Enjoyed! ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ₊⊹⁀➴ 4.5
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'I love you as a knife loves a throat,' he murmured as the dead overwhelmed her. 'I crawled out of hell to fall at your feet.'

At it's heart, Long Live Evil is a story about lost futures and missed opportunities, about writing new stories and rewriting old ones with better endings.

Some things that didn't work for me:
- There's a lack of the character development. I would have preferred more showing and less telling, especially with the secondary cast. This definitely created the most issues with Octavian's narrative arc, and with Lia and Marius. These characters haven't quite escaped being plot devices yet, or gained enough agency of their own.

- The contemporary language and pop-culture references didn't always land well with the setting. In moderation it was fun, in excess it killed some scenes for me.

-The pacing was jarring. There's lots of POV shifts, jumps from overlong conversations to condensed action scenes. Even within a single chapter it could be difficult to follow what was happening. I found that it mattered less to me as the story progressed and I got a feel for Brennan's style, but the story is delivered to us almost like a movie trailer.

- There's a lot of commentary about beauty standards, female character stereotypes, women's virtues, and femininity. Some of it is lacking nuance.

A note on the prose:
-The writing is a hot mess. Sometimes a brilliant mess. Lots of nonsense that sometimes irritated me and sometimes came together in such beautiful ways that I wanted to reread passages just to enjoy their impact again. Brennan's prose has moments where it just lands so well. Poetic but playful, vicious but extremely satisfying. She just needed to be a bit more ruthless with editing. Half of the poetry needs to be cut so the other half can shine.

'The glow from the ravine painted the room. The graceful arc of Key's leap was a single dark comma across a scene red as blood and white as snow.'

What I loved:
- Key. This man was everything. If you're a fan of villains that would burn the world down for the people they love, Key has that vibe in spades. Brennan put a delightful golden retriever spin on him that I just adore. I fell in love with this murderous puppy very quickly and I hope others will too. He is vicious, he is doting, he is definitely in need of some psychiatric therapy, and he is perfect.

- Emer doesn't get as much time to shine as Key does, but she's an interesting character that reminded me a lot of Marial from The Great, to the point where I don't think I could be easily convinced she isn't at least inspired by her. Her motivations and loyalties are complicated and I enjoyed never really knowing where she stood with our heroine. To be honest I am still not entirely sure what her motivations are and I think that works well for her.

- This book is also delightfully queer towards the end. I don't want to spoil any of the pairings but I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity in both the romantic and platonic relationships represented.

-Longing for Revenge and Starving for Blood were such fitting sword names for this world and I have to at least mention them! The world-building isn't the most deep or original, but it has a charming touch of whimsy that I am always craving.

- The humour, when it landed, was delightful. There's a horse named Google Maps. Need I say more.

Overall, I had fun despite a rocky start. I think there were a few moments where I found myself wishing I was reading a different narrative with the same components; there is a lot of wasted potential here with the plot. But it was good fun, and the perfect comfort read while I was sick with covid. If you are looking for something playful and dramatic, this is an perfect choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

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✦ CW: animal death, terminal illness
✦ Rep: sapphic love, queer and diverse characters
✦ Mood: silly, playful, heartfelt, dramatic

Sometimes, books are just fun to read. This was one of those books for me. I enjoyed the plot and the characters a lot, but my favourite thing was the tone. Yes, some serious things happen in the story, but the book never takes itself too seriously, which was very refreshing. This book isn't going to change my life, but I certainly had a blast with it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Me lo pasé pipa con este libro. Es sangriento, crudo, divertido y tiene unos personajes espectaculares. Me sacó de un bloqueo lector bastante grave y siempre le estaré agradecide por ello. Además, la historia nunca va por donde me imaginaba y cada giro me dejó con la boca abierta. Qué ganas de leer el siguiente.

Thank you for the ARC! Sadly unable to read as this was downloaded onto an old device I no longer have access to and the book has since been archived.

Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

Although the plot drew me in, this book was a let down for me. The writing style was a little too childish for me, and I didn't like the main character at all, with their lingo and not even trying to fit in with the fantasy world she found herself in. I think this would have worked with less humour and taking the situation more seriously, considering she was dying of cancer but that seemed to have been brushed to the side for laughs.

Long Live Evil offers a fun and fresh take on the romantasy genre, centering on a classic yet always entertaining trope: the villain’s perspective. Sarah Rees Brennan embraces this idea with wit and a sharp sense of humor, making the book stand out with its clever writing and pop culture allusions that genuinely fit the tone and setting.

While the premise is engaging and the humor lands well, the story takes some time to really draw the reader in. The pacing and initial setup may make it a bit hard to connect with at first—I found myself reading with mild detachment, even considering putting it down at times. Still, perseverance paid off with a twist that, while not jaw-dropping, was pleasantly surprising.

The real strength of the book lies in its characters, particularly Rae. Her struggle to embrace a “villainous” identity while consistently showing real compassion made her a relatable and layered protagonist. Her internal conflict adds emotional depth to an otherwise playful narrative.

Despite its slow start and a few uneven moments, Long Live Evil is a charming, often funny read that hints at promising things to come in the series. It's not flawless, but it has heart—and sometimes, that’s more than enough.

I went into this book expecting to love it, however took several attempts to get more than a few chapters through. I found it very difficult to understand what was happening and who the characters were at the beginning of the book and I found the pacing confusing at times as I read on. However it was still an enjoyable read once I got past this.

Had fun and was involved in this brilliant and entertaining start of a new fantasy series
LOVED IT, LOVED IT . Due to health issues cannot not but will write a proper review at a later time
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

It’s time to enter your villain era. 😈

What if you landed in your favourite novel as the beautiful villain destined to die at the end? Long Live Evil is both a touchingly poignant, yet camp and vibrant book. It’s a highly enjoyable romp, PERFECT for fanfic lovers, romance trope enjoyers, and all round fantasy fans.

