Thank you to Sarah Rees Brennan and Orbit Books!

As a reader I’m sure everyone I know would agree that being transported into our favorite book/series would be a dream come true. To explore worlds we've only ever read about. To meet characters we've only ever obsessed about. And to adapt the story to our deepest desires.

Rae, our main character, is a 20 year old young adult (this is important to remember, she is very young) suffering through a terminal cancer diagnosis. Her sister is her main support, and also an avid fan of the Time of Iron series, which she reads aloud to Rae whenever she visits.

One day Rae is given a choice to continue to live in her failing body, or be transported into Time of Iron by a mysterious person. If she succeeds in getting her hands on the Flower of Life, her fate in the real world would be reversed, and she could be healthy once again.

The only issue is that Rae is transported into Rahela’s body. A villainous character doomed to be executed the next day. Can Rae change her fate in both the book and in real life? Only quick wit and knowledge of the story could save her.

I’m really digging the new wave of morally gray characters getting the spotlight in stories. I've always been a fan of the misunderstood, the devious, and those whose plans only center on getting what they want, no matter the cost. Long Live Evil thrives on… well, being evil. Rae leans heavily into her character's evil-doing ways to manipulate those around her so she can get what she wants. No matter the cost. Because this isn't real, and she's ok with being evil.

There is a lot to appreciate in Sarah Rees Brennan’s story. A found family of misfits, flawed characters with ambitions beyond their class, interesting world building, and a story within the story. I think it's really fun how the side characters have main character energy.

I also really enjoyed the snatches of Time of Iron at the beginning of each chapter, and would be thrilled if that became a real book in the future. The vibes are pretty epic.

Based on the little I know of Sarah Rees Brennan’s (a new-to-me-author) own battle with cancer, I have no doubt that Rae’s experience mirrors her own. It's heart wrenching and realistic in ways I’ve never known. Which would absolutely explain the lapse in memory Rae has about events that happen in her favorite book series. At first I didn't catch on, but in retrospect that explains some of my complaints when it comes to the plot.

My big issue lies solely with the writing style. The extraneous descriptions (metaphors out the wazoo) were distracting to me. I would get lost in intricate descriptions of every minute detail to the point where I didn't understand what was happening in the scene anymore. At first I found the story very bingeable, but once I honed into what was bothering me, I couldn't stop noticing it, and I began to hyper focus. Not sure if the writing was intentional because this is my first time reading a book by this author.

With that being said the last 25% picked up and, much to my chagrin, I found I actually was invested in the characters and the story (LOL). So now I’m stuck here, waiting for the next book to be published because of a dang cliffhanger that happened to include my favorite character. I mean really, what a conundrum. I guess I can't wait to see where the author takes the story in the next installment!

I believe if you're a fan of CW TV shows, this book would be right up your alley.

3.5 Stars respectfully.

This is going to be a hard review to write because I just so wanted to at least like this story, but ultimately I just had too many issues with it and I just can’t get past that. I almost dnf’d the book, but because it was an ARC I felt the need to give it a chance. I also looked at some reviews, and most of them said it did get better, so I kept slogging through. And it did get a little bit better, but not enough to make me want to read the next book in the series.

Let’s start with the few positives that I found in the story. There were a couple of characters that I really liked. I just adored Key and found his story to be the most interesting. I think it was his character that kept me reading the book. I knew pretty much where his story was going to go pretty early on in the book, but I needed to know that I was right. I also adored the Golden Cobra/Eric as he often added a bit of levity to the story. He was very kind and just wanted to help everyone who needed it.

Even though I found the story confusing at times, I did like how things were unexpectedly twisted by Rae’s meddling. Even when she tried to fix things, she ended up screwing things up so badly that the plot was totally changed. I kind of liked Rae at the start of the story. I think she meant well, but her lack of knowing the story as well as her sister did, really hindered her ability to make her way in this world. But I loved her eventual compassion for these ‘characters’ that were ‘not real’ and her need for them to survive her meddling.

The last thing I really liked, and it really had little to do with the main story, were the little vignettes at the start of the chapters that were quotes from Time of Iron, the book Rae is transported into. I really liked these and it made me want to read that story instead of the one I was given.

