"Long Live Evil" is my first novel by Sarah Rees Brennan, and it's easily one of my favorite reads this year. By playing with classic fantasy tropes and subverting genre conventions, Brennan crafts a refreshing fantasy debut that explores what it would be like to be set loose in your favorite fantasy series. The book is packed with adventure while offering a nuanced take on narrative and character archetypes. With villains causing chaos and heroes pushing the limits of their morality, "Long Live Evil" is far from a typical fantasy novel. It's campy, meta, and an absolute blast, making for an unforgettable reading experience.

Thank you, NetGalley, Hachette UK, and Orbit for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Writing an isekai is hard - there's no doubt about it. Writing one filled with modern slang and Gen-Z references by an author who is not part of said generation but still tried to seem like it - while still keeping the readers immersed in said world - felt like an impossible task entirely for this book. Up until 70% of the book I simply could not bring myself to care about any of the characters or the plot, mostly because our main lead, Rae, didn't give a damn about those elements either.

Had the story followed the Cobra instead, who had been a more appreciative fan of the source material, built his own identity there from nothing, and fought tooth and nail to become an active player in the story - I probably would've appreciated Brennan's work more. Instead, I was left constantly having to stop and groan in frustration at every other page, having Rae refer to the characters as 'her minions' and constantly enforcing her own identity as a 'villain' for no apparent reason in a really tasteless fashion.

Some such highlights were:

"Rae was so glad she was a villain. Innocent maidens were useless and Rae's evil minion was making her proud."
"I won't hear Marius slandered! He's my little cupcake who never does anything wrong."
"Your poor little meow-meow is built like a brick murder house, he'll be fine."

All the above might seem fun at first glance, but they had grown overbearing way too quickly, considering the overall setting of the story. Rae never seemed to care about blending in - and this ruined my enthusiasm for the book very quickly.

I am not one to DNF books. Ever. But I was seriously considering it. And I kept questioning the wonderful reviews I kept seeing, especially because Leigh Bardugo's been praising this story for more than a year during her own tour.

However, once I reached the 70% mark of the story my experience improved immensely. Perhaps because Rae finally seemed to have some stakes. By that point, I knew I was intrigued by Key as a character, finding his unapologetic violence incredibly refreshing, and I did care about one specific character dynamic of the story, between Marius and the Cobra.

From experiencing one of the worst slumps in recent history I went into full investment in the story. I gasped when we lost a character, staring into oblivion for a full minute, and pulled the whole 'screaming, crying, throwing up' routine whenever Marius and Cobra shared the spotlight towards the end of the book. I ended up caring so much for them. Their bond feels so precious to me now, and it's for sure the main reason why I am SO GLAD that I didn't give up on the book. It would've been a tragedy to lose that.

"What are you planning to do?" Marius hesitated. "Care for you."

The reveal from the last chapter made me lose my mind as well. Bless the author for coming out with that incredible twist. It's been SO WELL executed.

Overall, I believe this specific book suffers from a very clear case of 'first book syndrome'. It's incredibly frustrating that it took so long for the main character to care about her own story, thus finally making us care as well, but with that unexpected ending and the affection I now feel for Marius and Eric, I admit that I a intrigued enough to want to know more.

I was really disappointed by this book and I'd had such high expectations. I first heard about it at the Little Brown Big Book Bash and thought the premise sounded absolutely amazing. Who doesn't want to escape into their favourite fantasy book series? And as a sexy villain?

The execution however, was not at all what I'd hoped for. The book just bored me. I'd rather read the actual book that Rae goes into, 'Time of Iron'. I liked the quotes at the start of each chapter and I was actually interested in the original Time of Iron plot line.

The start of the book was beautiful. It was very emotive and I was sucked in by the cancer story and her originally becoming the Beauty Dipped in Blood, or whatever the name was. I thought it was so great the way Rae is transformed and the happiness she feels to be in a normal healthy body again.

The way she starts doing prophecies to explain why she knows what events are going to happen was entertaining and it felt like such a plot twist to find out that other characters such as The Cobra were originally just like her.

