This was an absolutely fantastic book. It does a great job of humanizing a traditionally known villain. The characters were all very well written, especially the main character Alyce. She stays true to her developed character throughout the entire book. I felt genuinely conflicted with my emotions by the end of the book.

This book is an interesting adaptation of the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty. I liked the characters. I loved the political intrigue! I was drawn in by the fictional history and magical beings of this world.

I tend to avoid romance books. I don't personally enjoy reading sex scenes. I expected some kissing, and was happy to be right. I however was surprised by the more NC17 details.

This book is an amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Except you get to watch the life of the villain unfold, only to fall in love with her. This story follows a misunderstood girl who just wants to be seen. She different and doesn’t fit in anywhere until she finds her true love. However, her loves’ family comes between them and then all hell breaks loose. This book left me reeling afterwards due to wanting more!

Malice is an inventive and entertaining fairytale remix, using elements from Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella as well as older folktales to craft a unique story all its own. Heather Walter creates a rich and beautiful fantasy kingdom that anyone would want to visit - anyone who isn't the protagonist, Alyce, that is. Alyce, an orphan from a much-maligned species of Fae creatures, is raised without knowing anything about her people, or herself for that matter. As she struggles to figure out who she is and what she can do, she also struggles to help her only true friend, the lovely but cursed Crown Princess. The book was an engaging read from beginning to end, but I found the ending disappointing as Alyce grows immensely in power but very little in understanding. While the ending left plenty of plot to be resolved in the sequel, it unfortunately left something to be desired as to why we should continue to care about the ambivalent Alyce or the deeply flawed kingdom of Briar. Ultimately, I enjoyed Malice, but I can't help but wish for a stronger ending to entice me to pick up the next book.

In the Kingdom of Briar, a select group of girls/women, known as the Graces, share the golden blood of the light Fae of Etheria. This was a gift from the King of the Fae in exchange for the assistance of humans in the War of the Fae. The blood of the Graces, when mixed in an elixir, can provide temporary enchantments -- make a person more attractive or youthful, more graceful, etc. -- or can alter the environment temporarily, provide pleasure, make beautiful music, provide wise advice, heal, etc. However, this power is temporary, fading with time. And the power can only be used for positive things.

Yet, there is one Grace who is different from all the rest. Alyce (or Malyce as some of her housemates call her) is "The Dark Grace." She is half-Vila, a race that has been all but exterminated and a race that is considered almost evil incarnate. Instead of golden blood, her blood is green and can be used to caused harm. Patrons come to her with requests for elixirs to make others temporarily ugly, ill, clumsy, etc. -- whatever the patron believes will help him or her upstage a rival. Alyce is despised and feared by essentially the entire kingdom and many people, including Endlewild, the Ambassador of the Fae Courts to Briar, believe she should have been killed as a baby. One of the main reasons why the people of Briar hate the Vila is that a Vila cursed the royal family. The princesses must receive "true love's kiss" before their twenty-first birthday or they will die. The current princess, Aurora, has already lost her two older sisters to the curse, and if she cannot break her own curse, there will be no heir.

Alyce, in disguise, attends the masque ball to celebrate Aurora's twentieth birthday, but Rose, a Grace who despises her, "unmasks" and humiliates Alyce. Alyce flees into the royal garden, only to be followed by Princess Aurora, who is intrigued by Alyce/The Dark Grace. They strike up a friendship of sorts, as both are trapped in lives/situations they do not want and both want different lives for themselves and the citizens of the kingdom. The Kingdom of Briar is wealthy and powerful, but it is also very unequal and the nobility rather vain and self-absorbed. Aurora, if she lives to be Queen, wants to change things.

Alyce has never known the true extent of her powers, as there are no other Vila to learn from. However, a chance encounter results in her meeting someone who is not supposed to exist, but who knows that there is more to Alyce than she realizes and begins to teach her, in their infrequent meetings, how her powers actually work and how to harness them. Unfortunately for Alyce, accidental and intentional (but unsuccessful) examples of her power have come to the attention of the Briar King, who realizes that he can use Alyce as a weapon to achieve his goals, which are not benevolent in the least. Events occur that cause Alyce to doubt that Aurora's friendship is real, causing a rift in the friendship; a rift that could prove fatal when Alyce is forced to embrace her full powers.

Through Alyce, the author explores the notion of whether a person can escape their essential nature. Can Alyce, ultimately, be anything but a villain? The author also explores the potentially devastating consequences of making someone feel so helpless, worthless, and enraged, with no outlet for those feelings, that the person casts back that rage in the most harmful manner possible.

In the story, the friendship between Aurora and Alyce evolves into a romantic relationship (albeit temporary). While this casts the main characters as lesbian or possibly bisexual, the story does not portray Alyce as having a romantic or sexual interest in men or women and it involves Aurora being repeatedly paired with potential male suitors/curse-breakers, in large part because if the curse is broken, future heirs will be needed. This was not a story where one or both main characters had a hidden or known attraction to other women and was trying to find the "right" woman. Rather, it was an unexpected attraction that bloomed and just happened to involve two women. The author, in her acknowledgements, discusses the lack of LGBTQ representation in fiction historically and how a story like Malice, with LGBTQ characters and an "evil" main female character, would not have been published not that long ago. However, to me, the LGBTQ aspect of the story is less the relationship between Aurora and Alyce, and more the portrayal of Alyce as an "other" and therefore a lesser person, an attitude that has long been directed towards the LGBTQ community.

I received a copy of the e-book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

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.