Malice (Forget Tomorrow)

by Pintip Dunn

Could you kill an innocent life today to save millions in the future?

Seventeen-year-old Alice has spent her entire life in the shadows of her charismatic twin brother. And she's utterly content to stay there, as not taking risks means that she doesn't get hurt. Until the day a strange voice appears in her mind, demanding that she approach Bandit, the cute Thai boy in her physics class - and kiss him. Never mind that she's never spoken a word to him before.

Compelled by the excruciating pain in her head, Alice reluctantly obeys. But submitting to the voice sets off a series of bizarre demands, tasks that don't seem to follow any rhyme or reason. Determined to figure out who the voice is and what it wants, Alice hurtles into a dangerous investigation into the tangled link between the future and the present.

What she discovers shakes her to the core. Twenty years from now, a boy from her class will launch World War III, and it is up to Alice to stop him. Problem is, she doesn't know his identity. And even if she can figure out who he is, will she be able to take the biggest gamble of all: killing his still-innocent self today in order to save millions of lives in the future?

• ISBN10: 1682815749
• ISBN13: 9781682815748
• Publish Date: 2 February 2021 (first published 1 March 2020)
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Imprint: Entangled Publishing
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

Malice is the first book I’ve read from author Pintip Dunn. The reason why I wanted to read it was due to the synopsis. I liked the storyline of a young girl named Alice in high school, having to save millions from a virus that happens in the future. She had to change the past by listening to a voice in her head that comes from the future. Unfortunately, she has to do what the voice says even though some of the things are out of her comfort zone. They are WAY out of her comfort zone is what I would say!! There is no way I would listen to a voice from my future that told me to do the things that Alice’s voice told her. One of them involved murdering the person who creates the virus that goes to her school, but the voice won’t tell her who it is. Alice has to figure out who the Virus Maker is on her own.

Things I enjoyed about Malice:

1. I love when authors write diverse characters in their stories. Bandit was one of my favorite characters in the story due to his Thai culture and his blue hair. 

2. The banter between Alice and Bandit, especially in their text messages, was adorable. 

3. The concept of time traveling within the mind. It’s different. 

Unfortunately, Malice was a hit or miss with me when I was reading it. I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t get past some issues with the story — one of them being that I couldn’t connect well with Alice. I wouldn’t say I liked how she handled certain situations. One of them is what she did to her best friend. She drove me crazy with that part of the story. There was also the issue with Alice not knowing who was the Virus Maker when I had figured it out from the beginning. There were subtle hints in the story which it could be, but Alice kept thinking it was someone else in her school due to the voice.

Overall, this book gets 3.5 stars from me. I would recommend it to readers that enjoy Young Adult Science Fiction books and love reading books that involve time travel. Some triggers in the story: Bullying, Attempted Murder, Virus Epidemic in the future, Child Neglect/Abandonment. I may not have enjoyed the book, but I would still recommend it to other readers that are looking for something different to read in the Young Adult – Science Fiction genre.

[bookishzelda]

Malice is one crazy time jumping ride.

The plot is really unique and and really a cool concept. There are all these crazy different thread of stories and as we go hurtling towards the end. We find there are things happening all around that we are not even aware of. Get a group of kid Science geniuses together and they just might be able to destroy and save the world at the same time.

Alice is just living her life when she is suddenly invaded by a voice. One that has a very specific agenda for saving the future world. As Alice is forced into situations where she struggles with control with the voice, we find out different things about the characters around her.

I don’t want to give too much away about how time traveling works or even what exactly the voice wants Alice to do. The story is a bit of a mystery as Alice races to find the answers she needs before she makes a decision she can’t take back.

I loved Bandit. Her developing relationship with him is just so cute and so sweet. Most of the time anyway. They do hit some very big bumps in the road but you find you really want to root for them. Of course things don’t always get to go your way.

