I’m sorry, I tried, and tried…really and tried to get through this but it seems just wasn’t for me. I could barely get past the 20% mark despite having previously loved SRB novels. I think the the writing style here just wasn’t for me paired with characters I didn’t like or care for..

This book was tantalising and satisfying in all the right ways. You truly get taken on a journey through this book, where evil truly reigns.

Rae is an incredibly compelling character, at the beginning of the book set in the modern day world you really get a feel for one side of her character, and then when she ends up in Eyam another side of her truly unveils.

She has to fight to survive in a whole other kind of way in this new world with only her knowledge of the series and a band of misfit villains beside her. Onset a whole host of shenanigans, lying, deciet, friendships and heart felt moments which keeps you guessing from the start to the very end.

There is a whole host of characters that are truly fabulous, each with their own backstory that we get the privilege of exploring throughout the pages of the book, making it feel full and well rounded from start to end.

The world building is fabulous and having a story being told inside a story in a sense is refreshing different and wonderful to have to get your head around. There are aspect of this book that it doesn't take itself too seriously and other aspects that do and I completely appreciate the range that this provides during reading.

That ending was the best, superbly satisfying as well as leaving me craving more.

I had very high expectations for this book, and I was not disappointed at all! I loved the intriguing story, the fantastic protagonist and the compelling writing and can't wait to read the sequel!

This was a DNF for me. I love manga and light novel isekai transmigration stories, and so jumped to a chance to read this. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the story at all. Part of it was my expectations of whimsy of the light novels and mangas, so the ponderous high fantasy style hit me the wrong way, especially since the author couldn't quite handle her sentences. I had to constantly pause and reread to make sense of what was written. Part was about Rae. She's depicted as a competent organiser in the opening chapter, yet she jumps to a chance to become a chaotic evil in a book world without a blink, which hit me as a too great a character change without motivation. And she kept lecturing about literary theory to readers, after saying she hates when books become preachy--wholly unironically. I wish I could've persevered. Not many isekai stories offer the MC a chance to return to their original world, healed no less; the MCs are usually dead already. I would've wanted to find out if that happens.

Unfortunately, I did not get off to a good start with this book. I wouldn’t have requested an arc if I had know that terminal cancer was going to be a plot driver. Cancer affects too many people for this to not have a content warning.

That being said, after the initial shock, I did relax into the book. When I let got of my expectations for what I thought this book was going to be, I found the first half to be very funny. It felt like classic pantomime in written form. The humour was great and some of the descriptive writing was well done. The language used to describe the Cobra’s laugh lives in my head rent free. There was a solid 20% of this book that made me think it could be a 5 star read.

As the book progressed, I felt it wasn’t able to maintain the momentum that it built from the start. The novelty of the unique premise worse off pretty fast. I got bored and didn’t connect with any of the characters. I understand why they were written the way that they were but I think their nuances were brought out a little too late in the book and I just didn’t feel anything for them.

Although this book wasn’t for me, it really did have some beautiful language. I won’t ever stop laughing at ‘as foretold’. The line, “‘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.’” is just perfection!

An incredibly unique storyline that I have not seen before in the fantasy genre, that is very reminiscent of movies like The Descendants where the main focus is the villain. The author did a good job of weaving humour into the plot quite effortlessly and the characters are immediately likeable (as much as villains can be!). I do feel I am perhaps not the target audience of this novel in terms of age but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

I couldnt get into this book and decided to soft DVF at first and waited untill i could try the audio- it still wasnt for me so DNF'd very early in.
I didnt like the narration style but that may just be a preference and i didnt feel or care about any of the characters even though i should have.

What a unique book! I had such a good time with this book absolutely laughing myself silly and screaming with joy at so many quotable lines. I also really appreciated the way that pop culture references were included in the book in a way that felt like playful winks to the reader as opposed to being direct references to thing that can quickly date a book. The fact that this book is a story within a within creating a meta element to the storytelling where it could directly address tropes and archetypes; this was something that I really enjoyed and think it would appeal to fans of Discworld and/or Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables series.

4.5 STARS

Now this is how you write a book within a book! I tried another book that had the same sort of premise and it fell so flat but this was exactly what I wanted. I loved how it really made you feel all the emotions, I expected it to just be a funny adventure which it was but it was also heartfelt and sad and sweet.

I was hooked from the very start, I couldn't put it down and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. This is just such a fun read, the writing is very engaging, it's fast paced and immersive and I really loved all of the characters. I thought it would just be Rae's POV which I enjoyed but it was nice to get the other characters POVs too! It focuses on the villains, there's a villain romance and killing as a love language (trust me when I say this particular love interest will be your new book boyfriend).

I absolutely loved the characters, even the characters I didn't really like were so interesting and I loved the way they subverted form the roles Rae expected of them because of who they are in the story and really became three dimensional. I really liked the exploration of what determines if people are good and bad and the way people can be good and do bad things to survive in a world that's set against them, especially women. There's also major bi rep, like literally every character in this book is a disaster bisexual whether they know it or not.

I am actually extremely picky about the whole villain obsession that's been trending recently but THIS is what I want in villains. Villains you can root for but ARE actually villainous. They'll stick up for each other and band together but they are out for themselves at the heart of it and they will do what they have to to get what they want but they aren't just assholes, they have genuine motives, they are actually morally grey not just straight up bad people with a bull sob story.

There are so many common tropes and character types here but the author really makes it her own and makes it original and fresh. It also calls out the stereotypes that you see quite a lot in the fantasy genre.

I really liked the deep look at how patients experience cancer, I had never heard some of the descriptions before and clearly this is a first hand experience which I really appreciated and found very brave.

The one thing that threw me off was that it was dated very quickly with the slang that was used. I see what it did and it was quite funny seeing real world Rae use our modern slang and the book characters thinking she was on drugs but I feel the phrases used were a bit too specific and some are barely used anymore even now so that can be a risk.

I saw the twist coming but I dont consider that a bad thing and I was still on the edge of my seat because it was done so well and I can't wait for the next book now! (There has to be a next book right??🥺) I just hope the two characters I thought would be endgame can get passed this little snag🥲 Basically the summary of this review is if you ever want to vicariously live the "fuck you I'm choosing me" life, then this book is for you!

4.5 stars

LONG LIVE EVIL is a romp through epic fantasy tropes, pointing out double standards and how much fun the villainous characters are.

The trope of dropping characters into books is one I love because it lets the book subvert so many expectations. Here's the plot the character expects and here are all the ways it goes wrong. Rae tries to use her knowledge of the book in the most outrageously extravagant ways, which is so much fun to watch. She embraces the plot-role of villain, but this book very much embodies the writing principle of "the villain is the hero of their own story."

It was interesting to see which characters were designated the heroes and which the villains. Some, like Emer, were obvious, but others like the king felt misplaced, in a way that felt like a deliberate critique of the genre. This is the sort of king who felt like a villain, mistreating women and so convinced of his own importance - aka the typical male hero of a certain subsection of fantasy.

Marius was probably my favourite take on a trope. He's the noble lord who cleaves to his word and honour no matter what, and all the problems that causes. He's so inflexible, all while the "villainous" Cobra is battering at his walls. I loved seeing that relationship develop and the ridiculously over the top way Marius dealt with that matter - and I look forward to seeing how that works out in the coming books.

I definitely want to read the other books in this series (think it's a trilogy?)

Rae is sick. Really sick. According to the women who’s just appeared by her hospital bed, in the middle of the night, she’s at deaths door sick. But, this mysterious woman gives Rae an option - stay here, getting sicker and sicker, or escape into the world of Eyam, the fictional land from her favourite book series. Which, obviously, is impossible. Until she finds herself waking up in the healthy, villainous, body of Lady Rahela Domitia, better known to fans as ‘the beauty dipped in blood’. Now all she has to do is track down a magical flower and return to the real world - if she can survive the magic, monsters, power struggles, and the weight of her newly endowed chest.

