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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
DNF’ed pretty quick. I had a feeling about the direction and end of the book, so I was ended up spoiling myself so I wouldn’t waste my time reading a book I wouldn’t enjoy. The ending is not a HEA, and I’m not looking for vague, open ended endings with my sapphic books.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the first better. I struggled to get through this one. The ending may not be the typical HEA, but I can’t say I’m upset with it.
i don’t know if anyone will read this but i wanna put down my thoughts while i’ve just finished - spoilers ahead!!
wow. this book really took me on a rollercoaster, and taught me some valuable lessons that i didn’t know i needed. alyce being obsessed with the idea of waking aurora up and not aurora herself, which aurora says - is not love. and knowing that you can love someone so much, but sometimes that is all it can be. that there is too much hurt, and damage to ever be together, but to still feel those things. and that hit me, and i’m very grateful for this book for reminding me of that.
a few too many things to me, didn’t make sense, or felt weird - for example, the fact that alyce finds it so difficult to believe that aurora is grieving for not only her parents, but her royal inheritance and realm - felt odd, maybe because she could only see the pure hurt and malice (pun intended) in Briar, but i still felt like she should have understood that?? but she came around, it just took her a little longer than i thought it would.
i didn’t hate the fact that alyce was so protective of aurora. the problem started when she began spying on aurora - instituting Rose to report back to her, listening to private conversations and not giving her space and time. which, in my opinion, is why alyce has to go away for literally a century - she did not provide any space for aurora to comprehend what had happened while she slept. i did sympathise with aurora but then again,, also alyce at points.
if you are wlw, you’ll know how many lesbians / queer women get killed off. and i was so so scared that aurora was going to die at more points than one, but with the author being queer herself - i didn’t think she would (and she didn’t thank goodness!) yes a queer character got killed, and i missed regan - but, i understand why she died and i accept it reluctantly :(
following on from that, regan and alyce (or Nimara i guess) - they were beautiful. i loved them a lot, and even at one point i was thinking - do i like them over aurora and alyce?? not quite, but i did love them. it hurt me when regan died, but she just wanted alyce to look at her, to see her. i felt for her, especially her story about how the people closest to you should not hurt you the way they did to her. she was amazing, i loved her, and i’m happy she was written!
I am so glad alyce got rid of mortania - it explains some of the drastic changes in alyce’s thinking, although she seems to think it changed over the century which i do disagree with - you destroyed / murdered a whole realm almost instantly wfkwf BUT yeah - debatable but still happy she is goneee.
lastly… i didn’t love misrule as much as malice. ahh im sorry but i was reading this book just waiting for the romance to start again, to get a beautiful love story - but it was more a novel about aurora dealing with acceptance and alyce her own sense of control. so… i liked it, in the end, but at points i do think, was this book necessary? if malice hasn’t been so changed in the last 15 pages, i would say absolutely not. i don’t hate this book, there’s things about it i like butttt it was not as good as the first book, which in itself is a masterpiece. i know some people have decided not to read this book because of reviews, and i’m 50/50. the ending of malice is so abrupt you can imagine your own ending need be… or go through 460 pages of pure hurt and angst:) regardless, thank you to Heather for writing, i enjoyed crying over it alot :,)
wow. this book really took me on a rollercoaster, and taught me some valuable lessons that i didn’t know i needed. alyce being obsessed with the idea of waking aurora up and not aurora herself, which aurora says - is not love. and knowing that you can love someone so much, but sometimes that is all it can be. that there is too much hurt, and damage to ever be together, but to still feel those things. and that hit me, and i’m very grateful for this book for reminding me of that.
a few too many things to me, didn’t make sense, or felt weird - for example, the fact that alyce finds it so difficult to believe that aurora is grieving for not only her parents, but her royal inheritance and realm - felt odd, maybe because she could only see the pure hurt and malice (pun intended) in Briar, but i still felt like she should have understood that?? but she came around, it just took her a little longer than i thought it would.
i didn’t hate the fact that alyce was so protective of aurora. the problem started when she began spying on aurora - instituting Rose to report back to her, listening to private conversations and not giving her space and time. which, in my opinion, is why alyce has to go away for literally a century - she did not provide any space for aurora to comprehend what had happened while she slept. i did sympathise with aurora but then again,, also alyce at points.
if you are wlw, you’ll know how many lesbians / queer women get killed off. and i was so so scared that aurora was going to die at more points than one, but with the author being queer herself - i didn’t think she would (and she didn’t thank goodness!) yes a queer character got killed, and i missed regan - but, i understand why she died and i accept it reluctantly :(
following on from that, regan and alyce (or Nimara i guess) - they were beautiful. i loved them a lot, and even at one point i was thinking - do i like them over aurora and alyce?? not quite, but i did love them. it hurt me when regan died, but she just wanted alyce to look at her, to see her. i felt for her, especially her story about how the people closest to you should not hurt you the way they did to her. she was amazing, i loved her, and i’m happy she was written!
I am so glad alyce got rid of mortania - it explains some of the drastic changes in alyce’s thinking, although she seems to think it changed over the century which i do disagree with - you destroyed / murdered a whole realm almost instantly wfkwf BUT yeah - debatable but still happy she is goneee.
lastly… i didn’t love misrule as much as malice. ahh im sorry but i was reading this book just waiting for the romance to start again, to get a beautiful love story - but it was more a novel about aurora dealing with acceptance and alyce her own sense of control. so… i liked it, in the end, but at points i do think, was this book necessary? if malice hasn’t been so changed in the last 15 pages, i would say absolutely not. i don’t hate this book, there’s things about it i like butttt it was not as good as the first book, which in itself is a masterpiece. i know some people have decided not to read this book because of reviews, and i’m 50/50. the ending of malice is so abrupt you can imagine your own ending need be… or go through 460 pages of pure hurt and angst:) regardless, thank you to Heather for writing, i enjoyed crying over it alot :,)
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Alyce has just lost Aurora. Feeling guilty and remorseful she changes everything she used to be. At the end of the day, if everyone considers her evil and a villain, why not become one for real?
I found the book overall to be well paced. I enjoyed reading how everything has changed over the years since the end of the previous book. I was surprised in that it had better development than Malice; considering that so much changed in the kingdom, I was worried that it would be a rather political book.
I loved the sapphic representation and the character development. I must admit that it was a little tricky to fully empathize with the main characters for some of the plot, as I didn't entirely like their attitudes. Still they were understandable for all the events that were happening.
I really enjoyed the addition of new characters in the Dark Court, as we were allowed to read how Alyce interacted with all of them. Also, it was a nice element to give personalities to each of them, as they made the story move forward as needed.
I especially liked that the relationship between Alyce and Aurora was not perfect. Different things happened as the story went along and they both held on to who the other was before; understandable and real. There was a slow but I would say satisfying development in their relationship so I was pleased with the ending they had.
Overall, I liked the sequel.
CW: war, manipulation, violence, torture, dead bodies, body horror, self-harm for magic, self-mutilation, blood, gore, grief, death, character death, fantasy racism/prejudice, nonconsensual kiss, trauma
dark
mysterious
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes