Top 5 Book of the Year for me (and I just read book #175!).

Every once in a while, there is a special book that cuts through the noise and similarities of others amongst the genre to stand apart and remain memorable long after its conclusion. Long Live Evil is that book for me this year! This read takes a young woman who is fighting for her life against cancer in the modern world, and plops her into her favorite fantasy book series for a chance to save her life and change her destiny. One slight hiccup is that she has has dropped into the book series as the villainess on the night before she is set to be executed by the King. Embracing her new identity while recruiting her hand maiden, personal bodyguard, and a brothel owner to assist in her evil scheming, Rae is determined to fight. Yet, every action she takes ends up altering the story.... leading to shocking twists and a jaw-dropping ending.

Rooting for a band of misfit villains has never been so much fun! I laughed and highlighted so many hilarious passages, and just loved how Rae's modern/contemporary behavior absolutely upended life at the King's court. There is also so much heart in the story; exploring themes of identity, morality, duty/honor, sisterhood, and friendship, Brennan seamlessly weaves a story that is both hilarious and profound. I was even moved to tears on a few occasions, and quite literally fell head over heels in love with Key, her bodyguard, who murders foes as easily as he eats his breakfast. I think readers of fantasy books with heaps of humor, heart, budding romance, morally grey characters, and heaps of found family will love this new series opener!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for granting me an early copy of this book in exchange for on honest review. It is out now!

4.5 stars, rounded up!

Happy publishing day to one of the most unique and exciting books I think I have ever read. Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan is the story of a girl named Rae and her path to villainy. Rae is currently battling cancer. One of the only things getting her through her treatment is her little sister reading out loud to her their favorite book series. When Rae is given the chance to enter the world of Time of Iron in order to fight for her life, she takes the chance. She winds up in the body of Rahela, The Beauty Dipped in Blood aka the Villainess of the story. Shenanigans ensue, as you might imagine.

The concept of this book was amazing. I adored it and you can really tell how much the author cares for the fantasy genre and stories in general. The characters were amazing, a lot of them unhinged and evil, but it in the best way. I fell in love with all of them. The ending BLEW MY MIND and I will be very impatiently waiting for the next one.

The only thing I struggled with was the world building. I was confused by what was happening on more than one occasion and I felt like some things weren't fully fleshed out. Like the author had this amazing world fully formed in her head but that didn't always translate well to the reader's understanding. But I really think this is the kind of book that will just get better and better with each reread. I can honestly see myself rereading this over and over again.

Overall, I would highly recommend this and I can't wait to pick up a physical copy!

4.5 stars rounded up!

Sarah Rees Brennan became a favorite author of mine after I read "In Other Lands." She has such a talent for humor that takes even the more boring narrative chapters and turns them into laugh out loud moments. This holds true in Long Live Evil, except even more chaotic with a larger cast of characters to draw upon.

Wasting away in a hospital bed, Rae has counted on two things to keep her going: her sister, and the shared love they have for Time of Iron, a dark fantasy series with her favorite character, the Emperor. So when she's offered the opportunity by a mysterious visitor to step into the books to try to save her own life, Rae jumps at the chance. She doesn't expect to end up stepping into the shoes of a villain on the night before her (canonical) execution. Scrambling, she pulls together a ragtag crew of villains (both major characters and bit parts in the book alike) to rewrite their story and save her own life.

Except, as she discovers, maybe she doesn't know her favorite books (or her favorite character) as well as she thought she did.

Long Live Evil places Rae in the situation that every read hopes for - and dreads. It's the chance to be part of the narrative you love, and the discovery that maybe that narrative isn't as great to be in as you once hoped. It's so fun to follow Rae as she tries to direct the story in the right directions, while simultaneously finding out that maybe there's more to the characters than just what she's read. Rae makes for a hilarious lead, and the secondary characters surrounding her are all so layered and fascinating (Key has my heart).

Two quotes that stand out:
"Book characters were dangerously attractive in the safest way. You didn't even know what they looked like, but you knew you liked it."
"In real life, people let you go. That was why people longed for the love from stories, love that felt more real than real love."

