We're in beta!Authors: Lock in 50% off for lifeReaders: Free forever

NEW FEATURES RELEASED!Click here for detailsorhere for error-tracking

FIND BOOKS TO BUY
Malice
5.0 (1 rating)

Malice

Book One of the Malice Duology

__________________________________________________________
The princess isn't supposed to fall for an evil sorceress. But in this darkly magical retelling of Sleeping Beauty, true love is more complicated than a simple fairy tale. Perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Holly Black.

'Malice is the dark and wicked heart of a fairytale carved into a book. This story is beautiful, vicious magic.' Tasha Suri, author of Empire of Sand

'A truly original and clever retelling of a classic that had me racing to the end - you'll never look at Sleeping Beauty the same again.' S.A. Chakraborty, author of City of Brass
__________________________________________________________

Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who cursed a line of princesses to die, and could only be broken by true love's kiss. You've heard this before, haven't you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.

Utter nonsense.

Let me tell you, no one actually cares about what happens to our princesses. I thought I didn't care, either. Until I met her.

Princess Aurora. The last heir to the throne. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn't bothered that I am the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.

But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating - and she can't stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it's what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.

Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don't we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I-

I am the villain.

__________________________________________________________
'The story grows deliciously darker at every turn . . . Fairy tale lovers of all ages will be thrilled' Publishers Weekly, starred review

Pages: 480

ISBN: 9781529101270

Get This Book

Available in: Hardcover, Paperback

See all editions (3)

Reader Reviews

5.0

1 rating

Rachel S.

Apr 6, 2026
I absolutely loved reading Malice, which is a dark twisty retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I really liked Alyce the Dark Grace, she might have been a little naive but she was a great character and even though she was the villain, was she really? I think she was misunderstood and took on that role because that was expected of her, there were many villains, worse than her in this story, ones that I really didn’t expect so maybe I was a little naive while reading it but they did shock me.
The Royal family women have a curse upon them; they will die on their twenty-first birthday if they have not found true love. How hard can it be to find true love? Princess Aurora is the last heir, if she doesn’t find her true love that’s the end of the line as everyone knew it.
Alyce and Princess Aurora bump into each other and their friendship grows from that moment on, a forbidden friendship that blooms into more. But there was so much more to this story than just their relationship.
Now I would say the story was loosely based on the fairytale, there were similarities, Briar being the kingdom and the spinning wheel being mentioned but it was so much better in every way that the fairytale.
Heather Walter wrote something remarkable here, it was fast-paced and written beautifully, and capturing so much detail I felt I was in Briar too, standing alongside Alyce. I cannot praise it enough, it was fantastic.