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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I DNF'd this book. The premise sounded good but I don't feel like the book lived up to the description. I was over 50% through the book and the main characters barely interacted - I don't feel like there was any romance to it. And it felt like it was more of a Cinderella retelling than Sleeping Beauty.
I do think the magic system and world-building was interesting, but not enough to keep me going on this book.
I do think the magic system and world-building was interesting, but not enough to keep me going on this book.
A beautiful retelling. Walter gives readers beautiful descriptions and emotions in this tale. There are great twists to keep you guessing even though we know the original story. I am very excited for the conclusion of this love (and self-love) story.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
12 hours later and I'm still thinking about this book. If you ever loved the story of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), this is a wonderful retelling. Alyce is a Dark Grace or so she thinks. A chance meeting with the Princess and both of their worlds are blown apart. How do you find love when you are the very thing that people despise because of your skin color/your blood? Well, read this and find out. Thank you to the author for building both a relatable world, one full of cruelty and injustice, and characters who have to deal with the difficult stuff.
medium-paced
this was so good! and that ending??? i need the next book right now
Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this amazing fairy tale retelling!
I love fairy tale retellings, and there have been so many incredibly great ones lately, especially in the realm of YA, but I think Malice is my favorite so far of the past few years. I absolutely love retellings from the perspective of the villain, and Malice absolutely does the villain perspective justice. The protagonist is Alyce, who is half Vila, a race of reviled creatures who have been almost entirely eradicated and who, many many years ago, put a curse on the royal family of Briar. Alyce is hated and ostracized but also used for her dark magic. She meets the princess Aurora, who is the first person who doesn't hate and fear Alyce's very being, and Alyce is able to finally start to become comfortable with herself as well. The relationship between Alyce and Aurora is incredibly poignant and I really enjoyed watching it develop throughout the book. Alyce makes an incredibly sympathetic villain, and the way she is used and manipulated throughout the story is heart-wrenching. Everyone in Briar is trapped in their roles, and I really loved that so much of the plot was driven by various characters trying to break free of those roles. This book takes standard fairy-tale tropes and turns them on their heads, and the end result is both incredibly dark and incredibly satisfying.
Highly highly recommend!
I love fairy tale retellings, and there have been so many incredibly great ones lately, especially in the realm of YA, but I think Malice is my favorite so far of the past few years. I absolutely love retellings from the perspective of the villain, and Malice absolutely does the villain perspective justice. The protagonist is Alyce, who is half Vila, a race of reviled creatures who have been almost entirely eradicated and who, many many years ago, put a curse on the royal family of Briar. Alyce is hated and ostracized but also used for her dark magic. She meets the princess Aurora, who is the first person who doesn't hate and fear Alyce's very being, and Alyce is able to finally start to become comfortable with herself as well. The relationship between Alyce and Aurora is incredibly poignant and I really enjoyed watching it develop throughout the book. Alyce makes an incredibly sympathetic villain, and the way she is used and manipulated throughout the story is heart-wrenching. Everyone in Briar is trapped in their roles, and I really loved that so much of the plot was driven by various characters trying to break free of those roles. This book takes standard fairy-tale tropes and turns them on their heads, and the end result is both incredibly dark and incredibly satisfying.
Highly highly recommend!
Luin tän kahdessa päivässä. Ruusunen/Pahatar-romanssia. Tykkäsin Pahattaresta! En tosin tiedä, jatkanko enää toiseen osaan.
The story was okay, but the writing style was hard to get through for me. It felt like the descriptions and the dialogues both were just info dumps.