When I first started looking for books with LGBTQIA+ representation, they were few and far in between, and it was even rarer to find ones that were actually a good representation of the community. Recently, however, I have discovered a variety of books with LGBTQIA+ main characters that were also written by people of the community, which has been a complete game changer in my experience reading this genre. The Malice and Misrule duology by Heather Walter is a sapphic, fairytale reimagining of the classic Sleeping Beauty. In her duology, Walter explores the classic fairytale through the eyes of the evil witch that cursed the princess, but with a twist! What if the witch was the true love’s kiss that broke the princess’ curse? A premise which seems so simple at first is elegantly explored and reimagined by Walter in this duology. Without further ado, let me get into this spoiler-free review of the Malice duology!
What makes or breaks my enjoyment of a fantasy novel is the balance between the world-building and the plot. I’m the first to say I love info-dumping about the lore of the world but there’s a fine line between appropriate and encyclopedic, and this duology managed it perfectly. Part of the main character’s journey included diving into the history of the queendom where the book takes place and, as such, the world-building was disguised within the plot. As Alyce, the main character, dives deeper into the histories of the different courts that govern the world, the readers, on their end, get a look into the world these characters inhabit.
Centuries before Alyce’s time, a war was waged between the light fae of Etheria and the dark fae of Malterre, where beings like Vila, Demons, Goblins, Shifters, and Imps dwelled. The war reached a critical point when the dark fae stole the High King Oryn’s, king of Etheria, staff, the fae’s magical conduits. The king decreed that the human who could recover his staff would be rewarded. Leythana was the human champion who retrieved the staff, and, in exchange, High King Oryn blessed her crown and descendants and gifted them with the Graces. This blessing meant that only the daughters of Leythana could wear the crown and rule Briar. However, a spurned member of the dark fae courts, an unnamed Vila, cursed the crown in retaliation so that by their 21st birthdays, the descendants would be killed. Yet, the light fae managed to soften the curse and make it so it could be broken by true love’s kiss. The queendom of Briar flourished, and the story of Alyce and Aurora starts centuries after this.
Alyce was found abandoned in the streets of Briar, a half-Vila baby capable of wielding the magic of the seemingly destroyed race of dark fae of Malterre. She is adopted into a Grace House where she is bound to use her magic the same way as the Graces, mortals gifted with the ability to use a portion of light fae magic. The powers of the Graces manifest in incredible ways, enhancing beauty, healing, incredible acts of innovation, knowledge, and more. The Graces use elixirs made from their blood, mixed with other ingredients, in order to produce the result the patron desires. Alyce learns to do the same, but her magic is half-Vila and thus manifests in negative lights; such as making people stumble while dancing, sing horribly, and even get warts on their faces. Due to her dark magic, she is dubbed as the Dark Grace. The Graces are invited to Princess Aurora’s 20th birthday party, a masquerade ball, in which the stubborn Briar princess and Dark Grace meet for the first time and their story begins.
Due to Alyce’s less-than-savory ancestry, she was instantly labeled a villain and monster. She faced verbal and physical abuse during her childhood at the hands of the royal court and, after her release to a Grace House, continued to face similar treatment from the residents of Briar. Personally, I love a good villain and I was expecting much more violence and brutality from Alyce’s character. She is a person who grew up being told of their villainy and monstrosity without ever being known for who she really was. But don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a light-hearted book. The people of Briar continuously tested the limits of what their prejudice and actions would cause and their assumptions were proven right when Alyce became everything they feared. More than women’s rights, I support women’s wrongs and Briar got what it deserved; and I couldn’t have been a happier reader.
I was admittedly worried about Princess Aurora’s character because my experiences with princess characters are limited to them being either pushovers or just badasses. However, from her first appearance, to their first interaction, and all the way to the end of the last book, Aurora proved to be a complex character with a rich personality you genuinely connect with alongside Alyce. She’s stubborn, headstrong, intelligent, and hangs firmly onto her ideals. Yet, both Aurora and Alyce are not characters without faults, some of their decisions I considered to be quite stupid, but that cements the fact that they’re complex characters. No one is ever perfect in real life and I don’t believe perfection is a standard that needs to be set for fictional characters either.
I had my theories regarding how the story would go, but some twists and arcs I genuinely could not see coming and, in retrospect, can’t believe I didn’t expect! The ending was incredibly satisfying to me; despite knowing more than one person disliked it. I deeply enjoyed it and I very was surprised by how real the characters’ actions and decisions felt. I could fully understand and track where their thought process was going and coming from; whether I thought what they were doing was smart or extremely dumb is not important…
Beneath the budding relationship and the fairytale retelling, Heather Walter tells a rich history of the world that left me wanting more and introduced some fun and interesting characters in the second book I would have loved to see more of. This duology quickly climbed the ranks into my favorite reads. I might be slightly biased as an avid fairytale lover but this is truly a duology you won’t want to miss!