Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Misrule

Ugh, Alyce drove me batty during this entire book – I agree with the other review that she didn't seem like she'd lived 120 years, but rather like a lovesick teen. I suppose it's understandable, since humans (aka authors) don't live that long, and we would struggle to grasp that kind of mindset. At any rate, Alyce was maddeningly obsessed with Aurora for reasons that didn't really make sense to me – maybe I'm too aro for the logic (or lack thereof), but at many points during the book I was very tempted to jump on board the Regan/Nimara ship. That kind of relationship made sense – I mean, being based on actual time spent together.

This book felt a lot more "typical" fantasy than the first, with the big war and the truly astonishing number of magical creatures. A lot of the descriptions were over-the-top (and by halfway in, I never wanted to read that Callow or Chaos "chuffed" ever again), but I think that sort of over-description is typical for (YA? new adult?) fantasy. Part of me really enjoys the wardrobe descriptions, but I also wondered how Aurora could smell like apple blossoms ALL the time...

I almost wish the book had done a bit less with the sweeping fantasy war and more with the Aurora/Alyce/Regan relationships. And Neve felt like an afterthought. (Also, I couldn't decide how to pronounce her name... A character guide would've been great for this story, and a map!) The Imps drove me batty, too, although they seem to be a fan favorite. I really liked the very start, where Regan arrived, and might have preferred more on the founding of the Dark Court.

All that said, huge fan of Callow/Derek and the Dark council, and I couldn't stop reading. It's eminently readable despite the MC's frustrating traits (the eternal teenager syndrome), and although I liked *reading* Malice better, I absolutely wanted to know what happened in Misrule. Having such an unreliable narrator as Alyce (her hatred of Derek was in such stark contrast to his actual character, for example) was a neat reading experience considering that usually fantasy books like this (that I've read) are told from someone like Aurora's viewpoint. She felt a bit vague in this book, but I did love how often she figured sh!t out while everyone else was plotting beheadings and torture. It felt like there was more to her than was shown.

She would've been much cooler on her own without Alyce's obsession, which I guess is what the SECOND hundred-year separation in the epilogue was meant to suggest. I really liked that she brought up Alyce's unhealthy obsession with the idea of her partway through the book. The epilogue to me read like a very pointed allegory on LGBTQIA+ struggle in today's world. Alyce as an activist, humans as flawed... I can see why it's there, but it felt detached from the rest of the story. Like one of those moralizing conclusions to a fable of La Fontaine, in case you missed the point during the rest of the story lol.

Obviously a book that inspired a lot of curiosity and interest, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for whatever Heather Walter writes next!

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eviecate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have been anticipating this book since I finished the first one and it delivered. The world building in this series is so good and I loved the developments in this book. Overall a really cool take on the traditional fairytale. I can't wait to read more from Heather Walter!

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