I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I loved the idea of the story, it was very unique and I have not read anything similar. This was just so fun and different.
And omg, THE ENDING!!!! I will definitely be continuing with this series.

Wow. This was a stay up until 4am even though I had to be at work by 8 kind of book. I loved it. It was as humorous as it was heartfelt. I cannot wait to read the sequel! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

This book was 100% unexpected. Five Stars. Let Evil Reign. There better be a sequel! Extra points for having the main character having my name.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of this upcoming book!

This tells the tale of the villain. A YA, ROMP, and fun story from start to finish. I feel like I personally am at a point where I tend to enjoy more adult reads as opposed to YA, and thats just preference. But this was so much fun

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this advanced copy. You can pick up Long Live Evil on August 27, 2024.

The vibes in this book sound immaculate -- a woman who CHOOSES to become the villain and pushes back against the stigma that women who use their power for evil are morally lacking or not worthy of our love. I love this subversion, and normally I love to support women's wrongs and women's rights! But I fear the execution of this story wasn't for me.

Within the first few chapters, I could immediately tell that I didn't enjoy this writing style. The metaphors and flowery language felt forced, and it distracted me from the main story. I also would've appreciated being SHOWN that Rae prefers monsters and monstrous things if given the choice rather than having the narrator lay it out for me. The introduction to this book just felt blunt and messy, enough that it deterred me from finishing the book.

I know other people will definitely enjoy this book, though! Rae as a character is playful, sarcastic, and remorseless. I'm sure as a villain in a fantasy story, she embodies all of those traits in the best (and worst) ways. If you can focus on the vibe and overlook the writing, then this is definitely the book for you.

Omg, that ending. Tell me there's going to be a sequel! I need to know what happens.

First, I truly love the concept of this book. I love portal fantasy, but this was truly very original. It was fun and campy, I loved that there was a musical number.!

There were moments when I felt that the juxtaposition between the irreverent humor/camp and the serious epic fantasy was a little stark and could have been softened by more moments of Rae treating the other characters more real, or including more opportunities for her character to develop. I couldn't quite understand why she leaned so hard into being a villain after it became obvious that the story could be changed. The set attitude of 'no one else is real' made it difficult to understand why she then forfeits the item she was questing for throughout the whole book.

I really enjoyed the moments when you get to see into Rae's head a little bit as she enjoys being in a healthy body (reflecting on being sick), just being able to eat a meal or take a bath. I liked all the moments where she drops the evil act to interact with the other characters and comes to understand them (or herself) on a deeper level. I wish there were more of those.

Overall though, I had a really great time with this one. I am definitely recommending it. Hope to see more from this author in the future!

Dates Read: 06/24/2024 - 07/08/2024
Rating: 3

Terminally sick and confined to her hospital room, Rae has no choice but to listen to her sister read her favorite fantasy books, Throne of Iron, to her for entertainment. When on the brink of death, a mysterious woman comes to her and offers her a second chance at life if she chooses to enter the world of Eyam and secure the mystical Flower of Life and Death. Unfortunately, Rae enters the story as Lady Rahela, the villainess of the story just before she is about to be excited. But fortunately her sister's narration of the books prepared her for this, right?

When I first read the synopsis, I was intrigued by the promise of a villain's story, but I just had such a hard time getting invested in the story and the characters. I just could't reconcile the modernity of Rae with the setting of the story. It didn't seem like Rae was adapting to her environment and repeatedly use modern language without any repercussions. There were many scenes that were cringey and filled with plot holes and only seemed to work due to the character wearing plot armor.

While the pace of the story felt like it really dragged int he beginning, he storyline picked up for me around the 65% mark, and I was itching to read more to find out what happens next. My favorite character was Key, and I was actually hoping for a romance to start between him and Rae. I really enjoyed Cobra's character and can't help but hope for romance to happen between him and Marius.

Overall, the story was entertaining to read once it picked up. I will definitely pick up the next book, but I hope there will be improvements to the writing and plot.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC.

Long Live Evil is the Mary Sue, self-insert fantasy read of your dreams. That is, if you have ever wanted to be in the world of your favorite series (Velaris, I'm on my way!) and/or wanted to be the villain in a story.

Let's face it, the heroes do the right thing most of the time, but the villains are unforgettable. And in this case, about to get executed, which makes things for Rae a little difficult. But considering that in real life she was at death's door with terminal cancer, Rae is sure she can figure something out.

