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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
By all means, I should have loved this story, but I couldn't get past the classist nature of the book. Alyce talked down to servants and treated them like shit. Maybe if I had stuck through it, she would have this grand sweeping character development, but I wasn't patient enough to find out.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
this is one of those books that made the smart, logical side of my brain and the monkey, i-don't-care-just-entertain-me side of my brain clash.
first of all: the pacing of this book is pretty all over the place, with the first ~40% or so being pretty slow (and pretty info-dumpy), and the ending just goes at breakneck speed. near the tail end of the book we just keep getting plot twist after plot twist after plot twist. it was so stupid that it just made me laugh my ass off.
there were also a lot of repeated phrases and adjectives, such as "[character] suddenly become(s) fascinated with [object]", "bronze colored skin", "[character]'s touch igniting under me", were ones that particularly annoyed me.
as for the politics of the world, they were pretty much nonsensical; a couple of interesting ideas were introduced, but the author never actually bothered exploring them. not only that, but even the oppression faced by the main character was just your average run-of-the-mill fantasy creature racism - it never actually provided any sort of commentary or even really any sort of idea at all into the how or the why the world set this system up in the first place outside of "they think green bad". the writing at the very end in particular wasn't much better, very "we are the daughters of the witches you couldn't burn" type writing that i despise.
despite all these problems, i was honestly still quite entertained, so i'll be giving the sequel a go.
first of all: the pacing of this book is pretty all over the place, with the first ~40% or so being pretty slow (and pretty info-dumpy), and the ending just goes at breakneck speed. near the tail end of the book we just keep getting plot twist after plot twist after plot twist. it was so stupid that it just made me laugh my ass off.
there were also a lot of repeated phrases and adjectives, such as "[character] suddenly become(s) fascinated with [object]", "bronze colored skin", "[character]'s touch igniting under me", were ones that particularly annoyed me.
as for the politics of the world, they were pretty much nonsensical; a couple of interesting ideas were introduced, but the author never actually bothered exploring them. not only that, but even the oppression faced by the main character was just your average run-of-the-mill fantasy creature racism - it never actually provided any sort of commentary or even really any sort of idea at all into the how or the why the world set this system up in the first place outside of "they think green bad". the writing at the very end in particular wasn't much better, very "we are the daughters of the witches you couldn't burn" type writing that i despise.
despite all these problems, i was honestly still quite entertained, so i'll be giving the sequel a go.
5 stars
my heart hurts guys
I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THE DOUBLE BETRAYAL
YOU EXPECTED IT BUT YOU ALSO DIDN'T IT'S INSANE
my heart hurts guys
I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THE DOUBLE BETRAYAL
YOU EXPECTED IT BUT YOU ALSO DIDN'T IT'S INSANE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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:
Yes
Fantastic read
This was a great read. It kept me wishing there was more and I’m beyond excited for the next installation.
This was a great read. It kept me wishing there was more and I’m beyond excited for the next installation.
This is the book that made me want to start reading again. Ever since I saw the cover art and heard the title for this, I've been obsessed. I didn't even know anything about the plot, but I had to read it. Major kudos to everyone involved with that.
Review breakdown:
Writing: Great writing, but too much writing about things I didn't care about. (I know world building and non-plot things are some people's jam, but I found myself uttering to please move on more than once.)
Characters: Bias alert! Maleficent (original disney animated version) and Ursula (little mermaid) were my absolute favorite characters as a kid. The MC in Malice was hard no for me (especially in book 2.) I didn't start enjoying this book until our LI appears. I didn't get enough time with the two of them to get onboard with their relationship, and I wasn't really rooting for them.
Plot: A curse threatens to kill the princess if she doesn't get her true love's kiss before her next birthday. The story is from the villain's pov, so we get a lot of her story instead of the princess's story, and I genuinely wasn't that interested in the villain's story.
What would make this an extra star read for me: More time between our love interests so we can see them falling in love.
Vibes: I almost gave up on this book after 2 hours, but came back to it because of my earlier stated obsession and need to know what happens. Vibes were just meh for me.
Review breakdown:
Writing: Great writing, but too much writing about things I didn't care about. (I know world building and non-plot things are some people's jam, but I found myself uttering to please move on more than once.)
Characters: Bias alert! Maleficent (original disney animated version) and Ursula (little mermaid) were my absolute favorite characters as a kid. The MC in Malice was hard no for me (especially in book 2.) I didn't start enjoying this book until our LI appears. I didn't get enough time with the two of them to get onboard with their relationship, and I wasn't really rooting for them.
Plot: A curse threatens to kill the princess if she doesn't get her true love's kiss before her next birthday. The story is from the villain's pov, so we get a lot of her story instead of the princess's story, and I genuinely wasn't that interested in the villain's story.
What would make this an extra star read for me: More time between our love interests so we can see them falling in love.
Vibes: I almost gave up on this book after 2 hours, but came back to it because of my earlier stated obsession and need to know what happens. Vibes were just meh for me.
4.5 stars. I had so much fun reading this book that I read it in one day. As a retelling of a fairytale, written from the POV of the villain, it was refreshing and totally helped with getting out of a reading slump. One of my favourite parts of the story is how the author contradicts the original fairytale and emphasises how weird it is to expect your true love’s kiss from a complete stranger, and hope it works… Didn’t expect to relate a bit too much to the main character but overall is a pretty good book and worth a shot.
Fav quote: “ History is written by victors.”
Fav quote: “ History is written by victors.”
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes