[Book Review] Malice by Heather Walter & Tuturu Rose Vanilla Ground Coffee

Title: Malice
Series: Malice Duology #1
Author: Heather Walter
Publication date: April 13th 2021
Page Count: 469 pages
Age Rating: New Adult (blood, gore, violence, semi-explicit intimate scene)
How I got my hot little hands on it: begged and borrowed
Publisher’s page: Malice

A princess isn’t supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of “Sleeping Beauty,” true love is more than a simple fairy tale.

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.

You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.

Utter nonsense.

Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either.

Until I met her.

Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.

But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.

Nonsense again.

Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—

I am the villain.

My Review

Two parts Sleeping Beauty and one part Cinderella, Malice is a richly detailed dark Sleeping Beauty retelling with a heroine who simultaneously manages to also be the villain. As the saying goes, villains are the heroes of their own stories and this is Alyce’s villain origin story as told by Alyce.

As a result of their allyship with the light Fae of Etheria, the kingdom of Briar is gifted with the Graces, random girls in the kingdom born with the golden, magic-bearing blood of the fae. This blood is used by the Graces to make elixirs for the rich nobles of the kingdom, granting them beauty, youth, wit, charm, etc.

Alyce is not like those Graces. Dubbed the Dark Grace, the blood running through her veins is the green of the Vila, the dark enemies of the light Fae. Alyce is raised to never forget she is lesser than the other Graces, her magic only useful for hexes. Unlike the three other Graces she lives with, Alyce doesn’t wear beautiful gowns or get invited to events. She’s not even given a room in the main house or allowed to use the well-appointed Grace parlor when receiving patrons.

And then one fateful day, there’s a ball at the palace for princess Aurora, the last living heir of Briar, cursed to die on her twenty-first birthday if she doesn’t receive her true love’s kiss. But Aurora is not the kind of princess to accept her fate lying down. She’s fascinated by Alyce’s power and enlists her help to find a way to break the curse. And when Aurora looks at her without fear or disgust in her eyes, Alyce decides she’s willing to do anything for this beautiful girl who doesn’t see her as a monster.

And it all goes to hell from there.

A mysterious man in a tower who claims to know Alyce’s true origin. A damsel in distress as beautiful as she is smart and stubborn. A ruthless king desperate for power.

It’s easy to see how Alyce gets overwhelmed when trying to juggle the expectations of so many people, but she’s kind of hard to watch as her wrong choices corrupt her good intentions and pave her way to ruin. I’m not sure I would say Alyce as a main character is “likable” in the traditional sense, but she is interesting and compelling. She lets her jealousy, anger, and need for revenge drive her and performs mental gymnastics to justify her decisions.

The worldbuilding in this is breathtaking in its scope and attention to detail. With the amount of history, backstory, peoples, kingdoms, etc., the story could have easily felt weighed down with info, but the author does it masterfully, weaving it seamlessly into the story as it’s told.

With interesting characters, a bittersweet romance, and absorbing worldbuilding, Malice is an original take on Sleeping Beauty that’s never boring or predictable as it follows the morally grey main character on her path to villainy with the best of intentions (well, at least not the worst of intentions). I won’t spoil the ending, but I can’t wait to see where the author takes the story in the next book.

The Briar Rose is the symbol of the Briar Kingdom and the Graces and can be found in everything from decor to clothing to tea cakes. Tuturu Rose Vanilla Ground Coffee is delicately decadent and indulgent, made from real rose petals and Madagascar vanilla, making it the perfect coffee to be served to Briar nobles in parlors across the Grace district.