Having a slow pace works if the story is meant to be slice of life and atmospheric–and a lot of this space is used to establish the worldbuilding–but it felt awkward to suddenly crash into the action, especially when some of it changed the tone of the story. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like those two parts really meshed well together.

I see other Goodreads reviews that were unhappy with where the story went, but I think it was inevitable when you consider the source material. The last chunk of the book is explosive, moving the story forward at a sprint. The first 80% of the book moved quite slowly–it’s essentially a training montage of Alyce discovering her true powers and building them, as well as starting a friendship with Aurora.

This is an adult fantasy book, but the characters are in their late teens/early twenties, so it would appeal to YA readers as a crossover book as well.Īlthough I was intrigued by the premise, and I think this will appeal to a lot of readers, it didn’t quite land with me. This is a premise that I know a lot of Lesbrary readers will be excited about! It’s a duology, and this volume is mostly setting about Alyce’s journey to becoming the character we’re used to from the original story. Malice is an F/F retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” with a Malificent/Aurora romance, and Malificent (“Alyce,” in this case) as the main character.

Malice sleeping beauty retelling