Yes, there are tons of references to our current pop culture, tons of slang, and references to Rihanna amongst other things, but I embraced it and just went with it, because if I ever make it to Velaris, I'm sure I'll be dropping all the Schitt's Creek references and all the slang I've learned from my high school kids. No cap.

The plot is what it is - basically Rae managing to make sure she doesn't get executed and that she wins in the end. This is the first book in a series, so I am super excited to follow Rae for more madcap scheming and plotting.

Talk about a book from a refreshing POV! You can definitely tell that the author Sarah Rees Brennan knows what she's talking about on fairy tales and villains and how we feel about them. The hero bashing is all in good fun and then we get to see deeper into the "good guys" motivations and see that things aren't always so black and white as they seem.

This book is about intent and action/consequence and varying levels of villainy. And I love it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books and Sarah Rees Brennan for the opportunity to read this ARC! This is my honest review.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

ALL THE EMOTIONS. THAT ENDING TOOK ME OUT.

This was a bit of a rollercoaster read for me. The first two hundred pages were good, but then I hit a wall. It took a month for me to pick this back up—and it was maybe motivated by guilt because I love Brennan’s writing, had requested and received an ARC, and watched an interview where the book was mentioned that reminded me that I had semi-abandoned it at 40%...

My only complaint is that it was too long. At over 500 pages, it meant that plot was going to build and unravel slowly, and that honestly just didn’t vibe with the content itself. I think with just a little re-writing, this could have been two books and maybe should have been two books.

There was some hand-waving going on with the world-building, but it was very minor.

That said, wow, the feels in the second-half. Brennan really leaned into her story with all her might—these characters are fun, sweet, terrible, sarcastic, sincere, misunderstood, and everything in between. She did a phenomenal job of giving everyone their own motivations and having them all conflict with each other.

This is high-fantasy isekai for the girlies. If you’re worried it’s just How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying all over again, I can assure you it’s not. Despite the similar basic premise, the trappings of the book diverge wildly in tone, plot, humor, message, everything.
• Court politics, not a roadtrip adventure
• High fashion with a purpose
• Romantic subplots
• Women written by women (sorry, Wexler, but it’s true)
• Playing off of primarily female stereotypes and female-oriented tropes
• Emotionally wrought backstories for everyone!
• Everyone’s a villain to someone

This isn’t for everyone, but I would highly recommend it. The second-half, and the ending in particular, were so emotionally gripping. I loved every character, even if I hated them, and was so, so scared for all of them (because Brennan established early that no one is safe…) but also so thrilled as they got closer and closer to their goals.

Note to self: I really need to stop reading book one of a series as an ARC… I keep just adding more time to my sad, desperate wait for the sequels…

Our main character is dying of cancer & is given the opportunity to enter her favorite fantasy novel for a chance to live.

The story was unexpected, a touch weird and tons of fun. stick with me here: this is meta, it's camp, it's silly, serious, and overall super engaging !!! Our author takes a cliché storyline and breaths new life into it! The premise alone is interesting and the plot and characters make it unstoppable. I loved how unique the story was and I found myself staying up past my bedtime to spend more time with these characters.

My biggest critic is that the beginning is a touch difficult to push through. The world could have been explained in a more clear way and edited down a bit. It felt info-dumpy and confusing at the beginning and brought in information that didn't serve the overall plot. Some of these elements made the writing seem a touch amateur but I think the story being so interesting helped me overlook the flaws. I will absolutely be picking it up the next installment! (The cliff hanger sent me over the edge).

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for giving the opportunity to read this arc and give my honest opinion.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was most certainly a fun book to read! Haven't read anything quite like this before (think fantasy/comedy isekai), and I'm most definitely sat for the sequel after that ending.

Things I liked:
- Rae! It helps that my name is Rachel too and my parents <i>almost</i> called me Rae instead. So basically this means I'm allowed to self-insert into the story.
- I really enjoyed all of the characters, and each felt very distinct and well thought-out
- The world was quite interesting and I am curious to learn more about the mechanics of this story
- The Google Maps joke knocked me out and that might be the highlight of the book here

Things I didn't like:
- Sometimes the humour just didn't work for me, but that wasn't a huge dealbreaker
- The pacing was a bit disjointed, I feel as if there were big sections of nothing throughout
- God there is nothing I hate more than miscommunication that comes from characters assuming the thoughts/feelings/intentions of others

Super pumped for book 2 and would recommend this read to anyone looking for a fun time.

