Ingenious, funny, and devastating Long Live Evil is outstanding.

Taking on and twisting every villain trope, every morally grey love interest, every assumption about heroes, romance and heteronormativity, and shattering stupid conventions about damsels in distress, (how much the distress is just massaging male ego to survive?), this portal fantasy is only the first instalment and I cannot wait to see where this goes. Literally thrown into the world of her favourite book after making a deal where if she can retrieve the magic flower of life and death she an return and live instead of dying of the terminal cancer that has destroyed her life, Rae is cast into the body of villainess destined to die at dawn. Surrounding herself with the story’s villains, and picking up more unexpected allies along the way, Rae finds herself shattering the narrative she thought she knew and Rees Brennan springs some marvellous twists on the Viperess and her brood and us, the unsuspecting readers.

Chock full of silly fantasy names, brilliantly knowing winks, and some genuinely delightful disaster bits, Long Live has great world building, and manages the balance of satire, comedy and a genuinely gripping story perfectly.

Watching the angry and apathetic Rae genuinely come to care for the fictional characters she now lives with beyond her idolisation of her favourite character is so engaging and it only took me so long to read because I was reading it at work on my iPad in my breaks xD

I can’t wait for the next book, my grateful thanks to @orbitbooks_uk for the eARC on @netgalley - it has not affected my opinion.

I really, really wanted to like this book. The premise of it sounded like a lot of fun, who wouldn't want to jump into their favourite book?

There were far too many names thrown around at once with zero context as to who they were and there were too many nicknames for characters that we were unfamiliar with

The main character contradicts herself saying she doesn't remember half the book then once she's in the universe, she remembers practically everything

Unfortunately I had to dnf this book

This book was absolutely ridiculous and campy. It really takes all the Y/N fanfic tropes and turns them on their heads.
I fell in love with these characters and am already really looking forward to book 2. I will say that this was a bit too long and there were a lot of scenes in the middle that were not really needed and just dragged on a bit. Also it was a little bit too over the top quirky for me at times, but overall I was very entertained. I would read it again for the musical scene alone.

When I read that Sarah Rees Brennan had written an adult fantasy book, I was pretty excited because I enjoyed her Lyburn Legacy a lot, and I expected an entertaining read.
I’m very happy I got approved for an eARC, so thank you Orbit and NetGalley! All opinions are my own.
My review is also going to be published on goodreads one week before the book’s release date.
~*~
The premise of Long Live Evil sounded interesting – how can it not when you’re suddenly a character in your favourite fantasy series? – although I admittedly didn’t care that much for the villains. Oh, how the tables have turned!
The beginning was a bit hard to get into because sometimes the characters, especially the FMC, were quite silly, and things were a bit chaotic. It also didn’t help that many characters had additional names to remember them by.
The conversations once Rae was in the fictional world were a bit over the top, but similar to what I knew from having met Sarah at book events and her other books. This was one of the reasons why I ‘powered’ through, and it indeed got much better! The other was a friend of mine who’d already read and loved Long Live Evil. The second half of the book was really strong, and you could definitely see the characters’ growth, especially Rae’s.
Talking about the characters: there were a lot of them, and we had more than one POV, which I didn’t mind at all. It was actually rather cool to find out the thoughts of the characters that were only fictional to Rae. My favourites were the Golden Cobra and Key. Key was a really mysterious character – for a very good reason – and the Cobra was downright cool. I would love to be friends with him because he was such a fun guy! He also did have a softer and tragic side and I was close to tearing up when we found out his backstory.
The Last Hope was a surprise because I didn’t expect to end up liking up, but I did and I’m now hoping for a bromance between the Cobra and the Last Hope.
The female characters (Rae, Lia, Emer) were all likeable and I enjoyed the story arcs they all went through.
There was a mild yet pretty great romance between Rae and other character. Alas, I cannot say more because it would be a huge spoiler. I was certainly a fan of Rae’s love interest and what they did for her.
I’m hoping for more romance and steamier scenes in the second book, although there already was one line in Long Live Evil that made me fan myself and squeal about it to SRB herself.
Another thing I was a fan of were the LGBTQ* characters. I loved that being queer seemed rather normal in this world!
The pop culture references were fun, especially the Taylor Swift one. Although this one was already a bit older, I thought it aged well and wouldn’t date the book.
The backstory about the fantasy world was really interesting and I hope we are going to find out more about the actual book series Rae and her little sister were such fans of. Right now even the author is completely unknown!
Slight spoiler: The book did end on a plot twist and a cliffhanger. Both were deliciously evil, although there were certainly hints if you were paying close attention whilst reading.
Overall, I thought there was a good balance between light-hearted and serious moments. What obviously grounded the book was Rae’s cancer. To read what this young woman had been going/suffering through for so long was hard to read because I know that Sarah had had cancer herself. I remember her Instagram posts during chemo and was so relieved when she kicked cancer’s behind. Long Live Evil is her first book after her illness and all that’s left for me to say is: Welcome back, Sarah! I’m already looking forward to the sequel (and I have so many questions)!

CW: Animal death.

Rae is dying, so when she is given the opportunity to live inside her favourite fantasy book, she readily agrees. But she's not the hero of this story - she's a villain.

I had such high hopes for this book, but was disappointed by it. The plot was difficult to follow and the twist at the end completely baffled me. I think the vibe was supposed to be tongue in cheek, but I didn't find it funny and instead spent chunks of the book cringing. Maybe I'm just not the right audience, but I was very disappointed.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I am so disappointed that I am DNFing it, the plot itself is so confusing that I'm just so lost I cannot even start to love the characters I thought I would

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book for an honest opinion.

This book was stunning!

From the twists and turns you get from chapter one onwards it keeps you gripped.

I genuinely laughed so hard are some of the banter between characters!

I would say did you like ready player one? Alice in wonderland? Never ending story
Well this is the chance to get a whole new evil spin on the genre!

You’ll enjoy Key and Rae’s tension!

Why not be the villain they do have a lot of fun!

📚 review 📚

this book was pure chaos - seriously there is a riverdale esque musical number in the middle, its like that one episode of angel where they are all puppets with no explanation at all. it’s a meme in book form. does that make it bad? no. does it make it good? again, no. but it does make it hugely entertaining.

long live evil is super fun and hugely meta, it doesn’t take itself seriously at all and pokes fun at all those fantasy tropes that we know so well.

here’s the basics: rae is dying and one of the only things keeping her sane is her sister reading her their favourite game of thrones esque epic fantasy series. unlike her sister, rae loves the baddies, so when a mysterious woman turns up in her hospital room offering her a way to live, rae is about as surprised as we are to find herself waking up in that fantasy story and as one of the villains no less. from there on rae is fully embracing the villainy, creating her own little band of evil minions and trying to get the one thing that will keep her alive in the real world as well as this fantasy one.

long live evil isn’t going to be winning any literary awards, it’s campy, it’s meta but it is a riot. while some parts are a bit cringe, it is on the whole funny - rae’s excitement at being in the story, her amazement at having a body that works and her pure joy at getting to do the evil are funny. but this book isn’t just playing for laughs, at times, it is poignant - mixing laughing at the tropes we love so much and being a campy villain with very real, raw depictions of chronic pain and cancer treatments, something the author knows all too well.

tldr, long live evil is chaotic and not like anything else you’ve come across this year. if you’re into fantasy or fun, give this one a try.

thank you @netgalley for the early copy, long live evil is out in july.
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#bookworm #bookblogging #bookblogger #fiction #readerlife #readersofinstagram #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #bookstagram #reading #bookstagrammer #booklover #booksbooksbooks #bookreview

As soon as I read the blurb, I knew I had to get my hands on this book. I loved isekai tropes where the main character wakes up in the body of a story's villain.

In our world, Rae is dying from cancer. The only consolation she has are the stories from the books that Rae and her sister have been reading since they were young. However, Rae gets the chance to survive if she can pluck a flower from her favourite story. Easy peasy, right? Wrong. She wakes up in the body of the villainess who's supposed to die the very next die. With her wit and knowledge of the future storyline, Rae passes herself a prophet and gains a few comrades, who of course won't hesitate to betray her, to form the evil club.

However, Rae can't remember all the events from the book, and her interference changes the storyline. Now Rae needs to survive in the book as well and find the true emperor, while getting the people who are more likely to kill her one her side.

I loved everything in this book—from the storyline to the characters. Rae is witty and mean. She has lost hope in life and in people, after being betrayed. So now she proudly claims her evil side, which tends to attract quite a few quirky characters, who happen to be as evil as she is. Long live evil!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for a digital ARC of this book.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

*insert a lot of screaming here*
The way this book got me?! The way these characters started off as empty stereo types and then so very quickly became so real?!

I love a book within a book and that’s what this is. Tl;dr, a girl is dying and gets the chance to go into a fantasy book world to maybe save her own life in the real world. So she meets all these book characters she barely remembers (because she didn’t really read the first book, only the sequels) - and they’re not real people, so she goes full villain to get what she wants.

And it’s funny! There’s a whole villain musical number! But then it’s also heartbreaking?? I won’t spoil, but Key, Marius and Cobra all have my heart.

The ending made me scream - I did see the twist coming, but in the way of: “oh god, I hope this is where it’s going because if this one character doesn’t return I will scream”.

Despite its kind of rough start, this is a 5 star read for me, give me the sequel now, thanks 🙏

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the advanced copy of this book. I was so excited to be able to read it, certainly an anticipated read for me considering how much conversation there has been about it.

And whilst I enjoyed this book, I didn't love it. I felt like it had a huge amount to live up to given its premise and it didn't quite reach those elevated heights. It fell a bit flat.

Rachel Parilla makes a magical bargain at the end of her life, and awakens in the world of her favourite fantasy series. Honestly, this premise had me so excited. The potential here was limitless. Unfortunately, a rather irritating MC that wasn't full fleshed out is what let a large part of this book down. She didn't carry the book well enough, and had slightly off opinions and actions.

The plot and pacing were rather scattered, especially in the beginning. Rachel's arrival in the magical world was rather abrupt, blink and you'll miss it, and it didn't massively improve from there. I think the writing here was also something that let the story down.

There was some decent world building, I enjoyed a few of the secondary characters, but ultimately I just felt this had so much potential and it wasn't really reached. But it was still a fun read.

Rae’s future is looking pretty bleak: hospitalised in cancer with only her younger sister to keep her company with stories from her favourite book series. When a stranger offers her a chance to journey to Eyam, the land of her book, to steal the Flower of Life and Death and either succeed and wake up or fail and die, Rae steps through the door.
Only thing is, she wakes in the body of Lady Rahela, the Beauty Dipped In Blood. The heroine's evil stepsister. And she is due to be executed the next day.

Along with her minions: volatile gutter guard, low-key manically okay with evil, Key; and her perceptive, unfriendly maid Emer; Rae must utilise all sorts of evil conniving to survive.

That's why I like bad guys. Imagine powerless pining in a tower waiting for a hero to rescue you. Then imagine being the only one who can command the monster.

This was so wacky and meta.
There was a lot of info-dumping but the story structure meant this was allowed, providing backstory and history as a plot device.
Expect musical numbers (yes actually written out dancing and singing in ballrooms), lots of modern day references, and a heck of a lot of fun.

That’s not to say this was just a fun time.
The narrative provided an excellent and profound analysis of peoples’s perception and treatment of others based on expectations. Especially surrounding the terminally sick and hopeless situations.
Framing this as a reason to do evil actually made you sympathise.

”Have you never considered art grants us the impossible? Art opens a door into someone else's imagination and lets us walk through. Art is the dreamed-of escape. Art lets the dead speak and the living laugh. Art takes you away from pain when no medicine can save you. Art is the first and last word. Art is the final consolation."

The author’s note at the end actually made me tear up. Brennan recovered from stage four cancer herself, and you can tell the poignant and emotional truths in this book.
Not to mention, her acknowledgments shouted out some of my favourite books ever. Goals.

I thought this was a standalone. Do not be fooled. Nooooo.

If you enjoyed this concept, I would recommend:
- How to become a dark lord or die trying Django Wexler
- Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis
- Kill your darlings arlings by L. E. Harper

Thank you to Orbit for providing an arc in exchange for a review.

Long Live Evil is a masterpiece!! This book is an adult fantasy in which the main character Rachel Parilla is drown into the world of her favourite fantasy book series in order to find a flower for he cure. She is an oncology patient who fight for her life in this wonderfully written book. Once arrive in Eyam, as the evil stepsister of the heroine, Rae is able to encounter some important characters as The Emporor, The Last Hope, The Hero, The Golden Cobra, The damsel in distress and other characters. All of them are vividly written. The plot is original and the themes are related to to meaning of Villainesses and Heroes. Everything is perfectly planned in this book, the plot, the setting, the characters, everything.
It’s an important book in which you can find also amazing fantasy battles and also queer representation.
I’m waiting for the sequel!!

