What a wickedly amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I am here for this LGBTQ+ fantasy romance, I loved the build up of Alyce and Aurora’s relationship. Alyce herself is an intriguing character, she’s flawed but you sympathize with a lot of her actions. The world building was pretty good, though like with most books there are somethings that could’ve done with some more explanation.

Wow,

Lyrically written, immaculate world building., and LGBTQ love.

Now, would I call this book a re-telling of "Sleeping Beauty"? No.
It has many similarities, but if you were looking for a read that *closely* resembles Sleeping Beauty, this isn't it. The book starts out slow, almost painfully so. However, around 40ish% through it became pretty clear this story was going to be amazing. I loved that the author had no issues writing so dark and deep. I could almost feel the pain Alyce went through during her story. I adored the slow pacing of the love story between Alyce and Aurora. It was beautifully written, I was rooting for them the whole book, and NOW, now I must wait and pray I get the next book as early as this I did this one! Because THAT ENDING!!!

As with most books there were a few flaws, I don't think I've read the line, "I'm sure they can feel my heartbeat.". more in any book than this one. Alyce is also a little too whiny, and woe-as-me for my taste, but, I had to remind myself it is a YA book, and by the last 90% of the book she definitely grew into her own.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Malice by Heather Walter is such an incredible retelling! i loved the characters and the writing was amazing.

This story is amazing and I hope what I read about a sequel is true even if this book doesn’t even come out for several more months. I love fairy tale retellings and I have to say this is one of the best I have ever read. I know the movie Maleficent showed a different side of the evil sorceress, but it had nothing on this story. A story of good versus evil even in oneself. Alyce is born half Vila, one of the dark faerie in a land granted magic by the light faerie. She is tolerated for the magic she performs but hated by all. Until she meets a princess and everything is changed. I loved Aurora in a way I never could admire the more traditional Sleeping Beauty. This f/f version of Sleeping Beauty far exceeds the original for me.

This is an incredibly new twist on the sleeping beauty tale. I liked the twist of Aurora and an evil sorceress instead of the boring handsome prince in everyone's story. I loved this one.

Malice is a dark retelling of the classic story Sleeping Beauty. I enjoyed the fresh take and how the reader gets to experience the story through the villain's eyes. Our main character, Alyce, is the dark Grace of the realm – but instead of bestowing gifts and abilities on humanity like the other Graces, all Alyce can do is provide curses. This sets her apart from the other Graces making her feel alone and helpless despite her power. It is this shunning that turns her into the villain of the tale. Overall, Malice is an interesting reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty story. Perfect for anyone who enjoys the Fae, LGBTQ romance, and getting an inside look at the villain's thoughts.

Malyce in fairytale land

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: ❤️💙💜💛💘
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌎🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 👤👤👤👤👤

The setting: Fairytale Land (Briar)

The Hero(s): Alyce - has dark and incomprehensible powers and is ostracized for being a monster. Alyce has no friends due in part to her affinity towards hexes and curses.

The heroine: Aurora - The crown princess who has a curse. She must find a prince and get true love’s first kiss or she will be dead within a year.

The Love Story: A slow burn sapphic romance between the cursed princess and the one person who has the blood of the people that cursed her family. The Villain is not a standard fairytale villain and the good and bright people are fake and catty. Quite the turnaround in fairy tale land…

Alyce lives in Briar where there is magic in the form of Graces. Graced children are born with half fae blood that is golden. They use their gold blood in addition to enhancements procured at an apothecary to create potions or tinctures that can do things for their customers like add beauty, change eye color and hair color. However, Alyce is not half Fae but half Vila (monster) and she has the green blood of the Vila which is a race that was eradicated.

Alyce has a dark grace and can combine her blood with enhancements to curse people, give them warts, and make bad things happen to them. Her customers come to her for potions/hexes because they are jealous or angry and want bad things to happen to people they use them on. Alyce lives in Lavender house and the other Graces she lives with have nicknamed her Malyce.

I have to say, that I am a lover of the fairytale retelling and this one is certainly a fun one since it turns just about every fairy tale stereotype around. I love that the shiny happy people are so tarnished and that the “villain” is the protagonist. Also, though the princess is named Aurora and has a curse, this one has elements of a bunch of other fairy tales.

For example, Alyce lives with other graces and due to her Vila blood, she is delegated to the basement area and gets stuck running errands for the other graces (almost like cinderella). Though she is allowed to go to the ball in a gown that miraculously appeared for her. Also, we associate Sleeping Beauty with the names Aurora and Briar Rose and in this book, Aurora is the princess of Briar. I really enjoyed this story. I won’t give away any more, but to say Alyce’s tale is terrific.