I was really hoping to love this book, but it fell quite flat for me, unfortunately. The premise is incredible, a sick young woman being given the opportunity to enter into her favourite fictional book world, take on the mantel of a villian, and play around with the intentions of achieving her goal, but it just….didn’t work for me.

This book is advertised as an adult fiction, but the story and the writing felt incredibly juvenile. I was fighting putting it down quite early on, as it was so…full on. There’s always a struggle with fantasy books at first, as you aquaint yourself with this new world, unusual character names, and lore, but it truly felt like I was reading gibberish at points. Sometimes there was world building chucked at you in the middle of a conversation, and by the time we’d looped back to it, I’d forgotten what the conversation at hand was. However, something happened at around 80 pages, with a character called The Cobra, that did root me back into the story, and I did manage to read on until the end. I feel like his plot thread was incredibly strong, and at times I was reading simply to find out what happens to him, over any of the other characters.

I think the overall story had a good moral centre (and a reminder that we do not live in a vacuum, and that our actions do affect others). I understand that it was aiming for a more humorous vibe, and sometimes it was genuinely really funny, but overall I just didn’t really get it. I would sometimes feel myself properly sinking into this fictional world, and the stakes (which genuinely are quite high!), but then Rae would make yet another quip about her humongous breasts, and it would break that.

I did enjoy the whole aspect of how the story can go off the expected track when someone else is thrown into the mix, and that did lead to a pretty fun element of surprise and suspense, as the story Rae expects to play out is deviated from constantly. The ending also did pack a punch, and has led me to have some curiosity about the next book in the series, but I’m not sure if it’s enough for me to want to continue on with the series, after struggling through the majority of this book.

I also want to note that the acknowledgments are incredibly moving, as we learn that the author herself was recently very ill, and I’m so glad that she is now better. I can see why she’s written this book, I’m just sad I wasn’t able to truly enjoy it.

However, I know that there will be a lot of people who will eat this up, and be able to find the fun in it! If you are looking for something a bit different, and like the idea of someone causing tongue-in-cheek chaos, in a villainous way, in a high fantasy world, this might just be the book for you. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publishers, and netgalley, for the copy to review.

Isn’t it time for evil to win one?

In the real world, 20 year old Rae is dying and offered a chance at redemption by entering her favourite fantasy series and procuring a magical flower. But when in the middle of the plot, the fantasy starts feeling very real.

This concept is awesome. It’s part fantasy, part new adult fiction and it spans the two amazingly well. The way the author crafts the fantasy series is efficient and effective and arguably some of the best world building I’ve ever read.

In the fantasy world, I love how tropes are taken and then broken by nuance. I love the clash of fake medieval fantasy language and the modern tongue (it never failed to be funny). And I loved the meta-ness of it all, the references to main characters and plot points.

I LOVE Marius and the Cobra. I would read a series about these guys alone but there are many great characters and they’re well defined. In the acknowledgements, the author writes that she has a debt to fantasy before such as Tolkien and George R R Martin and this book utterly reads like a love letter to the fantasy genre.

The only thing to note is that I was in and out of absorption, it’s long and I did feel like it was a long book. I don’t know if some of that is because the main character also knows she’s in a story and it breaks the illusion? It could just be the book onesies.

I really, really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Thank you to #netgalley and @orbitbooks_uk for my #arc

4 ⭐️

Ooh, this was a complex read. I went into it expecting something like once upon a time. And it kind of is that, but if you take it too seriously, you may not enjoy it. I mean, there's a snake called Victoria Broccoli ffs.

I found myself struggling to get into it until Rahela took her first trip to the cauldron, and I realised this book is very funny. My favourite scene takes place at the ball (IYKYK) it's a truly hilarious addition, and that is where my love for this tale began.

Rae finds herself in this world after being offered a chance to leave her battle with cancer behind to find a miracle. But the thing about that is she knows how to survive and she develops a brilliant persona for her version of Rahela. The way she bounces off all the other characters is so compelling, especially the Cobra. God, I love the cobra.

