Here's the thing. I'm a bona-fide "good guys" girl. I love the good guys. I think they're fiercely underserved in fiction, often made flat in the way evil characters, who always get dimension and depth, don't. Being good is just as morally complex! So I didn't know how I would feel going into this book—I just knew that the cover was great, I trust Leigh Bardugo's recommendations with my life, and an artist I adore was working on some awesome character art for the series.

What I didn't expect was a book that had me screaming "WHAT" out loud several times throughout, including approximately 20 times in the last 10%.

"Long Live Evil" has a fun premise with a sentimental twist—our protagonist Rae is sick and dying, and spends most of her time with her little sister in her hospital room after bouts of chemotherapy. They talk about their favorite book series—one where her sister, Alice, is more inclined towards the "good guys" (after my own heart) and Rae leans towards the more...morally grey. One night, she gets an offer from a strange woman to change her fate—and wakes up in the Time of Iron books. Only thing is that she's in the body of the villainess on the eve of her execution. On the surface, this

The book spends a good amount of the first half introducing us to the world of Time of Iron and its characters, who Rae has patchy memories of after half-listening to her sister read them to her while sick. This crew starts as charicatures—Emer, the skeptical maid who's fated to be a bloody villain; Marius, the pius right-hand of the King, with Jedi-like vows of attachment and a violent family history; Octavian, the king fated to become the evil Emperor protagonist in Rae's books; and Lia, the beloved girl falling in everyone's arms, meant to die for the Emperor's rise.

And to be clear—I was having a great time with this book even in that first half. Most books struggle when balancing modern characters and storybook/historical/fantasy ones. I've had several books where I haven't love the tone; but Long Live Evil embraces that contrast and instead aims the first half of the book to be satire on the genre, poking fun at the fantasy novels of yore and their tropes, from sexy villains to epic speeches. I was having a ton of fun reading THAT book—

However.

After a few strong beats at the start of the book that made me realize this wasn't just some parodying romp, around halfway through, something shifts—and that something is the characters breaking out of their archetypical modes. Part of me wishes the book had done this sooner, but I can't complain, because the wait made that shift so incredibly satisfying. Like Rae, we watch as the story goes not entirely to plan. Plot points happen faster than expected, and characters don't act the way they're meant to—because as we discover, the story isn't set in stone.

When all of that started to happen, I found myself unable to put this book down. In the first half, it had been a joyful read, a good laugh I could hop into when I needed it. For the first half of this book, I felt in my bones that it would be a four star book—something I enjoyed, but didn't change my life. But once I hit the back half and saw the changes and depths of these characters, there was no turning back—for both me putting down the book and the five stars I need to give it.

With her sometimes cheesy (but in a good way) sometimes witty writing in the first half, the author pulled me into a sense of security, about what this book was going to be, which made the other shoe dropping that much more engaging. I was rooting for all of these villains—who aren't all "villains" in a traditional sense, but rather a set of characters with their own motives. The sense of villainy shifts from something very one-dimensional at the start, a young girl parodying a villain for fun, to complex and layered "villains" who you can't NOT root for.

I knew going into Long Live Evil that it was starting a series, and now I almost regret requesting this ARC—because now I have to wait even longer for the next book after that ending. Regardless, thank you Orbit Books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for this honest review. I don't know if my words do justice to the journey I went through reading this stellar book.

This book honestly read like a bad fanfiction you pick up not knowing the source material. The world building was weird and confusing and none of the characters were developed enough to make me actually care for them. From the constantly mentioning the fl boobs to the weird ass gen z slang, to the POV jumping, this book was one I did not particularly enjoy reading. The only redeeming qualities this book has is that the idea was fresh and I was not expecting the ending twist. The idea was amazing, the execution was horrendous and for that reason this book only gets a 2/5

DNF after ch 3, ~50 pages in

Idk what's up with me and Orbit 2024 releases, but I've not been vibing. Normally they're my most reliable publisher, so I wonder if they've had internal shake-ups in curation/editing/branding/etc.

