A review by acidicgoddess
Malice by Heather Walter

sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

CW: grooming & manipulation

Ngl, this book would have worked wonderfully as a prequel. 

The story was definitely intense. It also did a really good job at making you feel for those who tormented Alyce. It was the writing style that threw me off most of the time. Sometimes the lore would just be dumped into a single chapter and not integrated well AT ALL (which, unfortunately, meant that all of it went over my head to be ignored.)

The author tries to almost personify the atmosphere when Alyce talks to Kal, but it’s so out of place and obnoxiously interruptive that I found myself hating scenes where Kal was involved. She doesn’t do it with any other character and that’s probably why I found it interruptive.

As for the romance in the book… Well, it was a let down. 

I’ll admit, I wasn’t a fan of Aurora at first. I felt like she only existed as a character to reflect Alyce’s wants and needs - and for most of the book she was - she lacked any personality outside of wanting what Alyce wants. But, by the end of the book, we really get to know her. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get a taste of it from the beginning of the book, it made the romance aspect feel bland. 

This isn’t to say I’m a fan of her, however. Aurora is painfully ignorant to Alyce’s predicament with the public and doesn’t notice when she becomes uncomfortable. Their relationship feels very one sided. Even towards the end. Alyce is left anxious and Aurora can only take it as Alyce not being able to trust her.

Oh, and the one character I was actually finding enjoyable turned out to be one of the bad guys, too. Not a good move on the authors part considering none of the other characters were enjoyable. 
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