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kitchen_thimble's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
cnaccarato's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Classism, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Violence, Abandonment, Gore, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, and Drug abuse
booksandstardust's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Torture, Abandonment, Gore, and Child death
Minor: Suicide, Lesbophobia, and War
yofrere's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Highly anticipated read that did alright. A sapphic, corruption arc fairytale retelling with intermediate world building? Whoa. Pick a struggle. I didn’t realize immediately that this was part of a duology so keep that in mind if you’re thinking about reading. The pacing was… weird? And some plot points only felt relevant in the second book.
But I was rooting for Alyce on the edge of my seat. I wanted her to get everything she wanted though I don’t know how I felt about what she did to go after it. The climax felt steep, for better or for worse. I immediately started reading the sequel because I had to know what could possibly follow that weird cliffhanger for an entire book.
Vengeful and mysterious and a little convoluted.
But I was rooting for Alyce on the edge of my seat. I wanted her to get everything she wanted though I don’t know how I felt about what she did to go after it. The climax felt steep, for better or for worse. I immediately started reading the sequel because I had to know what could possibly follow that weird cliffhanger for an entire book.
Vengeful and mysterious and a little convoluted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, and Drug abuse
Minor: Suicide
acidicgoddess's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
CW: grooming & manipulation
Ngl, this book would have worked wonderfully as a prequel.
The story was definitely intense. It also did a really good job at making you feel for those who tormented Alyce. It was the writing style that threw me off most of the time. Sometimes the lore would just be dumped into a single chapter and not integrated well AT ALL (which, unfortunately, meant that all of it went over my head to be ignored.)
The author tries to almost personify the atmosphere when Alyce talks to Kal, but it’s so out of place and obnoxiously interruptive that I found myself hating scenes where Kal was involved. She doesn’t do it with any other character and that’s probably why I found it interruptive.
As for the romance in the book… Well, it was a let down.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t a fan of Aurora at first. I felt like she only existed as a character to reflect Alyce’s wants and needs - and for most of the book she was - she lacked any personality outside of wanting what Alyce wants. But, by the end of the book, we really get to know her. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a taste of it from the beginning of the book, it made the romance aspect feel bland.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t a fan of Aurora at first. I felt like she only existed as a character to reflect Alyce’s wants and needs - and for most of the book she was - she lacked any personality outside of wanting what Alyce wants. But, by the end of the book, we really get to know her. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a taste of it from the beginning of the book, it made the romance aspect feel bland.
This isn’t to say I’m a fan of her, however. Aurora is painfully ignorant to Alyce’s predicament with the public and doesn’t notice when she becomes uncomfortable. Their relationship feels very one sided. Even towards the end. Alyce is left anxious and Aurora can only take it as Alyce not being able to trust her.
Oh, and the one character I was actually finding enjoyable turned out to be one of the bad guys, too. Not a good move on the authors part considering none of the other characters were enjoyable.
Oh, and the one character I was actually finding enjoyable turned out to be one of the bad guys, too. Not a good move on the authors part considering none of the other characters were enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Bullying
Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide
f18's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Xenophobia, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Cursing, Colonisation, Rape, Lesbophobia, Suicide, and Torture
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
dusksolace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Confinement, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Homophobia
Minor: Suicide
megj23's review against another edition
dark
fast-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? Yes
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Child abuse
zaqlovesbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Review for malice
(P.S. I usually suggest reading the book first before reviews but in this case I really can’t do that. But keep in mind if you get this book and you wind up not liking it. That’s fine cause we all have different tastes in books)
First, I would like to say that I was shocked to be accepted a Netgalley Arc for this book. So thank you for that surprise! Secondly, I’m going to try to put no spoilers in here at all.
CW:(if there’s more please reference at other reviews to be sure.) blood, violence, mention of suicide, mentions of past traumatic events,bleeding of person, descriptive kissing scenes( it’s mostly mine but I wouldn’t let that stop me from enjoying this.), descriptive sensual scenes (same as the last one )
Now this retelling is very different and I like that. Like we’re dealing with faes, shifters, blood magic and more that right there is amazing. Also it’s a queerlit who doesn’t want more of those. Anyway , there’s no maleficent ( I mean not in the way we expect ) but there’s an Aurora. Heck at times it seems like a bunch more along the line of certain other princesses retellings with the MC.
Let’s start off with the writing for a debut novel of this author. I am truly loving it . It’s so poetic and enchanting. It has really hooked me in very well. I’m really surprised that I really was invited to read this.
The main character is actually a vila , ( ‘ a type of fae with green blood like that right there caught my eyes. Also I believe she is the last.) named ‘ Alyce.’ One interesting character and no one can tell me otherwise. Who’s not really accepted in the world of the Graces cause of her being a vila. Like they’re so rude and the mistreatment is like Cinderella level.( you’ll get it once you read it) But she’s still so strong willed in her own way and her personality is just amazing.
Then there’s Aurora, who’s the most realistic princess I have ever seen. Like just she’s much more spunky and overall a joy. She’s cursed just in the original sleeping beauty. On her 21st birthday if she’s not kissed by her true love , she will sadly perish like her other sisters Let me mention we’re not dealing with 15/16 year old Aurora. Which is amazing in itself.
Now onto topics mentioned in the plot. ( I swear still spoiler free) like racism,l( or something like that) with alyce and her being a vila. Especially as we learn the true history of the war.( which I hope stays in the finish copy) it shows how much years of misinformation (especially in print)can twist a entire group of people judgment. Even how people suffer differently even if someones life seems perfect. I think that’s an important one and it’s highly talked about here.
Overall I just really loved this book. Holy shxt that twist at the end dang , I really didn’t notice it but events of the past led to this . That just blew my mind. I can’t get over it. But the ending is nether good or bad just gray if you get what I mean
I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves retellings that aren’t like copycats, fantasy , interesting magic systems, the apparent slow burn romance( which I didn’t care for), lgbt + books, dark fantasy, faes, and so much more.
(P.S. I usually suggest reading the book first before reviews but in this case I really can’t do that. But keep in mind if you get this book and you wind up not liking it. That’s fine cause we all have different tastes in books)
First, I would like to say that I was shocked to be accepted a Netgalley Arc for this book. So thank you for that surprise! Secondly, I’m going to try to put no spoilers in here at all.
CW:(if there’s more please reference at other reviews to be sure.) blood, violence, mention of suicide, mentions of past traumatic events,bleeding of person, descriptive kissing scenes( it’s mostly mine but I wouldn’t let that stop me from enjoying this.), descriptive sensual scenes (same as the last one )
Now this retelling is very different and I like that. Like we’re dealing with faes, shifters, blood magic and more that right there is amazing. Also it’s a queerlit who doesn’t want more of those. Anyway , there’s no maleficent ( I mean not in the way we expect ) but there’s an Aurora. Heck at times it seems like a bunch more along the line of certain other princesses retellings with the MC.
Let’s start off with the writing for a debut novel of this author. I am truly loving it . It’s so poetic and enchanting. It has really hooked me in very well. I’m really surprised that I really was invited to read this.
The main character is actually a vila , ( ‘ a type of fae with green blood like that right there caught my eyes. Also I believe she is the last.) named ‘ Alyce.’ One interesting character and no one can tell me otherwise. Who’s not really accepted in the world of the Graces cause of her being a vila. Like they’re so rude and the mistreatment is like Cinderella level.( you’ll get it once you read it) But she’s still so strong willed in her own way and her personality is just amazing.
Then there’s Aurora, who’s the most realistic princess I have ever seen. Like just she’s much more spunky and overall a joy. She’s cursed just in the original sleeping beauty. On her 21st birthday if she’s not kissed by her true love , she will sadly perish like her other sisters Let me mention we’re not dealing with 15/16 year old Aurora. Which is amazing in itself.
Now onto topics mentioned in the plot. ( I swear still spoiler free) like racism,l( or something like that) with alyce and her being a vila. Especially as we learn the true history of the war.( which I hope stays in the finish copy) it shows how much years of misinformation (especially in print)can twist a entire group of people judgment. Even how people suffer differently even if someones life seems perfect. I think that’s an important one and it’s highly talked about here.
Overall I just really loved this book. Holy shxt that twist at the end dang , I really didn’t notice it but events of the past led to this . That just blew my mind. I can’t get over it. But the ending is nether good or bad just gray if you get what I mean
I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves retellings that aren’t like copycats, fantasy , interesting magic systems, the apparent slow burn romance( which I didn’t care for), lgbt + books, dark fantasy, faes, and so much more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Racism
Minor: Suicide