Is the world building a little confusing? Yes, but the world also changes every time Rae changes a plot point. I will admit I could have gone without the constant mentioning of her chest and dropping random modern-day phrases. But at the same time, that's the books charm. She is a villain who's so unbothered that people underestimate her.

I do wish she had gotten to keep her characters' memories. I'd like to know if she truly was villainous or if that's just how people view her. I did like the idea of rae being a modern world woman and being so done with the sl*t shaming if this world that she calls it out.

I have questions, What happens to those outside of the book when the book changes? Do they remember the old version, or does that get replaced with this one?

All in all, by 40% in, I was enjoying the book and by the end I was very excited for the next one. I did guess the end twist but it was epic all the same. Also, definitely read the authors note. You can tell how much was put into this, and the section of the book where rae talks about feeling cold got me very emotional.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, Sarah Rees Brennan, and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Unfortunately, I never really enjoyed reading this book. From the beginning, I was quite disconnected from the plot and the characters and it never clicked. I never felt connected to them. I don’t believe the book is bad, I just believe it wasn’t for me. And I think it is important to make the distinction. Also, I could not overcome the cringe. I guess some moments were meant to be funny but they ended up being cringe for me. But the premise is truly original and I would still recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I was completely swept up in this story of villainy and evil doing. It delivers an epic fantasy on all fronts while also poking a little fun the genre. The characters are great, there is a world of intrigue and the dialogue is hilarious. I absolutely loved it from start to finish and have the audio lined up for release day as I'm not ready to leave it behind!

4.5 stars
Now if you've been around for a while you know I'm a sucker for characters who find themselves in a different world/time so when I read the synopsis for this one I knew I had to read it. Let me tell you, this one did not disappoint in the slightest!

I quickly fell in love with Rae's character and I loved watching her navigate the world of her favourite fantast series. It was also really enjoyable to watch her take charge and call out a lot of sexist tropes that can be found in society and in fantasy series! I liked seeing how each of her decisions and actions ultimately cause a ripple in the world she knows. While she is essentially the Villain in this story you cannot help but root for her and want the best for her considering how isolated and sick she has become in the real world.

I really liked the side characters in this one and getting to know their personalities and motivations. Key became an instant favourite of mine and I just loved how unhinged he seemed at times. Brennan does an amazing job of taking this psychotic character and having you sympathise with his backstory and just wanting to look after him.

Overall this was an amazing yet dark fantasy that I instantly found myself obsessed with. From Brennan's world building to her amazing characters, I instantly found myself transported along side Rae and rooting for the villains to win! I definitely recommend picking this one up!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is just absolutely BRILLIANT!!

Rae, lying in her hospital bed, dying, listening to her sister read her favourite fantasy book…after her sister leaves, a woman appears and offers her a chance of survival. Bam - straight into her book…and oh my….she’s the villain!

Honestly, I was so excited to hear the premise of this book and it did it disappoint- imagine how wild this would be if it happened to you? All of the characters, all of the plot - oh the scheming and plotting of being the baddie.

This had me terrified at the end…I was practically screaming at the end to just c’mon!!!! Stop it!!! Aahhhh that ending!! No!!

I cannot recommend this enough. Please hurry up with the next book!

My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Long Live Evil was a captivating, funny and original book.

I do not think I have read a book like this one before and it was nice to have a new concept presented to me.

Rae was such a lovely evil character. She was so funny and I loved the modern references she kept making that people didn’t understand. I also spotted some Taylor Swift references but they might have been unintentional.

Her relationship with Key was everything. Every time i would see their names on the page, I know I would be smiling or laughing.

I thought the writing was quite good. And I was quite surprised by the end! I did not see it coming.

However I disconnected a little bit towards the middle of the book. It might have been because of personal reasons though.

I would highly recommend this book!

