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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
DNF at 15%. I just...I really wanted the future timeline, like I expected more sci-fi, more of the pandemic than what we actually got.
Loved the Thai rep though. That was the best part.
Loved the Thai rep though. That was the best part.
* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *
4.5 stars.
Alice has started hearing a voice in her head. It's herself...a time-traveling consciousness from 10 years in the future. She has been told that a deadly virus will kill 2/3 of the people on Earth...unless Alice can prevent it. To do so, Alice must kill someone...one of her classmates. She must kill one to save millions.
Occasionally darkly humourous, Malice is a YA sci-fi dystopian novel with an underlying layer that is much more hard-hitting--revealing several areas of social commentary. I liked the concept a lot and found the execution to be well done. The narrative moves at a quick pace with very little extraneous plot and good characters who act true to their age. There are moments when the writing is a little immature, but overall it is snappy, smart, and thoughtful. The plot is fun and twisting, but the mystery isn't too difficult to solve if the reader pays attention. I very much enjoyed my read.
4.5 stars.
Alice has started hearing a voice in her head. It's herself...a time-traveling consciousness from 10 years in the future. She has been told that a deadly virus will kill 2/3 of the people on Earth...unless Alice can prevent it. To do so, Alice must kill someone...one of her classmates. She must kill one to save millions.
Occasionally darkly humourous, Malice is a YA sci-fi dystopian novel with an underlying layer that is much more hard-hitting--revealing several areas of social commentary. I liked the concept a lot and found the execution to be well done. The narrative moves at a quick pace with very little extraneous plot and good characters who act true to their age. There are moments when the writing is a little immature, but overall it is snappy, smart, and thoughtful. The plot is fun and twisting, but the mystery isn't too difficult to solve if the reader pays attention. I very much enjoyed my read.
Also Posted on For The Love of Fictional Worlds
Disclaimer: An eARC was provided via Entangled Teen and the Author in exchange for an honest review. The Thoughts, opinions & feelings expressed in the review are therefore, my own.
First of all, can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that I have found a YA novel that is a *standalone*? Isn’t such an amazing thing? *heart eyes*
Malice by Pintip Dunn is a science fiction story with a strong romantic foundation – and enough twists and turns to have me hooked right from the start of the book; and the interest didn’t let up until I actually finished the book.
Alice (Malice) is in high school with her home life in tatters – her mother abandoned her brother and her 6 years back and her father is merely a figure head; and one that has no actual interest in her life and is the epitome of an emotionally unavailable parent. In fact, her whole life revolves around her brother, Archie and her best friend Lalana and her strict rule to not date in high school.
When she experiences an anomaly – as much as being zapped by electricity and hearing the Voice of a woman claiming to be Alice of the future – can be considered an anomaly, puts her on the path of a gorgeous boy, Bandit and a journey that will test all her strength, her beliefs and faith in the very humanity!
This was my first book from Pintip Dunn and if you enjoy a dash of romance with your mystery and science fiction; then this is a book that you should not miss either! The writing style of the author reels you in with everything that she has so expertly weaved into the book and its plotline.
Within the pages of Malice, you will find a girl’s journey to understand how love and attention plays a significant role in a human being’s life and it will the love she has for her near and dear ones against the strong moral code – before the book ends, our protagonist will travel further than she had ever dreamed, find her illusions shattered and yet find strength in hope, against all odds!
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Entangled Publishing for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.
Okay seriously this book had me on the edge of my seat the entire night I was reading it. If I wasn’t out for three whole days last week – meetings and a super bad migraine day – then I would have called out to finish this (well it’s a good thing I didn’t because that day I finished it, I had to do some important stuff, which I got done so WHOOT WHOOT). But YUS! I just wanted to stay home and read this whole thing in one sitting and that honestly rarely happens with me. Usually I need some sort of break in between.
So I normally totally forget about the synopsis or blurb of a book by the time I start reading it because I have been burned before and I just don’t want to remember that time. And this book was starting off as a cute little contemporary and I’m like…. okay that’s not the vibe I was getting from this cover but okay okay.
Then THE VOICE comes out of nowhere and literally gives her some full body shock and I’m like THERE IT IS. There’s the cray I was looking for. So I wasn’t disappointed. And then the whole thing about who the Voice actually was and like the future and all the steps that our girl Malice – I mean Alice – has to take to prevent a total freaking apocalypse breaking out from this virus thing killing like pretty much everyone… and wow I was in for the time of my darn life.
And that’s not even mentioning my boy Bandit! Ughhhhh what a cutie. I love his blue hair, from what I envision it to look like, and he just gives me all the bad boy image but really a good guy underneath vibes that I absolutely love and adore. UGH okay I just loved this one okay?! I don’t even know what else to say about it. I just loved it.