Have you ever wanted to do the wrong thing – to embrace your villain era? In Sarah Rees Brennan’s novel, Long Live Evil, the main character gets that chance.
The premise of the book was intriguing, on the verge of death by cancer, Rae is offered a chance to live within the pages of her favorite book series. When Rae awakes, however, she realizes that she’s not the heroine. No, she’s the heroine’s evil stepsister, the villain of the series, and her execution looming. How will Rae get herself out of this mess?
Long Live Evil is a campy, meta novel full of fantasy stereotypes and clichés – but in the best way! It’s full of pop culture references that make you chuckle. This may bother some, but with Rae being from the present day, it tracks with the story. If you know all of this going into reading, it’s much easier to digest. If you’re expecting a proper romantasy, you’re not going to get it from Long Live Evil.
Leigh Bardugo said Long Live Evil would be the book of the summer. Who am I to argue with Leigh Bardugo? Unfortunately for me, it just didn’t hit the way I was anticipating. It took me a few solid attempts to get into the novel. The beginning of the story is confusing with time jumps between past and present that didn’t fully make sense. Not only that, but the book is also long – like, over 450 pages long – which was intimidating for a light read. There were many sections where the pacing dragged and there was quite a bit of telling versus showing in the story. Ultimately, I feel the book could have benefited from an additional edit.
This is the second book I’ve read where our main character ends up within the pages of her favorite book. The first, however, where the main character is the villain. I enjoyed my time reading Long Live Evil and think that, if you know what to expect, you will too.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. The views and opinions in this review are my own.

Amazing deliciously evil, I absolutely loved this. Highly recommend for fans of Brennan's previous work or for new readers. Excellent.

3.5 stars

This was such a fun and unique premise! Rae has terminal cancer and has had a truly horrific last few years. Her bright spot of each day is her sister and their bonding over their favorite fantasy book series. In a strange set of circumstances, Rae makes a deal with a mysterious woman and finds herself awakening in the world of said favorite fantasy series. However, Rae is no longer herself, and instead has awoken as Lady Rahela, the Beauty Dipped in Blood. Worse still, Lady Rahela is the heroine’s evil stepsister and she is due to be executed the next day.

With little time to complete her quest in order to satisfy the strange woman’s deal, Rae must gather together a band of morally grey (or completely black??) characters to survive through the next day and beyond. "Don't you dream of the forbidden? Choose wrong. Choose evil. Let's do it together.”*

*Quotes subject to change in the final edit
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for an advance reader copy of Long Live Evil.

Fantasy
Quest
Villains
Multiple POVs

What even was this book? I still don't quite know, but I know that after all was said and done, I enjoyed it. This was a story in a story where the main character wakes up as a character in a series that she and her sister enjoy. Rae must decide how to survive thrust into a fantasy novel and quickly determines that leaning into the side of "evil" is the only way to accomplish her goal. She teams up with "secondary" characters to create her Den of Vipers. Rae finds another misfit from the real world during her schemes and they team up to try and save her "real" self.
This story was an interesting look at how a person's choices can impact not only their own trajectory, but also the people around them. Rae finds that small changes (and big changes) can have a huge impact on the story she knows and leads to some huge revelations at the end that I did not see coming. (Like for real though - I spent the last third of the book trying to figure out how Brennan was going to resolve this (but also knowing that this is not a standalone and there are more books coming in the Time of Iron series) and I didn't even come close to figuring out the ending!)
This book was a masterclass in character development, both the "original" characters and the "story" characters. Some are completely unique and some are more archetypes of characters, but each changed and evolved in ways that supported the plot and made me want to know more about them.

On paper, I should’ve really loved this story, but alas, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It was mostly fun and goofy, but there was limited character development and plot; not for lack of information, but just a lack of depth really. I didn’t understand the incentives or motivations for anyone to be doing anything throughout the story, even the main character seemed not entirely convinced of the world around her. Arguably, the stakes should’ve been a little more prevalent given the circumstances in which this adventure is started, but no. The writing style wasn’t really my favourite either. The modern elements in the fantasy world were a bit tiresome after a while.

Lastly, it felt a little too much like Why Raelina ended up at the Duke’s Mansion to me, I think there’s a fine line when leaning for inspiration; there was too much leaning here in my opinion. I don’t know if I’ll read the next one.

Thank you so much Orbit for providing an ARC through NetGalley!

Actors often say they prefer playing the villain. They are generally the more complex/interesting character. Rae is about to find out. But Rae is no actor. No, Rae is sick, dying of cancer in fact. Then one night a mysterious stranger arrives, gives her a rather grim prognosis for her future and offers her an unbelievable opportunity…a chance to enter the world of her favorite book series. Dream come true? Maybe when compared to dying of cancer, but when Rae wakes she finds she is in the body of the series heroine’s evil stepsister and is due to be executed soon. In some ways the setup reminded me a bit of many of the early entries into the LitRPG genre. It’s a fun premise. And honestly that is how to best describe this book: fun. Too few books feature a ‘villain’ as the protagonist (though there have been a few in recent years), which is why I’m always thrilled when I come across one. And this being only the first book in the series means there is more to look forward to. If you are looking for a fun story that subverts many well known tropes you’ll want to give this one a try. I’d like to thank Orbit Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Long Live Evil.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R1XXEM1UESY8A/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Completely unhinged in the best possible way! So fun and murdery…and just plain bonkers but I loved it! Cannot wait for more of this from SRB!