Back to the characters, there were just too many of them and there were too many points of view. I think that the book could have been better if it was told only from Rae’s view, and maybe one other character. I think some of my confusion came from these multiple points of view.

My biggest issue with the book was the writing. I just found it confusing and a bit lackluster and even at times a bit boring. The plot felt very directionless and I often felt lost and didn’t know what was going on. I found myself rereading passages several times and then just giving up because they still didn’t make sense. The sentence structures also felt quite awkward at times, especially the dialogue which was often clunky. Some of this was due to Rae talking like a 20 something most of the time, while everyone else had a very formal voice. But looking at other reviews makes me think that this was mostly on me. Many people found the book funny and campy, which made me think that maybe I read a different version? I don’t know. I just think that if I had meshed better with the writing style I would have enjoyed this more.

Overall I just thought this book was ok. It did pick up at the end, and by that I mean the last 20-30 pages of a book that was over 400 pages. I am disappointed that I didn’t enjoy it more, but this is just my opinion. There are many people out there who loved this book, and I would check out their opinions before deciding if this is for you or not.

Absolutely engaging from start to finish! Predictable most times, but hellish fun to read! Loved the first old building and imagery in this!

The main character Rae has late stage cancer and is given a choice by a mysterious stranger. Either die in the hospital or be given a second chance. Rae accepts and is thrust into her favorite book series, the only issue is, she's doesn't really remember the first book and is in the body of the book's villain! Rae fully embraces her villain era and begins scheming to survive.

This book was a lot of fun! If you've ever wanted to be a villain or wondered if you could make those choices, this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, I love Sarah Rees Brennan but apparently I do have limits on what my meta/sense of humor can handle. The point I said "okay, this isn't for me" is when the heroine bursts into song while dancing and the passerby (magically!) sings along. There definitely is an audience for this book, but it unfortunately isn't me.

This is absolutely a book you should pick up this summer. You have a dying girl who is isekai'd into the in world equivalent of Game of Thrones and her attempts to survive, all while being a larger look at the idea of villainy, and how well meant actions can actually end up twisting things beyond all recognition. At the time of writing the release date has been pushed back a bit, but that is apparently because there is something additional being added. When it comes out, I'll be picking it up to see what the extra material was! I'll be picking it up regardless, as you can tell that Brennan had a great time writing this, and In Other Lands is an all time recommend on my end.

Long Live Evil is hilarious and heartfelt. It plays with genre conventions and tropes. There's this societal impulse to humanize the 'bad hot guy' and Long Live Evil challenges this. What happens when our villain is a woman? Throughout the book, Brennan examines these conceptions we have about what makes a villain. What would a villain do? And isn't it all a matter of perspective? For readers, it feels a bit meta as Rae knows all of these characters from the story. But what happens when it goes off script?

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really struggled with this, and ultimately decided to DNF at 10%. I'm a fan of isekai/villaness stories, but the writing style and choice in humor fell a bit flat for me. The beginning chapters had alot of telling rather than showing and resulted in me not really caring for the main character and the fantasy world. I was expecting something written for an adult audience, but this felt more like something for a young adult audience. Overall, I'm a bit disappointed.

This book was very intriguing, I really liked the idea behind it, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I know a lot of people are loving it though and I can see why. It took me a bit to get interested, I spent the first part of the book struggling to get into it so that hindered my enjoyment somewhat.

Thank you Sarah Rees Brennan and NetGalley for the gifted ARC!
When this first started, it took me a little bit to get into. But once the story really got going, I fell in love. This is SUCH a unique story. It was heart wrenching yet hilarious, and truly unlike anything I’ve ever read.
It was so fun rooting for the villain. Rae starts the book as a dying cancer patient, but is then thrown into the world of her favorite fantasy book as the villain. The side characters have a special place in my heart too.
The plot twists in this story were WILD! I absolutely cannot wait to see where this story goes

This book was… really something. The premise is intriguing and very cool but the execution fell a little flat. You are pretty literally dropped into the middle of story, and I just found it hard to care about all the characters. I was bored with some POVs, and that made the book drag. However, the story did get better towards the end, and I was interested enough to want to know what happens.

Katee Robert recommended this on her Patreon account so I absolutely RAN and signed up for this bad boy and OOF, I love that Katee never steers anyone wrong with book recs. This was chaotic, messy, wild and fucking pure amazing. Top read for me, for sure! And Sarah is definitely on my auto-buy list from now on.

This was one of my most anticipated releases--I have loved Sarah Rees Brennan's other books so much. Overall I started off more puzzled than excited? It took me awhile to warm to this book and get into it, which was a surprise to me. It's a very different read than I expected. It started slow and there was a lot of exposition on the world of the story given in the first half, which was a bit confusing at times. I didn't feel strongly attached or engaged by the characters until about midway through the story, with the exception of the Cobra and Marius who were engaging from their first instance on the page. The plot was quite convoluted and complex and the back and forth between what Rae, the main character, remembered from the books and what was going on around her once she was transported into the book was confusing and took me out of the narrative a bit. IT had a campy style and a bit of tongue in cheek attitude which was fun but sometimes felt out of place in the story. I got a bit muddled and bogged down in the the middle. It was a bit of a combo of lots of info and some chaos as far as the story went.
That being said, the second half really picked up and the many threads that seemed to not make much sense in the first half started to coalesce and create a complex picture that was actually quite fascinating.
It definitely has a fanfic vibe--lots of focus on characters, pop culture, tropes and character archetypes being turned on their heads and inverted. I was a fan by the end and some of the twists absolutely got me! I was not expecting the big twist and that is making me quite excited to read the sequel.
Overall a slow bit of a meandering start that got a bit muddled in the middle but then picked up steam and absolutely riveted me for the second half of the book.
4 stars overall.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC. This is my honest and personal opinion.

Such a different read from what I'm used to. This definitely made me want to venture out more with my reading choices. Exquisite writing and story telling. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this arc!! 🙏 I appreciate this so much and will be purchasing a copy as soon as possible!

This book is...strange. I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it.
Rae is in the hospital with cancer when she is given an opportunity to enter a book to save herself. When she gets there she finds that she is playing the part of a villain that is about to be executed. Rae leans into the villainy because these people aren't real, right?
It had a slow start for me, but it eventually sucked me in. Definitely a campy feel. Lots of character development. Some twists I maybe saw coming but still seemed to surprise me. Not the ending I wanted, but this is labeled book #1, so maybe I'll find solace in the sequel!

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit Books for an early copy for review.

Sadly I wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. That being said the send half was much stronger than the first. Especially in the beginning I found many of the characters rather annoying. Especially the main character. I loved the plot and overall story line but found that Rae often didn’t act her age which made her rather difficult and annoying to follow at times. I also found the overall plot and action difficult to follow at times. Over all a great plot and story and but not the characterisation or point of views that I needed or wanted.

This book has a very interesting plot. Main character is sent into the world of her favorite book, where she wakes up as one of the villains. Her task is to try to save herself. Her character arc was fun to read because she goes through these thoughts where she tries to convince herself these characters aren't really people so no need to worry about them getting hurt. You can see the transition happen where these characters become important to her. I feel like the author did a good job of making you feel that way too. At first, it was kind of difficult to get into it because Rae is right, these aren't really people, and by the end of it you are rooting for them and hoping they're happy. This was a fun read. Rae is really funny and I enjoyed the twists.

Oh, this one is going to be polarizing as f

I have three things I'd like to get out of the way before you even consider if this book is right for you:

1. This is suspected to be in a subscription box for August and I saw lots of comments that people hoped the cover was redesigned because people didn't like it...in this case, I'm going to need you to judge a book by the cover because it is 100000000% on-brand for the vibe of this book!

2. If you're a person who will not tolerate any modern slang or references to the real world at all even if it makes sense because it's a portal fantasy, you're probably going to have a bad time.

3. There is a scene where the characters break out into a song, do with that what you will.

Now that that's out of the way...

This was such a little oddball, an entertaining oddball? Absolutely, but weird? YUP. This was good in the way The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina show is good, you know? It was super campy, meta, and cringy in the best way. I had a sprinkle of a dark comedy. If you try to take it too seriously, you're not going to enjoy this.

