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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
It was a rough start, and when Aurora wakes up, it's like she's angry immediately and seems to already know everything that's happened and condemns Alyce completely for it. I hate that Alyce is so wishy-washy in this and is always angsting and you never really see her be a ruler, just someone who seems to be more of a mascot in the palace. Aurora gets way too much power and way too much leeway immediately and I remember reading another review talking about the racism in this book and I was like YES. This is why I don't like this! It has the mightey-whitey trope! Where, and I'm quoting this from memory of the other review I read, that this privileged princess is chosen as the best ruler and her betrayal of Alyce is forgiven but Regan, whom had been with Alyce for much longer and known her for A HUNDRED YEARS is not given the same privilege of trust and level of respect. Some of the dark kingdom inhabitants are too angry and won't 'compromise' and I hate the word compromise. And it irked me so much that Aurora sees this as her birthright and is proven right and becomes the ruler.
Absolutely infuriating read. The first book was alright, made me want to see what happened in the next one. But I honestly couldn't even read it. Derek, the human guy that shows up was obviously super contrived, all DIMPLES and SMILES and honestly annoying AF. I did like Neve a lot because I felt like she was done dirty. Hated how this whole book seemed to be like 'oh, but turn the other cheek, don't turn into the people you hate' like that's how the church talks to get a bunch of sheep cuz you can be sure as hell people in power will do whatever it takes to keep it.
Did not like this read, it just for some reason (probably that weird racial undertone) that I disliked this so much. And like the other review said, it's like a Marvel-esque version of good and evil. They want to say everyone's a shade of grey, but honestly this wasn't my cup of tea.
Absolutely infuriating read. The first book was alright, made me want to see what happened in the next one. But I honestly couldn't even read it. Derek, the human guy that shows up was obviously super contrived, all DIMPLES and SMILES and honestly annoying AF. I did like Neve a lot because I felt like she was done dirty. Hated how this whole book seemed to be like 'oh, but turn the other cheek, don't turn into the people you hate' like that's how the church talks to get a bunch of sheep cuz you can be sure as hell people in power will do whatever it takes to keep it.
Did not like this read, it just for some reason (probably that weird racial undertone) that I disliked this so much. And like the other review said, it's like a Marvel-esque version of good and evil. They want to say everyone's a shade of grey, but honestly this wasn't my cup of tea.
Was a 5 until the end. *SPOILER* For a book series with so many pages where such a huge part of the plot and purpose was to tell the love story of a princess and the villain (even if she doesn’t deserve that title), leaving their relationship open-ended albeit hopeful, was disappointing. I would have so much preferred to read a happy ending rather than just assume it was happy. That being said, I did really like the book, and while it wasn’t as good as the first in my opinion, it still kept me hooked from the start.
Read it because I had to, not because I wanted to.
Review breakdown:
Writing: great writing, but so much world building and extra side plots.
Characters: didn't like the MC from sentence one and didn't like her throughout the entire book. LI was still my favorite and I was still not rooting for them.
Plot: after MC's LI is cursed (again), MC loses her shit and becomes what she always hated.
What would make this an extra star read for me: honestly, nothing. Sorry, HW, I did not like this book.
Vibes: I was unhappy for the duration of this read
Review breakdown:
Writing: great writing, but so much world building and extra side plots.
Characters: didn't like the MC from sentence one and didn't like her throughout the entire book. LI was still my favorite and I was still not rooting for them.
Plot: after MC's LI is cursed (again), MC loses her shit and becomes what she always hated.
What would make this an extra star read for me: honestly, nothing. Sorry, HW, I did not like this book.
Vibes: I was unhappy for the duration of this read
adventurous
fast-paced
This was a great follow up to Malice. I really enjoyed "The Dark Court" and the reimagining of what would happen if the "evil" side of fairy tales were in charge. It plays off good/evil light/dark really well and makes you sort of sympathise and understand there's always 2 sides to a war and we always think we're on the right side. Sprinkle in a cute little sleeping beauty love story and it was really enjoyable!
I read this because I wanted to know how the author would fully twist the ending of sleeping beauty and tbh I was disappointed!! I could not find it in myself to root for Alyce at any point in this book because she, albeit under the influence of an evil vila, kept getting her revenge by committing the same violence and crimes that had ruined her own childhood. In particular the imprisonment of the graces, letting fae slowly die in the dungeon and mounting heads on the ceiling was a lot when compared to the Alyce of the first book.
The other thing this book didn’t benefit from was the abrupt pacing and time changes, and honestly even the name choices for Regan / Derek. Regan as a character felt underdeveloped in a way that the twist with her doing to alyce what Alyce had done to aurora just didn’t feel earned… The time jumps let the writer just say “we were like sisters” and that she had spent decades not embracing Neve.
And the the ending! If the pacing had made more sense I think I would have loved how the magic came together and their love broke two curses / started a new era - but as is it was then spoiled by ANOTHER hundred year time break where we again are told not show the change in characters emotional state.
Overall disappointing. 2.5 stars. 1 star is because I really like the bones of the story and was really rooting for it all to come together, but ultimately it just didn’t work for me. Perhaps have been reading fantasy with better world building this year made this one just seem tougher in comparison.
The other thing this book didn’t benefit from was the abrupt pacing and time changes, and honestly even the name choices for Regan / Derek. Regan as a character felt underdeveloped in a way that the twist with her doing to alyce what Alyce had done to aurora just didn’t feel earned… The time jumps let the writer just say “we were like sisters” and that she had spent decades not embracing Neve.
And the the ending! If the pacing had made more sense I think I would have loved how the magic came together and their love broke two curses / started a new era - but as is it was then spoiled by ANOTHER hundred year time break where we again are told not show the change in characters emotional state.
Overall disappointing. 2.5 stars. 1 star is because I really like the bones of the story and was really rooting for it all to come together, but ultimately it just didn’t work for me. Perhaps have been reading fantasy with better world building this year made this one just seem tougher in comparison.
dark
emotional
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Xenophobia, War
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder
Minor: Trafficking
Not as good as the first one, but still enjoyable in the way that I usually couldn't see what was coming next, and there was always something coming. Nimara/Alyce was often frustratingly unable to advocate for herself, which felt unnatural. I was happy with the ending though.