Sarah Rees Brennan

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES "BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF 2024" AND "BEST ROMANCE NOVELS OF 2024" THIS IS A TALE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S EVER FALLEN FOR THE VILLAIN… This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both "brilliant" (Holly Black) and "supremely satisfying" (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation. 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 favorite 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. ★ "Absolutely wonderful.”―Kirkus (Starred) ★ "Brennan's adult fantasy debut is two great stories in one: the romantasy in the background and Rae’s adventure in the foreground."―Booklist (Starred)

Long Live Evil

Hannah Nugent

Reading a book was like meeting someone for the first time. You don't know if you will love them or hate them enough to learn every detail, or skim the surface never to know their depths.

"Have you never considered art grants is the impossible? Art opens a door into someone else's imagination and lets us walk through. Art is the dreamed-of escape. Art lets the dead speak and the living laugh. Art takes you away from pain when no medicine can save you. Art is the first and last word. Art is the final consolation"

What would you be, if you weren't well rounded but the broken pieces of a character made to be used and tossed aside?

Who can believe the wicked? The wicked could believe in themselves. The world was hard and cruel. It bore down and broke you into a thousand pieces. When nobody believed in you, when even you couldn't believe, you must arrange your broken pieces into a territying new shape. You could believe in the fantastic recreation of yourself.

Long Live Evil quotes

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