Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Malice

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Malice by Heather Walter

26 reviews

thehappylittleelf's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

I thought there could be no more clever twists to Sleeping Beauty, but boy was I wrong! This is a really clever re-telling with a fantastic magic system and a compelling main character. How do you get me to cheer for the utter destruction of the world?
This. This is how.
I was hooked all the way through. Kudos for the author, this is a really creative story. I have already bought the sequel.

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kanra's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Everybody knows the story of Sleeping Beauty, this book is a fantastic take on it. It follows Alyce the dark grace as she learns more about her powers and attempts to break Aurora's curse. Alyce is not a person anyone in this world likes, there are a few who tolerate her but she is constantly mocked and bullied. She's different from everyone because her magic is dark, though she tries her hardest to be good she feels trapped and wants desperately to be free. At times I felt the bullying was too much and didn't see how Alyce was the villain. She has good intentions and doesn't try to hurt anyone on purpose but she gets wrapped up in worse and worse things as the story goes on. At one point I had such an uneasy feeling while reading and had to put the book down because I needed to calm down before continuing. Alyce isn't the only villain in this book and it reads as her being the good guy for a good part of it. At a certain point everything starts turning into the story we all know and it is fantastic. This is a story of downfall, it has mean people and dark magic, and it is so good. I rated this 4/5 because how Alyce is at the beginning is not my favorite and for most of the book she seems too good. Definitely read this book if you want to read about an MC with an unhappy life being pushed into the role of villain.

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parkergeist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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solenekeleroux's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.25

I'm torn about this book.
I loved the world-building, with the Grace system and how it explores capitalist exploitation of magical beings, that's something I wasn't expecting from this book and I was here for it.
The most lacking part was the romance, especially in the build-up part. It was all tell and no show, so not very believable when something did end up happening. The twists at the end are not bad, but too little too late. I was bored during all the middle part of the book (when the romance was supposed to build-up).
The character development is also a bit weak. It started well with Alyce's character, I loved the storyline of how she discovers herself and her power. But then there's no real growth or transformation, it stays very much on the surface of what she can do with her powers instead of the deep inner exploration of good and evil that I was expecting. Most other characters have little substance and are very black and white, except for the graces (again, I think I would have loved a novel just about the graces because that was the most interesting part), especially Laurel and her political reasoning.
Side-note, I am very pissed off whenever there is a shape-shifter character/storyline and it doesn't lead to a real exploration of gender and identity, especially in what is supposed to be a sapphic novel. Don't give me shape shifters and not make them queer!

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