This book was not my cup of tea so I would definitely not be the person to give a proper review, I will say that I liked the idea, and I liked the humour in this book. But the book was not well written, I kept getting lost in what was going on, it was just chaos and it was just not for me.

It took me a long time to finish and I honestly just couldn't care about anything that was happening in this book.

2.5 stars. Long Live Evil provides the reader with a unique and interesting premise as well as a fast-paced plot. The characters are interesting, especially as we are getting the POV of the "villains" of the story.

I very much wanted to enjoy this one. And as an avid life-long reader of fantasy, romantasy, adventure genres I really thought I would. Unfortunately, I found the world difficult to envision as it was described to the reader on the page, and the slang that was used at times felt forced and unnecessary.

The further I got through the book, the more difficult it became for me to pick it up. It just didn't engage with me.

I'm sure there are readers out there who would absolutely love this book however. I just don't think it was the right fit for me.

This book will leave you bereft, desperate for a conclusion and feeling so many things that I can almost guarantee it will trigger your next slump. Not because it’s bad, it’s because it has a freaking genius narrative that is turning a genre on its head. So ill start with the basic premise. It ticks all the boxes for those who rally for the villain of the story. Bad arse b who is just trying to get ahead – check/ goody two shoes hero who refuses to see in shades of grey – check. Sassy side character who is basically the snarky gay friend – check. Epic plot twist at the end – check. But the difference is THE HERO ISNT MEANT TO WIN. Going in, I wondered just how good could it be. Reader, its freaking amazing and so far, I’ve coerced all but 2 of my work colleagues to preorder it from their local book store and read it as soon as it launches

‘But the villain isn’t supposed to win’ I hear you say. Well, in this one they should because the villain is fantastic. But there are also degrees of villain and there is a villain who is more villainy than the original villain. Which sounds non-sensical right? But once you get past the first stressy depressy bit and into the meat of the story, it will make sense.

Now this is a hard review to write without spoilers because SO. MUCH. HAPPENS. But within all that, there is guaranteed to be a portion that scratches the itch; Long Live Evil is essentially about taking all the stereotypes of your regular fantasy fiction novel and turning them on their head. There’s evil guys plotting in the background; the ‘princess’ of the piece is so damn daft that she makes you realise that sometimes naivety is in fact stupidity; an epic battle that will surprise you and even a semi-love triangle between all the evil beasties. And the ending was just *chefs kiss*.

This is where I do the TLDR of it because I know some of y’all just flick to the summary. It’s a fantasy championing the villains over the good guys. Its tropes turned on its head and twists that rival Kendare Blake’s Katherine (iykyk). There's laugh out loud moments, a protagonist who is so wrong she may just be right and an ending that made me actually launch my Kindle at the wall while my husband stared on in fear. It releases in Australia this month and later in the year across other territories. If there’s one book this year that you should let me virtually peer pressure you into, it’s this one.

3 🌟! The beginning of this book was painful to get through. It was very confusing and hard to understand. The pacing throughout isn’t great and the plot twists are easy to see coming. I will say the premise of the book however was really interesting and fascinating and i enjoyed it once i wrapped my head around it. I can’t wait to read the sequel. Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette, and Sarah Rees Brennan for this ARC.

I just don’t think this book was for me. The premise sounds really unique and interesting but then the execution was very surface-level. I found some of the writing to be cringey and even though it’s modern day slang it already sounds incredibly dated. It felt unnecessarily long too. I can see a lot of people enjoying this book and getting the most out of it but at this point in time I haven’t found myself loving it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️ 4.75
🌶 0.5

Thank you so much NetGalley, Hachette ANZ and Sarah Rees Brennan for this review opportunity 💙

I love, love, love this book so damn much!
It's funny, clever, subversive, meta and brutally honest at times. The author's use of different narrative styles to denote different timelines was especially brilliant.

If you love the familiar worldbuilding and enchanted objects of oldschoool fantasy novels, the genre parody and humour of The Princess Bride, the butterfly effect of the time heist from Avengers: Endgame, and the witty social observations from Pride & Prejudice, all layered with modern pop-culture references, then this book could be for you.

This story felt like a throwback to self-insert fanfiction, in the best possible way. At its heart, it's a love letter to stories - the way they nurture us, change us, become part of our souls. Books and the book community have helped so many weather life's storms, and the FMC is no exception.

Rae, a 20 y.o. terminally ill woman is given the opportunity to enter her favourite comfort book's universe and take over the body of a character in an attempt to pick the Flower of Life and Death to save her own life.

Only one problem: she wakes up as a much hated villian FMC and her life is in even more peril in this brutal, dark fantasy world. Rae decides to embrace her villian era and act like the jaded, bitter, angry, hurt, scheming badass she is.

With an entire morally-grey cast, part of the fun is working out who is actually the real villian/s of the story. No character feels one dimensional and each has a moment to shine.

While I suspected several of the twists, the delivery was exhilarating each time, especially THAT dramatic cliffhanger ending! I honestly can't wait to devour the next 2 instalments in this trilogy.

2.5
I can absolutely see the appeal of this book. It's fun, voicey and the concept is great fun.
Unfortunately, I'm not the target reader for this book! I was hoping for something a bit darker. The tone of this book is light and fun despite dealing with some heavy topics – and those parts where the author grapples with heavier themes are definitely my favourite.
The voice of Rae feels a little young for me, reading more like a teenager than a twenty year old, and while I understand why there is so much slang and so many pop culture references, they took me out of the narrative and made it difficult for me to connect with the characters.
But if you're into the fandom scene, like CWesque banter and are looking for something unique and fun, you'll probably really enjoy Long Live Evil.

Thank you to @hachetteaus for making 'Long Live Evil' by Sarah Rees Brennan available as an ARC on @netgalley

This book was silly, campy, raw, devastating, and oh, so much fun. I absolutely loved it, and it's easily my favourite book of 2024.

We follow Rae, a young woman dying from cancer, who is given an opportunity to embody one of the characters in her favourite book series as part of a deal to save her life. When she wakes, she finds herself in the body of the story's villain the day before her execution. Desperate to survive long enough to meet the requirements of the deal that will send her back to her own world, she must collect allies and scheme her way through a narrative that is rapidly diverging from the story she knows and loves, as her actions send ripples throughout the world.

I'm not going to beat around the bush: this was a 5/5 for me. It had all the silliness and heart of an isekai anime, and it managed to shock and horrify me in ways that made me desperately want to discuss the book with someone. I also cried at least once, which hasn't happened since I sobbed my way through Terry Pratchett's final Discworld novel, 'The Shepherd's Crown'.

Does this mean I think the book is perfect? No. Some of the themes of the book are a bit inconsistent in their application (particularly the whole real world vs. fake world issue), and I think that the maid, Emer, is oddly underdeveloped for a character from whose perspective we see some of the story.

This didn't bother me, but if you have an issue with anachronisms, hoo boy. Be prepared, as you're in for a bit of a struggle. The commentary about narratives and archetypes might be a bit much at times, too.

Even with its faults, I became so invested in the story and most of its characters that, when I realised I'd reached the last page of the book, I did that thing where you flick back and forwards between pages, as if more will suddenly appear. I wasn't ready to be done - and that's got to be a good sign, right?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Rating: 4.5/5

Soooo campy and so much fun, this book delighted me and I desperately need a sequel. While I found the first 15-20% difficult to get into, once we meet the Cobra and get *that* plot twist, the plot had me hooked. I think what bored me at first was that the surrounding cast of characters seemed more like stock characters but as I read on, it became clear that they were so much more than they originally seemed. Some of the characters were more fleshed out than others, so I'm hoping they'll be expanded on in the next book. I LOVED Rae and Key, and I'm so excited to see their relationship progress further. The other ships are great - was shipping Cobra and Marius the entire time, though I wish their romantic tension was a bit more charged. Lia and Emer are cute too, but I'd like to see both their relationship and them as characters more fleshed out. I really wasn't expecting the ending, and again - I really need the sequel!!

DNF at 33%

Thanks Orbit and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

Based on the description, this is a book that I thought I'd love.

Rae's life has not turned out how she'd envisioned. She's 20, bedridden in a hospital, fighting cancer. When she's given the opportunity to escape death and venture into her favourite fantasy series (the absolute dream), she accepts.

She wakes up in the familiar kingdom, filled with monsters, gossip, and her favourite characters. However, instead of being a heroine, she's been cast as the villain, who has been sentenced to death.

This gave me Descendants vibes, which I was super excited about, but it just didn't land for me. I so badly wanted to like it, but there were just so many plot holes. I'm usually not one to pick up on plot holes, but in my opinion, they were just so glaringly obvious.