I adored this book and gobbled it up in a day, staying up until the wee hours to finish. And now I have a book hangover and am finding it hard to articulate what I loved so fiercely about it.

I’ll start with the heroine, Rae. It was clear to me that this character, dying at 20, was written by someone with intimate knowledge of cancer herself. The descriptions of what it feels like — for example, chemo like ice water in your veins — are the most visceral I’ve read. The acknowledgements at the end reveal Brennan is a stage 4 cancer survivor herself, and I have so much admiration for her ability to infuse the story with her experiences.

Because they’re central to the plot. When Rae is near death, a mysterious woman appears and offers her the opportunity to enter the world of Rae’s favorite epic fantasy series. If Rae can pick the Flower of Life and Death, she will be returned to the real world — cured.

Rae is dropped into the body of the evil stepsister character soon after that character has shown her cards and the night before she’s to be executed. I appreciated how much of Rae’s real-world life — from being forgotten/betrayed by her father, boyfriend, and best friend to her years of enduring painful treatment and the wasting away of her body — informed Rae’s perspective as evil stepsister Rahela. She leans into being a villain because at first, the people around her are just fictional book characters to her and all she cares about is getting that flower so she can live and return to our world. And she is fiercely determined to live and able to endure great pain because she’s experienced worse as a cancer patient. She revels in what her healthy, voluptuous body is capable of.

One of the other things I loved about this story is its metafictional premise. I LOVE metafiction, and it was so delightful to see the tropes of the fantasy genre intentionally parodied, challenged, and exploited by Rae, who moves through this world wondering things like “He was tall, dark and handsome, which Rae found suspicious. Normally when fictional characters were good-looking, they turned out to be important. Were side characters allowed to be randomly handsome?” But Rae’s familiarity with the plot of the particular book series she’s dropped into means she doesn’t realize how her actions are changing the storyline. Rae’s entry into Rahela’s character acts like a pebble dropped into a pond, with small ripples becoming much larger ones by the book’s cliffhanger conclusion. The metafictional premise also provides Rae and the reader with multiple opportunities to consider how “evil” in both fiction and real life — especially when embodied by women — is so subject to perspective and circumstance, e.g.: “The difference between a villain and a hero is that a villain gets found out as a human being.”

Finally, I enjoyed the heck out of these characters. Watching what Rae had interpreted as one-dimensional characters grow and evolve throughout the story as Rae came to learn more about them and as circumstances forced many characters to challenge their previously held beliefs was deeply satisfying. The one—two?—queer romances that result had me kicking my feet with delight. And Key! OMG. Another reviewer described him as a murderous puppy, and that is the perfect description. I loved him so much!

Now, the book isn’t perfect. The writing/dialogue is a little OTT campy sometimes, and I wish Octavian’s character had been fleshed out a bit more. But I enjoyed the ride so much that these didn’t bother me at all. Now to wait impatiently for the sequel…

Finished date: 7/5/24, Release date in US 8/27/24

I absolutely loved this book! I laughed out loud more times than I can count. I gasped at a few scenes and I screeched at the ending. I have over 60 highlighted passages on my digital version.

This takes Rae from the modern day world and puts her in a storybook setting and she brings all the snark and sass and some funny lingo from her world with her. All the characters were pretty great and they all had something interesting about them.

It wasn't a very complex book and the characters aren't made to be incredibly deep. The world building isn't very much as it mostly centers around the characters and I have SO MANY questions! But that didn't stop me from devouring this every chance I could and enjoying the heck out of it!

Some tropes include:
-Chronic illness/cancer
-Strong sister bond
-Good vs Evil
-Villains rule
-Magic gauntlets
-Prophecies

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for an eARC. I also happened to win a Goodreads giveaway for another eARC, so now I have two. My thoughts are entirely my own.

I feel torn about this book because on one hand I enjoyed the humor, the character development, and the delicious terror that is the Emperor.