I LOVE books that get a bit meta, and play around with their identity as a piece of fiction. Rae, as the villain “Rahela”, is wicked and so self aware of her identity/keeping up the pretence of what she’s supposed to be in the book. It’s so interesting to see how she affects characters’ “set” trajectories in the book along the way, whilst trying to save herself and remember the plot.

The cast of characters aren’t what I’d called nuanced, but they’re enjoyable to read. The playboy king Octavius, Marius, the stern but secretly soft white knight, Lia, the purest heroine for whom butter wouldn’t melt, Emer the conflicted (and foretold soon to be “Iron Maid”) handmaid, the debonair and flashy Cobra~, and murder happy Key. Especially Key. 👀

Lots of great tropes were deliberately played upon by the author, interjecting the “fantasy realm” of the book with modern day references: (“you call on your lovers, Jesus and Batman”) - think similar vibes if someone gets transported back to a time in ancient history and has to explain what an iPod is.

If you like bad boy “I’d murder everyone for you” romances, oh my. Prepare to love this.

Having said that the only thing that stopped this being a 5/5 was I felt that the pacing slowed a bit toward the middle, and then felt really rushed at the end? Also be prepared to write down names - there’s a lot of information thrown at you and trying to keep track of who is who confused me at times.

Another hit from orbitbooks.

Can't put my finger on why this perfect-on-paper book didn't hit the spot for me, but I think in part it's that my expectations were so astronomically high based on the blurb that nothing was going to live up to it! Which is very much a me problem, but nevertheless it made for a disappointing read.

Brilliantly done! I've never rooted for the villain so hard. The audiobook was also great!

This was a hilarious and yet emotional read for me. I found it hard at first to get through but when the world-building clicked into place I loved every second of it. Our main character's quick and witty personality had me laughing out loud!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I went into this expecting entirely too much and was a bit disappointed. Its still worth a read, but not my cup of tea.

I enjoyed the idea of the book more than the execution. The beginning kicked off with an interesting premise..the FMC is sick in the hospital and suddenly finds herself transported into one of her favorite books. And not just that, she's one of the (alleged) evil characters! It was a refreshing take on morally gray villain and I did enjoy the side characters and the dimensions they brought to this story. But the midway through I struggled with the pacing and wished things could have been sped up a bit more.

Special thanks to Little Brown Group UK and Netgalley for proving me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

i wasn't really expecting to love this much but it does hurt that i really didn't love this much... it was perfectly okay and i've had my fun, but everything felt silly and juvenile while also trying to be serious

Something about this book spoke to me from the beginning, the undercurrent behind all the humor, the banter, Rae’s sass. There was melancholy, there was trauma, there was pain. As much as I laughed and grinned to myself while reading this book, I got emotional just as much because its message is so powerful. It makes you understand that when people don’t care about you, you have to care about AND of yourself. And yes sometimes this can be selfish and paints you as the villain but at the end of the day you have to fight for what you deserve. In Rae’s case: When she ( a 20 year old girl fighting cancer) gets the opportunity to save her life by venturing into her favorite fantasy series and completing a quest, she literally jumps at the chance.
Little did she know, she’ll end up in the villain’s role of the story. So that makes her mission definitely a bit harder and lots of court intrigue and drama to best.
They call her The Beauty Dipped in Blood, Long Live Evil’s most wicked villainess. And I can’t tell you how excited I was reading the POV of a selfish and ruthless FMC for once.

I loved this book so much!! And I can’t wait for the sequel

I went in to this book with absolutely no prior knowledge apart from it being a "villain" story- but it was so much more and my advice would be to do a little research as there are definite triggers. The graphic descriptions of illness at the start of the book are hard to read and I found it quite slow to start. This is such a great concept but times the world building did feel clunky and I struggled a little with the pacing.

The second half of the book really picked up, I enjoyed Rae as the main character I loved the way that they were written and were utterly obnoxious it fitted their character and a complete opposite to other characters that we meet early on- this is definitely a nod to traditional fantasy stereotypes and Sarah Rees Brennan turns that on it's head, and there's romance...

The humour in the book was my type of humour and the story twists and turns and I had no idea where it was going to end up and I found myself hard rooting for villains- I am really excited for the next book.

I absolutely adore isekai manga so this book was a highly anticipated read for me. I enjoyed it a lot. The characters are very interesting but none more so than the main lead. I adored her so much and was totally rooting for her right from the start. The pacing is slow at times and it takes some time to build but I was enjoying myself so that's fine. This was a great book and I'm very excited for the next in the series!

I ended up giving this a 3.5 star rating! It took me some time to get into this book as I was very confused. it’s a good concept having your main character be sent into their favorite fantasy book, but it made it difficult to understand what was happening. none of us readers knew about this world building and so it took some time to understand who was who and what was happening

Thank you for my earc of this book. I liked the premise but found the world building clunky and difficult to get into, I also found the characters having 2 names really annoying.
I DNF

Long Live Evil wasn't quite what I was expecting going in - there was more focus on Rae's illness than anticipated- but I absolutely loved the concept of Rae slipping into the story of Age of Iron and finding herself in the shoes of the villain.

As a reader who can't retain every detail myself, I found it funny how Rae's patchy recall of the storyline complicated her mission in Eyam, and it was also fun to see the ripple effect of her actions as she was trying to overturn her storyline.

Overall, it was a book that entertained me, offering an interesting concept and perspective, and some clear favourite characters. I was firmly on team 'villains' and loved Rae, Key and the Golden Cobra - what can I say, 'evil's just sexier." Pick this one up if you're ready to enter your villain era!