I went into this book cautiously but it delivered in every way. Every character's POV was perfect, and I could not be more obsessed with Marius and the Cobra. I hadn't realized it was a series initially and I'm torn on being slightly annoyed at the ending and wildly excited there's more to come from this world.

For the record: being dropped into a series and only vaguely remembering the plot and doing my best to stumble along blindly is EXACTLY what would happen to me bc I already refuse to reread when a new book in a series comes out and just keep going until it makes sense again.

Also there's knife to the throat tropes and then there's KNIFE TO THE THROAT tropes 10/10

Thank you NetGalley for the copy!!

I really loved the premise of this book and was really excited for it. However I personally struggled with the writing. I’m not sure if it was because I was reading it on my phone but it wasn’t a book I was keen to not put down. I ended up listening via audiobooks.

A magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favourite fantasy series would be any book lovers dream. Even if one found themselves in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in the body of the villain, with a kingdom on the brink of war. Here she’ll find herself a home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional characters.

What would you do in this situation? I’d find myself like the main character assembling the wildly disparate villains of the story under my evil leadership in a desperate attempt to change our fate. I loved the chance to read a novel from the villain’s point of view. Here you’ll find a gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods and a spymaster with a golden heart.

This was everything I could have ever wanted from a novel when you find yourself inside the world of your favourite book after making a magical bargain. It would be a dream come true and this book left me wishing this would be possible and eagerly waiting the next instalment in the series (if there is going to be one).

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 (𝐎𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭) 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐧

A DNF for me unfortunately. I couldn’t get past the first few pages I just didn’t click with the writing /monologue occurring

We all need a little evil in our lives, or a lot..

Following the fallout and soon to be end of Rae’s too short life, she escapes into her sister’s favorite fantasy world, where her new persona might just be one of the worst characters and has an equally bleak future- she’s going to die tomorrow. But Rae isn’t interested in giving up, and she’s just entered her villain era.

‘Long Live Evil’ is outrageous and a totally unique take on evil characters, where lines are blurred, then crossed, but you can’t help but root for the bad guys.

This is a book that everyone needs to read as soon as it comes out. I had so many scream out loud moments when reading it and was disappointed I had an ARC only because it meant I couldn't unite my screams with everyone else reading it with me at the same time.

Sarah, the author, has battled cancer for some time. I have been a reader of her books since The Demon's Lexicon, well before I knew Goodreads was a thing. And when I say this is the best thing this author has ever written, I don't mean it as anything other than the most sincere praise.

What this author has done with her debut adult fantasy novel is create a portal narrative that has so many beats of the truly original that I believe it will be a literary classic within the genre for some time.

As the tag line reads: Long Live Evil.

Our main character, Rae, is a cancer sufferer. It took over her life when she was still in high school and, as a result, she's lost a lot of the experiences young people take for granted. She understands how bad things happen for basically no reason, and good people aren't except by quality of inherent goodness.

Therefore, when she ends up in a fantasy world, in the body of a villain of a series of books that has kept her going while she grew increasingly sick, she embraces villainy full heartedly. And, doing so actually saves her life multiple times.

Let's talk about some of the other characters, shall we? Key is going to break everyone's heart. My god, this character. There were times when I was staring at the page of this and the plot and chapter would go on and I would just... I mean, I didn't want the page to leave Key is all I'm saying. There's one point where he comments about belonging again, and it's so devastatingly obvious he uses this phrasing because he's never learned the word 'love' or what it means in context to another person. I just wanted to hold his hand the entire time.

Let's talk about Marius and the Golden Cobra, who occupy much larger parts of the novel Rae reads before she steps foot inside it. Marius who is as straight laced as possible and comes across as really fucking scary because of it despite being the Most Good Guy. The Golden Cobra, by contrast, starts out as seeming little more than a foil for his character but ends up becoming So Much More.

The fact that this story was told in multiple PoVs was a good choice as far as I can see, cause we as readers really could have only gotten a small fraction of the richly layered tapestry of this world had we been constrained only to Rae's point of view. Other characters we see a lot of the world from are both Marius and Rae's maid who have very different ideas from both each other and obviously Rae.

As to the narrative itself? I can't say much about it without spoilering and I'm honestly not willing to take even one twist or turn away from a potential reader. All I can say is pick this book up as soon as you damned well can. You will not be sorry.

I was so invested in this book and its characters!!

This book was goofy and fun. The main character, Rae, finds herself with a second chance at life by going into her favourite book series. The problem is that she doesn't take it seriously enough and didn't actually read the first book.

The characters were such loveable beans! I did find myself more invested in the "side" characters than Rae as the story went on. And I have to know what happens to them all next!

I can't wait for the next one!!

I really wanted to love this one - the premise sounded amazing!

Unfortunately it’s a DNF at 15%. I just did not love the writing style or the humour. The modern day language and slang in a fantasy world just didn’t hit for me and came off a bit cringey.

I absolutely loved this!! The premise was so interesting and unique. It was so different and refreshing, this author has immediately become an insta buy for me! The world was easy to process and understand, the characters were realistic and a little flawed which I loved.
Thoroughly enjoyed this.

One word review: meta.
I was intrigued by the premise for Long Live Evil; after accepting a magical bargain and transported into the world of a popular fantasy book, Rae takes on the role she’s assigned and embraces villainy to survive.
Unfortunately, I found Long Live Evil disorienting with modern vernacular from MC while in a fantasy setting. Also, the pacing was a little off, characters felt two-dimensional, and the twists could be seen way to far ahead.
While I’m not the biggest fan of this book, I know there are going to be tons of readers out there who will absolutely adore this unique fantasy adventure with campy vibes and an interesting exploration of archetypes.

Reading this book was a conflicting experience.
I went in basically blind to the plot and initially thought the fantasy world was awesome aaand then it changed to our world.
I felt like the characters were very basic, and there was not a lot of depth to them. They jaunty, juvenile way this book is written it quite jarring and makes the lack of depth feel more extreme. It also feels wrong because this book deals with darker themes.
The potential plot twists are very. Very. Predictable. I instantly knew what was going to happen.
I did have some fun while reading it, but it lacked a good foundation, unpredictability, and emotive characters.
I do like the concept however, and will read the next one.
2.75 stars

Dark and witty comedic fantasy, with Brennan's trademark banter - I was not massively keen on the modern banter to be honest, but I think it'll work well for other readers.

This book is deeply funny and deeply tragic all at once. A masterwork in exploring rage and grief, and how story as we understand it is shaped by who is doing the telling. All this blanketed in the most audacious characters and impeccable banter, and piled high with all the best tropes. I adored every second of this.

What a wild ride - if I said chaotic mess I mean that in a good way.

The blurb tells us that a terminally ill real-life person, Rae, portals into a beloved book series to continue living. Rae finds her personality aligned with the character she most closely resonates with, which in this case is, the villain of the story. The catch is to return to the “real world” with a successful retrieval of the Flower of Life and Death.

Think, of the ilk of Jasper Fforde - but surrounded by archetypes of familiar narrative characters (e.g. the fair maiden, the knight, the evil sister) but flip them. They are disruptions of the norm. The story challenges you to think of what happens when the characterizations are subversions of themselves. This was clever. Maybe too clever. The story also asks, what happens when we write our story. We trust the outcome will be the best one but, change one piece, like an actor jumping a scene, what will change for good or bad?
There is an undertone of loneliness and trust, of friends found and assumptions challenged. There is simple observational huour peppered throughout.

The story has so much going on. I’d like to say it settles down after the initial world and its flamboyant characters are introduced. It doesn't. The pacing felt off - I can’t put my finger on it but it was go go go and then a pause without a rest. I ended up feeling that this had a pantomime feel to it. Think, larger than life, a bit of murder, manipulation, confusion and a musical number.

I'll certainly stick around for the second book. The story that Rae stepped into is unraveling and becoming unrecognisable. I really want to see where this goes.

Many thanks to Hachette AU NZ, Netgalley and Sarah Rees Brennan for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

🗡️multi-POV
🗡️villain point of view/perspective
🗡️found family - sort of
🗡️LGBTQI+ rep
🗡️chapter headings

Because who doesn’t love an evil villain!

Long Live Evil was such a great book. I am absolutely hooked on the series and will absolutely be continuing.

It felt a little slow in the middle but the banter more than made up for the slow plot line.

I know if I ended up as a character in this story I wouldn’t have survived

If you love villains like Loki then you’ll love this book

🗡️ long live evil review 🗡️

YOU NEED TO READ THIS. I WILL RECOMMEND THIS FOREVER.

Every character is morally grey (some more than others) and I ADORE how perfectly flawed they all are 😍
Witty banter, swiftie references, living inside your favourite book, Long Live Evil made me laugh so much and I never wanted it to end!I am DYING FOR THE SEQUEL EVEN THOUGH THIS BOOK ISN’T OUT YET 🐍

Our cast is full of the typical fantasy stereotypes: lady-loving king Octavian, confused best friend Marius, debauchery debonair the Cobra, the purest heroine Lia, murder loving Key, Emer the maid with the most and of course Rae/Rahela the sexy villainess 💋🗡️ yet the stereotyping is exactly what made this book work!
I love every single character (though I think Key has to be my number one 😍)

Tropes:
🩸 villain romance
🗡️ found family (in an evil way)
🩸 assassin turned bodyguard
🗡️ stabby happy MCs

*3.5
Rae, a cancer patient with a fierce personality on the brink of death, suddenly ends up in the fantasy world of her and her sister’s beloved book series, Time Of Iron. She’s not there as the heroine, though; she’s there as the heroine’s evil stepsister, Rahela aka The Lady Dipped In Blood. And she’s there for a wicked fun time.

There’s so much going on this book at first and so many characters and locations with really long names that it can get very confusing at first but then you kind of get used to it (kind of, I still got confused between characters near the end of the book). I loved reading from the villains’ perspectives and I enjoyed their personalities. Some of the quotes were a bit cringe though, and I couldn’t handle Rae referring to her villain squad as “minions” all the time. There were a lot of battle scenes and action to keep things exciting.

The ending did make my jaw drop because it wasn’t what I was expecting and I am keen to read the sequel for even more villainous shenanigans!

Thank you to netgalley and Hachette AUS for the ARC!

From the minute I started reading I knew I was gonna love this book! The way the fantasy and world building is done is so unique as it builds on the fmc's prior knowledge as well as her views on the current state of the fantasy world. I was so invested in the evil villains club that I was rooting for them all. It's so refreshing to see a book focusing on the villains of the story and them being the main protagonists. It did get a little bit slow halfway through the book but the ending really made up for it. The suspense, the action and the drama...those last few pages had me with my mouth open because I definitely didn't expect that ending!!

I am so thankful to recieve this arc.
It was one of my most anticipated reads for this year, and it let me down. It could be that I was over hyped for it, but I pushed through and tried so hard to love it and I couldnt.
The idea of the world was amazing, however the writing felt like it was a little too fast paced making it jumpy, and it like key events just weren't given the time needed. The build up of the background of the story gave some amazing potential, but I felt the transition to the "evil" and leaving behind herself was too quick.

DNF at 7%
Unfortunately this book is not for me as I couldn’t connect with the writing style and modern style language in a fantasy setting.
Thankful for the ARC I received!