I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

I am so excited for everyone to have access to this book. I though it was such a fun re-telling, and exactly what we need during the stress of 2020 (and early 2021). It's a YA fantasy that centers the Sleeping Beauty villain - there's romance, intrigue, adventure, and strong character work. I truly enjoyed this so much - it's extremely fast paced, and does feel new, which is often the downfall of re-tellings. Perfect for people who feel the Disney movies could use a little more depth.

4/5 stars. Thank you to random house publishing group for sending me this arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was instantly intrigued into this book as soon as I heard it was a sapphic retelling, myself being a lesbian I was so excited for some representation.

Princess aurora needs alyce who is humiliated, branded and shamed as a villain as she has gifts. She is outcasted and put to shame. I really loved Alyce and the authors approach to writing her, I found her fascinating and interesting to read about. The world building was mesmerising although there were some plot holes I wish were written differently.

Thoroughly enjoyable queer take on the tale of Sleeping Beauty. There were some conveniences with the plot that I noticed and the writing wasn't the best I've ever read, but everything else was executed so much to my liking that I don't really care. Loved it.

I wasn't prepared to love this character as much as I did. The character who betrayed her caught me off guard as well. It felt more like a betrayal to me instead of the character. Adorably sappy too. Loved it. All in all, 5 of 5 stars.

While I received a copy of this e-book from Netgalley, all opinions remain my own.

In the kingdom of Briar, the Grace's are held in high esteem, their golden blood the key to magical charm-granting elixirs.

Then there is Alice, the only Dark Grace in the kingdom. He blood flows an ugly green, and she is called on for the dark-charms, hidden away from the public eye.

The princess Aurora has only one year left to break the curse, find her true love's kiss so that she can continue living...

I thought I knew where this story was going... I so didn't. This is one you have to read. It isn't like the other fairy tales. It is a non-fairy tale I think. Most defiantly putting this author on my "to follow" list. She has quite the way with words on how to voice this character.

This books is absolutely stunning. From the first page to the very end, I was unable to put it down.
Growing up as a child, I always LOVED the movie Sleeping Beauty. Why? Because Maleficent was the absolute best Disney Villain! This book blew my expectations out of the water.

Alyce is a very well written character that is immediately likeable. Stuck in a world where the Golden Blooded Grace's are highly coveted, her green Vila blood makes her stand out like an unwanted blemish. Mistreated and shunned because of her abilities, she is forced to use her powers to "help" people. I love the way she interacts with the Graces. I also love that she is liked by some.
At the introduction of Aurora, I was immediately hopeful for where the book was going and was NOT disappointed! I love Aurora's character! She isnt a helpless princess filled with Vanity and Pride. She is very well written and sassy and I love everything about her.
Watching the relationship grow between Alyce and Aurora was so much fun and I enjoyed the fact that the book not only took a new take on Sleeping beauty, it crashed through all expectations of a "princess story" and completely rewrote it.

Beautifully written, well thought out characters, a refreshing and breathtaking new take on classic characters. .this book will forever be on my list of favorites.

Malice tells the story of Alyce, the girl who will become the witch in the sleeping beauty tale. The first part of the book had promise. The magic system was interesting and the story was different enough to keep me hooked. I got stuck about half-way through, and had to put it down for a while.
The author tries to explain some of the culture and magic system as bits come up in the story, but often the explanations go on too long and cover information that is not critically relevant. This interrupts the flow of the story, so that by the time we get back to the main character pages later, I have lost touch with the moment. These info-dumping interludes should either be shorter or more interesting.
I liked the meet-cute scene, but wasn’t convinced with later interactions between Malice and the Princess. It felt a little forced. I also felt the book took a sharp right hand turn at the very end. I did not understand how the main character could take those actions after the build-up of the rest of the story. Altogether not very coherent, though the idea was a good one. 2 stars.

👿👿👿 (three stars, as rated in angsty little teenage chaos demons that are literally gonna snap ANY MINUTE NOW!)
Here's the thing this book has going for it: if you treat someone like a villain long enough they are going to become one. It is LITERALLY the trope as old as time in fantasy fiction and we canonize basically every character it happens to. {{*cough cough* The Joker, Daenerys Targaryen}} Buuuut for whatever reason we, in the *real* world go round and round in circles with it like there's no possible solution. We call kids thugs and delinquents and then punish them for lashing out. My heart genuinely ached for Alyce at portions of this book because I have seen what she went through reflected in the stories of so many kids who never were given a shot in this world. We may not have the "Grace Laws" of Malice's world, but we have the prison industrial complex, and neither were designed to "protect" anybody but the powers that be. Incidentally, I'd like to see both of em burned to the ground 😏🔥 BUT I DIGRESS!
It is for this reason that I am going to give this book the benefit of the doubt. The whole of the story, admittedly, was inconclusive. As with something like The Joker, Malice reads more like an origin story than a retelling. But we as readers were not really given enough context to fully appreciate the after of this origin story. It just.... ends? And in the spectacularly unsatisfying and dramatic manner of GoT, at that. I can empathize with this story, I just am not convinced it was conveyed to me effectively. I need to emotionally connect with Alyce so much more near the end but found myself mostly annoyed with her. Also, I get tired of stories where everyone is out to get the MC. That just isn't realistic. Everyone has somebody. Alyce needed her somebody. And this story didn't really even give her that.
So, all that being said, I choose to treat this like the start of a series because I guess it could still be turned into one? 🤞🏻 And in that case, I would say that it's downright terrific. To read what occurs AFTER all this and then delve into the "origin" story would drastically improved my experience. And thinking about how much I still want to know about this world and it's characters, I am actually mad that there's not more for me to read yet!! HARUMPH! (Now I'm the one that's angsty....)