On the other hand I really had to force myself to finish this book. It was so long with those long ass unnecessary flowery descriptions all high fantasy books have which I hate, even though I know it was satirical in this book. (The Ballroom of Sighs did make me laugh though.) And I know that like Rae is 19 on the inside but the character she inhabits is 24 and kisses a 19 year old and that felt pretty yucky, idk. It was just weird. Also I was intrigued by this book because I thought our MC was going to go balls to the wall full villain but alas. I love a reformed villain, of course, but still looking for a villain MC to wreak havoc and win. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ll probably read the next one tho because that cliff hanger was a fuckin doozy and unfortunately now I’m hooked.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover of this book was the first thing I was drawn to as it is absolutely gorgeous. After being pulled in by the cover, the description landed its hooks on me. Who wouldn’t want to be transported into their favorite book series? Unfortunately this did not live up to my expectations and I ended up DNFing about 40% of the way through. The story had so much potential but ended up feeling really juvenile in both plot and just the writing in general. I also was not a fan of the main character, if I was I may have been willing to try and tough it out until the end.

What the hell just happened?!

I’ll be honest - I don’t know if I was just in a slump or this book took a while to rev up. Once it got there though - holy moly!

What if you took a book and actually fleshed out the side characters while the main characters took a little bit of a back seat/hiatus? That is what you will find here. Long live evil explores the actual complexities of choices, good vs evil, and motives in stories.

Beware the ending - I did NOT see the twist coming (and I usually can figure it out) and the cliff hanger is well…both literal and figurative!

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in The Time of Iron series. I got a copy of this on ebook through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: Previous to reading this, I read "Team Human" which I liked, and "The Demon's Lexicon" which was so-so. I have mixed feelings about this book. This started out really rough and is by no means a "well-written" book. However, it was a lot of fun to read and had fascinating and engaging characters. I ended up enthralled by the story and characters by the end and found myself struggling to put it down in the second half.

The story follows Rae, a young woman fighting late stage cancer who gets a bargain from a strange woman. The woman tells her she can go into the world of her favorite fantasy series, and if she can find a bloom from rare flower she'll be able to save herself in her home world. Rae agrees, but unfortunately finds herself thrust into the body of a villainess who is supposed to be executed the next day. Rae has to do some fast thinking and some solid evil to try to get herself out of the execution and into a position to find the rare bloom.

The beginning of this book was awful; it is unnecessary, awkward, and hard to follow. Showing us Rae in the "real world" could have been done in so many better ways. I almost stopped reading this after the first chapter because it was sooooo bad. Things do improve once we get into the fantasy world.

Once we get into the fantasy world, the writing itself still feels pretty awkward. However, the zany campiness of the story starts to take over and make things very entertaining. That coupled with the intriguing characters started to suck me in.

It is really the characters that end up making this an intriguing read. They are all "evil" but more complex than that. Added to that is the humor of Rae and another Earth transplant trying to keep the plot true to the book series while it keeps veering all over the place. The story ends up sucking you in and absolutely grabs you. You keep wondering if Rae will succeed in her quest, what will happen to the original story, and who is the Emperor?

This is a pretty typical portal fantasy. I've read books before where dying characters are transported to a fantasy realm where "if they can only complete a quest", they can save themselves in the real world. What sets this book apart from those is the sheer craziness of the situation and the zaniness of the characters. Let me repeat, this is not well written, and the beginning is a slog to get through. However, it does end up being entertaining, and by the end I desperately wanted to know what would happen next. So, despite my initial feelings, I ended up enjoying this.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this is a mixed bag. The beginning is awful, and the writing isn't the best, it is awkward and doesn't flow the best. This is a somewhat typical portal fantasy. However, it does have a lot of humor and zaniness to it as it continues. It ends up begin campy and crazy enough that it entertained me. By the end, the characters had really pulled me in to the story and I ended up completely engaged and struggling to put this down. Against my better judgment I do plan on continuing the series because I just need to know what happens after the crazy ending in this first book.

What happens you're close to death but given a second chance at life? You need to go on a quest for magical flower. Long Live Evil is the first book of a new series. Rae wakes up in her favourite novel, not as the heroine but the villain. What do villains do? They scheme! Gathering a gang of evildoers, Rae embarks on her hunt.
Unfortunately you can't judge a book by its cover....loved the cover, the book not as much. I was intrigued by the villain viewpoint but unfortunately but don't think it reached its potential. Mixed feelings with the characters....could not really connect with any of them or the storyline.

The book had great potential, and upon reading the synopsis, I did really want to enjoy this book. However, the execution, tone, and writing style fell apart rather quickly.

The book, although marketed as an adult epic fantasy, definitely reads more in the YA category. The writing reads very elementary with certain character dialogue choices and heavy reliance on stereotypes and tropes throughout the story-telling.

Although I wouldn’t recommend this book for adult readers, with heavier editing and revision, there’s definitely potential in the YA space. Thank you for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.