A review by lagiven
Malice by Heather Walter

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

This was a beautiful, Sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I love that the evil fairy was the protagonist. Alyce's character arc is strong, and her descent into villainy was well paced. I loved how good and evil blurred throughout the book. I also appreciated that even some antagonistic characters were given backstories to explain their actions. Aurora was a great juxtaposition from the classic fairy tale princess, and the relationship between her and Alyce was excellent in how they accepted and trusted each other. There was some insta-love type stuff, but that does come with fairy tale stories. My only real con was that the last quarter of the book felt very rushed. It jumped from twist to twist, so there wasn't much time to register what had just happened before the characters were thrown into a new, crazy scene. That being said, I sped through this book in a few days, and I can't wait for its sequel to be released. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings