Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Malice by Heather Walter

31 reviews

princess_sara_sparkles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Death, Blood, Child abuse, Body shaming, Self harm, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Torture, and War

amandab0514'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

venti's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

feels like a set up for the next book — which i’m not complaining about because i’m sure it will be great, but would have been cooler maybe in one big volume like priory? idk 🤷 i liked alyce and aurora, but was so annoyed the whole book when alyce was constantly getting shit on. hope she kills them all in the next book! 😜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Death, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Misogyny, War, Torture, and Sexism

quitegood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

3.75

This is a book of two halves, literally and figuratively. Literally in that the book is split into two parts, but figuratively because if you judged this book on its first half and assumed it wasn't worth your time, you'd be missing out on a thrilling and explosive second half. But I wouldn't blame you if you had dropped this book based on the first 200 pages. 
I want to be charitable and say the slower first part is necessary for the second half to have its impact, but that's like saying a long speach on careful fiscal planning enhances the fireworks show afterwards. Not to say the first half is that tedious, but you do feel like little is happening, and that which does happen feels like a contrivance.

I wish I knew who Alyce was before I learned of her abuse. The book explores it fully come the second half, but in the first half, Alyce comes across as petulant and petty. Later we learn she has good reason to be, but I feel it would been better know this first, not retroactively.

But this book does punch you in the feels, so you've been warned! If you have any trauma at all from your childhood and are not in a good place regarding it, might be best to skip this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Genocide, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Drug use, Torture, and Gaslighting

meghansarmiento97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, and War

ninamanon's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

What a great original take on the fairytale! I loved the world building and the magic system. Especially the first half of the book was thrilling and I couldn’t put it down. 

The writing was a bit too obvious and over explaining to my taste, sometimes. Some things would’ve worked better if they were left for the reader to figure out and conclude. 

The main twist could be spotted from a mile away. Maybe that was intentional! But it didn’t really work for me. 

I also didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between the main couple. It felt a little forced. There was barely any buildup. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Blood, Bullying, and Racism

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Torture, War, Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Slavery

frantically's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

This turned so unexpectedly dark in the last third and I loved it so much! The retelling aspect worked so well — the ending relies on the original fairytale but in a way I didn't expect at all. I'm a bit unsure about how Alyce acted in the last chapters, it is all in line with her characters, I guess I'm just not as used to actual villains being the main character 😅 Interested to read the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, and Bullying

Moderate: Torture, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Self harm, War, and Death of parent

jay_da_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Death of parent

charley34's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Murder, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and War