Malice by Pintip Dunn on February 4, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 400
Source: NetGalley, Blog Tour, The Publisher
Cover Artist: L.J. Anderson
My content rating: YA (Nothing More than kissing; Some violence)
My rating:
What I know: a boy in my school will one day wipe out two-thirds of the population with a virus.
What I don’t know: who he is.In a race against the clock, I not only have to figure out his identity, but I’ll have to outwit a voice from the future telling me to kill him. Because I’m starting to realize no one is telling the truth. But how can I play chess with someone who already knows the outcome of my every move? Someone so filled with malice they’ve lost all hope in humanity? Well, I’ll just have to find a way—because now they’ve drawn a target on the only boy I’ve ever loved...
A twisty time travel tale! This is one of those books that keeps you on your toes—Alice’s future self has contacted her because she needs current-Alice to stop a classmate from creating a virus that will decimate the population. You’re left not only wondering who will be a future evil genius, but also trying to piece together how future-Alice’s instructions will possibly stop the upcoming apocalypse. I love stories like this because it’s so fun to try and figure out exactly what’s going on. I actually had the villain pinned right from the start, but the book definitely threw me for more than a few loops by the end as the time travel aspect of the book got twistier and twistier. Alice is never sure who to trust—in the current world or from the future. I especially loved seeing her live out aspects of her future life and finally experiencing the whole timeline so she can make sense of it all (and, of course, that’s when we understand the full story as well). It’s interesting because some of the conflict in the book is between Alice and her own future self, which presents her with some intriguing philosophical questions—should she trust her older (and therefore, assumedly wiser) self implicitly or should she follow her own current-Alice path? And then there are the moral questions of what she’s willing to do in the present to stop a future atrocity. The book ended in a way I definitely wasn’t expecting, which was a fantastic added bonus for a story like this. Sure there were moments when the story swooped into unbelievable places, but I still basically loved every minute of the roller coaster ride!!
A note: This book could easily be a standalone, but I noticed that Pintip Dunn says it’s the first in a new series. I’ll be interested to see where she goes with it!
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About the Author
Pintip Dunn is a New York Times bestselling author of young adult fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B., and received her J.D. at Yale Law School.
Her novel FORGET TOMORROW won the 2016 RWA RITA® for Best First Book, and SEIZE TODAY won the 2018 RITA for Best Young Adult Romance. Her books have been translated into four languages, and they have been nominated for the following awards: the Grand Prix del’Imaginaire; the Japanese Sakura Medal; the MASL Truman Award; the TomeSociety It list; and the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award.
Her other titles include REMEMBER YESTERDAY, THE DARKEST LIE, GIRL ON THE VERGE, STAR-CROSSED, and MALICE.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland.
Prize: Win (1) of (2) copies of MALICE by Pintip Dunn (US Only)
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24 responses to “Malice by Pintip Dunn: Review & Giveaway”
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That sounds like an interesting book. Time traveling back and forth in a book can be fun if done right.
I’m usually a big fan of time travel, and this book was no exception.
Great review, Nicole! I unexpectedly received a PR package with this one. It’s not what I typically read but I was definitely intrigued. I decided to give it a try and your review just confirms that decision. I love that part of the conflict is between present Alice/future Alice. Now that’s a conundrum!
Hope stepping out of your comfort zone pays off!
i’ve been seeing this one all over the place. i love the cover and it sounds like a good fit for me, so i’m glad to see your wonderful review.
Hope you end up picking it up!
you got me. I love scifi, and this one does sound intriguing enough for m to enter the giveaway, thanks!
Good luck!
This sounds like it was quite a ride. Viruses and time traveling, twists and turns, and I am happy to see it was a great experience fo you
Yes, it was all that!
This sounds like an thrilling read! I love how it explores philosophical questions about trusting your older/future self and the potential conflicts that can arise. I’m also intrigued by the time-travel element and how we’re invited to wonder who is the future evil genius and how present-Alice will stop the upcoming apocalypse. Adding this to my TBR list!
Time travel books get me every time. I love unraveling how and why the future will come to be.
Here’s some shocking news: I also completely loved this book and feel the exact same way as you ? Though WAIT I thought it was a standalone too, so this news is surprising!! I need to look into this more now, I mean- I can definitely see room for a sequel, but I also was cool with how it ended, so I am game for either! Great review!
Yeah, it definitely seemed like a standalone to me, and then I read (I think in the Q&A section of Goodreads?) that Dunn said it’s the first of a series. I don’t think it needed it, but I’m definitely game for a sequel.
Sounds like an interesting read. Great review!
It is! Thanks!
This seems indeed a fantastic read Nicole! I only regret that I’m not living in the US 😉
Yes, you definitely miss out on lots of great giveaways that way. Sorry!
Finishing reading tonight to post my review tomorrow. REally enjoying it myself! Great review!
Glad you ended up loving it as much as I did!
I agree with you, this book was incredible and I enjoyed every single minute of it! Oh, just before the book was released I saw that the author had answered a question on Goodreads about this being a series, but the answer was about a year old so I went to Twitter to ask her about it cause I was curious. She told me that this was a standalone (at the moment anyway: https://twitter.com/pintipdunn/status/1216001943857963010), which makes sense because I feel like the story wraps up really well, but it also makes me sad because I liked this book so much I actually wouldn’t mind more of this world ?
Oh, thank you so much for clearing this up! I saw the comment on Goodreads and was actually pretty surprised since the book felt like a standalone. I wasn’t going to complain if there were more, though. 🙂
I saw so many people hauling this one in so it is nice to get to see it actually being reviewed! And it turns out this one sounds amazing. The time travel sounds twisty and handled so well. And I think the tensions with her future self would make it so intriguing and reflective too. Great review x
I’m glad you’ve been seeing around—I don’t think Dunn’s books get nearly enough attention!