Y'all, READ THIS BOOK! If you've ever rooted for the over-the-top villain over the boring hero, now's your chance to watch Rae live out her most villainous dreams within her favorite book series!

Sure, she doesn't really remember the first book's plot very well, but hey, she's been super sick. I adore isekai and villainess stories in manwha, and wow does this deliver on the combined promise of both! Rae knows the fate of the evil villainess she inhabits and decides to give herself a different ending, or at least enough time to grab the flower that'll send her back home. Along the way, she recruits fellow villains to her cause. Some may not love the humor, but I thought this was a delightful romp, and I LOVED the ending. I could not put this book down, and I'm already planning a reread!

Highly, highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit/Redhook for an ARC of this story. review/show/6092367809

Really 4.5 stars.

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book. I also love another book by this author (In Other Lands) and had preordered the book, kindle and audiobook (cuz I’m extra like that). I love the blurb and the incredible artwork by Venessa Kelley. I am full in on this book. Clearly, I went into this book expecting to love it. And I did, in many way. There are a couple of things I didn't love, but we'll get to that later.

I got an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review, so let’s get that out of the way.

The things I loved:

The Golden Cobra. Literally everything about this character.

Marius and Marius’ chapters. See above. Especially the chapter on the roof. That might be my favourite chapter EVER!

Key was a delight, especially as Rae’s chapter’s grew stale (more on that later). We love Key. We are in love with Lord Popinjay, but we love Key. We being me.

It took me awhile to warm to Emer and Lia, but best believe I’d pick up an axe for either of them. Actually, Emer would probably be carrying the axe, but still…those are my girls!

I can’t wait to see these characters more in the subsequent books. How they grow, change, love, lose, cry, laugh and live. Basically, I would go to war for these characters. Like, a fictional war. Or whatever…probably shouldn’t cross that line cuz you never know when you’ll be sucked into the story. But Sarah has once again created incredible characters that I love wholeheartedly.

And then there’s Octavian. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil the plot, but let’s just say Sarah did an excellent job of writing him. He was exactly what he needed to be and didn’t need to be.

I’ll be honest, the big twist at the end wasn’t too twisty for me (I definitely saw it coming), but I was still highly engaged with the story and characters at that point, and the last fifth of the book definitely went by the fastest, without any of the sag I had in the middle (more on that soon).

The fantasyesque overnaming of everything was brilliant. The blurbs from the fictional Time of Iron books at the beginning of the chapters was excellent. I love the exploration of story, fiction, how we change and affect the world around us (even if that’s a fictional world), choice, morality and moral greyness, and how we define ourselves vs. how others define us. Basically, thematically, this book was a major win for me.

I honestly cannot wait to read what comes next, so even with a slump in the middle (getting to this), I am grateful that Sarah Rees Brennan has created another world full of magic, humour and imagination that I can fall in love with. Overall, this is the kind of story that makes me fall for stories again and again.

Okay, so now for the things that didn't work:

The first thing is the writing style. I can’t really pinpoint what exactly, but I struggled. This book took me two months to read, and I kept struggling to pick it up again, despite enjoying (most) of the characters and the plot. Maybe it was the overuse of metaphors (though I’m pretty sure that was deliberate as a nod to the fantasy genre). Whatever it was, it kept pulling me out of the story, thus delaying my enjoyment. That being said, I also highlighted a helluva lot of passages because they sung to me. I also laughed and cried and laughed some more and I think the audiobook is gonna be fantastic and I can't wait to give it a listen.

The second, and only other chief complaint for me, is Rae. I went into the book absolutely loving Rae. I thought she was relatable, funny, smart, quick-thinking, etc. Then she stagnated and never really seemed to grow or change, even as everyone else around her was. She seemed so young and underdeveloped (except the abundant references to her abundant chest) and was too often single-minded. Her chapters quickly became a slog for me. And that’s it for what didn’t work for me.

Yup...two things. And I'll get over it. Now...to go listen to the Audiobook.

This is such a fun book. Reading this book was such a joy. Does it have some problems? Sure. The characters need a bit more development (Rae especially at time drove me nuts and felt a bit too young), and many of the twists were right there, but this book has so much else going on that I still enjoyed the crap out of every second. It's campy, snarky, and has the ineffable quality that just makes it an instant favorite. I cannot wait for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

I....okay, so, this was a wild ride. I don't think I fully expected what happened in this novel. It was a hilarious, amusing delight but also felt like I was on a trip for parts of it. It's...just absurd? But in a good way? most of the time? I mean some parts were definitely meh and the plot could use better parts in it, but overall I really enjoyed it. I would have a lot of quotes to share if this wasn't a document on my Kindle because holy heck, the meta-ness and the all of the other elements are WILDDDDD.

Anyways, the ending also threw me for a loop and now I need the next one.