Poor Pacing:
To start with, this book reminds me a lot of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, but unlike Dark Lord Davi, it absolutely doesn't know where to begin the story. For one thing, the entire first chapter should have been axed. The information presented there was repetitious and can easily be inferred through later chapters without even having to change the material as it is. And it's so dull and honestly made the MC seem less likable. Start the story where it's truly interesting: when she's in the world of the book.

Writing:
But I also didn't like the writing. It was working so hard to spell things out for me that I had inferred pages ago; just trust the reader sometimes!

Humor is subjective, but this didn't gel for me. It had all the right components of humor I should like, but the execution just wasn't it.

And there was a lot of info-dumping but it was the most random things that held neither importance nor intrigue so it was just like... the author has thought about some world-building details, I guess? Cool.

Assorted Complaints (probably nitpicky):
I was going to read a few more chapters tomorrow and see if I still felt sour, but decided to skip ahead tonight. Around 67% in she's commenting on a creature and says it looks like a lion x hyena but enormous, and someone else tells her lions are imaginary. And I... hate that, actually? Like if someone in our world said something looks like a unicorn or a griffin and someone else tells them it's not real. Buddy, we know it's not real but clearly we have a shared vocabulary and can both conjure images of this animal. This is the kind of "world-building" that doesn't feel wholly internally consistent because the characters are forced to behave unnaturally to make sure information is delivered to the reader. Bleh. Grumble.

Overall:
All that to say-- these are very "me" issues and I think a lot of people will be able to turn off their brains and just enjoy a silly story. But I think it genuinely gave me a headache.

Long Live Evil is an isekai book where our heroine is transported to another world where she takes over the body of the wicked stepsister in a fantasy series. Rae forms bonds with others like her and her servants to change the plot of this book to one more favorable to her.

Brennan builds a world that will be familiar to those who've watched the isekai genre of anime and who've read dark fantasy series but is still original enough to surprise.

I liked the use of the "heroine from another land" trope and thought the book got fairly good towards the end. The side characters were interesting, especially when the story gives meta commentary on what legends the characters usually become.

I do think the plot is a little slow. It feels a bit like nothing happens for long stretches which loses focus on the plot. The main character seems somewhat passive for a dark villainess as well.

But this was an enjoyable read with a solid premise and the cliffhanger ending definitely makes you long for the next book.

Releasing July 30th, 2024

what a ride! LONG LIVE EVIL was such a delight to read. It follows heroine Rae, when given the chance at a magical bargain, takes it and is thrust into the world of a popular fantasy book series. There she meets the Once and Forever Emperor, and finds she is the villainess in the tale.

This was such a fun book— usually contemporary language in fantasy books takes me out of the story, but here it made Rae’s situation even more obvious and worked very well. The occasional pop culture references were funny and added to the charm of the book.

It’s incredibly character driven, which worked splendidly as Brennan created a chaotically fun cast of characters, balancing them in an impressive way.

It was truly a unique book and I was so excited to get the eArc. Will definitely be reading book two.

Thank you Orbit and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This one was absolutely made for me. A witty FMC who knows the rules of villainy, meta self-referential fantasy world and high stakes (with a touch of romance). Each character was so well developed (even when they were supposed to be 2-D) and the story kept me up reading waaayyy past my bedtime. I love a villain who knows they're the villain!

That cliffhanger is unreal and I CANT WAIT for the next in the series (there has to be more!)

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy of this book! Below is my honest review.

DNFed at 20%. I liked the premises of this book, but the execution wasn’t right for me. The author’s writing style wasn’t what I was expecting. The protagonist Rae lives is a modern world and transported to a non-modern world, but she still carries over modern vibes and lingo with her. Juxtaposed to the other characters who speaking in more formal language (think, “my lady/Lady Rae”). Nothing really grabbed my attention or made me want to continue reading. Would I recommend other people to read it? Yeah, why not? I think the idea is good so it might be worth picking up.

