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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
malice was no masterpiece -- i believe i called it "entertaining trash" in my review -- but oh my god, this was just plain terrible.
i had a bad feeling early on when we were sitting there describing derek's biceps and abs but, once again, i decided not to take my mother's advice to "trust [my] gut." sorry, mom, one of these days i'll learn. maybe.
firstly, all the repetition was completely fucking insufferable. it was constant "dragon's teeth", "in the place where my magic lives", "the dark grace is dead", "i'm not that girl anymore" "i fucking hate derek and find him completely aggravating, i want him dead" (and that's not even getting into the fact that the latter are all just complete lies.) WE. GET. IT.
there was literally no point to any of this; we pretty much just end up in the exact same place we started at in malice. we spend the book (..somewhat) focusing on the dark court and their plan to bring down the etherian courts... just torestore the briar name and have aurora rule over it all? the whole alyce and aurora drama -- which took up the majority of the pages -- was also just pure missed opportunity. it would've been a much more compelling story overall had walter actually bothered to take time exploring the pedestal alyce had put aurora on, but instead we just get a bunch of alyce moping around.
it was this book that you realize just how disgustingly walter treats her black characters in particular. as the only black characters in the series, both laurel & regan act as the one and only person to actually support alyce in their respective books, and both are promptly thrown into the trash (quite literally) the very instant they're viewed as some sort of threat to alyce & aurora's happily ever after -- unlike the white characters in the main cast, who not only get away with all of their horrible actions, but are even excused & rewarded for it; regan gets demonized for something that was that so small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, meanwhile aurora was a complete asshole and still gets to be crowned as the queen she was always going to be.
i don't mind there not being a happy ending, but to haveaurora end up in a decades-long relationship with the MAN??? i just found it extra hilarious because the whole time alyce was agonizing over aelfdene saying their love wasn't real , then at the end being like "he was WRONG, actually!"..... just to immediately prove that he was, in fact, right.
i had a bad feeling early on when we were sitting there describing derek's biceps and abs but, once again, i decided not to take my mother's advice to "trust [my] gut." sorry, mom, one of these days i'll learn. maybe.
firstly, all the repetition was completely fucking insufferable. it was constant "dragon's teeth", "in the place where my magic lives", "the dark grace is dead", "i'm not that girl anymore" "i fucking hate derek and find him completely aggravating, i want him dead" (and that's not even getting into the fact that the latter are all just complete lies.) WE. GET. IT.
there was literally no point to any of this; we pretty much just end up in the exact same place we started at in malice. we spend the book (..somewhat) focusing on the dark court and their plan to bring down the etherian courts... just to
it was this book that you realize just how disgustingly walter treats her black characters in particular. as the only black characters in the series, both laurel & regan act as the one and only person to actually support alyce in their respective books, and both are promptly thrown into the trash (quite literally) the very instant they're viewed as some sort of threat to alyce & aurora's happily ever after -- unlike the white characters in the main cast, who not only get away with all of their horrible actions, but are even excused & rewarded for it; regan gets demonized for something that was that so small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, meanwhile aurora was a complete asshole and still gets to be crowned as the queen she was always going to be.
i don't mind there not being a happy ending, but to have
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Spoilers* 3.5* but I went up!
I really enjoyed this! I was worried because there was a lot of arguing and fighting between Alyce and Aurora and I enjoyed how the court was settled however I could not get over the last chapter and the epilogue, They literally risked everything for each other and then have it where its been over 100 years again and they are still not together and yet have had other lovers, like for real, I hated the last chapter and the epilogue, it should have been them ruling together with Alyce doing what she left for but being with alyce this was not a romance book like the first, it was a Fantasy with an underlying previous romance, I'm sorry I just couldn't get over the fact that Alyce did so much for Aurora and then leaves to help other creatures because she had a friend in Reagan who really wanted more from alyce, I hated this ending and this somewhat of a love triangle!
I really enjoyed this! I was worried because there was a lot of arguing and fighting between Alyce and Aurora and I enjoyed how the court was settled however I could not get over the last chapter and the epilogue, They literally risked everything for each other and then have it where its been over 100 years again and they are still not together and yet have had other lovers, like for real, I hated the last chapter and the epilogue, it should have been them ruling together with Alyce doing what she left for but being with alyce this was not a romance book like the first, it was a Fantasy with an underlying previous romance, I'm sorry I just couldn't get over the fact that Alyce did so much for Aurora and then leaves to help other creatures because she had a friend in Reagan who really wanted more from alyce, I hated this ending and this somewhat of a love triangle!
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't like this as much as the first. Not to say it was bad or uninteresting, but I didn't really vibe with it. I understand the point of it being 100 years past the end of the first book, but this lead to the characters and plot feeling really disjointed, and I found myself caring more for an antagonist who'd been present in Malice than I did for any of the new supporting characters, which was a shame. Not my personal cup of tea but I'm glad I gave it a shot.