*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Brilliant!! this was absolutely magnificent! I devoured this! this book was one of my most anticipated reads this year and Sarah Rees Brennan delivered! I couldn't put this one. The start hit a bit close to home but it made this read even better and being able to connect and relate to characters.The writing and the witty humour were top tier. I couldn't recommend this book enough. Can't wait to get my special edition of this book it will be stunning!so stoked! 10/10!

— 4 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Which came first, being treated as unworthy or being unworthy? In the end, it didn't matter. If others believed she was evil, or beautiful, or guilty, they made that true.”

📖 | 432 pages
👤 | author Sarah Rees Brennan
🏢 | publisher Orbit Books, UK
📅 | release date 30 July 2024

What you can expect:
— Adult Fantasy
— First Instalment In A Trilogy
— Third-Person POV
— Multiple POVs
— Villain's Perspective
— Real World X Meets Fantasy
— Scheming, Villainy and Betrayal
— Found Family-ish
— Prophecies & 'Chosen One'

Long Live Evil is the first instalment in the Time of Iron trilogy by author Sarah Rees Brennan. 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. She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He's impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale. So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.

I went into Long Live Evil wildly excited over the initial premise and whilst ultimately left satisfied in the end, I will admit to struggling at the beginning. I was immediately drawn into Rae's character and her struggles with her rapidly fading mortality. After spending several years fighting against the horrible disease that is cancer, we are introduced to Rae's internal monologue and despair as she has lost all hope. Her anger and resentment are warranted and understandable, and I immediately felt for Rae and her struggles. When Rae finds herself thrust into the world of her favourite Fantasy series, this is when I begin to struggle. The way the storyline was introduced was admittedly a bit overwhelming and felt like an overall information dump on this new world and its inhabitants. Several characters are introduced as Rae once again finds herself acting quickly to avoid her death, and it just made the experience confusing and a struggle to push through. However the general idea of the story convinced me to push through, and thankfully I did as I found myself setting into the story with a positive outcome. The pacing was a bit up and down to my liking as Rae and her newfound band of misfits worked together on their schemes and villainy, however the ending left me gasping and looking forward to what comes next in this unique tale.

The winning aspect to Long Live Evil was definitely the immensely fun and chaotic cast of characters. The Cobra was without a doubt my favourite character to follow, whether that be within his own point-of-view or through the eyes of another. His fun and witty attitude added a lot of humour to this otherwise high-stakes tale, and his commitment to the story was hilarious. His dedication to their villainous cause and immediate companionship with Rae solidified himself as a favourite of mine, as I expect him to become an all-over fan favourite. Rae was an interesting main character as we follow her on a journey as 'story master' as she tries to reset the story to it's original state, and ultimately makes many mistakes along the way as plans are thwarted and deceit can only get you so far. I enjoyed the way she played into the character she was forced into in this new world, especially knowing what life had been like for Rae in the 'real world.' I was often frustrated by Rae's insistence that it was all just a story and nothing was to be taken seriously, however, I ultimately couldn't hold it against her as Rae was behaving as any normal human being would in her position. I found myself consistently second-guessing all over her newfound relationships as I questioned who was a true friend, and who was a hidden foe, and that ending left me truly shocked.

Key was another favourite character of mine. Who doesn't love a sociopathic guard teamed with the bodyguard trope? Can it be argued that Key is morally grey, or just downright bad? I can't seem to make my mind up considering how much I loved his character and page-presence. I'm glad we got some of Key's backstory as this helped me connect with him better, and after the ending of the book I'm very excited to see what comes next.

That final 15-20% had me in shock and unable to put the book down. What do you mean Long Live Evil ends there? That's just plain cruel... and yes I'll be picking up book two as soon as it's released. Well played Sarah Rees Brennan, you've gotten me hooked.

Thank you to Orbit UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review prior to release.

I don’t really know how to start this review, it was one of my most anticipated books of this year but I ended up being fairly disappointed unfortunately.

In theory I should have absolutely loved this book, I love a strong FMC, villain arcs, a cast of misfit characters, a “traditional” fantasy setting & inserting a modern day character into a fictional world, it somehow it just didn’t work in this instance. None of those concepts are new ideas, but it could have been amazing.