I have been a fan of Sarah Rees Brennan since her first book and was so excited to read Long Live Evil. This book absolutely delivered on all the humor and fun I was expecting. There are so many funny lines and moments that stand out and such a great use of the main character, Rae, discussing the world around her and the current events in book terms. I loved every time she mentioned the plot or foreshadowing as well as her modern references and just generally confused everyone around her. I also really appreciated using the fact that this is an adult book to tackle much harder and deeper subjects. Rae's an adult and her cancer experience has put her in this unique position of having this life experience and world weariness beyond her years, on the flip side of that she's also missed out on some things because she was so ill. The way this shapes the story and her view of the events of the books is really interesting and well written. This is particularly interesting when her interference starts changing events in the book causing her to look at the characters in a new light and revealing more of their motivations and what has been going on behind the scenes of the book. I absolutely loved the way this played out in regards to the villains motivations and plans. There are many thought provoking moments on what makes a character a villain or a hero and how fluid that designation can be, The setting is so well done its such a fun blend of fantasy elements and sets an amazingly dramatic backdrop for all of Rae's scheming. The magic system is also really interesting and sets up some awesome twists throughout the story. This is all around an amazing book and I am dying to read the next one.

Idk if it's just the market that is over saturated with isekai, but I was so excited about this book but find myself struggling to get through it. Sarah's writing is great and I'm able to follow things pretty easily despite some confusion with how things were set up in the start. Like which sister is which and if the emperor is good or not. Over all it's just me looking for clarity and maybe just being way to overhauled with this genre

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Long Live Evil was a wild ride! I did struggle at the beginning with the pacing and some of the writing style and choices but once the story really started to pick up I was so hooked!

The characters were definitely the main strength and core of this novel. Our cast of wannabe villains and heroes were fun, chaotic and unpredictable in their decisions. My favourites were definitely the Cobra and Marius, I absolutely devoured their parts.

The way Rae initially viewed the characters and world around her made it difficult for me to like her. I found her much more enjoyable toward the end of her character arc.

Overall, found the story ended in a very strong place, enjoyed it and look forward to continuing the series!

(Thanks NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing this EArc)

✰✰✰✰ 1/2
The moment I saw this on social media, I knew I wanted to read it. The concept reminded me of those transmigration webtoons I sometimes read, but with more evil and a great cast of characters, so it was right up my alley.
Thankfully, this did end up being a satisfying read.
The characters were interesting. I liked reading about Rae's journey as a new villainess after getting a second chance at life, and her reactions and inner thoughts were sometimes ridiculous (positive). I also liked the Cobra for his backstory and it was nice that Rae had someone to connect with in this new world. I think Key was my favourite character. He was so dark and messed up but so, so fun, and I loved his scenes.
I was a bit overwhelmed in the beginning, but after I got into the world, it was just so entertaining to see how everything played out. The only issue I had was that Rae's dialogue sometimes felt a bit forced because of the slang she kept using. It felt like she was really trying to emphasize that she was from a different world, but it still didn't feel realistic to how people actually speak. Other than that, I enjoyed the writing. I actually did like some of Rae's lines (judgemental rosebuds and seared-salmon kisses). However, the dark immersive descriptions were what I liked best, especially during the ending scene.
Overall, I'm really looking forward to the sequel after that ending (!)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 10%

The premise of this book is very fun. The title and cover pulled me in right away. Who doesn't love a good villain? It was giving Apprentice to the Villain meets Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables novellas. Right up my alley as I loved both of those.

Unfortunately, this particular book did not work for me. I had a hard time connecting to it. The beginning was too confusing. It felt like I was reading fanfiction without having read the original story. Background information was omitted or rushed, and I kept mixing up which character was which. The writing style itself did not help. It felt confusing, almost like I was missing words in my text. I had to re-read lines to be sure I understood what it was saying, and what was happening. I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me.

This book is a rollercoaster ride through a mind-bending story that left me haunted by its ending. The plot follows Rae, a cancer-stricken protagonist thrust into a villainess role in her favorite fantasy series, navigating a world where she embraces evil to find her way home. The narrative unfolds through multiple POVs, dissecting tropes and societal issues within the fantasy genre. Despite initial immaturity, the story evolves into a philosophical exploration, with romance delicately woven in. I thought the story was incredible unique and refreshing and I will definitely be reading more from this author!