Okay seriously this book had me on the edge of my seat the entire night I was reading it. If I wasn’t out for three whole days last week – meetings and a super bad migraine day – then I would have called out to finish this (well it’s a good thing I didn’t because that day I finished it, I had to do some important stuff, which I got done so WHOOT WHOOT). But YUS! I just wanted to stay home and read this whole thing in one sitting and that honestly rarely happens with me. Usually I need some sort of break in between.
So I normally totally forget about the synopsis or blurb of a book by the time I start reading it because I have been burned before and I just don’t want to remember that time. And this book was starting off as a cute little contemporary and I’m like…. okay that’s not the vibe I was getting from this cover but okay okay.
Then THE VOICE comes out of nowhere and literally gives her some full body shock and I’m like THERE IT IS. There’s the cray I was looking for. So I wasn’t disappointed. And then the whole thing about who the Voice actually was and like the future and all the steps that our girl Malice – I mean Alice – has to take to prevent a total freaking apocalypse breaking out from this virus thing killing like pretty much everyone… and wow I was in for the time of my darn life.
And that’s not even mentioning my boy Bandit! Ughhhhh what a cutie. I love his blue hair, from what I envision it to look like, and he just gives me all the bad boy image but really a good guy underneath vibes that I absolutely love and adore. UGH okay I just loved this one okay?! I don’t even know what else to say about it. I just loved it.
March 2020 pick for Dragons and Tea Book Club .
Perhaps the timing was a little unfortunate (or apt?) but this is about a global pandemic. The book club admins picked it long before the C19 outbreak - life does like to mimic art in return for art mimicking life it seems!
Anyway, this is from a different angle to The Stand, Earth Abides, This Mortal Coil, A Lovely Way to Burn and other pandemic apocalypse novels. Alice is a 17 yr old girl who is finishing up high school and dreaming about being a photographer for National Geographic. She does not expect to be contacted by someone from the future who convinces her that someone in her school is going to create a virus that wipes out humankind. Her mission? To find out who the culprit is and eliminate them. Unfortunately, evidence points to it being the boy she has just developed feelings for.
This was a lot of fun. Considering the subject matter, it's quite a light novel boasting engaging characters, a compelling style, a tight, fast paced plot and some sharp social commentary of taking care of each other. No spoilers but it did keep me guessing. There are some genuinely funny moments and some very poignant ones too. The romance felt natural and I liked Bandit - the love interest -from the start. In some ways, this is a little like Mark Lawrence's Impossible Times trilogy (but with much shakier science and a threadier time travel plot). However, this focuses more on social responsibility and what our choices mean for other people. A good read - recommended.
Perhaps the timing was a little unfortunate (or apt?) but this is about a global pandemic. The book club admins picked it long before the C19 outbreak - life does like to mimic art in return for art mimicking life it seems!
Anyway, this is from a different angle to The Stand, Earth Abides, This Mortal Coil, A Lovely Way to Burn and other pandemic apocalypse novels. Alice is a 17 yr old girl who is finishing up high school and dreaming about being a photographer for National Geographic. She does not expect to be contacted by someone from the future who convinces her that someone in her school is going to create a virus that wipes out humankind. Her mission? To find out who the culprit is and eliminate them. Unfortunately, evidence points to it being the boy she has just developed feelings for.
This was a lot of fun. Considering the subject matter, it's quite a light novel boasting engaging characters, a compelling style, a tight, fast paced plot and some sharp social commentary of taking care of each other. No spoilers but it did keep me guessing. There are some genuinely funny moments and some very poignant ones too. The romance felt natural and I liked Bandit - the love interest -from the start. In some ways, this is a little like Mark Lawrence's Impossible Times trilogy (but with much shakier science and a threadier time travel plot). However, this focuses more on social responsibility and what our choices mean for other people. A good read - recommended.
Check out my full review on my blog here! https://pawsomereads.home.blog/2020/02/07/book-tour-malice-by-pintip-dunn/
“One step, one kindness, one moment at a time.”
Malice by Pintip Dunn follows Alice, our narrator, who attends a STEM school for geniuses like her older brother Archie and his best friend, Zeke. The reader soon discovers that Alice, who would rather be a photographer than any sort of science genius, is the key to saving the future of the human race. It all starts when she’s forced to tell a popular-yet-nerdy jock, Bandit, that she loves him.
