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thenovelmaura's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was excited to read this book for our #ViolentQueensBookClub because I love fairy tale retellings and this one promised a sapphic spin along with a villain origin story. Amazing concept but the execution was lacking, with flat characters and a huge letdown of an ending. I enjoy seeing a good character spiral into an evil one (see Marie Lu's "Young Elites" trilogy), whether they're motivated by a desire for revenge or are simply misunderstood. But Alyce was depicted as a goodhearted character until she randomly snapped at the end and started murdering dozens of people??? .
I did enjoy Alyce and Briar's relationship and how organic it felt. However, a few heartfelt moments between the two of them wasn't enough to make up for everything else.
I did enjoy Alyce and Briar's relationship and how organic it felt. However, a few heartfelt moments between the two of them wasn't enough to make up for everything else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Violence
Moderate: Murder and Homophobia
bookswithgeorge's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a good example of the social model of disability. She isn’t inherently evil, society made her evil. Idk if I’ll read the sequel but this was the perfect book to get me out of my reading slump.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
islesbiyana's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Genocide, Classism, and Xenophobia
anni_swanilda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Torture and Abandonment
abbs15norm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death, War, Murder, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Blood
Minor: Classism, Confinement, Genocide, Homophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Alcohol
lovelylittleladd's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
AAAAAAAHHHH this was magnificent. I love this new take on a classic tale.
The transformation of Alyce is CHILLING. The adaptation of her character alone had me never wanting to put this book down. Each twist and turn left me surprised. I loved seeing the dark turn of her character and how unfortunate circumstances throughout life can affect one’s character. It’s nice to see this tale retold from a morally grey standpoint, rather than pure good or evil—it gives the whole story a much more humanistic approach. And that ending? WOW.THAT’S the “evil” villain I’ve known for years, and here I am actually cheering for her now.
I LOVED this sapphic take on the classic tale. The way Alyce describes her feelings for Aurora makes my heart burst; it’s how I feel when I’ve fallen head-over-heels for a woman.My heart fluttered when Aurora and Alyce finally connected. I enjoyed that sort of representation in this novel.
Also, can we talk about the ANGST?!My heart absolutely BREAKS for both of them and the doom of their relationship. Poor Aurora can’t catch a break with all of these curses and Alyce only digs herself a deeper hole when trying to fix her wrongs. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see play out. But, it pulls at my heartstrings in the best way. I live for the angst!
I’m excited to see how it plays out in the sequel. This was a delightful read, even when being absolutely heartbreaking.
The transformation of Alyce is CHILLING. The adaptation of her character alone had me never wanting to put this book down. Each twist and turn left me surprised. I loved seeing the dark turn of her character and how unfortunate circumstances throughout life can affect one’s character. It’s nice to see this tale retold from a morally grey standpoint, rather than pure good or evil—it gives the whole story a much more humanistic approach. And that ending? WOW.
I LOVED this sapphic take on the classic tale. The way Alyce describes her feelings for Aurora makes my heart burst; it’s how I feel when I’ve fallen head-over-heels for a woman.
Also, can we talk about the ANGST?!
I’m excited to see how it plays out in the sequel. This was a delightful read, even when being absolutely heartbreaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, and Physical abuse
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
arys_library's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
5.0
One of my favorite books of the year! A sapphic sleeping beauty retelling?! What else could you need?
I loved that this book was told in the villains point of view. I think it really revealed thoughts and perspectives that we can’t get with an average protagonist. I absolutely loved this book snd I’m so excited to read the second!
The world building was incredibly and unique. Usually I only see this storytelling type of world building in the beginning of Disney princess movies. It was really easy to understand and picture in your head.
I loved that this book was told in the villains point of view. I think it really revealed thoughts and perspectives that we can’t get with an average protagonist. I absolutely loved this book snd I’m so excited to read the second!
The world building was incredibly and unique. Usually I only see this storytelling type of world building in the beginning of Disney princess movies. It was really easy to understand and picture in your head.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Murder
Minor: Biphobia and War
kingrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I like so many things about this book, but I want to make sure this review isn’t forever long. Okay so the story follows Alyce, a 20 year old half-Vila in the queendom of Briar. And she is known as the Dark Grace. Graces are human-born women magically gifted by the Fae. These Graces cause use their magical blood to mix elixirs that grant beauty, musical talent, wisdom, etc. These Graces are also forced to remain in Briar for their entire lives and they must work for the upper class. Alyce’s gifts create curses. Because of her heritage and the type of magic she possesses, she’s treated as a monster and people exclude, harass and fear her. She is also defined as being “ugly” with scaly skin, thin hair, and a green tinge to her complexion.
There’s also a curse (surprise!) on the women of the royal family. This curse kills the princesses on their 21st birthday. The only way to break this curse is true loves kiss. This means the young Princess Aurora was forced to kiss hundreds of strange men from the time she was 8 years old. Not only is this curse a problem, but over the generations of Briar Queens, their power has slowly shifted to their husbands. Aurora hopes to change the laws around the Graces and put power back into the Queenship.
Alyce meets Kal, who tells her of her heritage and magic. He tells her that her magic doesn’t work like the Graces’ and Alyce has been holding back what she can do for all these years. She’s more powerful than the Graces and possible more powerful than the Fae.
