This was such a fun listen. The narrator was really good and made the story really come alive.
Fun villain story. Highly recommend

When one is given the choice of dying or going to live as their favorite character in their favorite book you might not want to pick the one that is fated to die. Rae is dying of cancer, and she shares her love of Time of Iron with her sister to distract her from it. But stepping into that world isn’t as easy as she thinks. She quickly realizes there are a few plot points that she has forgotten, and she better work out how to avoid her own execution. Rae is snarky and she does enjoy being the bad girl of the book. As she is changing the narrative as fast as she can in order to survive and to get the emperor to marry his fated love along with doing the one thing she needs to get back to the real world.
The snark in this book is turned up to eleven and it does subvert a lot of the current fantasy tropes of lots of bestsellers. The ending is a cliffhanger and goes to show Rae that she should have paid more attention to the clues in the book she thought she knew.

***5.0 Stars***

Overall,
I had so much fun with this! When you read as many books as I do they tend to blend together because many of the elements of the story are the same, what can I say I know what I like. Every once in a while a new premise or a new way to portray similar elements in a widely different way comes along and stands out in your mind. I will admit, I did not read the synopsis of this book, I honestly just liked the cover and the title (hats off to the publishers for that). When I started reading this (well actually I listened on Audio) I was like wait, I did not think this would be a book set in the real world! I had no idea where this was going, and then poof portal to your favorite book! Sign me up for this! As far as characters go, I enjoyed all of them, there was real character growth all around and while some plot points are pretty predictable that did not dampen my joy while reading. Because while I knew the likely outcome I had no idea how we would get there. This was a ride. Can not wait for the next one!

Thank you netgalley for the audio arc. I received a free arc in exchange for my free and honest review.

what a fun freaking book !!! can you imagine being able to be one of your favorite characters in your favorite fantasy series?! how fun is this idea!! the characters were all so much fun and I loved how Rae saw them thru a different Lense when she was actually one of the characters, vs just being a reader. The character development and relationships were all so fun, and I did NOT see the twist coming at all, but I am happy about it. Cant wait for the next one !! The narration of this book was also amazing

Absolutely brilliant!!!

This theme is not necessarily new but is done with so much genuine love for fantasy and storytelling that it stands out by miles. I picked this up intending to just get a feel for Amit and next thing I knew I was five chapters in and utterly invested. Fabulous characters, enough surprising plot twists. I am dying for the next in the series already. Won’t be able to recommend this enough!!

I nearly always enjoy anything written by Sarah Rees Brennan, but this very complicated book stretched my suspension of belief pretty much too far. It's essentially about a dying woman dropped into the world of a popular fantasy series in which she needs to survive a year, and that puts her on a tightrope effort to save her character from immediate execution and not overly change the existing story. It didn't work for me, and I'm sorry because it's an original idea and I wanted to love it. It's certainly violent, and I wonder about the change of focus of a writer who is mostly famous for YA fiction, as many readers who will want to read this book may not be ready for its mature themes. It's tagged as humor, but the humor that existed wasn't enough to pull it out of the grim dark aspects for me. Excellent performance by Moira Quirk who is particularly talented at conveying the humor that does exist in the book

Long Live Evil by Saarah Rees Brennan was a delight as a book and even more so as an audiobook. Moira Quirk gives a blinder of a performance that matches the prose and characters perfectly!

Brennan is unique in their storytelling and style. It's refreshing and forging it's own path in the Romantasy/ Fantasy genre

There is such a delicious melding and flipping of characters and tropes, turing everything on its head. Whole at times I had to stop and read back (that's on me, not the writing) after adapting to the style, I became completely engrossed and dare I say obsessed by this book

A multitude of dichotomies are the foundation of this book and what an absolute joy they are to work through! A fantastic read and/ or listen for the spooky season and more!

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio | Orbit, Sarah Rees Brennan and Moira Quirk for this excellent ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

This book is very confusing to me. It’s predictable, the pacing is just okay, the characters are pretty standard, but dang if I did not enjoy myself. I was invested and had a pretty good time!

Review: I really enjoyed this - I found myself laughing at it repeatedly and I thought the story was really interesting. I really liked it.

Synopsis: 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.

"Long Live Evil" is definitely not the book for me, however I can see what other people might like about it. It gave me a similar vibe to "Assistant to the Villain" so if someone read that series and is looking for something to read while waiting for the next one, this would be a good recommendation. While the writing style is somewhat similar to the author's other book, "In Other Lands," the style seems to work a little better in a YA book and just feels a little immature for an adult novel.

Overall, this book has some good and bad aspects to it, and I'm curious to see how the sequel goes.

Long Live Evil was a fun romp. It was reminiscent of The Princess Bride in style, but with a most sinister twist! I was a bit confused at the beginning as we were plopped into another book that the characters already knew and didn't have much information, but it was easier and easier to follow as it went on.

As someone who loves villainess anime and manga, I was so excited when this got announced, and I was not disappointed! This did exactly what I hoped it would do; it was a funny and entertaining story but also subverted a lot of expectations. Brennan did a great job of writing both a story you didn't want to put down while commenting on stereotypes and tropes commonly found in fantasy. For a debut author, the writing and characters were great. I can't wait for book two, especially after that ending!

Also, I didn't know this until I finished, but the author herself is a cancer survivor, and she used that experience to make this character and her struggles feel real and more heartbreaking. They say write what you know, and Brennan did that expertly. Please check TW though, as there are parts of this that are hard to read.

The audiobook was well narrated and easy to follow even at a higher speed.

dnf 30%

i started this audiobook in august, at first i was really enjoying it. The premise is really interesting and is unique. around 20% i just got bored & i didn’t enjoy the fmc enough to continue her story

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have enjoyed some of the author's book before and was looking forward to this one and its unusal premise of a tale told my the perspective of the villian of the story. In this book our narrator is dying so she makes a deal to go into her favorite fantasy book series. I was engrossed through this point of the book but things changed for me fairly quickly. So many people love this book so I think I am the odd man out. I can tell that the books is well written and meant in fun but the over the top, almost satircal humor wasn't fun for me. I would have liked to see everything be a bit more serious since life was literally in the balance here. The one off villian comments went from humourous to off putting by the end of the book. I will not be continuing the series but I know that is a case of me and not the book in this instance.

Rae is dying. And she gets a chance to save her life if she finds the flower of life in her sisters favorite book. But as it turns out she falls into the book as a villain about to be executed. So she things fast to save her life from what she remembers of her sister reading her the book. She saves her life all to fall in love with the villain that was going to end her. Keys stays with her only to out smart the king. Only to have him fall in love with her. But she soon discovers she is not the only one in the book trying to save their own life. And while doing so the snake finds out the story has changed with what he has done and he is a villain as well. Trying to make things right again Raw has to make a hard choice to stay and make things right or to go after the life flower.

I will say that I was excited about the premise of this story; being pulled into a story universe in order to stave of untimely death, and being the villain.
Our FMC, Rae finds herself in the pages of her favourite fantasy book as one of the main villains. She must find a specific artifact that will allow her to prolong her life in the real world.
I thought that I would really enjoy this, but for some reason I just was not connecting with the story or the characters. It's not a bad story, and I did enjoy some of the snappy dialogue between the characters, but I could've find myself immersed in the story 100%.

Book Review: Long Live Evil
⭐️⭐️

I received an ARC of the audiobook version of Long Live Evil, but I struggled with the narrator, which made it hard for me to stay engaged. However, after switching to the physical version, I found it much more enjoyable and was able to finish the book.

The concept of the story was funny and unique, which kept me entertained despite it not being my favorite. While it wasn’t the perfect read for me, I still had a good time with it. For those who enjoy quirky takes on villainy, it might be worth a try.

4.5 stars. I actually really liked this book! I wasn’t sure how the story would go or how it would start, but I really enjoyed it. I liked that it poked fun at book tropes and played up being the villain while also having a plot to move it forward. I guessed the twist but it was still good. I enjoyed the variety of characters as well. I am looking forward to the next book.

For fans of:
- Pyscho Academy
- To Charm a Dark Prince

Rae is a normal young woman, bedridden from her battle with cancer and all but rescind to her looming death. When all hope feels lost, she gets the opportunity to dive into her favorite book series, join the characters on their adventure, and find the cure that will save her life.

This book includes:
- modern world meets fantasy land
- cheeky humor
- high stakes

The concept behind "Long Live Evil" is fun and unique. I loved being able to explore multiple "evil" POVs and Rae is an entertaining protagonist. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of the writing style as I find it very simplistic and boring. I also was not a fan of the type of "banter" and "comedy" in the story and frequently found myself rolling my eyes. Rae is a bit insufferable and I honestly think this book would have done much better marketed as a YA read, rather than adult.

For the audiobook specifically, I did not think the narrator was a great match for the story content. Though talented, the narrator clearly is not American; Rae's "Oklahoma" accent was abysmal and the switches between the British narration voice to the accent were rough and distracting.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Rees Brennan, Hachette Audio, and Orbit for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

The premise of Long Live Evil was so exciting to me - a terminally ill teenager gets a second chance at life when she’s transported into her favorite fantasy series. She’s a little fuzzy on some plot details, but she’s confident she can use her insider knowledge of the plot and characters to complete her quest to get back home and cure her cancer. Even when she takes the place of a villain she knows is killed off in book one. But what will she do when the plot goes off the rails?

I was expecting an irreverent, rompy fantasy novel that played with expectations and tropes in a really fun way. And I did get that! But I was surprised by the heavy fantasy plot elements that were woven into the narrative as well. The tonal clash between those two elements was a little off putting during the back half of the book, but the ending was so interesting and unexpected that I’ll definitely be coming back for book two.

I liked the audio narration, although the southern accent used for the main character took some getting used to and was jarring once she fell into the fantasy setting - which made sense since she didn’t belong there!