Name: Mel 's review of Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
Item: Long Live Evil
Rating: 3
Author: Mel

Sarah Rees Brennan

A TALE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S EVER FALLEN FOR THE VILLAIN…

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.

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.

Long Live Evil

Hannah Nugent

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.

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

"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"

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.

Mel 

sarah rees brennan was one of my favorite authors as i was growing up, so i was really excited for her return with this novel. it did take a long time to pick up bc it's so hefty, and i really wanted to be mentally present while reading it, but it was certainly worth it! for those who don't know, rees brennan was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. though she's cancer-free now, the impact of being sick is obvious in her writing in this novel. everything rae talks about hit extra hard when thinking about rees brennan herself going through something similar. there are moments when rae's denial re: the humanity of the characters around her feels too heavy, but when contextualized with her desire to perhaps hurt and flatten people in the same way she had been hurt and flattened, it reads as more true to her character. admittedly, the book is extremely long, and the pacing is slightly off; i was extremely interested in the beginning, lost interest somewhere in the middle, and then finally became extremely interested again near the end, but also the book felt like an entirely different story from the beginning?? however, by the end i had far more investment in some characters i initially didn't care so much for (as is so typical of srb!!). ended up looooving whatever the hell was going on with marius and the cobra (just googled and apparently the way they talk to/abt each other is rife w romeo + juliet and much ado abt nothing references???? INSANE), and loved the character arc lia went through. cried a little for some of eric's back story (this is a compliment bc i am on antidepressants and it is extremely hard for me to cry). i liked key in the beginning and then in the middle i was like why do i like you but then by the end i was extremely attached again and i must say i still absolutely love the relationship dynamics srb always delivers to us... sick twisted borderline hatred / scamming af --> willing to fucking scorch the earth for one person AAAAAHHHHH. srb is also still so good and hidden identities and plot twists... though i will say i kind of saw the final twist coming haha BUT JUST BC I SAW IT COMING DIDN'T MEAN IT WASN'T A FANTASTIC TWIST. i think srb MUST have been a scum villain enjoyer bc i def see that influence all over this, and i mean that in the most positive way possible. ALSO. the narrator for the audiobook was AMAZINGGGG they executed soooooo many extremely distinct voices for so many diff characters and pulled off so many accents w such excellent intonation.... fantastic. anyway. srb has done it again and i can't believe i read all of that lol that's probably one of the longest books i've read in like over 5 years but no one else would rly be worth it other than srb, so! looking forward to the next one!

lucia

Boy did I love all the side characters! It's not my favorite book, but I did have a lot of fun reading it. I'll more than likely read the next one. 

Emma Daniels

Wow this was a total sleeper hit for me this year!! I haven’t seen anyone talk about this book but more people should be! Such an interesting concept of falling into a story and finding oneself the “villain”. I was so engrossed from start to finish and the end had me devastated and both wanting and dreading (in a good way 😂) the second book. I love all the characters and loved how there was a good mix - a real band of found family. I guessed a little at the end but not all of it. My only qualms were that the author talked A LOT about literary devices to the point of repetition and made the FMC a little too dense when it came to her affecting the plot of the story. A great wild ride!

Katie Allard

This was a very strange book. I’m unsure how to rate it. I do want to give the author points for doing something different. 

In ‘Long Live Evil,’ our main character Rae is dying in the real world and is essentially given an opportunity to live by going into the world of her favorite fantasy series. And the story goes from there. 

I don’t know if enjoyed this book…. I feel like people will either like this or hate it. I am curious to see whether the story goes and what happens next. 

(I will say that I found the author letter in the Fairyloot letter to be very moving 🥹)

This was a very strange book. I’m unsure how to rate it. I do want to give the author points for doing something different. 

In ‘Long Live Evil,’ our main character Rae is dying in the real world and is essentially given an opportunity to live by going into the world of her favorite fantasy series. And the story goes from there. 

I don’t know if enjoyed this book…. I feel like people will either like this or hate it. I am curious to see whether the story goes and what happens next. 

(I will say that I found the author letter in the Fairyloot letter to be very moving 🥹)

Darkly funny and unexpectedly emotional. Who wouldn't jump at the chance to enter their favorite books and meet all their favorite characters? Except, when you enter as the villain, it might be difficult to get anything to go your way. This story is filled with adventure and intrigue and whiplash inducing surprises. It is self-aware in a way that gives real humor and heart to age-old tropes when it isn't flipping those tropes on their heads. I went into this story with as little context as possible and with unknown expectations, and got a dark romp through a fantasy world in turmoil with a main character confronted with her own mortality and morality. As someone who loves villains as much as our MC Rae, this was the perfect read.

Emma

4.5 stars

god this is going to give me the same book hangover as dark rise/dark heir and who knows how long i'll have to wait for the next book!! (provided there will be another)

very much enjoyed all the characters and the isekai element was great and incredibly fun. key is definitely my favorite character and i just want the best for him truly.

anyways i thoroughly enjoyed this and as always thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Mel &
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

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Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan