Malice

I’ve only read the first of the duology so far, but I found the first book an interesting love story between the princess to a royal line of queens destined to die young unless they find true love, and an “evil” sorceress of the same ilk as those who passed said curse. 

It’s a curious blend of a queernorm world facing encroaching homophobia thanks to political intrigue and patriarchal attitudes from kings with desires above their station. Some of the twists were a tad predictable, but the regressive treatment of the sorceress Alyce and the budding love between her and the princess is sweet and I hope there is a good payoff in the 2nd book. 

I would NOT have read this book if I'd known the sequel was only coming out in April 2022, in 3 months time. I would have waited till both were out because now I'm cursed to wait for what seems like an eternity to find out how this ends. Thankfully, it's a duology, so I'm at least comforted by the fact I won't be tormented the same way when the second book ends.

But wow, rarely does a character give into the malicious beasts we all have inside of us, keep hidden and try to overcome to be functional members of society. It went well past the point of righteous and justified revenge that would appease us readers as a 'perfect ending' and brings you to a point where your heart can only feel for Alyce and her immense pain.

I am a sap though, so I have all my fingers and toes crossed for a happy ending in the second book.

MALICE is a well-crafted Sleeping Beauty retelling which features a protagonist struggling against monstrosity until it feels like her only path for survival. Alyce is fantastically self-centered in a way that is at once completely understandable and the makings of an excellent villain-protagonist. She's trapped in a brutal system which pretends to be a gilded cage for most but has always been pointedly cruel to her. The rivalry between her and Rose was well-developed, with a sense of history and several meaningful shifts when Rose drifts from being the main antagonist to merely an annoyance as Alyce's problems become so much bigger than what's happening in Lavender House. 

The romance is fine, I guess, not my favorite but not terrible. It's not the core of the story and I don't think it's trying to be. As a retelling, this doesn't require any knowledge of the source material. While it's more than referential, it remixes and reframes the pieces until it's a new story which can stand on its own. I actually think it reads much better if you're not trying to see where it compares to the older story. I like how it dives into the Fae side of the story without moving the setting away from the kingdom, their lives are affected by the big deeds and magical pacts of hundreds of years prior but they just have to get through today, and the next day. 

I was troubled by the way it uses references to the Pleasure Graces without actually clarifying what their role is. It felt like it was heavily implied that they're sex slaves (where slavery feels like too strong of a term for the other Graces even though they're just as trapped, but feels extremely appropriate if the Pleasure Graces have involuntary sex work as part of their Crown-mandated position). If all that's happening is their gift is used in potions that help other people have better sex then I wish the novel had taken the time to clarify that point. Instead, it uses a scene with someone pretending to be a Pleasure Grace, intimating that she's there to provide the kind of service to a new bride that has historically been associated with concubines and sex workers, and doesn't provide clarification. If the Pleasure Graces are sex slaves then that should have been the rallying cry, not the much weaker claims about wishing for the system to be "better" somehow. Basically there's just enough detail to be very uncomfortable and not enough for me to be sure that I'm incorrect about my guess. Ultimately it's a small part of the story and I'll keep an eye on how that aspect is handled (if at all) in the sequel.

Overall this is a solid retelling and a good novel which depicts the slow slide of a trapped young woman into the monster everyone already thought she was.