Long Live Evil is a sharp, clever twist on the villain origin story - equal parts wickedly funny and emotionally resonant. Sarah Rees Brennan brings her signature wit and heart, delivering a cast of chaotic, lovable antiheroes you can’t help but root for. The pacing dips slightly in the second act with some repetitive introspection, but the explosive finale more than makes up for it. Perfect for fans of morally grey characters and fairy tales turned upside down.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way this book poked fun at the tropes in fantasy novels and the way it broke the fourth-wall though with the set up I found it more confusing as time went on. I also really liked the way who we thought were side characters in the beginning got more space as the book went on as well.

It was an interesting read but I mostly thought that the sometimes overly complicated plot lines could’ve done with some streamlining which may have helped the pace which felt a bit slow to me. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes in the next book and to see how the changes in the book impacts the “real world” of the story.

A portal fantasy where a dying girl gets a second chance by stepping into her favorite book? Yes, that concept absolutely caught my attention. Add in villainous flair, meta humor, and genre tropes turned upside down… I thought this would be right up my alley.

And there are definitely some cool ideas here. The tone is playful, self-aware, and there’s fun to be had if you enjoy characters winking at the camera. But for me, the execution didn’t quite come together. The world felt a little chaotic and hard to follow at times, and I struggled to connect with the characters, especially the main one.

There’s ambition and creativity in the concept, no doubt. But I needed a bit more structure, more emotional grounding, and a world that felt fully fleshed out, not just hinted at. I felt like reading a self-insert fanfic from a fandom I know nothing about.

This was a DNF for me sadly, as I couldn't get into the writing style, Rae didn't feel like a real person, and the combination of a royal court setting and Rae being cured in-world/ being promised a cure in the real world meant it was obviously not for me.

The premise to this book is intriguing but the ride is crazy in the best way! It kept me laughing and had me hooked from the first chapter! Why didn’t I pick this up before! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book

Thankyou Netgalley and the publisher for this eArc!

Ohhhhh this could be my book of the year so far and I'm MAD I didn't pick this up sooner!

This book is filled with laughs from the start as Rae is transported into her favourite fantasy novel, Time of Iron. To be honest, absolute MADNESS follows her landing in this world as she tries to change her fate while navigating the ever changing story.

I really liked the writing in this and thought it had the right amount of 'real world' injected into the fantasy lands. I was laughing out loud from the get go as it was just silly in the best way. #batmanmentioned. It also absolutely broke my heart in parts which I wasn't expecting!

I am so excited for book #2, I do not want to wait please can I read it now :'(

Long Live Evil is, for the most part, a thoroughly entertaining read with a concept that really drew me in. The idea of someone escaping into a fantasy world, especially when facing a serious illness, feels both poignant and relatable. I think most fantasy readers have, at some point, dreamed of stepping into another world, so that premise instantly resonated.

What really stood out to me was the sharp comedic tone. I don’t usually read fantasy that leans heavily into humour, so this was a refreshing change of pace. The book works well as a parody of the romantasy genre, poking fun at familiar tropes while still delivering a heartfelt story. I think this is done with love for the genre rather than distaste so I thought it was done well. That said, if you’re a die hard romantasy fan who prefers the genre taken seriously, this might not be your cup of tea.

Character-wise, I did really like Rae. She truly seizes her second chance at life, and while her actions can be frustrating at times (she is supposed to be the villain, after all), that moral tension did add a certain level of depth. Personally, I often find myself irritated with protagonists in books like this, so it didn’t hinder my enjoyment.

Overall, Long Live Evil was a fun and engaging read which was witty, a bit irreverent, and a great twist on familiar fantasy tropes. I would say the end of the story wasn't too surprising in terms of where it ended up but I would definitely read the next instalment to see how the story develops.

What a book, a fantasy epic that I hope, continues in more books yet to be written!!

Given the chance to heal herself Rae steps through a door into the book that her little sister reads to her. Armed with some knowledge of how the plot goes, Rae thinks it will be easy to turn things to her advantage and save herself.

Vivid, full of life characters inhabit the pages of this book, and once the story gets going you are swept along for the ride, wondering if Rae will reach the end and fulfil her mission to save herself.

Very glad to have had the chance to read this!!

Thankyou to the publisher and Net Galley for this ARC.

I think this is a book that some people will love and others will not, unfortunately, I fall in the latter category.

It's definitely original and comedic but I don't think the writing style was for me. The FMC read a little like a teenager for me also, despite being marketed as an adult book.

I can, however, see why people like this so much. This is by no means a 'bad' book, it just didn't hit the mark for me this time around, maybe I will circle back to it at a later date.

Long Live Evil

Rating: 3.75

A fun and action filled tale where being the villain is much more fun.

I read this book after a couple of heavy novels, so this felt like a joyful palate cleanser.

Is the plot perfect and free from holes?
No.

Did it make me giggle and have a few genuine twists?
Absolutely.

Will I be reading the sequel?
Heck yeah!

I just don’t think this book was for me.

We follow our fmc who has cancer and is offered the chance to go into one of the books her and her sister reads to retrieve a flower of life and death in order to save herself from dying in the real world.

The story did intrigue me a bit at first, but unfortunately I don’t think the execution was there in order to keep my attention. I just struggled to want to keep reading, however this just could be because it wasn’t for me rather than the book was bad.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A superbly crafted fantasy adventure full of more thrills, wit, charm, intrigue and adventure than you've ever seen - but in the best way possible.

DNF at 20%/ chapter 8.
Unfortunately this just wasn't for me. The fourth wall thing made the story feel like a parody and like we as the reader were being talked to like idiots.
I kept hoping it would get better as the few people I'd seen talk about this seemed to love it but unfortunately it felt like a slog to get through and was just making me not want to read at all.
Although categorised as an adult book the main female character felt very teenagery to me which also put me off reading this - this could relate back to me feeling like the reader is being spoken to like they are stupid.
Overall disappointing as I was looking forward to this.

Thank you to Netgalley.com for providing me with an ARC of this title.

Rae is a young woman dying of cancer. One night a mysterious woman appears at her bedside to tell her that she will sadly die but she can change her fate if she is willing to enter the world of her favourite fantasy series! The premise of this book was brilliant! She has to enter the world and retrieve the flower of life & death which will give her a second chance at life in the real world.

What happens when you enter your favourite book as the villain?! Rae enters the world as Lady Rahela on the ever of her execution! She is a sexy villainess free of disease and pain.

The story was bonkers! A campy parody of the fantasy genre and its tropes! Some of it landed for me but sadly some of it just fell flat. Rae was fun to start with but by the end, she became a bit irritating. The book was quite choppy and the characters had too many names! I struggled to get into the book initially because I couldn't work out who was who!

I enjoyed the romance between Rae and Key & I liked the ending. I sit in the middle with my rating.

I absolutely adored this wicked take on the villains' tale! Long Live Evil managed the incredible feat of giving me an FMC I both rooted for and screamed at. Everything from the world building to the stakes to the angst was perfectly balanced and utterly engrossing. Also that cliffhanger left me dying for book 2!

I hated it. 4 stars.

I don't like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and yet I go every year type of thing.

Camp, meta, pastiche. You know where everything is going, it's cringe, but you can't help yourself but enjoy the journey. The language and humour is outdated, definitely gives me flashbacks to my HS vis-a-vis humour and OC A03 writing style, and yet... A complete mess, with writing that really made it a struggle for me, seriously the amount of similes and metaphors made we want to go jump off a very tall cliff, and yet... I can't wait for the next one to see how she gets out of it, and I laughed as much as I cringed. Everyone is a villain in some else's story, and you can't help but root for them all. Except the king, he can get f'd.

It's not about being surprised, the ending is spelled out from the very start, and anyone experienced with the genre can see where it's going. So you sit there yelling at imaginary characters asking them why they can't see the inevitable, making you no different than Rae and Eric.

Thank-you NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group | Orbit for allowing me to read this. All opinions are my own.

I was really hoping to love this one as I’m a huge fan of the Dark Lord Davi series and wanted more isekai-style stories. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish the book as honestly the language and writing style wasn’t working for me. It all felt very much like a self-insert fanfiction I might’ve read when I was younger that hasn’t aged well. The world building just wasn’t consistent or fleshed out, which I understand has the excuse of the MC not reading the books, but it just felt lazy. The over-use of slang and pop culture references made me cringe a little bit and, for her age, the characterisation of the MC just felt unrealistic and the snark a bit over the top. It may just not be my kind of humour though so may work for others.

Long Live Evil is the first book in Sarah Rees Brennan’s new series ‘Time of Iron’. This is a book for the people who secretly love to see a villain at work. If you watched the Merlin TV show and thought that Morgana was the best character, or secretly loved characters like Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender, you will love Rae. At first, she is simply a girl who loves fantasy books. But after a magical bargain, she enters her favourite series. She knows that villains never have a happy ending but when she becomes a villainess she decides to try and change the fate of every bad guy in the kingdom.

Whilst this book wasn’t perfect it was campy and fun in an extremely satisfying way. If you are looking for a masterfully plotted fantasy book with intense world-building, this is not for you. But… if you like the idea of reading about a book lover taking control of her life and of the story she has fallen into, you have to pick this up. The cast of characters are all compelling in their own ways, but Rae (or Lady Rahela) shines the most. She is dying when we first meet her but when she is given a second chance, she uses it. Rae is smart, motivated and determined to change the story.

If you enjoyed books like Assistant to the Villain and How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, you will love this!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This is definitely one of those books that people will either love or hate - unfortunately for me, this was a DNF at 25%.

The story follows the tale of a terminally ill girl (Rae) who wakes up one day as a character in a popular fantasy book series. It is very camp, very meta, and almost a bit slapstick in parts. If this is your type of humour, you'll probably love it, but personally I just found it too cringe to continue with.

Such a great premise but unfortunately the writing style just wasn't for me.

This was a surprisingly fun read. I went in blind, drawn only by the cover, the title, and the online buzz, and came out completely happy I picked it up. At its core, the book is an ode to the fantasy genre, built around the premise of a girl from our world who falls into the pages of her favorite fantasy series. It’s a meta love letter to all things fantasy: the tropes, the archetypes, and, interestingly, the villains.

The story plays with genre conventions in clever ways, giving familiar roles new depth and presenting the villain not just as a foe, but as someone you genuinely root for. It’s about girl power, resilience, and the strength that comes from chosen friendships and alliances. Plus, the dialogue is sharp and witty.

Some plot twists are predictable, but they feel intentional and fitting for the kind of story this is. It’s not a fast-paced book, the beginning requires a bit of patience, but once it gets going it delivers. This is one of those books best enjoyed when you’re in the mood for something both comforting and self-aware, especially if you love fantasy with a twist. It’s a rewarding read that honors its genre while doing its own thing.