I finished Long Live Evil and I truly cannot wait until y'all get your hands on this. Perfect timing, perfect characters, perfect character arcs, really clever use of what is essentially prophesy. Also my guesses were correct, but also spun in such an unexpected way that broke my heart (THANK YOU, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?).

LONG LIVE EVIL was everything I didn't know I needed. The humor is sharp, the setting is intriguing, and the characters are brutal and cutting as the blades they wield. Rae is a fantastic protagonist, and her journey is one I would gladly read again and again. I will definitely be annotating my physical copy once this one releases. I read this book in about four days, which is definitely fast for me! I now know I'd read anything by Sarah Rees Brennan. She has this perfect blend of sharp humor and lush fantasy that the genre really needs. Such a good book!

A quick disclaimer: this is going to be a totally unstructured review. I'm sorry. This is what happens when a book breaks your mind. Although I took a whole night sleep plus a few more hours to pull myself together, I'm still haunted by the ending. I don't know if this is a standalone or if it has a potential to become a series. If it's the first case, then that ending is just cruel. So, please, be a series. I need a sequel more than I need air to breathe.

If you love In Other Lands, this book is an adult version of that, which is to say, it's that book on steroids. Sarah Rees Brennan is back with something crazier, sadder, more complex, and more epic, and this book hits all the marks even though it wasn't what I was expecting at all.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, let me go back a bit and try to recap the story in my own words: In this book, we follow Rae, who is dying from cancer in the real world. She loves villains because people in her life treat her the same way that other characters treat the villains in stories. So, when she got sent into the body of a villainess in her favorite fantasy series, she decided to embrace evilness and do whatever it takes to get home. This involved getting herself some minions to carry out her scheme and performing a villainous musical number that I still can't get over. (This is the first time in my life that reading a musical number in the middle of a book. It's glorious. Please look forward to it.) But the plot started changing, until, at one point, she quite literally lost the plot, and I consequently lost my mind.

But Rae was not the only protagonist of this book. This is a multi-POV story. We have the POV of Emer, Rae's character's maidservant, who, in the original story, later became a murderous villainess. We also have the POV of Marius, the pure-hearted second male lead. At first, I felt like the multiple POVs scatter the focus of the story, but it actually works really well with the whole "take control of your own narrative" theme of the book. Giving voice to these characters is also very effective in dissecting the tropes and archetypes of fictions and, specifically, the fantasy genre, which is another thing that this book does like nobody's business. We dive into how the world treats a poor woman, who will not become a female lead, versus a nobleman, who will not become a male lead. We get to see how it affects the way they look at world and the way they fight. We see who their villains are and who think of them as villains, and whether we, the readers, are in one or both groups.

(Also, Marius' POV quickly became my favorite - every time he appears I scream into the pillow and bang my head against the wall from equal parts endearment and frustration. Please look forward to it as well.)

From what I've described so far, you've probably already gathered that this is a philosophical book that addresses how stories reflect and perpetuate societal issues. But is there romance? Well, there is. It's not as prominent as I expected it to be, which is to say it's exactly what I wanted it to be. Like every other aspect of the story, the romance is there to contrast how romance is usually done in this kind of stories. And it's just incredible. Out of all relationships combined (a sapphic one included!), there is only one kiss, but it got me squealing to high heavens. It's cute, and funny, and heartbreaking. Trust Miss Brennan write characters that can make me laugh and cry at the same time. Not even real humans can do that.

One aspect of the book that I really want to highlight is that this can feel very immature in the beginning, and maybe even until the midpoint of the book. Rae is a very genre-savvy, twenty-year-old girl, who treats a fantasy world as a VR game that she knows all the rules and hacks for. She has zero subtlety, spares no effort to blend in, and blasts her way through the narrative with over-the-top mannerism and one-tracked mindset. If you find this kind of things quirky and funny, congratulations, you're in for one hell of a ride! But if you're easily frustrated with "YA characters in adult fictions", you just have to trust the author (or me) that there's something deeper lurking underneath all the cheesy one-liners (and the musical number) and that everything will come together and pay off in a bigger bang than you dare expect.

Finally, having followed the author on Twitter for many years and read the acknowledgement, I understand that she writes Rae's experience with cancer from a very personal place. Her courage and heart shine through the pages. I'm very happy to be see her taking her craft to the next level with this book, and I can't wait to read more from her in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the arc but this one isn’t for me.

DNF at 10%

I was expecting a book that is serious and ruthless and dramatic like Villains are Destined to Die, but this has too much humor for my taste. The premise is fantastic but I can’t get beyond the writing style and the disregard for seriousness. She’s going to get killed tomorrow but is all like “let’s be evil together”, “come minion” and they just get lost in the hallway with no care in the world? 🤨

Also I doubt I’ll like the multi pov aspect here either. I was super excited for this one but it’s definitely a pass for me.

Such an entertaining book! I love villains so this was right up my alley. I really liked the main character and the world building.

Oh this book was WICKED. I was promised a story about villains and boy did it deliver. Long Live Evil was a refreshing twist on the usual tropes of the hero who gets the damsel and the villain who is slain. It was so refreshing to have characters who were so allowed to be malicious and blood thirsty (some more than other but all in various shades of gray). Even in a story of villains and heros it proves that nothing is as black and white as it may seem. The damsel is not so helpless, the hero not so pure and the villain not so heartless. And it did all of this while still being so genuinely funny and charming. I smiled and laughed as much as I was stricken with dark delight.
Despite seeing the plot twist coming it was so well done that I couldn't wait to reach that climatic point and I'm already desperate for a sequel.
The characters for me were by far the best part of the story. Each one was so much fun for their own reasons (Key especially was a dark delight). I was also thrilled to find that it was in fact so casually queer in the best most unexpected ways. I cannot wait (and hope) to see all my ships sail in the sequel.
I will always read anything Sarah Rees Brennan writes and this book exceeded all my expectations

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the digital ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A young woman dying of cancer is transported into a fictional world from her and her sister’s favorite book series. After she discovers she has taken the place of a villain in the series and is slated to be executed the very next day, she must scheme to escape death once more after coming face to face with her favorite character, the man who will one day become a powerful and ruthless Emperor.

First and foremost, it’s unfortunate that this book has an element that I’ve really disliked in the past with The Folk of the Air series and the Crescent City series. Too many modern elements and language in a fantasy novel are really off-putting to me, and Long Live Evil goes above and beyond in that area. This made it difficult for me to get into the book and embrace it as a fantasy novel, when everything felt so unserious. This book almost felt like a parody of a Young Adult fantasy series and not the “adult epic fantasy” that it is marketed as, I think it should have been marketed as Young Adult and satire/comedy in some way. There would be moments where there was it felt like the narrative was getting somewhere, and then something would happen… like whatever that whole musical scene was, hard to read.

I think there’s a balance between a book taking itself too seriously and not taking itself seriously at all, and this book falls on the latter end of the spectrum. A lot of the writing and characters fell flat for me unfortunately. In a way, this novel feels like it was written like fan fiction. Except in fan fiction, there’s already a familiarity with characters and a reason for reading. I don’t feel that the author gave me a reason to care about these characters or the story.

There are some themes touched on that I think could have meant something: What does it mean to be a villain? What makes a villain? And why is it so easy for a woman to become the villain? But then, the size of the main character’s breasts are mentioned in nearly every chapter to the point where it almost feels like this book was written by a man. If this was meant to be satirical, it did not come across that way to me.

Overall, an interesting premise that ultimately falls flat and has an ending that I found to be pretty predictable. Maybe with a few more rounds of revisions, this could have been a book I would have found somewhat enjoyable. The last thirty pages or so were more interesting than the rest of the entire book. I’m sure this novel and potential sequels will definitely have an appeal to an audience who likes a certain type of fantasy, but it wasn’t for me.