Alyce and Aurora soon meet and develop a friendship based on working together to break the curse using magical means. The beautiful, ethereal Aurora does not see Alyce as an ugly monster, but as an amazing gifted person. She’s in awe of Alyce’s magic and prefers it over Grace magic. And Alyce slowly develops feelings towards Alyce.
But it becomes clear that the King and Queen will not accept their relationship and neither with the rest of the queendom. The people Alyce thought she could trust betray her in the worst way. And when Aurora falls under a new curse (one that won’t end with true love’s kiss) Alyce is left to become the monster they all made her out to be.
It’s all very fun and sapphic. I think the chemistry between Alyce and Aurora is great, but when they get to the point where they make their feelings known, it’s a bit clunky. I do like that this is a Sleeping Beauty retelling told from the perspective of the “evil witch” and not only that, but they fall in love with the princess! Aurora is every bit of a powerful Queen in the making. She is stubborn, rebellious, clever, and open minded. She’s the first to really tell Alyce that just because her magic stems from dark magic, that doesn’t make Alyce a monster or evil. As the reader, you get to see Alyce hate herself less and fear her magic less. She becomes more sure of herself and her power, but she still questions her worth and her self-esteem is still struggling the increase.
I’m glad this is just a duology and not a whole long series, I’m definitely excited to read the next book. I like that this story challenges the whole “good vs evil” and the black-and-white mentality lots of fairytales and hero stories have in them. It definitely challenges the whole “rise above it” or “turn the other cheek”, because at the end of the day, we should all demand respect and to be treated well. I also like that Aurora sees Alyce as being beautiful, because she doesn’t adhere to their society’s beauty standards.
There aren’t too many downsides to this story, but I think there were more things the author could’ve focused on, like Hilde and even just the middle part of Alyce and Aurora’s friendship. The book does drag on a little longer than necessary and there were some scenes that didn’t flow very well.
That being said, I think this is an amazing and interesting concept and take on Sleeping Beauty that was executed well.
There’s also a curse (surprise!) on the women of the royal family. This curse kills the princesses on their 21st birthday. The only way to break this curse is true loves kiss. This means the young Princess Aurora was forced to kiss hundreds of strange men from the time she was 8 years old. Not only is this curse a problem, but over the generations of Briar Queens, their power has slowly shifted to their husbands. Aurora hopes to change the laws around the Graces and put power back into the Queenship.
Alyce meets Kal, who tells her of her heritage and magic. He tells her that her magic doesn’t work like the Graces’ and Alyce has been holding back what she can do for all these years. She’s more powerful than the Graces and possible more powerful than the Fae.
Alyce and Aurora soon meet and develop a friendship based on working together to break the curse using magical means. The beautiful, ethereal Aurora does not see Alyce as an ugly monster, but as an amazing gifted person. She’s in awe of Alyce’s magic and prefers it over Grace magic. And Alyce slowly develops feelings towards Alyce.
But it becomes clear that the King and Queen will not accept their relationship and neither with the rest of the queendom. The people Alyce thought she could trust betray her in the worst way. And when Aurora falls under a new curse (one that won’t end with true love’s kiss) Alyce is left to become the monster they all made her out to be.
It’s all very fun and sapphic. I think the chemistry between Alyce and Aurora is great, but when they get to the point where they make their feelings known, it’s a bit clunky. I do like that this is a Sleeping Beauty retelling told from the perspective of the “evil witch” and not only that, but they fall in love with the princess! Aurora is every bit of a powerful Queen in the making. She is stubborn, rebellious, clever, and open minded. She’s the first to really tell Alyce that just because her magic stems from dark magic, that doesn’t make Alyce a monster or evil. As the reader, you get to see Alyce hate herself less and fear her magic less. She becomes more sure of herself and her power, but she still questions her worth and her self-esteem is still struggling the increase.
I’m glad this is just a duology and not a whole long series, I’m definitely excited to read the next book. I like that this story challenges the whole “good vs evil” and the black-and-white mentality lots of fairytales and hero stories have in them. It definitely challenges the whole “rise above it” or “turn the other cheek”, because at the end of the day, we should all demand respect and to be treated well. I also like that Aurora sees Alyce as being beautiful, because she doesn’t adhere to their society’s beauty standards.
There aren’t too many downsides to this story, but I think there were more things the author could’ve focused on, like Hilde and even just the middle part of Alyce and Aurora’s friendship. The book does drag on a little longer than necessary and there were some scenes that didn’t flow very well.
That being said, I think this is an amazing and interesting concept and take on Sleeping Beauty that was executed well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Xenophobia
Minor: War and Suicide
bluejayreads's review against another edition
dark
4.75
This is a queer reimagining of Sleeping Beauty told from Maleficent’s perspective, but the reimagination is so solid that it feels much more like a standalone fantasy than a fairy tale retelling. The world is fantastic, I love the complexities of human and fae politics, the romance is well-done, the hatred Alyce (the protagonist) faces because of her blood is heartbreaking, and the magic system is fantastically creative. I really enjoyed the ending, too. It was simultaneously sad, cathartic, and amazing watching Alyce finally decided to become the monster everyone told her she was. The ending felt satisfying enough, though, so I don’t know if I’ll read the next book (plus I don’t want to see Alyce defeated by any fairy tale prince if it sticks to the original fairy tale).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Homophobia
Fantasy racismjules_reads_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia