Malice: Book One of the Malice Duology (Malice Duology Series, 1)

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This is another read that I've been vlogging so I'm sure at some point this weekend I'll edit in that link. [ here's that link... ]

A truly original and clever retelling of a classic that had me racing to the end - you'll never look at Sleeping Beauty the same again .' S.A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass Alyce is part-Vila, which are basically similar to demons. The Vila were dark and evil creatures before they were terminated, which makes everyone else treat Alyce with contempt (wow, imagine being treated badly because of your race - that doesn’t sound familiar at all). However, she works as a Grace - an Etherian-blessed human whose magical blood is used in elixirs to bestow gifts upon humans. Entering into the Briar Kingdom to see what my little villain was up to was pretty fun at first. Then it started to get a bit frustrating here and there. Which, yes, I could totally see happening because it didn't seem like Alyce was truly herself anymore. Going by a different name and ruling the dark court sounds like a good time. Until it wasn't. SOOOOO, this book was might I say not as good as the first. There was action and stuff but I wasn't that...what's the word.....intrigued. There has been some question is this is YA but I would call this New Adult instead. The characters are in their 20’s and there is some cruelty near the end that might bother some younger readers. There is one sex scene but it is just intimate and not explicit. In general, I liked parts of the romance, especially the pairing of the two characters, but I do hope that the romance is beefed up in book 2. The relationship needs to develop more and they really just need more time together as a couple.Every scene was just much longer than I needed to be and everything was dragged out, even the romance. The ending could have happened much sooner. I wasn’t really satisfied with the ending either, it was kind of rushed and felt unfinished to me.

But is she really the villanelle of this story? Because everyone in the Briar only cares about jewelries, glamorous parties they throw, charm-granting elixirs they use. They’re selfish, hedonistic, self centered people who never care about princess or future of Briar if she really dies!Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I - The romance in this book surprised me. I fell in love with Aurora alongside Alyce in the first book, but in Misrule I wasn’t too sure about them together. Too much had changed and they seemed to have too much conflict in their way. I found myself not really even rooting for them at times. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by the resolution of their arc. I thought it was a bold choice, but definitely the right one. It respects their individual growth as characters while remaining hopeful. The end dragged on a bit for me, but overall, I was so impressed with this. I would definitely recommend Malice for Readers who enjoy the darker side of fairy tales.