I was super excited for this but unfortunately it didn't work for me, I am quite gutted.
I found the mc irritating and possibly the most non villain villain of the book. Her treatment and opinions of everyone else were quite gross. She did nothing for me at all so enough about that.
The other characters however I really enjoyed and couldn't wait to get back to the parts where they were! Character arcs, believable and relatable reactions and purposes, all the emotions and their interactions with each other were great. I routed for and stayed for these guys and if they had their own story I'd read it in a heartbeat.
I was excited for the premise of this but if it was just the secondary fictional story with its characters I'd of had a lot more fun.
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group and Netgalley for an arc, all thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favourite fantasy series as one of the villains.

I absolutely love the concept of the book but the execution was more meh. I had to force myself through the first 100 pages and only really enjoyed the last 100 pages.
Rae not really having read the first book was only really there for the final twist which I found to be a bit stupid on Raes side for not remembering the true identity of her favourite character, like you‘re telling me that never came up?
There was also an extreme overuse of modern words. I get it she uses these words in her world and normally talks like this, but if you‘re getting transported into another world you should try to adapt.

2,75–3⭐️

This book was written to specifically infuriate me.

What can I say? Me, a big sucker for SVSSS, finding a book about isekai-ed dying girl into the fantasy world, only to find put she is a villain? How could I say no?

And then the alerts started to arise.

Firstly, the beginning. I don't think I've ever read so messy introduction and exposition of world-building. Bad, sure, those I know, but so chaotic, to the point where it was a logical puzzle to try and grasp the surroundings – I must confess, it was the first. It stopped me from lecture for a long time. The resolution for that would be very simple – just state the plot of the original book as a first thing, and later on build on top of that. Because to this moment I am not sure what was the "canonical" event, and what was a twist. And that worsens the isekai experience.

Secondly – the characters. Be as campy as you want, there is no easier way to create surprise than use a stereotype for a twist. But gods, do create them. Besides Rae and Eric (later on Lia and Marius are added to this list) there is no character anyhow developed. There are changes, but those are said changes: They were like that before. Now, they're like this. For me, who knows those characters from only few chapters yet, this means nothing.

The plot was... interesting. The idea – great; some resolutions – really great, they surprised me and actually invested me. But what good it brings, I ask gods, if there is so much unnecessary camp thrown at me. I may survive lot, but oh, the popcultural references were like bullets to my heart. Density so tight I might cry if I see another TS quote. I know Rae is supposed to be this out of place one, that doesn't really care about the world, but pays close attention to why she's in it, yet is it that hard to make main character at least a little more into the story she's in?

But do you know why I feel bad criticising both the book and the main character? It's because Rae has cancer. And a lot of introduction, later on also her thoughts, is influenced by that.

It sounds a bit ridiculous when you try to portray her backstory – she has a cancer, and during this illness her father leaves, her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, and this said BFF fat shames her all the time. How much more could she suffer?
The worst part is I am not so sure how unreal this backstory is, because it was devastating for me to learn the author is a cancer survivor herself. Because after reading acknowledgements I started understanding so much more of this title than without such knowledge.

"Long Live Evil" is not a serious, poignant story. It is a convalescence, a fun little adventure that takes no borders, but brings everything that's light and warm. It goes into much darker corners the more you read, leaves you in a quarrel, yet still shines some laugh from beside the clouds.

I may have not liked it as I expected, I may have even suffered through some parts (cringe culture is dead but I have daily limits), but I also changed my opinion a lot through the lecture. At the beginning I was unsure whether I wanted to rate it, and now? After so long? I think I might even pick up Polish translation when it's released.

I was lucky enough to be sent a physical arc of this one as well as some cute pr merch.
Firstly I love the cover and it definitely draws your eye.
This book was an enjoyable and funny read with plenty of funny references, especially when some of the characters had no idea what our mc was talking about!!
The world building was fantastic and I loved all the descriptions.
This is a fantastic adult fantasy book where the main character Rae decides that being the Villain is the way to get what she needs which is a flower that will cure her and allow her to return to perfect health but in the real world. I loved how Rae embraces being Evil and that she soon starts to enjoy it but it doesn’t take long before she realises it doesn’t always run smoothly for her.
I loved discovering that there were other characters who had similar tragic stories to Rae in the book, I especially loved Cobra and felt that he really propped Rae up at points in the book.
I loved all the twists and turns that the book threw at us toward the end and some I didn’t see coming. This book had so many emotional parts too.
Overall a really great and funny read for me.
I would love to read more about other characters and how and why they ended up there too!

Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Long Live Evil
A story for anyone who's ever fallen for the villain... (Time of Iron, Book 1)
by Sarah Rees Brennan

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance, Sci Fi & Fantasy

I loved the idea of this. I'm one of those who adore the “bad” characters.....they have much more fun. Sadly its didn't live up to the hype for me – that's fine, others love it. Once more it shows why we need such a diverse range of stories, something for everyone.
I liked the premise, having been in Rae's place I could empathise with her. The Big C doesn't turn us into saints, we have selfish moments, nasty thoughts just like anyone else. I found it difficult though when Rae is in a world she and her sister love, but at the first book stage – the book she barely read.
I felt so many scenes were well set up and I knew what was coming, but still there were what seemed like endless explanations of how and why, and what did it mean for the book. Some characters and scenes were so stereotyped, I get its a bit tongue in cheek but I don't need to be spoon-fed every detail.
Given she knows little of book one Rae does incredibly well to stay alive, with danger at every turn, every decision she makes.
I did love the funny quirks, the snappy one liners and side humour. There were some interesting characters, but they seemed hampered by the plot.
It was an interesting premise, I was hoping it would be more like J M Frey's accidental Turn series. I loved that, similar premise in that the FMC ends up caught in a book, and has to fight her way back, but executed in a very different way.

Stars: Three, not a bad book but not one that held my interest, and I won't continue with the series.

ARC supplied by netgalley and publishers

Really enjoyed this one.
I loved the idea of a book when the main character can get to be bad.
A very exciting read, and very well written.
Can't wait for more!

I spent the first 30% of this book side-eyeing the pop culture references and struggling to remember who the characters were. And I spent the latter 70% completely feral, squeezing in chapters between work tasks because I wasn’t willing to spend more than a few hours not reading.

First 30% thoughts:

Maybe I just don’t read enough high fantasy, but that initial hill really WAS tough. Not only do you have to keep up with a brand new world, a vague magic system and the cast of characters, but most characters also have a Dramatic Literary Epithet they’re known by. Plus you’re juggling the present time with future events that Rae references. It’s a lot.

I also understand that Rae’s manner of speaking was showing that she was not part of the world! A modern gal in a medieval environment! But maaan it got old quite quick. I found it SO tiring that she didn't make any attempts to adapt her Modern Young Person speech. She’s supposed to be fairly familiar with the world, you know? She knows how she needs to talk to fit in.

Finally, I did struggle to understand Rae’s character. At first I thought she was supposed to be a standard narrator: a sarcastic bookworm, a villain fangirl, our beloved author/reader stand-in. But then further in it seemed like she was actually supposed to be a former bitchy popular cheerleader girl? But then also maybe not? I'm still kind of unclear, and I wish the author HAD leaned into the bitchy cheerleader characterisation; it would have provided a slightly better motivation for the whole villainy thing, which never really made a whole lot of sense beyond “sometimes villains are hot!” which, I mean, okay, valid.

BUT THEN

Okay I forgot literally everything I didn’t love about this book at around the 50% mark. Emer never really got as much attention as I’d’ve liked and I kind of wish Lia had a bit more going on too (though I allow that this is only book 1 in the series!), but I found every other character super compelling. The relationship between Key and Rae was soooo chewy and I could have gnawed on it for another 100 pages at least. The Cobra had a delicious development, Marius’s internal conflict was really nicely done and Octavian’s royal brattiness was so fun to see. The supporting characters were also given enough detail to be memorable and their stories felt real and satisfying to see play out. The original “plot” vs how Rae’s presence affected things was also done really nicely.

The final 15% of the book was a masterpiece. I suspected a twist was coming bc I know how SRB operates (affectionate) but even so it was gooood food. I’m lowkey regretting getting an ARC because now I have to wait even longer for the next instalment AND I can’t immediately join some kind of fan club for the series. I’ve already stared at the few bits of fanart on the author’s instagram for several hours and it is simply not enough.

V minor gripes aside, I did love the book and I’m super excited to see where the story goes. I’m SO happy to see something new out from the author and I’m rooting for her so so hard as she settles back into the writing world again. As a first book back from a very rough break, it’s a complete triumph. Welcome back, SRB. I’ve missed you so much ❤️