Misrule
Ratings7
Average rating3.9
Does true love break curses or begin them? The dark sorceress of “Sleeping Beauty” reclaims her story in this sequel to Malice. “Fans of reimagined fairy tales and LGBTQ+ themes will be delighted with the conclusion of this fantasy duology.”—Booklist (starred review) The Dark Grace is dead. Feared and despised for the sinister power in her veins, Alyce wreaks 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. And no one will escape 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 it is a love that came with a heavy price: Aurora now sleeps under a curse that even Alyce’s vast power cannot seem to break. And the 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 turning into the monster Briar believes her to be. But could Aurora love the villain Alyce has become? Or is true love only for fairy tales? Book Two of the Malice Duology
Series
Featured Series
2 primary books#2 in Malice Duology
Malice Duology is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2021 with contributions by Heather Walter.
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Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey Books for providing an ARC copy of this novel.
I'm still not sure how I feel about this one overall. There are some serious good scenes, some great character development and some wild action. HOWEVER, there is a lot of just...mess...in between all the good stuff. The end of Malice left us with an Alyce who fully embraced being a villain. She got her revenge and it felt so, so good after watching her get shoved around and treated like crap. But then, at the beginning of Misrule, there's a 100 year time leap.
Time leaps works better in a fairy-tale setting, I guess. I normally really, really dislike them. But, we leap forward 100 years, and Alyce and her new Dark Court have turned Briar into a haven for the darker “creatures” of the world: imps, demons, shifters, Vila. Their dark magic has turned Briar into something of a wasteland. Alyce has taken a new name after the first Vila, and well, she goes dark. Darker than the end of the book. She's keeping humans under lock and key, treating them like servants, and basically torturing them for having the gall to be human. It's not a good look.
The plot is a bit messy too — a human washes up on the shores of Briar, and sets off everything. There's distrust and discord in the Dark Court, and the Fae show up and try to reclaim things. It's too much all at once, I think. However, the book does wrap things up nicely. All questions are answered, and things end on a good note. No complaints there. I just think maybe the book could have been maybe about a hundred pages shorter, and more tightly plotted. I have a feeling Misrule will be one of those books people either love or hate.
Misrule comes out May 10, 2022.