I love retellings and they tend to hold a particular draw for me when traditional fairy tale characters are involved. That is initially why I was so excited to read this; however, my enjoyment extended far beyond this leading interest. I was swept up in the outstanding world building and mythology created by Heather Walter and ultimately completely blown away.

I was concerned before I picked this up that this was going to be a straight retelling. And while that wouldn't have necessarily been a bad thing, it wouldn't have been anything really exciting. The most interesting part would have been the queer characters and, if we're being honest, that's what interested me first. Instead, Heather Walter was able to craft an exceptional story full of political intrigue; mythology and mythos; hundreds of years of history that I want to read; and a social hierarchy that has privilege, oppression, poverty, savagery, and beauty all wrapped up in an Etherium-tinted bow. And ON TOP OF THIS, we have at least two beautifully nuanced queer characters with fully formed personalities, characterizations, motivations, and desires.

To say I loved and enjoyed this would be an understatement. I really hope this is the beginning of a series or it at least has a sequel coming sometime in the near future. This was 5 out of 5 incredible stars for me.

3.5 Briar Rose Stars

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I love when retellings get really creative and change a lot of things, because reading the exact same story can be so boring. It was a great book to binge and was interesting and creative, but I could definitely tell that it was a debut novel.

There were moments where I had to pause and think, "did I really just read about a heart beat so loud that people can probably hear it....again?" There were also some moments that definitely could have been shorter. There was a lot of internal dialogue that I felt didn't need to be explained in the way that it did. It just felt longer than it needed to be.

Despite the repetition and the sporadic drawn out pieces, I did enjoy the world building, and all the background of Briar. There weren't elements that I disliked enough to take out, it just felt like there was ... kind of a lot of stuff happening.

I almost was willing to give this four stars, almost. I think for how drawn out some of it was, and how many things were happening all at once, that the ending was rushed. It felt a little, ahem, Game of Thrones in the end. Most of you know the feeling.

Big Takeaway:
Definitely a fun debut novel, with a fun twist on Sleeping Beauty, but perhaps missing that element of literary magic to all come together better. BUT I'm very excited for more books by Heather Walter. I can feel that she will grow as an author and she can blow us all away one day.

I love books that take fairytales and expand upon them in different ways. A familiar story with a darker twist, I loved reading this novel!

Malice by Heather Walter

9781984818652

480 Pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: April 13, 2021

Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy, Fairy Tale, LGBTQIA

I love finding books about villains and I hoped I would enjoy this one. I was not wrong. This is the story of Princess Aurora of Briar. She is the last heir to the throne. The line of queens was cursed that if they do not meet their true love by their 21st birthday, they will die. Each heir has the briar rose mark on their arm which disappears after true love’s first kiss.

The realm has Graces that have magical blood and make elixirs to give beauty, wisdom, pleasure, etc. to the anyone that can pay for their services. They cannot leave the realm until their blood fades. There is one Grace that is different from the rest – The Dark Grace. She is half Vila and has green blood instead of the gold blood of the Graces. Her name is Alyce, although Rose calls her Malyce.

While attending the princess’ 20th birthday party, Alyce is humiliated by Rose. Alyce leaves the ballroom and runs out into the garden. She turns the water in the fountain into mud much to the delight of the princess. The princess and Alyce become friends and work together to break the curse.

The book is written in first person point of view. The characters are developed and the story is fast paced. If you love fairy tiles but think the princess can save herself, you will enjoy this book. It has a different twist on the traditional story. I really hope there is another book after this one.

I really loved this book! I am a weakling for anything that is a fairytale retelling and the addition of being LGBT+ friendly is always a wonderful bonus. This book is from the perspective of Alyce, who is called the Dark Grace. The graces use the power in their blood to make potions and elixirs for the people to use, but Alyce as the Dark Grace uses hers to make curses. One day she meets princess Aurora and they fall in love. I think my favorite part of the story was the bit of a small backstory with the man locked in the tower and exactly how Aurora became Sleeping Beauty. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in fairy tale retellings or LGBT friendly novels