However, everything from that point on just lost me entirely. I couldn't even begin to describe what the plot was, besides the main objective to steal the flower. I was confused by all the characters and who they were meant to be, or what they were doing, who serves who, even who was meant to be good and who was meant to be evil. There was practically no world building at all, it was very character driven.

I found there were a lot of moments that were so cringe-worthy that I wanted to stop reading. So many references to modern real world things in the fantasy world that were meant to be funny but actually came across as so jarring.

I was very confused by the ending, mostly because I had completely lost track of what was going on at this point. I believe Rae chooses the book life over her real life? Not really sure why when she literally hears her sister wanting her back and for some reason she chooses the characters that she's been busy treating like absolute shit just because They're Not Real and I'm A Villain. Honestly it's hard to like a character when they treat good people like Key like they're nothing and she lets him suffer so much. Also thought he was crippled, and died at least twice but think he was still alive at the end? Or some type of animated corpse? Once again, could not tell you because everything was so messy and unclear.

Not sure who it was that she turns evil and rules (?) with at the end or why that would even happen. There's no apparent motivation to me.

If this book was rewritten with exactly the same beginning but a different book that she goes into, I would probably enjoy reading it, even with Rae as a villain again so long as everything that happened was explained; characterisation was clear; an actual followable plot line was established.

I thought maybe this was the author's debut novel and maybe they were quite young and inexperienced so imagine my surprise after a quick google search. I would expect more.

Overall, Premise: 10/10. Execution: 2/10.

edit: I forgot (probably because of the trauma) that there's a musical number halfway through the book which is making me drop to 1 star now because I can't forgive that. Riverdale vibes.

Bless my dark heart, but this book ticked all my boxes! It is about time you got to play dirty when you are dealt a crap hand!

Rae is twenty years old and has not got long left to live. With stage 4 cancer, she has lived hardly at all. But there is a series of books she enjoys, and she shares that with her younger sister. It is a fantasy series, with heroes, heroines and evil-doers. When a mysterious lady appears beside her bedside and offers her a chance of a new life, Rae agrees because it will turn out to be bull if she goes into the books and retrieves a flower. Except it isn't. Rae wakes in the body of the wicked Step-Sister, the day before she is due to die. Well damn. Navigating the story and using her forward knowledge, Rae makes her little evil cabal and tries to live long enough to get back home, and to the healthy body she has been promised. But can she?

This was wonderful. Playing the part of evil is one thing, but when you are not evil at heart and only playing, can you separate yourself from the story? A must-read.

5/5

Long Live Evil is my first Sarah Rees Brennan novel and legitimately one of my favorite books of this year. Playing off of classic fantasy tropes, but subverting genre traditions, Sarah Rees Brennan delivers a fresh fantasy debut that asks the question: what would you do if set loose in your favorite fantasy series? Long Live Evil packs in the adventure but takes a nuanced approach to narrative and character archetypes. With villains running amok and heroes testing the boundaries of their morality, Long Live Evil isn't your standard fantasy novel. It’s a campy, meta, absolute ball of a time and a reading experience I will not forget soon.

A more extensive review will be featured on my blog in several weeks!

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!

3.5 stars

This was kind of a let down? I was pretty excited for it, but I really struggled to get through the first two thirds. Even though I predicted the ending, I enjoyed the last part of the book much more than what came before. It left me wanting to read the next book, but Long Live Evil will definitely not be for everyone.

The first thing that will probably put many people off is the humour. It's very millenial, full of pop culture references and modern style dialogue (which makes sense within the story, but still feels jarring a lot of the time). It will either work for you or it won't, and you will probably be able to tell which after just one or two chapters. I strongly recommend trying a sample of this before buying.

The premise of this is great, and what initially drew me to the book. But the narrative is so drowned in exposition, especially in the beginning, that I found it extremely difficult to get through just the first chapter, and it did not really let up until the last third of the book. Brennan feels the need to insert long explanations of her character's motivations and feelings between almost every action or line of dialogue. Not only does this remove a lot of opportunity for interpration or interesting ambiguity, but it makes every scene last twice as long as it needs to.

