Review by dunecello - Malice

dunecello 's review for:

Malice by John Gwynne

4.5

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What a thrilling start to this series. There's a huge cast of characters but they were surprisingly not hard to keep track of, and I found myself invested in each of the plots being weaved. The author kept me guessing on who is loyal to whom, with some real surprises thrown in there (unreliable narrators FTW). I found myself getting attached to even minor characters and at some I audibly said "nooo" when they died. Corban is a protagonist who is very easy to root for, such an underdog at the beginning of the book and is satisfyingly outstanding by the end. I imagine he will only get stronger as the books go on, so I am excited to see how OP he truly gets.

Some other things I appreciated about this book:

Despite the grim dark nature of the story, there were plenty endearing scenes, genuinely kindhearted and loveable characters, and satisfying moments that kept the book from being a stress-fest.
The action scenes were visceral and did not hold back from exactly how unpleasant this kind of combat would be. The mental effects of battle were not ignored either, with characters frequently experiencing shock after their harrowing experiences. This felt more realistic than just "yay we defeated the enemy, good job guys."
Most of the characters were complex and realistic. There were ones on the "right" side who were not necessarily good, or certainly not perfect. There were ones on the "wrong" side who were there due to being misguided, not from being bad in nature (though there are some exceptions, where some characters honestly need to take a chill pill).
There was an absence of sexual assault / violence against women. See, you can have evil characters, setting-accurate sexism, and high stakes without these things and it works just fine!
After I got through the three lead women being kidnapped plot I realized there was not even a hint of a threat of them being touched unwantedly.
What a breath of fresh air.

I am really looking forward to

so many characters realizing they are on the wrong side, especially Veradis

. That alone is enough to keep me reading the series, and I hope it is as satisfying as I imagine it.

Content Warnings