literally blows up their world (including killing many innocent people) because they are emotionally stunted.

That being said, I thought this was a really inventive retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and of course I was drawn to it because of the Sapphic spin on the story, too. I don't have plans to read the sequel, but I'm glad I gave this a try!