I hate to say it and I’m absolutely devastated but I did have to DNF at 30%. 10 chapters in and it was just pure info dumping and setting up, not a lot had happened and the bits that I thought were going to be exciting and gripping turned out to be lukewarm in action but once again hot in info dump. Maybe this wasn’t the right time for me to be reading it and maybe I’ll pick it up again in the future, the premise sounds amazing and was giving me Princess Bride vibes which I was so excited for but it just fell a bit flat for me at this point in time.

I wanted to like this book and have a fun time, but sadly it won't be for me... You might enjoy it though!

> _“Rae loved monsters and monstrous deeds. She hated books which were like dismal manuals instructing you of the only moral way to behave. Hope without tragedy was hollow. In the strange, fascinating world of these books, with its glorious horror of a hero, pain meant something."_

_Thank you to the publisher for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review._

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## funny fanfiction-y fantasy

_Long Live Evil_ started well, with a little bit of a setting in the human world before quickly going away into the fantasy part. I enjoyed the discovery of our main character and was 100% happy to become the self-insert.

**"Self-insert" refers to a type of characters, often found in fanfiction,** which are meant to fully represents the reader. **They aren't described much so that everyone can identify with them.** You might find them called `Y/N`, which stands for `Your/Name`, so that you can personalize it to yours with a simple search and replace.

Rae to me is very much one of those. **She has very little personality and backstory**. Sure, she was sick in a hospital, but that's only referenced for a few pages at the start, with tiny elements here and there - but not enough to truly show what a sick child lives through. **She was also bullied,** and that is central to her story, **but again nothing is really described much, so that you can sub in whichever flavor of harassment you personally lived through** (the intended audience is female, we've all experienced some of it sadly).

**Her other traits of personality include:** being sent into the body of a **gorgeous woman** _(relatable, it's like puberty)_, having **lots of sass** _(not relatable, but i wish!)_, **being a great villain** who doesn't care about anyone else _(relatable! i wish i could kill all my enemies too ://)_ and that's about it.

**I think Sarah Rees Brennan did well with the characterization.** However, I read several reviews praising the **representation of illness and bullying**, and i don't agree with them. Maybe the rep gets better in the second part of the book, but for the first 40% **it was rather superficial.**

**All in all, _Long Live Evil_ is mostly funny, fast-paced and with enough surprises to be interesting.**

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## sorry, but i can't suspend disbelief if you're so inconsistent

I have one big gripe with _Long Live Evil_, and it lies with **suspending disbelief for a completely incoherent world.** I don't usually have problems with this. I**'m very happy to ignore logic** and follow along books like the _Wayward Children_ series by Seanan McGuire or _Starter Villain_ by John Scalzi, **and to immerse myself into weird stuff**!

However, **it was entirely impossible here!** For me to plunge blindly into your world, **it does need to have its internal logic - and that wasn't the case in _Long Live Evil_.**

**We are sent into a rigidly patriarchal world,** where a king rules over his kingdom, and our main character is a noble unmarried lady, and the king's mistress. **Sarah Rees Brennan heavily stresses how important virginity and reputation are** for a woman like her - with references to death, torture and destitution for those who don't follow the rules.

**And yet, Rea says whatever she wants, does whatever she wants, insults everyone, speaks of sex, and so much more... without any consequences.** This took me out entirely and made me loose interest. I couldn't care about the stakes of the story that related to it, since it was obvious nothing would come of it. **Maybe she faced repercussions after i quit, but seeing how Sarah Rees Brennan describes that society, the retaliation should have happened immediately after each offense.**

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## who should read this book?

1. young-ish people **who LOVE pop culture references** - i think i got all of them, so i'd say you need to be 25 and under (or chronically online lol) to enjoy the humor
2. people who **want a cute badass self-insert story**
3. readers who **happily turn off the critical side of the brain and accept the setting as it is** (which i sadly failed to do today)

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## endnotes

With all of my ranting, **i don't think this is a bad book, just not a book for me!** The writing was nice, the book is action-packed, and if you love finding Taylor Swift references you're in for a ride!!
But if the section about patriarchy/lack of consequences made you irk, then i do recommend you pass on that one.

Read you next time,
Laure <3