And also the fake series this is based on?

'In real life, people let you go. That was why people longed for the love from stories, love that felt more real than real love.'

Curiously, this is the second book about getting lost in a fantasy world that I've read recently (the first was "The Lost Story," which is a very different kind of book.) It's also the third recent book that really leans on the "But what if the main character was the villain" trope.

Whether this book will work for you is going to be strongly contingent on whether or not you enjoy the humor. The one-liners are constant, and for me they landed about 50% of the time. Some of them were very funny, and others made me cringe. I'll be honest, I struggled with this aspect of the story, and much of the plot inside the book.

But what did land for me was Rae's discussion of what it's like to have cancer, and in particular how people treat you when you are ill. I didn't realize before starting that Sarah Rees Brennan is herself a cancer survivor, but after having read the book it's obvious that she is writing from deep experience.

Final rating: 3.5 stars. This is a book that you should check out, particularly if you love humorous, self-aware fantasy in the vein of the Tuesday Next series.

As always, I'll also post on my IG. I hate having high hopes for a book, but I'm so glad when a book delivers. This book delivered! There were heart breaking moments, funny moments, giddy moments, and a story so unique and unlike anything I've ever read. I know I will reread this, and I don't normally reread books. Amazing story telling, great characters, awesome plot, and pacing was spot on.

This book is a very entertaining read! It wasn't a favorite of mine and I definitely think there's a lot of weaknesses, but it was still an enjoyable read nonetheless

An unexpected encounter with a mysterious woman in her hospital room grants Rae an opportunity to enter the world of her favorite fantasy series. Her goal is to obtain a magical flower that will cure her illness.

Long Live Evil is a book that contains so many delightful aspects: dark fantasy, theater, isekai-where a character is transported from their world to different one-morally grey characters, social commentary and pop culture references and combines them into a story that is hilarious, captivating and evocative.

The snippets at the beginning of each chapter are also a great addition, as they depict aspects of the “true” story, while also leaving some room for interpretation or expectation.

Rae is such a wonderful character; clever, chaotic and compassionate-despite her initial attempts at viewing the other characters as inconsequential-and her desire to embrace villainy is very understandable due to her previous powerlessness in the face of her cancer, her pain at being discarded by those closest to her and her anger that needed to be restrained to prevent the alienation of her dear sister.

Yet Rae propels through the story with enthusiasm tinged with some cynicism, rather than overt bitterness. Members of her motley group of minions-and a particularly stoic character-grow and display some unique depth, which allows them to branch out beyond the more typical expectations of their given roles. While my second favorite character is the Golden Cobra, the little ways in which another character’s manipulations are revealed is a nice touch as well.

Rae’s efforts at accomplishing her goals while attempting to keep the story from going wholly off the rails are very entertaining and while the ending isn’t wholly unexpected due to foreshadowing, I’m still very excited-and perhaps a wee bit frightened-to see where the story will go.

Thank you to NetGalley, Orbit Books and Sarah Rees Brennan for access to this ebook. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Not bad but I’ve read better books from the villain’s perspective recently. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying was really funny. Assistant to the Villain was cute. I’m reading the next book in that series next. I’ll give this series another go when it’s finished. Looking at the other things this author has written I read and liked In Other Lands quite a bit. While this wasn’t as good it wasn’t bad and I think it rates reading all of it when the series is complete.

4.25 stars! What a fun, campy, and evilly whimsical tale! This was a seriously fun book that takes all of the tropes of the fantasy genre and asks: what would you do if you found yourself in your favorite story and you know how the story goes?

Our main protagonist, Rae, is terminally ill and longing for connection and health. When she is offered the chance to enter one of her favorite stories, she enters a well-loved fantasy world to earn her life back. She must scheme with her favorite (and not so favorite) characters to steal the flower of life and death to save herself. She finds agency and purpose again -- but with a twist! She know inhabits the body of Notorious Villainess, Lady Rahela, who is almost certainly next to die on the King's chopping block.

This cast of characters kept me guessing! Sarah Rees Brennan shows us that even the best, most pure characters on the page actually may just be evil themselves... The inversion of the typical tropes in fantasy was freshened with such a humorous tone and fun twists. I loved how Rae makes the best of her surroundings and builds an Evil coalition of characters to get stuff done. From the pearlescent, sweet Lia, to the iron-backed, axe-wielding Emer, to the righteous, strong Marius, to the wealthy, swaggering philanthropist Golden Cobra, to the murders-you-with-a-smile bodyguard Key, this was a rollicking evil time. This is going to be a series to watch, especially after THAT cliffhanger (Sarah Rees Brennan, when I catch you!!!)!

This book is out tomorrow, August 27th 2024!

Thank you to the publisher Orbit Books and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy. This did not affect my review in anyway.