Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I enjoyed this, but I didn't love it quite as much as I had anticipated. I particularly enjoyed the fairy tale retelling aspect here! It's mostly Sleeping Beauty from the villain's point of view, but there were also elements (particularly in the beginning) that were reminiscent of Cinderella. The pacing was decent overall, but it did have some repetitive parts and predictable plot points.

This society was rather interesting. It's extremely materialistic with these Graces used for their abilities to provide enhancements (like beauty, wit, etc) to nobles. Even though Alyce is feared and shamed, people still go to her for help with their dirty deeds. This provides the grounds for interesting internal conflicts for Alyce because she just wants to be accepted and fit in with the other Graces. I thought that this story was very much about her accepting who she actually is and taking control of her life. Her journey is understandable - she's really not treated well, so I rooted for her to take some power back! She is naive at times and doesn't always make the best (or nicest) decisions.

I really liked how Aurora and Alyce want to change things in this world. I mostly enjoyed the romance here, but I felt like we didn't get to see quite as much of it as I really wanted. There were an interesting variety of people and magical beings like fae, shifters, and these Graces with magic in their blood.

In general, I did like how the plot built up over the book to where the ending was pretty exciting. I feel satisfied with where it ends up, especially knowing that it's an origin story for the villain in Sleeping Beauty. I would be interested in reading another book in this world!

I did have an enjoyable time with this overall, and I'd recommend it if you're interested in this premise/fairy tale retellings!

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 6:10-9:12 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=futp3YcNym8

Malice is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty in which Aurora falls in love with the evil sorceress.

We follow Alyce as she navigates the world of the Graces all while discovering the true depths of her power.

It was interesting to catch glimpses of the villain Alyce is bound to become, like when she messes with Rose's elixirs. Her treatment by others is hard to read about because you grow to love the character and want what is best for her; I’m surprised Alyce didn't turn “evil” sooner. Aurora is the only person to treat her well.

I thought the book would focus more on the romance, but it’s more about Alyce’s character development. I love Alyce’s and Aurora’s relationship but wish Aurora was more present in the story and better developed.

I wanted to see Alyce interacting more with the other Graces. Rose was an interesting side character along with Laurel. I would like to read about them living their day-to-day life as Graces. Hilde was underused as a character and I hope that she plays a bigger part in the next book.

Part one was slow going and had some info-dumping- including histories of other courts that added no substance to the story. Part two picked up and the ending was absolutely incredible, culminating in a heart-pounding ending that left off with a pretty big cliffhanger.

Alyce’s transformation from beginning to end was amazingly built up to and I can’t wait to read the next book!

I love a good morally grey character, and I love a descent into villainy. Make it sapphic, and I'm just about bound to love it, and this is a fairytale reimagining as well, what more could you want?

I loved the world building and magic system in this book, and the descent into villainy was very believable. I have to say the book moved a little too slowly for me to stay intrigued, but overall, I did really enjoy this.

I loved this book. This retelling of Sleeping Beauty was so clever and it twisted the story the perfect amount, where it was recognizable but still entirely fresh. The world-building was fantastic and I loved the history, the concept of the Graces, the magic systems, and the politics of the Kingdom of Briar. Alyce was a complicated and morally gray heroine, which was unique and an exciting thing to experience as a reader. I had so much empathy for her and it was fascinating to see someone who clearly had a good heart fight with her natural-born magic, which is powered by mal-intent, as well as the horrible way society has treated her for her entire life. Princess Aurora was totally loveable and their relationship broke my heart with its sweetness. The entire book is filled with a cast of complex and morally gray characters, creating some pretty great twists and turns in the plot. The ending left me in shock- it was so not what I expected to happen and I loved every second of it. This is one of my favorite fairy tale re-imaginings that I have read. I highly recommend it and am excited to see what else Heather Walter has up her sleeve.

Gorgeous fairy-tale vibes, with a twist. I loved Alyce, I thought she was a really compelling character, with the kind of villain backstory I can get behind. Aurora was lovely and kind, and I loved the slow burn of *this* relationship, when I don't typically love slow burn, because here it was not code for no new developments. The romance was clearly building, they were doing things together that were clearly growing their affections for each other, just not anything overtly romantic/sexual. It also wasn't code for, we might kiss in the last ten pages, there was plenty of action after the kiss as well. Plus the fantasy world happening around them was both familiar and new, and was really interesting to read while waiting for the romance to develop. The end hurt me. I get why the author chose to go that way, but I was hoping for something else (that I won't spoiler by saying here) and that is not what I got.

Bewitchingly delightful.I love an alternative read. It has just enough spice in the language that you can almost see the side eye. The princess beautiful but chafing against her perfection. The outcast always on the lookout for the slight. A perfect scenario for a tale turned upside down to the delight of us all. You are invited to take every image of Sleeping Beauty and not only twist it but turn up the steam and dream a better outcome for both. I hope to read more of these fractured fairy tales.

After reading the blurb I immediately went "I want this book this instant" and Malice did not disappoint. Malice is a wonderfully sapphic, dark and captivating Sleeping Beauty retelling. I'm so excited for its release (full rtc)

DNF at 32%

I am so disappointed that this one didn’t end up working out for me since I was thoroughly looking forward to a dark, sapphic retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

Why this book didn’t work for me:

- The pacing of the book is incredibly slow. I’m all for all slow pacing when fantasy books first start when there’s lush works building and a unique magic system that captures my attention. The world building in this one is just okay. And so much of the initial set up and magic system reminded me of The Belles by Dhionelle Clayton (which I loved), but it didn’t work here.

- There’s so many info dump chapters. Since the author is trying to educate the reader at the same time as Alyce about Alyce’s dark magic since she’s half-Vila, there’s entire passages of the history and lots of telling with very little showing.

- At the 32% mark, we are finally seeing Alyce start to use her dark magic, but it’s just petty revenge on the Graces who’ve physically and emotionally tortured her for her entire life. How she wasn’t ready to burn the entire thing down was beyond me?!

- And the whole curse that Aurora seems intriguing, but it’s pretty obvious where the storyline is going between Aurora and Alyce so I don’t need to continue reading to solve that mystery.

Thank you to Del Rey Books for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

It amazes me that this book is only a debut novel. The magic system was so interesting and unique (from all the fantasy I have read at the very least) and this take on Sleeping Beauty was from a different perspective. This is told from the “villain’s” point of view with Aurora as the side character and love interest. Alyce, our protagonist, is morally gray and still coming into her power. Not every decision made will be ones you agree with, but it adds to her character complexity and arc.
The pacing was a little bit off at times. The end of the book really took off in comparison to the beginning and middle, but this didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Highly recommend! and i’m very excited for the sequel.

Aurora's family was cursed by dark magic, and it could only be broken by true love's kiss. She's a kind princess, likely to be a good ruler for Briar, and doesn't care that Alyce the Dark Grace has the same kind of magic that had cursed her. Aurora can't stand having to kiss princes in the hopes it will break her curse, but she's running out of time.

Told from Alyce's point of view, we learn about the Graces, women gifted with golden blood that are able to do magic by infusing drops of their blood into elixirs. When their magic runs out and their blood is silver, they're essentially put out to pasture, running guild houses for other Graces or getting married. Alyce, however, has the green blood of the Vila, creatures that once were enemies of the fae. Alyce is reviled by other Graces and even the common people in the kingdom of Briar unless they need her to create a curse. She tries to learn how to do more with her magic and loves the princess Aurora, but every step of the way people don't trust her and make her feel unwanted. She's angry and feels unloved, which makes her trust unwisely.

I felt so bad for Alyce, being picked on for things she can't help. The Queen is essentially a figurehead, and the nobility tend to be vain and fickle as well. They also belittle Alyce even as they want her curse elixirs, and humiliating her at her first ball made me want to smack them all. This is the first half of a duology, so its explosive ending will lead into another novel. I can't wait to read it and see what happens next. After so much heartache and betrayal, I do want to see a happier ending for Alyce.

I love a good fairy tale retelling, especially one with awesome diverse representation and morally ambiguous characters!

This is a darker retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story that we all know (you know, the Disney version), but in this case, we have our Maleficent character fall in love with Aurora. I honestly feel like the themes that are in this book are some of the things that Maleficent tried to touch on, but had some problems with tone and that rape allegory scene where the King drugs Maleficent and then takes her wings in order to prove that he's gotten rid of the dark fae.

Luckily, Malice avoids all of that. Instead, we watch the story unfold through Alyce, a young woman who was unfairly named a Dark Grace because her magic has negative impact on those around her. And she is part Vali, this universe's version of a dark fae. This book does not shy away from the abuses that Alyce faces from her peers and how she clings to the first person who treats her like someone worthy of being treated well, even if he is shady as all else. Then Aurora, the princess of Briar comes into the picture, and the pair bond fast. Aurora is Alyce's hope, and reading her try to wrap her head around her feelings was so compelling.

Like other reviewers, I thought the first part of the book is really slow. But once I hit part two, it felt like the pacing picked up a notch, and all that slow pacing built into an explosive ending. The romantic aspect of Aurora and Alyce is always there, but the focus is really more on them bonding over their attempt to gain back their agency. There are some hiccups here and there, as this is a debut, but for me its more about the slow crawl of the first half of the book. It works so hard to show how badly Alyce is treated, but I felt like it didn't really move the plot all that much.

If you can get past the first part of the book, you'll appreciate some of the careful and complex worldbuilding and character development. Alyce is a frustrating and awesome lead, as she embodies all the problems with people who are sympathetic, but have given up because they were beaten down for so long. Aurora is an amazing foil for Alyce as she too is bound by a force outside herself, but still has fight in her. This is a great retelling of Sleeping Beauty and I can't wait for the sequel.

This retelling was a clever and interesting way to bring some freshness into this fairy tale. I really enjoyed what the author did with this and can't wait for the next book. Love a good LGBTQIA twist as well!

This is a dark Sleeping Beauty retelling with a few hints of Cinderella mixed in. I love a good retelling and I typically like it when the story strays from the original (or should I say Disney version cause that’s what I know) and twists in a different direction. The dark additions make it fun for me.

Alyce is an abused, neglected and used Dark Grace. She’s different than the other Grace’s because her elixirs seem to only cause harm where the others are for beauty and wisdom and more. Alyce is a great morally gray character . Her hard life has caused her to mistrust everyone. It also festers inside her so it’s suspenseful waiting to see if she breaks or conforms. I really liked her and the pacing until the last quarter of the book. It’s almost 500 pages so my attention might’ve waned a bit but I lost interest right when the action started happening and it didn’t quite come back. There was a twist that I didn’t love that made a character change and it didn’t jive with what my feelings were at that point. It changed enough for me to lose a bit of the interest that had kept me going.

Content Summary: The protagonist is actually 20yo and everyone else is about that age or older. It still felt like YA so that wasn’t an issue until the intimacy became quite detailed. It’s definitely one to review before handing to a younger teen. The language was fairly low and had 4 F words. Those F words felt oddly out of place when the other language was so minor. Violence was pretty detailed when it came to abuse, and blood was mentioned many times.

Thank you to Ransom House Publishing Group- Ballatine/ Del Rey for the gifted copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Malice is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story where Aurora falls for her magical friend, Alyce, rather than a prince. She has no time for silly princes away since she’s got dreams for political change when her curse is broken and she takes the crown. Alyce just wants to belong. But always remember, Alyce is the villain.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. I thought it was an interesting perspective on the original fairy tale with some different twists and turns. Aurora’s curse that can be broken by love’s first kiss, is generational and passed down to all females in succession. There are also some interesting political challenges for this kingdom, with some complicated history that sometimes I got a little lost in but it all seemed to come together toward the end.

I liked Alyce as a character. I think this was an excellent twist on that villain character. Poor darling. She struggles with similar issues that I have in being adopted and never quite fitting in. I thought the interaction between the other Graces was well done and I liked those personalities as well. Very “ugly” step-sister you might say. I wasn’t sure what to expect about the ending as the story progressed but was quite pleased with it. I think any girl who always imagined having her curse broken by a girl (instead of a prince) will enjoy this book.

I loved this. I loved this so much. I mulled over whether to give it 4 or 5 stars, but it really took me by surprise and I was so into the world and the characters that I have to go with 5 stars. Oh man, this is how a retelling should be done!

First off, I missed the memo about this being a queer book. I saw it was a Sleeping Beauty retelling with the villain and princess somehow working together to break the curse and I simply hit "request" on Netgalley. I'm a simple girl - if it says "retelling," I request. I just assumed that the relationship in here would be a mother/daughter love like it was the Maleficent movie and it was most definitely not lol. I've struggled to find a f/f book that speaks to me and I feel like I've finally found it. This was a slow build romance starting with a princess and a Dark Grace who both didn't really fit into Briar and their love was built on respect and friendship. It just felt so believable which is why it roped me in.

Aside from the romance, the retelling itself was fantastic. Instead of a whole kingdom being placed under a sleeping curse, it was the line of Briar heirs that were cursed. If they weren't kissed by their one true love by the time they turned 21, they would die. The most interesting and creepy part about this curse is the line of suitors who would visit the realm just to kiss the next heir. Aurora mentioned to Alyce how her 8 year-old aunt (I think it was her aunt but I could be wrong there) had her curse broken by someone 30 years older than her, meaning that it was just accepted that these princesses should be expected to be kissed by anyone from the time of their birth. Creepy, yes? It really makes you think about consent and bodily autonomy. I really enjoyed how it took the fairy tale ending we've come to know (prince saves princess by kissing her and they live happily ever after) and showed a darker side of it.

