Heather Walter

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

I’ve been struggling to find the words to write this review because to be quite frank, Malice blew me away. There are some books that are amazing, and then there are some books that sing a song that echoes in your heart. Malice is one of those for me. I connected very strongly with the character of Malice and her circumstances on a personal level and revelled in her transformation.

The world Heather Walter has created is rich, vibrant, inherently flawed and incredible. This is a book about a villain and her story, and yet it’s so much more than that. The fantasy world that Malice is a part of has such unique races that I was craving more information with every page. I liked the way that this knowledge was imparted to the reader from two very different sources as well, making us question the validity of the information at every step.

That’s one of the core themes of this novel; truth and especially the truth of history. The old adage that history is written by the victor is in play here, although it’s not quite as simple as that. What happens when the victor’s story gets manipulated and usurped? Their power diluted over time until they don’t really have it anymore? That’s the situation that Princess Aurora finds herself in and she’s most definitely not a sleeping beauty. There is nothing passive or damsel like about Aurora and she’s incredible. She’s the type of strong female character that we need to see more of in YA.

Unfortunately, both Malice and Aurora are playing a game with only half the cards and this is a world where power reigns, and while they have the power of truth and good on their side that isn’t enough. This is a book about a villain, not a hero and Walter delivers that in full colour and heart-wrenching emotion. Even as I read the final scenes of the book a part of me was begging for it not to happen, and I realised that we’re pre-conditioned to fight against the villain. The problem is that things aren’t that black and white, and Malice is a book of greys upon greys. Very few characters in this book are not grey (I can count two, and one of them I suspect is probably quite grey, we just don’t know anything about her – yet) and even when you think you’ve worked one out, Walter is there with a scene that changes your entire perspective.

Malice isn’t all sour and dour though; it’s fun, flirty and beautiful too. It’s filled with Sleeping Beauty, Disney and fairytale easter eggs as well. This is a fantasy novel that is a treat to read. It's a book for people who like something different, who like characters who don’t fit into those nice neat little boxes. It’s a book about an underdog who finds someone who understands them and wants them for who they are, not who they want them to become. There’s female friendship and romance, a unique magic system, intrigue and so much more. It’s definitely a must-read for fans of fairytales!


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I absolutely loved reading Malice, which is a dark twisty retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I really liked Alyce the Dark Grace, she might have been a little naive but she was a great character and even though she was the villain, was she really? I think she was misunderstood and took on that role because that was expected of her, there were many villains, worse than her in this story, ones that I really didn’t expect so maybe I was a little naive while reading it but they did shock me.
The Royal family women have a curse upon them; they will die on their twenty-first birthday if they have not found true love. How hard can it be to find true love? Princess Aurora is the last heir, if she doesn’t find her true love that’s the end of the line as everyone knew it.
Alyce and Princess Aurora bump into each other and their friendship grows from that moment on, a forbidden friendship that blooms into more. But there was so much more to this story than just their relationship.
Now I would say the story was loosely based on the fairytale, there were similarities, Briar being the kingdom and the spinning wheel being mentioned but it was so much better in every way that the fairytale.
Heather Walter wrote something remarkable here, it was fast-paced and written beautifully, and capturing so much detail I felt I was in Briar too, standing alongside Alyce. I cannot praise it enough, it was fantastic.… (plus d'informations)