Out of the ashes of the Briar realm arises a new dominion for its destroyer. Alyce, now called Nimara, rules over her newly established Dark Court and a manor of beasts once kept in the shadows. In the century since the decimation of the Briar realm, Aurora still lies under her sleeping curse, and Alyce has become the very thing she once feared to be. Though Alyce has tried, she cannot break the curse holding her love captive, and Aurora lies hidden away from the prying eyes of the court. When a young man washes up on shore everything changes, waking the princess and descending the realm into chaos. With war looming closer, and her lost love returned, Alyce must decide how far she is willing to go to enact her revenge and discover if love can even thrive in a world so entangled with it.
Where its predecessor Malice led me softly through its thorny brambles, Misrule pushes back the thickets to reveal a reality far more malevolent. In the hundred years since the destruction of the Briar realm, Heather Walter explores the intricacies of revenge, and the lengths one will go to make it endure. Expanding on the scope of the world, and the plethora of beings within, a new side to the story emerges – one teetering on the edge of change and the balance between good and evil. As the curse upon Aurora flourishes, a war against the fae looms nearer, and a simmering tension between the dreams of a century past and the present day draws breath. By the time Aurora awakens from her slumber these moving pieces are amplified, paired against the fallout from the ashes of a fallen kingdom. The strain on Alyce and Aurora’s relationship ensuing from these transformations is central to the closing of the series. While the two grapple with this new reality and who they have both become, they search for forgiveness and a way to still build a future together. These components of the story were not what I expected for the characters going into the finale, but the complexity of forgiveness ensuing out of them was splendid. Albeit a little emotionally damaging. Alyce’s ties to the Vila were expanded upon even further here, something I’d been looking forward to since the end of Malice. Tested loyalty is my bread and butter and Misrule served it well, especially with Alyce, Aurora, and the Dark Court. Misrule is truly a book where morally gray characters thrive, constantly shifting the narrative and making moves that are never anticipated by the audience. The introduction of new beings and characters brought that even further into the foreground. Coming around to the inevitable conclusion had me very much wrecked, yet drawn into its essence of hope and repairing what is lost. Full of violence, the brutality of vengeance, and the unraveling of prejudice, Misrule makes for an enthralling ending to the Malice Duology. One that will remain with me for the considerable future.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc to review.
Trigger Warnings: blood, gore, violence, death, murder, grief, trauma
Literaryrobin 