Book Review: Misrule [Malice Duology #2] (arc)

Misrule [Malice Duology #2] (arc) (2022) by Heather Walter

Fiction | YA | Fantasy | LGBTQ

Disclaimer: In every review that I complete, I try my best to avoid spoilers of any kind and include spoiler warnings when necessary.

About the book (from Goodreads)

Did they break the curse, or begin one? Sleeping Beauty's dark sorceress reclaims her story in this sequel to Malice

The Dark Grace is dead.

Feared and despised for the sinister power in her veins, Alyce has spent 100 years wreaking her revenge on the kingdom that made her an outcast. Once a realm of decadence and beauty, Briar is now wholly Alyce's wicked domain. No one escapes the consequences of her wrath.

Not even the one person who holds her heart.

Princess Aurora saw through Alyce's thorny facade, earning a love that promised the dawn of a new age. But that love came with a heavy price: Aurora now sleeps under a curse that even Alyce's vast power cannot seem to break, and their dream of the world they would have built together is nothing but ash.

Alyce vows to do anything to wake the woman she loves, even if it means descending into the monster Briar believed her to be. But could Aurora ever love the villain Alyce has become?

Or is true love only for fairy tales?

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Note: Thank you to Netgalley & the publishers for allowing me access to this arc! Please note that all opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Malice (Malice Duology #1)

I think it is important to note that before reading this arc, I read the first book in the series (Misrule) and rated it ☆☆☆☆ on Goodreads! It had been on my tbr for a while, and I didn't want to go into the second book without reading the first!

My Review of Misrule

Going into this book, I had high hopes for it! The first one was a good read (it didn't BLOW me away, but I enjoyed it), so I figured the second one would be as well! In some ways, I was right! There were a lot of differences, but the writing style was still the same, and I appreciate that.

The Good Things

1. The first half of the book is great! I had no problem reading until around the 55% mark in one shot, as it is seemingly fast-paced until that point.

2. The world-building, much like the first, is decent.

3. The character's backgrounds are well-written and fitting of a fantasy book.

The Bad Things

1. The characters were lackluster and a lot less relatable than the characters in the first book. I found myself in agony over a lot of their decisions and actions.

2. I don't feel like this is a good enough conclusion to a duology. Why am I so disappointed?

3. The second half of the book just seemed to DRAG. Hence, my 3-star rating. I think that maybe this book would have been better as a novella, and shortened significantly.

My Final Rating:

☆☆☆ (Goodreads)

☆☆☆ (Blog)

☆☆☆ (Amazon - will post as soon as the book is released)

Release Date: May 10, 2022. Pre-order this from Amazon by clicking here!

If you have access to this ARC, please feel free to leave comments concerning how you liked -or didn't like, no judgment here- it! If you don't have access, let me know if this is on your tbr! I would love to hear your thoughts!