Series: Malice Duology #2 (See my review of book one here!)
Release Date: May 10th 2022
Pages: 480
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis

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?

Review

Misrule is the second book in Heather Walter’s Malice duology. I read Malice last year and absolutely adored this dark fairytale retelling. Misrule was one of my most anticipated releases and it absolutely did not disappoint. Following on from the events in book one, Briar has been destroyed and Nimara (Alyce) now rules the dark court. Despite searching for decades, she has been unable to find a cure for the curse placed on Aurora and she remains asleep. Nimara will do anything to break this curse becoming even more of a villain in search of the cure. As she battles the Fae courts in search of answers she begins to wonder when Aurora finally wakes will she still love the person Nimara has become?

This book was so incredibly addictive. It’s the sort of book you just cannot put down and I ended up having a few very late nights because I stayed up reading. Walter’s writing flows really well and it’s so easy to get wrapped up in the story. I love the world Walter created in this duology and after reading this second book I’m going to read everything they publish. The story is quite fast-paced and there were plenty of twists and turns that kept me engaged. I loved that Misrule felt much darker than Malice and the vivid descriptions of the dark court captivated me.

Walter does a fantastic job of creating these really complex characters. There is so much character growth and development across the two books. It was so fascinating to see Nimara grow into her role as Mistress of the dark court and I loved how the dynamics changed between Nimara and Alyce as things progress. In Misrule we get to meet a whole host of different characters and creatures but my favourite has got to be the Imps – they’re so mischievous and added a touch of humour to the story.

Overall Misrule is a brilliant conclusion – Walter managed to bring all the different threads together into a really satisfying conclusion. If you’re looking for a beautifully written story with a morally grey protagonist this duology is definitely not to be missed.