Malice was a fun read and I loved all the Sci-fineness of it. If you enjoy that little thriller aspect that comes with a high stakes sci-fi this is the perfect for you.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Malice through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Malice is the latest novel from the mind of Pintip Dunn, though it is the first time I’ve read anything by this author. I’ve got to say, if this book is anything to go by, I’m impressed.
Timetravel, viruses, and a quest to save the human race. That is what you’ll find within these pages. These three genres are merged together by Dunn’s writing, resulting in an extraordinary and fast-paced read.
Alice knows that somebody in her life will someday – in the next ten years – kill two-thirds of the population. She doesn’t know who this person is…yet…but she knows she has to kill them before it’s too late. No sweat though, right? It’s not like the fate of the world is hanging on her hands.
Alice is what you’d call a goodie two shoes. She’s spent the majority of her life keeping herself going and taking care of her brother. She was not built for a world of high tension and stakes – or was she? This is a girl who quickly proves to be resilient, caring, and determined.

“Malice? Did the voice just call me Malice? That can’t be right. The evilest thing that Alice Sherman has done all year is make sure her brother’s fed.”

Warnings: The description for Malice should probably give you a good idea of some of what is in store. This novel covers a deadly (and slightly graphic) virus, which has naturally devastating results. Also covered are themes and subjects such as child illness and death, alongside some very serious mental health concerns.

Malice was simultaneously everything and nothing like what I expected. It was a thrilling read, from start to finish. One that I couldn’t put down. Or predict. I loved that about this novel. Actually, there’s a lot I enjoyed about it.
Alice’s quest sounds like a crazy one, doesn’t it? Having to hunt down a person without having the first clue of who is doing it. Having the stakes so high certainly didn’t hurt the matter (for us – less so for Alice). It’s the flip side of a dystopian novel – with that hovering just outside of possibility.
I know not everyone loves time travel, I myself tend to be very particular about its implementation. But I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed this particular interpretation. Even if it did break my reading flow, from time to time.
As far as the romantic subplot goes? I have to admit, that whole situation was shockingly sweet, and I’m actually quite glad it was included. It was a much needed humanizing and hopeful series of moments in what could have otherwise been a dark tale.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the revelation behind who it is. I’m trying to be careful in what I say here. Basically, I think I have concerns about their motive and reasoning? Maybe that’ll feel better with time. Everything else about this book was a lot of fun, so I won’t let it hold back my opinion.
Malice was a fun and entertaining read. One that I literally couldn’t put down. I finished the book in one sitting, though my stiff knees didn’t much appreciate it by the time I was done. Worth it! I’m looking forward to seeing what else Dunn has written, and will write.

For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

This book was so freaking good. Like, unputdownable, full of twists and turns and characters and feels. When I started, I didn't know that it would take as much of a sci-fi turn as it did, but I was really excited that it did! So let us delve into all the phenomenal stuff I loved in this book!

What I Loved:

• • So much gray morality! I mean, the grayest of gray, The 100-level gray. I love me some morally ambiguous decision making, and Malice has it in droves! The choices these characters will have to make are loaded. Do they trust the voices telling them what they must do? Can they trust anyone? And how exactly can Alice make these decisions between the people she loves, and people in general? Love it. In the same vein, it's incredibly thought provoking and asks all sorts of questions that if you're like me, you have no idea how you'd answer!



• • The characters were awesome all around. Alice was a great main character, for sure. She reacts to the information she gets and the decisions she must make in really authentic ways. And feeling invested in the side characters was equally important, because the stakes all felt super high as a result- I obviously cared what happened to all of them!



• • It 100% kept me guessing. And oh, did I have guesses! My Kindle notes are filled with "ooooh I bet it's X!" and "oh nope, nope it's gotta be Y!" and of course I was wrong most of the time but guessed often enough that I ended up being right ;)



• • Positively engrossing. Like I mentioned before, it was unputdownable. I stayed up too long reading, and paid for it the next day, and didn't even care. I read it every spare minute I had, tbh. Even when maybe I wasn't supposed to be reading