A review by cameronreads
Malice by Heather Walter

adventurous dark medium-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? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this! It was definitely one of the most interesting retellings I've ever read - I loved how it twisted the source material, staying true to it but also being its own original story. I loved how the plot progressed - there was one major plot point that I guessed very early on, but there was plenty of twists I wasn't expecting! The story itself was really interesting and I was completely engaged throughout the book. I loved the take on villainy it presented and I found I adored reading from the villain's perspective, especially because sometimes I find the typical hero's morals get in the way some times which really annoys me, and that absolutely wasn't the case here. The main character Alyce was great and progressed so much as the story went on as well, and I really really loved the romance and the pacing of it. I loved the ending so so much, it was exactly what I wanted to happen!
However, I did have a couple of issues: there was a little bit of info dumping, not enough that it was hard to read or boring but just took me out of it a little; there was that one character centred plot twist that was painfully obvious and could have been less so; there were quite a lot of time skips and training montages, which isn't a major problem just something I'm not a big fan of; and there were a couple of instances where Alyce assumed what Aurora was thinking and made mistakes, which does annoy me. Overall though, I did really like this book and would one hundred percent recommend, and I'm waiting in anticipation for the sequel!
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