I'm going to be honest, the start is rough. The writing is heavy-handed at times. The pacing is a bit clunky, and there is a choppiness that continues throughout but if you're at all interested in this story I would give it until at least the 25% mark before you decide if you want to continue. I promise it gets better and better, by 70% I couldn't put it down, and the ending...holy cliffhanger!

The chapters are long and sometimes I felt like we spent too much time in some POVs. I know it says the paperback is 464 pages but this felt twice as long as most ~400 page books I have read lately. I think it could have benefitted from a little more trimming as it was overwritten in places.

I went into this without knowing anything about it other than the cover was fun but basically Rae is dying from cancer and is given the opportunity to save her life by falling into the world of very popular book series (think like GoT). Problem is, the character's body she took over is set to be executed and the details of the book are a little fuzzy to Rae (this was something that had me scratching my head in the beginning. We are told that Rae was like a tag-along fan of the series because of her sister but sometimes it did feel like she did conviently know all the details). Rae thinks she has the manual to the story but every thread of fate she tries to spin ends up shredding in disaster. She doesn't try to blend it, like at all. It almost felt like she really wasn't taking things seriously either, like she was still an outsider in the story until it completely blew up in her face.

The humor in this was so cheesy and it had me snorting! Some moments were just so ridiculous! Imagine Jon Snow wondering what the hell Netflix is. Don't let that fool you though, you'll soon realize you've been lured into a trap of emotions, it kind of sneaks up on you all at once and you realize you've got the feels. The character development is where this story wins. I'm not even just talking about our MC, in the most meta way...the side characters get their chance to shine bright and steal the show! If you're looking for romance, you're not going to find it here. There's little crumbs and I imagine we will see more romance in the next. There's ZERO spice.

There's content that hits close to home, especially in the beginning while learning about Rae's terminal cancer and all the things that have happened to her. After reading the acknowledgments, it's clear why. There is no sugar coating. I think we can all understand the fear of a terminal diagnosis, especially for those living in the US where it also probably means financial ruin that doesn't end up changing the outcome.

I also want to mention this story has some problems I'm going to just call "This Feels Out of 2012". I'm not sure if these were purposely done in a meta way to poke fun but there are some valid criticisms.


Anywho - *Secret snake wavy hand motion*

PS. SRB IS THE VILLAIN FOR THAT CLIFFHANGER!

Some notes:

-There is a tournament and mythical animals are fought. It doesn't go into too much detail.

- At about ~79% a pet snake is killed (it happens and it's over)

-Shortly after that at 79% mention of kids torturing a dog is included as something that happened in the past. It doesn't go into detail, it's just a character remembering something.

Big thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC! Long Live Evil will be released August 27th, 2024 in the US!

I’m sorry, but I just did not like this writing style. It felt too cutesy/modern for a medieval villainess story.

This was kind of a strange experience overall. I'll admit I had some doubts in the beginning, though the promise of the concept kept me going, and while I did get a little lost around the middle, I was seriously won over by the end -- but there's enough sprinkled throughout to keep you going so don't take that to mean all the good is at the end. It was just the most consistently good.

The concept of this story is so good. Being transported into your favourite book to escape the world. Subverting tropes. The reality of villainy in fiction. The general nuance present in all of it. And how even assuming you know the story doesn't mean you can control it.

I did struggle most with Rae and her modern dialogue within the framework of the fantasy setting and how she only made an effort to camouflage her strangeness, like, two percent of the time. I know she struggled to believe that what was happening was real, and that her actions had implications, but even still.. it wasn't always cute. It did allow for some character development and some interesting conversations with those around her, those in the know and not, even if half the time those conversations made little to no sense for those on the receiving end. Which, again, a little weird.

If you lean into some of the ridiculousness, though, it's a good time. And I was definitely the most compelled by a certain non-pairing every time they were in each other's orbits.. and I'm so desperate for that realization to come. On both their ends. I need it. Plus, again, woven throughout, there were so many interesting takes on the typical way stories, and the character archetypes, play out. It's one of those reads where you both can't wait to push on but also feel force yourself to read on.. riiiight until about the 75% mark where I could not put this down.

The concept is great, though, and if not for occasionally disliking the main character driving the plot, this would've been rated even higher. But I have a feeling she'll be more fun in the instalment to come. And I'm very much looking forward to it.

3..5 stars