There's also a lot of preachy commentary on the politics of the typically medieval fantasy setting, and it gets old fast. I agree that it's a double standard that women can't have unmarried sex without being villainised, and men can. I agreed the first time it was mentioned, and also the fifty fourth. Please can we get back to the story.

Due to the problems I just described, the actual plot is spread pretty thinly for most of the book, but it picks up eventually. I mentioned that I predicted (one part of) the ending, but it was still fun seeing it happen. The characters managed to endear me by the end, even Marius.

I recommend this for people who really like isekai stories and/or Shrek. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is such an original book! Our main character, Rae, is sick and is given a chance to save her life by entering the world of her and her sister’s favourite fantasy book as the “Beauty dripped in blood”, Lady Rhaela. There she stars doubting her own values, her consideration of the characters and her own strength and bravery. The writing is witty, ironic and slightly chaotic at times. I loved the switching between different registers: modern for Rae (and someone else😜) and high/epic fantasy-coded register for the other characters. The focus on Rae’s journey with cancer was absolutely heartbreaking and obviously got me teary-eyed, i really liked how honest and real it was as it brought attention to some aspect of cancer that aren’t often discussed (or at least that i’d never heard about😅).
There is a wide cast of characters and besides Rae and Key, i also very much appreciated the dynamic between Marius and the Cobra and I’m curious to find out more about them and Lia and Emer.🥰

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free earc. All opinions are my own!

Oh my GOD, I never expected to love this as much as I did. I think upon a reread this could become a 5 star read - the main reason it’s at a 4 is because I think I took it too seriously from the get go, not realising I was supposed to be having fun in a campy isekai. I will truly be waiting with bated breath for the next book in this series. First, I’m gonna need to find the best place to preorder a copy.

To start, the characters were a joy. I am, as with all morally corrupt characters I meet, am obsessed with Key. I found Rae a little jarring at the start but she grew on me so easily and I loved her by the end. The Cobra was such an exciting addition regarding the world building and he made the world feel more believable (for want of a better word).

I really appreciated that when we say evil in this book, we do mean it. I feel sometimes books claiming to be villain centric cheap out and end up making them actually good people, but not here. These characters are morally grey at best who occasionally do decent things for mostly their own benefit and it is SO refreshing to see!

The touches of romance were so thrilling and really kept the pace of the story going. In that regard, I did find the pacing a little awkward, but it was nothing that ruined the experience.

The prose also felt somewhat disjointed at times - I’d find myself having to reread parts every now and then to kind of gather back up where we were.

Oh and THAT LAST CHAPTER? I can’t believe I have to actually wait to find out what happens now. THAT character was my favourite throughout the whole book and good GOD I am so excited to see where we go with this.

Overall this is an EASY recommendation to all fantasy readers who want a fun time, high stakes and interesting characters.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this early. I am so grateful.

I really wanted to like this, i really did and at first the title and the synopsis drew me in and i was enjoying it, but then i kinda just got lost at what was happening. Hopefully i may pick it up again in the near future.

Devishly unique stories within stories within stories ad infinitum.

This review is going to be about as unhinged as reading this book has made me. My neck hurts from the emotional whiplash this book enduce with every page turn.

In the dark hour of her existence, our main character Rae is thrust into Eyam, the realm of a beloved fantasy novel. Plot twist though, she's not the heroine of this world, she's wearing the skin of its most hated villain. And we the reader, get to be dragged BODILY on the back of the story horse, subjected to the laugher, whimsy, pulse racing action and heart breaking plot twists of our villainess' journey.

The cast of characters are both predictable and unpredictable; the tale is full of tropes to be picked up and dashed against the wall because NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS ANYMORE. You will not know what's happening half the time - you will like this. Then you will know exactly what is happening. And you will sit there and happily watch the horror of the absolute dumpster fire consuming itself whilst you cry uncontrollably into your cheesey puffs at 1am because you couldn't bring yourself to PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

You will not put this book down. You will compulsively read it until you are broken and satisfied with your life choices to pick it up in the first place. (PICK IT UP.)

You're welcome, come back and see me after class to discuss, as Eyam is now my life and it will be yours too...soon....👀

Long Live Evil was a joy to read! Although I have to admit I got frustrated a bit here and there with Rae (as we were probably supposed to). This story was funny, witty and super catchy. The ending also foreshadowed how evil this series might really get, because up till that I did not really see the MCs as evil evil (iykyk). Also special shoutout to Key. Just because. Boy deserves it. (Also another special shoutout to the Number One Fan thing. adorable)

Although it took me a while to get fully immersed in the story - plot surrounded by infodump because obviously it's not OUR favourite book ad we're unfamiliar with the setting - Long Live Evil was a riotous laugh that despite 'knowing' the plot, managed to surprise me and the characters at every turn - although I did clock Key very early on but that may be because I'm a villain magnet! But out of everyone I have to say my favourite character by far was The Cobra and every time he and Marius came together I was practically screaming NOW KISS, so you better deliver in Book 2 Sarah - or else!

I loved this! This is probably my favourite new read of the year so far.

The humour was fantastic and very meta and I was on the edge of my seat for the last act. The characters were great, with some exceptionally poignant heartfelt scenes, that I wasn't expecting given the general humour and satire of the book - I've never wanted the villains to come out ahead so much before this!

I can't wait for the next book to come out.

I loved the concept of this book. The idea of being transported into my favourite fantasy book plus a villian centric story, I was so here for this!

However sadly I am DNFing at 40%. Concept is easy a 5 star but I just did not click with the execution. I wasn’t a fan of any of the characters and the writing felt both too fast and too chunky with so much info being dumped. I read a few reviews that said after 20% it got better and the info dumping did decrease but not diminish.

I thought it may just be me in a reading slump but after reading a few chapters of a different books last night I realised it wasn’t just me feeling a bookslump.

If this book was a follow up of a successful fantasy series it could be amazing but sadly in this form it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for early access to this book. The views here are fully my own.

In this book we are following Rey, a cancer patient in her late teens being offered a second chance at life by becoming a character in her favourite fantasy novel. (perhaps a fantasy readers dream or worst nightmare.)
The synopsis of this book instantly made me intrigued and I'm glad to say I highly enjoyed this book. This was a quick, cozy and fun ride.

I started this book feeling a bit weirded out by the premises but i kept going.
The beginning is messy, the pace is quite challenging... but it has the great power to keep you hooked, no matter what. Then it's like playing a video game, where everything twist and turns but you can be a witness of it all through your own eyes (even if i didnt' appreciate very much the other povs)
It's funny, i laughed so hard because its sarcasm is often extravagant and exaggerated, the story and the characters are messy, flamboyant and entertaining. The characters are quite archetypical but they were perfect for such a story, and i ended up being sucked into Long Live Evil, more than i could imagine.
It would take so so little to make it great, but still, i had an amazing time with it!

This book starts so beautifully. A dying heroine that you truly feel for, a lost teenager whose life is to be cut short... not a fairytale, but the hard reality of cancer. I was all in and entirely cheering her on.

Then suddenly, we're in the fairytale. Near the end, in fact, surrounded by characters that we should know but don't. Fortunately our heroine does, and jumps at the second chance to save herself by whatever means (a fantastic story idea!), but I kept finding myself so confused, I just couldn't follow the story.

Everything was about tropes, with fantasy references, contemporary jokes and slang thrown in like a loaded gun or a dick joke suddenly appearing in Lord of the Rings. I couldn't follow who was who, as each character was described as who they were supposed to be in the fictional universe, rather than the one I'm reading.

I wanted to love this, but the contrast between fantasy and 'reality' was so jarring, I really did feel as if I'd been thrown into the story in the middle of Book 3 of 6. A sad DNF.

I have been reading this for almost a month and not making any progress, so I decided to DNF at 20%. This sounded like something I might be into since I usually enjoy weirder books with this type of premise. But I just cannot get into it. It’s so moustache-twirly villain-type, and the juxtaposition of modern, pop culture language paired with the fantasy setting and style is just not doing it for me. I know it’s supposed to be satire and the moustache villain thing is just a play on the trope, but it’s not working for me.

This book was... confusing...
I loved the premise, but the pacing was strange and the characters I found slightly annoying. I really wanted to like it more, but something was just off.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!