I think I ended up having 2 main issues with the book, the first was the FMC, Rae. Rae in the blurb & in the marketing comes across as a character who will turn the world upside down, change the status quo, be clever & scheming, have fun being the villain & look good doing it. Whereas in the book, Rae is lacklustre, lets the world just crumble around her, keeps calling herself a villainess without actually doing anything remotely interesting enough to class her as a villain & generally just be pretty useless throughout. There’s no clever plotting or political manoeuvring, instead she walks around expecting everything to fall into place & then is disappointed when things don’t go how she thinks they should.

My other issue was the plot, or the lack thereof. This was a slow book & a bit of a slog to get through to be honest, while Rae was spending time floundering about, the plot just didn’t move & realistically nothing really happened. It wasn’t until the last 10% that things really picked up & I became more invested. The ending I did genuinely like & it has made me want to potentially continue but I did nearly DNF so many times in the lead up to it.

The worldbuilding was kind of lacking, I don’t really have a clear idea of the world or what it looks like or anything, I think where we are effectively inside the head of the person who knows the world already we are told about it rather than shown it, which doesn’t feel as immersive to me & I wish there had been more depth to it.

What really worked for me was the supporting characters. There are a few different POV’s throughout the book, Rae’s, Rae’s maid Emer & The Cobra. Wasn’t hugely fussed about Emer, but suspect she will feature more in future books, but as it stands currently I could take or leave her. The Cobra I loved, he was a great character & I was far more interested in his chapters than the others, his back story & arc worked really well, especially how it was interwoven with Marius, another favourite character. Both of them grew throughout the book & changed from a stereotype to wonderfully nuanced characters that I enjoyed. Was also a fan of Key, who doesn’t like the sociopathic bodyguard?? Lia was a really interesting character for me, to see the usual “pure damsel in distress tiny delicate flower” used in this way was refreshing & I enjoyed that specific trope being challenged.

I am likely to continue the series, because the ending was genuinely so good! Hopefully Long Live Evil works out as a good “prequel” book 1.

Thank you to Orbit UK and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.

Oh? When I first heard about this book, it was actually because it had a tag line on the front cover from one of my favourite authors of all time - Leigh Bardugo. My interest spiked. And I’m happy to say that this exceeded my expectations. Rae was an incredibly fun character to follow and I hope we get to see her sooner on her next adventure. The other characters were just as fun to explore too. I had the best time!!

what a wild ride this book is! I have to admit that the beginning was kind of difficult to get through, if only because the writing is kind of quirky and unique and the story felt a bit chaotic. however, after getting used to the narration, I became completely immersed in the story!

what I love the most about this book were the characters and their complex personalities. here, the heroes are villainous and the villains are heroic. there's such a delicious blend of characters, and I was not expecting to get as attached to them as I did, especially the ones in the story where Rae ends up. in a way, I followed her philosophy of "they're characters, they're not real", until I found myself wishing for everything to work out for them, wanting to protect my baby Cobra!

in terms of plot, I thought I knew where the story was heading in the beginning, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover twists and turns at every step. I was not prepared for the ending at all, it completely caught me off-guard (which I loved!).

also, I have to give credit to the fact that the book manages to be at times funny and serious, shallow and deep - there's a great balance at play that is rarely done well, but here it's done perfectly (I laughed a lot while reading this, but also had some moments when I was bawling my eyes out and had to put my Kindle away for a break).

there's so much more I want to say about this but I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll stop here. I 1000% recommend this!

This book was definitely an experience, still trying to decide if it was a pleasant one.

The beginning was pure torture to get thru, it was too many things at once and idk what was going on. Later it got better in the middle, when I started to understand the world building, I could enjoy it more.

Really liked the court intrigues and trying to outsmart people who want you dead. And basically everyone wanted her dead. There was too much modern language in fantasy setting. Like I get it, she's from "real world", but it felt forced, like older people trying to write in slang.

Honestly writing “Seriously, you will be powerful A.F.” or “May I speak in tongues at nature’s treasury?” during romantic scene should be banned. Many times I cringed so hard, I needed to close the book and take a breather, cus my eyes were bleeding.

The povs other than the main character were boring, plain and unnecessary, would be better if it was single pov. The ending was predictable, but nice.

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.