This book has everything: mystery, time travel, action, science, romance, deceit and a brooding, arrogant boy with blue hair. I mean honestly, what more could you ask for? This book has a fast-moving, yet well-developed plot that sucked me in from the very beginning. I love the way that time travel was handled in the story! It wasn’t something I was expecting from the synopsis alone but I thought it was really well done. I don’t want to give away too much about this as it’s an important plot point throughout the timeline of the novel but I truly appreciated Dunn’s inclusion of time travel.
Each character is very dynamic and I loved that the true villain of the story remained a mystery for so much of the book as these morally gray characters kept me guessing as to who was the culprit. The mystery aspect was such an interesting layer to the book and the characterization played such an important role in that. We really get to see the characters shift and change as they react to the world and future changing with them. In addition to the characters I really enjoyed the writing style with it’s amazing descriptions as well as the world building. It was clear that a lot of forethought was put into making this book and creating the idea behind the future tragedy that would rock the world. My one wish is that the end was a bit more flushed-out. It felt rushed to me and like we didn’t reach an exact conclusion as a reader. This is a story that I feel could have used an epilogue to make it fully complete. Otherwise, this was an amazing read to start off on for February!
Thank you to Pintip Dunn, Entangled Publishing and FFBC Tours for sending me a copy of Malice in exchange for an honest review!
“One step, one kindness, one moment at a time.”
Malice by Pintip Dunn follows Alice, our narrator, who attends a STEM school for geniuses like her older brother Archie and his best friend, Zeke. The reader soon discovers that Alice, who would rather be a photographer than any sort of science genius, is the key to saving the future of the human race. It all starts when she’s forced to tell a popular-yet-nerdy jock, Bandit, that she loves him.
This book has everything: mystery, time travel, action, science, romance, deceit and a brooding, arrogant boy with blue hair. I mean honestly, what more could you ask for? This book has a fast-moving, yet well-developed plot that sucked me in from the very beginning. I love the way that time travel was handled in the story! It wasn’t something I was expecting from the synopsis alone but I thought it was really well done. I don’t want to give away too much about this as it’s an important plot point throughout the timeline of the novel but I truly appreciated Dunn’s inclusion of time travel.
Each character is very dynamic and I loved that the true villain of the story remained a mystery for so much of the book as these morally gray characters kept me guessing as to who was the culprit. The mystery aspect was such an interesting layer to the book and the characterization played such an important role in that. We really get to see the characters shift and change as they react to the world and future changing with them. In addition to the characters I really enjoyed the writing style with it’s amazing descriptions as well as the world building. It was clear that a lot of forethought was put into making this book and creating the idea behind the future tragedy that would rock the world. My one wish is that the end was a bit more flushed-out. It felt rushed to me and like we didn’t reach an exact conclusion as a reader. This is a story that I feel could have used an epilogue to make it fully complete. Otherwise, this was an amazing read to start off on for February!
Thank you to Pintip Dunn, Entangled Publishing and FFBC Tours for sending me a copy of Malice in exchange for an honest review!
*4.5 Strars*
Yet another buddy read with the Dragons & Tea book club!
A visual representation of my brain while reading this:
There was not a single point in this book where I knew exactly what was going on or what was going to happen. There were some points where I THOUGHT I knew, but really I was just a fool. That whole ending was chaos. But I did not mind it in the slightest. I could not put this book down. No, seriously, I have absolutely ZERO self-control and I stayed up all night reading it… I think it's safe to say I was hooked.
The only flaw I can think of is that the writing style was just not for me, in the beginning it reminded me a little of the fanfics I used to read a while back. But I got used to it, and never looked back. I'm willing to completely overlook this because the story was so interesting.
I honestly thought I wouldn’t like Alice, the main character, just because she seemed so average. But I was very wrong. I actually ended up liking her quite a bit. Both her future self and her present self. There's quite a bit I could say about all the characters but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just shut up now.
Yet another buddy read with the Dragons & Tea book club!
A visual representation of my brain while reading this:
There was not a single point in this book where I knew exactly what was going on or what was going to happen. There were some points where I THOUGHT I knew, but really I was just a fool. That whole ending was chaos. But I did not mind it in the slightest. I could not put this book down. No, seriously, I have absolutely ZERO self-control and I stayed up all night reading it… I think it's safe to say I was hooked.
The only flaw I can think of is that the writing style was just not for me, in the beginning it reminded me a little of the fanfics I used to read a while back. But I got used to it, and never looked back. I'm willing to completely overlook this because the story was so interesting.
I honestly thought I wouldn’t like Alice, the main character, just because she seemed so average. But I was very wrong. I actually ended up liking her quite a bit. Both her future self and her present self. There's quite a bit I could say about all the characters but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just shut up now.
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes