Thank you to NetGalley, Orbit, and Hachette Audio for the chance to review this book, all opinions are my own.

Why is it so much easier to write reviews for books you didn’t like than books you loved? I literally just want to leave 30 exclamation points and call it a day. This book is easily one of my favorite reads of the year, ALL the stars, and I am already dying for the sequel!

Long Live Evil is the story of Rae who is dying of cancer in our world but then given the chance to go into the pages of her favorite fantasy world in order to save her life. She arrives in the book world only to realize she is playing one of the villain roles! Oh, and she’s about to be executed. What follows is a wild ride through every fantasy trope and character arc you can think of.

We get the POV of over 7 characters (which I happen to love) but our main focus is on Rae and her descent into villainy in order to survive.

I love the way the book uses humor and heart to poke fun at women’s roles in fantasy (harlot or heroine) and also explores why we fall in love with certain characters (even when they do bad things).

And because this is an audiobook review I will say that Moira Quirk does an amazing job (seriously, her accent work is always so impressive) and infused some much voice into the story. I already want to reread it!

All the stars!

Along with the novel angle of an antagonist's story, the book also carries a tinge of humour that made all the scheming such an easy read.

The story is a take on what you would do if you were literally immersed in the story you are reading as a villain 🤔. For all the book lovers who can't help but root for those grey characters, I feel this would be a fairly entertaining way to live what we all have been imagining for a while.

It was interesting to see those characters have a different curve of development inside and outside the story. And just when you feel like you know how things are going to turn out next.... whooosh💨, it's no longer happening.

FLEW through this excellent, incredible book. Tightly written, earnest, laugh-out-loud funny at several parts—one of the best witty fantasy meta books I've read in ages

I was first interested in reading this book because of Leigh Bardugo and Alix E Harrows amazing reviews. I definitely enjoyed the story and became way too invested in some of the side characters. I don’t normally pick up books that would be make me cry but I almost shed a tear because of the fate of my favourite side character. Some reviews say the characters are typical archetypes and the twists are predictable but I didn’t find that at all! I had a faint idea of one twist but nothing else. I’ve also heard this described as a fantasy romance but I didn’t think the romance was the main plot point, I almost thought there could have been a bit more. I had both the e-ARC and ALC but I wasn’t a fan of the audio, something about the narrators voice didn’t work for me, I found the accents a bit hard to understand. Overall I thought this was a fun read, and I’m really excited for the next book. For me, this did really live up to hype.

Thanks to NetGalley, Orbit, Hachette Audio and Sarah Rees Brennan for the e-ARC and ALC

Moira Quirk is such an excellent narrator, it was a little disappointing to hear how many technical blips there were. Overall I didn't care for the story as much as I anticipated I would. I found the characters more grating than enduring. And it bothered me that Rae knew exactly the sort of fantasy story she was in and yet didn't try to act like she was from that time period.

Campy, tropey and just very silly at times, Long Live Evil is a cheerful homage to villains simply embracing who they are: evil bastards.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Spice: none, but definitely some steam ♨️

This book has many wonderful elements; Beautifully descriptive narration full of unusual metaphor. Strongly outlined and trope-y characters that are both intense and silly. A so-wrong-it's-right romance to make your (cold, dead, villainous) heart beat faster for a while. Overall it was a very enjoyable listen set in a world I desperately want to know more about.

Brennan's fantasy world is strongly stylised. Her narration richly features her character's inner thoughts and feelings - except when they make the most important decisions. Sure, this might be to avoid the reader realising too soon what a character is about to do, but the lack of explanation doesn't get satisfyingly fixed soon after. It leaves gaps in the narrative that leave the reader bereft. The narration also rarely gives us the thoughts characters think but do not say. This is a downright shame, I think. So much more lovely tension and connection could have been built up that way.

Perhaps because of this, the plot progresses almost jerkily, springing from one step to another without a clear thread connecting every step. It makes the reading experience disconcerting and unpredictable, and not in a good way. The only thing we know is it heads towards doom, and it is not like the story Rae expects it to be. I truly wish the twists and turns were slightly more predictable, the ride a little smoother. Instead of bringing me along, the story ripped me through itself.

Rae is both incredibly clever and very stupid at the same time, which gets frustrating. Other characters are also incredibly dense (looking at you, The Last Hope), but Rae outpaces them all in both brilliant plotting and unimaginably stupid clinging to the narrative she knows, despite being shown at every turn that things have changed. I found this hard to rhyme although considering the state she was in before entering the magical world of Ayam also explainable.
It pulled me out of the book's narrative, though, wanting to shake the characters for their ignorance when alle the facts were right there. Her insistence to keep using Earth idioms and refusing to explain herself when wrongfully accused just fully made me mad, however. There seemed no good reason for someone who's self-proclaimedly and gleefully self-serving and self-saving not to do just that.
All this density just makes the story seem slower, almost dragging at times, because as the reader I could see disaster coming so long before it actually came.

The chaotic and shattering conclusion is worth all the sillyness, in my opinion, and redeems a lot of characters that I had lost a lot of patience with throughout the book.
It's massively well done, neatly bringing a lot of the plot together and making the reader truly root for Rae.

Quirk's narration is equally fluid and beautiful as Brennan's writing style, forming a wonderful addition. She switches between accents and voices incredibly well, and narrates the evil on the pages almost joyfully. All this makes for a great audiobook experience.

While I found plenty to critisize, this book gave a lot to love, as well. It's quirky and fresh, not shying away from larger-than-life scenes in both comedy and tragedy. Intense and plain cool world-building, interestingly complex characters. Brennan's writing style is wonderfully descriptive, and Quirk's narration is absolutely phenomenal. I'll definitely be checking out Brennan's next work!

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

DNF'd at 10%

I was curious about this book the moment I read the description. I was a bit sketched that none of the advertisements mention the already existing popular genre of isekai or even the specific subcategory of villainess isekai because the similarities were glaring! Still, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that it wouldn’t follow the story beats and tropes expected of the already existing genre and would be different enough that it wouldn’t have needed to mention this trend.

It was hard for me to get into because, off the bat, I wasn’t super endeared to the main character, not even because she was a self-proclaimed bitch (that was honestly a point in her favor, we love a self-aware queen) but mostly because she was kind of bland, a lot of her “villainy” relied on her just saying she was evil or wicked or villainous to convince others which got a bit tired early on. The info dumping in the beginning was hard to ignore, in general there was a lot of showing and not telling. Overall, the narrative and the characters oversimplified a lot of the discussions surrounding villain romance in western fiction while also relying quite heavily on tropes found in the villainess isekai genre that didn’t make sense outside of the context of webnovels. The tone also felt a bit confused. I got whiplash more often than not, particularly with this book being set in what’s meant to be a grimdark high fantasy a la Game of Thrones but the narrative insists on being a comedy without trying to let go of the stakes required of the setting.

I got this book as an audiobook and I will say that the narrator’s voice and tone was wonderful, but I was mildly annoyed by the accent switches between Moira Quirk’s natural British accent into an American accent for whenever the main character spoke, it was weirdly jarring and took a while to get used to.

This book wasn’t really for me but I definitely think it will open a whole new world to some other readers. My expectations were just too biased to let the story be what it wanted to be. Seeing as I did not finish the book, I don't normally give a star rating but it's required to submit my review. Please disregard it.

DNF @45%

Since I got past 25%, I figured it was fair to write a review of sorts. Ultimately, I just think this author isn't for me. The story just dragged for me and I haven't been able to get into it. I just felt a bit lost. I would catch myself drifting when I was trying to listen. The narrator is amazing. I could definitely listen to another book narrated by Moira Quirk. The premise sounded so interesting. I love the feminist rage of sorts and it is very reminiscent of Jumanji, which is fun. I love the idea of rooting for the villains of the story. I don't think this story is inherently bad, I just think it may not be for me. I have been trying to power through for a few days, but it's just not working for me personally.

Omg 😱. First of all thanks for this audio!!!! Second point the voice is soo damn good wow. Love it.
Now the story, this was different fresh and fun, like I have laughs so much with it , I have to said definitely worth it. Of you want something different but fun and entertaining. This is for you !!!!

Have you ever wished you could get lost in the pages of your favourite book? Do you think the story would change with you in it?

This was an intriguing concept which took a little while to get going, but once it did it was very enjoyable.
I loved how Rae realised how much we don’t see about a world when we read a book. VE Schwab uses a metaphor about how a world is a house and when we read a book we can only see in through the windows, and I think Long Live Evil demonstrated that perfectly. So much that Tae assumed about her favourite book and certain characters wasn’t quite what she thought it would be.
Plus the perspective of a.) a villainous character and b.) a villainous character who has a real world understanding of how villains work in stories made for a fun dynamic.

Overall, I really liked Long Live Evil and would read more in this series (if it is one).

3.5 Stars
I will admit that I didn't really know what was happening half of the time but this book was still a lot of fun and I loved the concept of transporting into a book. I actually liked the "villains" in this as well - it was interesting to get that side of the story. I sympathized with Rae and enjoyed her perspective of the "story" she was in but my favorites had to be Marius and the Cobra. I'm definitely excited and interested to see how this story continues after the way it ended! I listened to the audio version of this and the narrator did a really great job at keeping me invested in this story.

Thank you NetGalley, Hachette Audio and Orbit for the ARC!

Long live dislikable female main characters with this flip on traditional fantasy tropes.

I love the idea of flipping the script on fantasy tropes, where our main characters are fundamentally good or working towards good. Our main character Ray, is pretty dislikable the entire time. She is selfish, and self-absorbed. She leans into being a villain so hard that she calls her guard Key "minion" regularly.

The writing is witty, and there were a few laugh out loud moments for me, although that's not the whole vibe of the book. There are a lot of characters, and I got a little confused between them as they all have names, titles and then nicknames.

My favourite character Key, really shone through. I picked this book up specifically because of him, and he did not disappoint. When he was in a scene I was fully invested.

This book is long, and I wish it was a little shorter, or the pacing a little faster. That said, we're setting up a word for a series, so I understand needing to lay the foundation. The book really picks up for me after the 50% mark.

Let's take a moment to recognize the amazing narration by Moira Quirk. I started listening to her with Dark Water Daughter (the Winter Sea trilogy) by H.M Long and Moira has this way of making you feel like you're right there along side her. She also does amazing voice acting to differential between the voices, which is especially important in this book. There are a lot of characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio | Orbit for this advanced listener copy.

I will definitely be keeping up with this series.

This book is best read on a throne, while wearing a crown tinge in blood.

-Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley for an Advanced Listening Copy of this book.-

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year so I was very disappointed that I didn't enjoy it.

It has one of the most interesting premises I have ever heard of: a young woman with a terminal cancer diagnosis gets sucked into her favorite fantasy novel. If she can get a treasured object in the novel, she will be cured. The catch? She's sucked into the body of the book's evil, wicked harlot who is sentenced to be executed the next day. She decides to lean in to her role and embrace evil!

The Good:
-The writing was really strong. Creative, inventive, and lots of lines that made me think "ooh that's a good line!"

-Several of the supporting characters are very interesting, especially her maidservant and the "gutter rat" guard she recruits to be one of her evil minions.

-The meta, self-referential fantasy jokes were really great.

-The audiobook performance was very good. Lots of fun voices and accents!

The Bad:
-I don't understand what the tone of this novel is supposed to be. The main character is over-the-top "funny" with lots of silly, campy lines and quips. They were very rarely actually funny and were mostly just cringey. She's constantly dropping on-liners that made me roll my eyes. Contrast that with most of the other POVs in which the characters are so serious and bland that it makes her seem even more ridiculous. The back and forth between the two tones was jarring.

-This is touted as an Adult novel, but it reads like YA. Like young YA.

-The supporting characters. Two of them I loved, and literally all the rest were so painfully boring I doubled the speed of the audiobook during their POVs just so I could get through them. They are unidimensional, have little to no believable character growth, and don't add anything to the story. I usually love a book with multiple POVs, but they did not add anything good to this story.

-The "story within a story" The whole plotline is basically how she comes in and mucks up the story and changes things, and we get glimpses of the original plotline in the opening of each chapter. But there was no explanation of HOW the characters actions changed the story and that really frustrated me.

-The Evil! THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN SO EASY! She wasn't evil. She didn't do evil things! She was generally kind and helpful? I wanted her to be evil!

-An unsatisfying ending. Always such a bummer when the book ends and you're annoyed that the story didn't wrap up. It felt like there needed to be two more chapters.

Overall while this book has a strong and creative premise, unfortunately I found the execution to be extremely lacking.

This is an absurdly genius book. Humorous, very meta and we'll executed. It is truly a reading experience, with many intentions.

The only problem with this book is that it is absurdly long and quite a heavy read. But boy oh boy, was it well worth it.

It took me a very long time to write this review. It also took me a very long time to read this book. I can’t figure out if that’s because of the book, or if I was in a terrible slump, or both. Overall, the story was good and a very interesting concept. I liked the characters and game of thrones meets campy vibes. I did definitely guess the plot twist but I also think that was the point? I don’t want to spoil too much but thinking back, it was probably supposed to be obvious to us, the reader, when it wasn’t obvious to Rae, who tuned out boring parts of the book she’s in. Anyway, overall 4 stars, and I will be reading book 2.

I received an eARC of this audio book for review from Hachette Audio via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I'm conflicted on this one, and I'll do my best to explain why. Given the summary, I expected meta-humor and satire. I wasn't disappointed on those points. There are many times when I laughed out loud at the subtle and obvious pop culture references. It really worked for me, although I know there are people that don't like that kind of thing. But the first 30% didn't really draw me in due to the initial POV character. I found her inner monologue was exhausting and unrelatable given her obsession with the Emperor. That comes down to personal preference, though. Many people love characters like the Emperor. It picked up for me after other character POVs became important, and the political intrigue gained momentum. I didn't anticipate the last reveal, but I did see the foreshadowing and wonder about a certain story element so it made sense within the plot. That could have revealed much earlier if one POV character had told the other that they were wrong about an important fact... so bad communication? The audio book narrator did a pretty good job with the various POVs, but it was not well produced. There were several obvious and distracting edits and cuts. Overall, it was a rollercoaster experience. I nearly rated it at 3.5, but had to rounded up for the many laughs.

Every person has that one book growing up that was there world but when the get a change to improve it wouldn’t you take it. Well I would for sure. Because how doesn’t want to be a hero or the villain in there favourite story. And okay maybe you didn’t pay that much attention to the first book because in later books it always gets more interesting.

I think that this story is a great example of what everyone wants to happen in there story. It the writing was super original and the way that the story is weaved with the new and old makes a truly gut wrenching read that keeps you engaged from beginning to end.

As I have listen to the audiobook I must say I’m not that greatest fan of the different accent used for different characters but at least the narrator was consistent with the accent she didn’t waver. I’m just more a fan of straight narrator with minimal accent. Maybe if I read I would have given it 4.5 stars instead off 4.

I absolutely love this story, and the narrator did a fantastic job bringing each of the characters to life. If you listen closely to the accents from each POV, you'll be able to hear a clever easter egg. I don't want to give too much away! I just thought it was a neat detail. I was blessed with the ability to read Long Live Evil as an ARC, and again to listen to it in audio format. I was not disappointed. It was good enough for me to read - again - within a short time period! I'm so eager for the second book to come out.

As a warning, you do have to have a tiny sense of humor to be able to enjoy this book. It does pull from romantasy elements, and it does tease the stereotypes. For me, it was an enhancement. I love the genre, and I am able to laugh at some of the quirkiness that comes with it.

Long Live Evil is an adult fantasy debut novel by Sarah Rees Brennan, featuring Rae who makes a magical bargain to enter the world of her favorite fantasy series. There’s a catch though, she enters not as the heroine but as the villainess. Rae embraces her her evil role and assembles the villains of this world, all working together to change their fate. Will they succeed?

This book was entertaining and impossibly funny. But along with the fun, there’s an emotional side tied to the fact that Rae was dying of cancer prior to making the magical bargain. The novel is topped off with a host of enjoyable side characters.

Long Live Evil releases on August 27. Huge thanks to orbit for providing us this arc!

I originally read the digital ARC of this book and now had the chance to listen to the audio!
This book gets even better on a reread! The narration was excellent. I started off being puzzled when I read the digital version but the audio grabbed me from the start and pulled me into the storyline and engaged me in the characters and their motivations.
The plot is convoluted and complex, with unreliable narrators, a large cast of characters and fantasy elements blended into reality.
It's fun, it's engaging, it's adventure and intrigue and love and self acceptance and character arcs and growth and self reflection.
Can't wait for book 2 of this series!