Rae admits to not reading the first book; her sister had started reading it for her but hadn't finished, and yet somehow she remembers the plot?

The fact that Key, a peasant assigned the day before to be a guard, is in charge of looking after someone on death row? It doesn't make any sense at all.

In order to get her death sentence cancelled, Rae pretends to be a prophet and predicts the arrival of an announcer to the second (almost). Which doesn't make any sense because, one, she never asked the time, and two, she hadn't read the first book...

I didn't really vibe with Rae; she didn't even try to blend in at all. She was constantly using modern language that didn't fit her new settings. I get that she reacted this way in the beginning because she didn't believe it was real, but she eventually did start believing. The kingdom seems like quite a savage place where people are punished for many things, so why not try to blend in? Also, the other characters didn't really react to her modern way of speaking, which was kind of strange. One thing that really annoyed me, and I'm not even really sure why, is the fact that she kept calling Key and Emer her "minions". This grated on me so much – completely personal, and I'm sure it's a me thing, not a story thing.

Some of the characters were very intriguing. Karine was a badass, Vasilisa was super interesting, Cobra was flawed but in his own way kind and caring. Key was a bit messed up, leaning towards morally black instead of grey, but he was complex and at times likeable. However, I found the massive cast of characters confusing, which was made worse by the fact that they were referred to by two names.

I found the story interesting but just couldn't get over the plot holes. I can understand why and how some people would enjoy this book. Unfortunately for me, once I started noticing the holes, I couldn't stop seeing them, so I DNFed at 33%

this book is SO MUCH fun, it’s such a weird, chaotic, campy, messy, fun reading experience. I’ve never come across anything quite like it.

Publishing on 30 July, Long Live Evil is the first in the Time of Iron trilogy. Its for everyone who dreamed of being the villain in a story. The one liners in this are so fantastic- it’s the perfect unserious summer read. And the I can’t wait to buy the physical when it comes out!!!

I found myself really attached to the side characters in this novel as well, everyone was so well rounded. And the multi POV really kept me on my toes. It was so unexpected and delightful, especially Marius’ POV.

The world building as well, it gave me the feel of a more traditional fantasy/romantasy but with another layer that made this story feel so fresh and fun.

Five stars!!!

A book for those who love the villains and don’t take themselves too seriously. I’m predicting that this will be popular.
Rae has been diagnosed with cancer and things are not going well. The only escape she has is into her favourite book series. The book series is so popular it has a tv show and a musical! When Rae is offered a chance to live by entering the world of the series she jumps at the chance. However she discovers that she is the villain and about to be executed! She must rally the other villains and turn this plot around. However every action has a consequence and eventually those consequences will come looking for Rae.
I loved this story so much!!!! I loved the characters and the familiar actions and motivations. You can predict what is going to happen which increases the anticipation of this read. It is fun and made me laugh. I can’t wait for the next one. I loved how the author drew on her own experience with cancer to write this and you can feel the joy in the writing.
The only thing I didn’t like about this book was the musical number. But that is more of a personal preference.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this opportunity. I voluntarily read and reviewed an early copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

When I finished reading this book last night, I put it down and thought "I have no idea what to put in this review". Not because it wasn't entertaining because it was. And not because I didn't like it, because I did! But it was chaotic and strange, with characters that were complex and changeable.

The whole concept is really interesting. Rae is not well and is in the cusp of life and death when she gets the opportunity to save herself by becoming a character in a fantasy series she has been reading with her sister. She's one of the villains and fits into the role perfectly because life has been kicking her while she's down and, frankly, she is over it.

She meets all her favourite characters but, from her new perspective, she has to decide whether they really are her favourite anymore. And if this is just a story, does she really care about anyone in the book? Or should she be selfish and take the opportunity to get her life back?

It's funny and odd, with a few twists and turns. The details were sometimes murky but the plot moved fast and, towards the end, it really picked up. I am really looking forward to the next book, if there is one, as I can't wait to see what Rae and her band of misfits get up to next.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was initially captivated by the premise of this book, which promised an intriguing journey into a world where one falls into a book and becomes a villain. Unfortunately, the execution fell short of my expectations. The world-building was disappointingly sparse, and the inconsistent mix of archaic and contemporary language created a jarring reading experience. The characters, except for perhaps the Golden Cobra and Key, lacked depth and failed to engage me. The plot was erratic, often leaving me confused. The most frustrating aspect was the misuse of the term “ladies in waiting,” traditionally known as personal assistants to royal women, being repurposed to describe potential wives for the king. This inaccuracy, along with the overall sloppy and seemingly unedited narrative, detracted significantly from the reading experience. While the premise held promise, the execution left much to be desired. I struggled to stay engaged and nearly gave up on it multiple times, ultimately taking weeks to finish. This book needs substantial improvement to live up to its potential.

