The premise was fascinating, however I simply could not get into it. Not far in and I was left constantly feeling dragged out of the storyline and into the narrator's head. Which—no offense—I'm not here for you I'm here for Harriet (and the Returned).

I can understand writing such important historical figures in such a content must be challenging in more ways than one... but without getting far I found that the characters seem contradictory. Familiar with certain things, yet amazed by something mundane they seemingly would have tried by now having made it to such a stage (pun intended)/this far.

I suppose the audio book might have provided things the pages could not, but I'm not typically one to tandem read often.

There were some fun moments but this should’ve been a standalone story independent of the sleeping beauty myth. The attempts at tying this story into the myth got really convoluted. The plot didn’t flow well, I didn’t like the miscommunication trope, and there was some repetition that seriously got on my nerves. I swear the protagonist said “dragons teeth!” (Aka this world’s version of “damn it!”) every other page and it KILLED ME. Also, the identity of the traitor was so obvious. Overall it just felt kind of immature.

You can tell that I actually went into this with a positive mindset because I purchased a physical copy. Unfortunately I seem to be in the minority with my dislike of this book.
The worldbuilding in Malice was alright, but the real problem here is style and character motivation. Heather Walter will jump from regular speech to trying to sound noble and royal, even making an attempt at pretty and descriptive prose in unbecoming moments. The ways in which characters talk to each other will suddenly change with no context to justify it. I'm surprised that no editor picked up on this.
The politics in the world of Briar also make little sense. Everyone is some kind of evil extremist with the exception of the main characters who either want to ignore the politics that oppress them or want change without any bloodshed. I think that as readers we should be able to expect a far more complicated and nuanced portrayal of political intrigue from an adult, or at least intended for older audiences since sex, while not extremely graphic, is present in this book, book.
None of the characters in this book make any sense. Alyce doesn't know what she wants (to stay in Briar, to leave it, does Aurora love her, does she not?), is incredibly naive see: Kal, a character who served no real overarching purpose in Alyce's character development and both her and Aurora don't seem to have enough braincells or spine to actually put their plans into action.
What could have been a wonderful queer debut turned out to be something full of flaws that can't be overlooked, but could have been edited out if Heather Walter and her editor actually sat down and had a conversation about the characters. Might purchase the sequel to see if anything's improved (doesn't seem that way from the snippet included at the end of Malice), but that'll be strictly digital and on sale.