There were some other great things in here too as far as the world-building went - I loved the idea of Graces who were regulated by the throne and whose blood was only magical for a certain amount of time before they started to "fade." I also liked that Malyce was different than the other "pretty" Graces because she was part Vila. It provided a reason for her different, stronger magic that doesn't fade as well as further reason why she would feel out of place in a kingdom that exterminated her people.

This book was so good. SO SO GOOD. If a f/f Sleeping Beauty retelling sounds good to you, then you need to try this one.

12 hours later and I'm still thinking about this book. If you ever loved the story of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), this is a wonderful retelling. Alyce is a Dark Grace or so she thinks. A chance meeting with the Princess and both of their worlds are blown apart. How do you find love when you are the very thing that people despise because of your skin color/your blood? Well, read this and find out. Thank you to the author for building both a relatable world, one full of cruelty and injustice, and characters who have to deal with the difficult stuff.

One of the better fairytale retellings I’ve read in awhile, Malice was above all, a lot of fun. Placing a very lovable female couple at the center of the Sleeping Beauty story, which is of course a welcome update, the book considers the revolutionary possibilities opened up by the courage and vulnerability of “true love,” as well as the weight of history and its impact on individual agency. Taken on its own, it’s a beautiful and romantic tragedy, though I’ve heard there will be a sequel, so that makes things even more interesting...😍 Great world-building and good chemistry between the two protagonists; the secondary characters felt a little two-dimensional to me at times.

”If they want a monster, they shall have one.”

A cursed shapeshifter, doomed to haunt an abandoned tower forever. A calculating king, strategically planning his next political move to strengthen his empire. A litany of untold secrets, each with the power to alter the course of a kingdom’s history. And a rejected, green-blooded girl, who hasn’t even scratched the surface of what her power can do.

”There’s power in you. More than you know...”

Malice is enchanting, immersive, and entirely unputdownable! This revisionist tale of the witch who cursed Sleeping Beauty puts a new spin on the backstory and formative experiences that made this allegedly-wicked creature who she is, and I am here for all of it.

”I’m better than this. More than the villain they’ve created.”

Heather Walter has created the most atmospheric world, filled with fae kingdoms, blood magic, ancient curses, and longstanding rivalries. Walter offers rich descriptions and insights into the enchanted settings, the kingdoms’ histories, and the elements of magic used. She has considered every angle and answered every question in vivid detail. A more thorough fairytale retelling, you’d be hard pressed to find.

”Both he and Aurora, on opposite sides of an ancient war, depending on me to survive. I want to save them both, but I can’t help but feel that by allying with one, I’m damning the other.”

There is an element of romance in Malice, but it is far from being the dominant feature of the story. Rather, the unexpected romantic relationship, that blooms out of an unlikely friendship, takes a backseat to the central character’s development. We see far more of Alyce learning who & what she really is, recovering from emotional wounds left by a life of abuse & cruelty, and ultimately leaning in to her abilities in jaw-dropping ways.

”I know what it’s like to want out of your life so badly you’ll do something desperate.”

As Alyce begins to explore the untapped strength of her power, she wonders often whether she is dark or light, and she begins to question if anyone truly fits neatly into either box. Her LGBTQ romance lends beautiful evidence to the notion that she is, indeed, worthy of love, but even if this sweet twist hadn’t been a part of her story, Alyce’s worth is clear to readers from the start.

”It is both a relief and a terror to be around someone who doesn’t consider me an abomination.”

Fans of vivid fantasy, or of revisionist stories in general (think of Wicked or Heartless!) will devour Malice in one sitting, as I did. Easily one of the best books I’ve read all year. 5 well-deserved stars!

”I’ll never be a heroine like Leythana. In Briar, I’ll only ever be a villain.”

——

A huge thank-you to Heather Walter, Random House, Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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here's the thing, i really wanted to like this book. people on instagram were really hyping up this book, so i was so excited to get an arc and to start reading. but, this was just not the book for me, at all.
the writing- it just didn't make sense, like they would talk about everything that was happening that was like first person, but it wasn't actually first person, and it was just so weird. and it also was just super info dumpy and it was just very repetitive and confusing.
another thing was that this book was super boring. like, everything in this book was just so freaking slow, and it really took away from my enjoyment of this story, and with the pacing and the writing, i just didn't understand what was happening.
the world building was also so bad. like i said, the info dumping wasn't helping, and it was just not doing it for me, and i just was so confused, since i don't really remember a map and nothing was being explained that much, so it was just so weird and confusing.
but, thank you for an arc of this book, even if it was pretty bad, but it might just be a reading slump talking lol. but, i was really excited to see a queer retelling of sleeping beauty, but i don't think i want to risk a reading slump enough to actually read this.