When I first heard of the premise of this book, I immediately added this to my TBR. I love reading webtoons where the characters find themselves reincarnated into the pages of their favourite story, so when I first heard about this book I was immediately intrigued.

Our character Rae, is a 20 year old terminal cancer patient who has been given a second chance at life when she is reincarnated into the pages of one of her favourite stories. She finds her self as the villainess and wicked stepsister of the heroine. In order to survive and return to her world she schemes without realising how much the story would change with her scheming...

Overall this book is a fun, doesn't take itself too seriously read. It was very campy, very meta and a little insane. I do think some of the modern slang and pop culture references could have been used more sparingly and it was hard to believe that Rae was 20 years old at times. That being said, the last 100 pages of this book and the ending are absolutely insane and I'm excited to see where the story goes (FYI this book is not a standalone).

Thank you Machete and NetGalley for letting me read this one early!

This was just so much fun to read! I don’t read fantasy, but I thought this sounded really interesting - a dying girl in the real world gets transported to the world of her favourite series and she’s not the heroine but the villain. Evil does have the most fun and the best lines, and Rae absolutely embraces this.

I loved the characters in this - they were so over the top & just really leaned into all the tropes and stereotypes. Rae quickly learns that she needs her wits about her to avoid death, both in this book world & in the real world. I loved her friendship with The Cobra, but her relationship with The Key was just a delight.

There’s a lot of info-dumping at the start, and I did find it hard to concentrate & remember who was who. However, as I got further & further into the story, everything just clicked & I was drawn into the fantasy world and all its characters. The last 20% had me on the edge of my seat - I can’t wait to read the next in the series!

This ended on such a great cliffhanger, I just wish I’d known that this book was the first in a trilogy lol. Would quite like to read the next bit now please!

The main character Rae is a former cheerleader who finds her life slowly destroyed by a terminal illness (this aspect felt especially real but also very poignant, since the author is herself a cancer survivor). When given the opportunity to avoid her death by escaping into the world of her favourite fantasy series, she takes it, and finds herself cast as Lady Rahela, the “Harlot of the Tower”.

While often funny and frequently silly, the book still poses a lot of questions about what makes a hero heroic and a villain villainous, in an unfair world with unfair systems that the hero is doing nothing to improve; how privileges like wealth or health or being the right sex have given the heroic person all their opportunities for their heroism. I think it’s often the humour that lets books like this slip in such biting satire; it’s the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down.

It's queer and fiercely feminist and I really enjoyed it. I hope we aren’t left waiting for too long for the next instalment!

Unfortunately this one is not for me. Its a little too descriptive, and I am struggling to get throughout with all the imagery. Honestly there is more descriptive language than actual plot.

I don't think my rating or opinions on Long Live Evil mean that it is a bad book, however, this just wasn't the book for me. Firstly, it took me a really long time to read this book, roughly two weeks to to hit the 30-35% mark. Normally I would DNF a book at this point, however, I'm trying desperately not to do that with any of my arc's!

I think that the world-building was truly phenomenal and perfectly written! I also ADORED the inner workings of Court and all the Intrigue! The biggest lacks to me were feelings of attachments to characters and the modern slang in what is obviously a fantasy world. I know that this is a book where the main character finds herself in her sisters favourite fantasy world and I tried desperately to go easy on that criticism, but I simply couldn't move past it.

The romance was AMAZING. I absolutely loved this aspect of the plot and is the major reason why I forced myself to continue reading.

My favourite quote.

‘’I would break this whole world to get what I want. Most people die without mattering at all. If they curse your name, at least they remember it. Don’t you dream of the forbidden? Choose wrong. Choose evil. Let’s do it together.”

Long live evil
Fun, entertaining, fast pace read
Rae is a fun entertaining character i love her she made the story really interesting and come to life.
Gave me similar feelings to a school of good and evil / Alice in wonderland
I really enjoyed this book.