Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
Rating: 
Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.
Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.
I tend to be very cautious with hyped books. Still, the concept of Long Live Evil sounded interesting, an “isekai” type of book where the main character is transported to another world, in this case to her favourite book series, for which she hasn’t read the first book. She comes in as the main villain of the story.
The easiest way to describe this is that it is an anti-trope trope book. It will grab as many tropes as possible and turn them on their head, with my favourite being the main spoiler and therefore one I cannot say. But all I can say is that it was such a wonderful twist and I cannot wait to read the next book!
The characters are amusing, starting with Rae who is tired of living a life of being sick and walked over. Well, she might as well make the most of being the evil villain in this story to her benefit because then she can make the most out of the dreamy king who will be the emperor. We also have her cast of minions, Key who is as evil as evil can be and in for the money and the promises made to him from Rae. But then there is also Emer the maid who does not care to be evil but somehow ends up being made to, Cobra (who has his interesting secrets and chaos to bring in). And finally Lia, who is the heroine, the perfect pearl who can do no wrong.
It kept me laughing a lot, but at the same time it holds a lot of moments of heavy thoughts, starting with the fact that Rae has cancer and this is partly why she ends up in the world of her favourite series. There is also a lot of chaos particularly because she is toying with the book, she doesn’t think there are any consequences since it’s “not real” and this approach makes for questionable decisions on her part that may bite her back later on, but at the same time, she is trying to save herself, and find a better life as she feels like there is little hope for herself and hates seeing her life the way it is.
Overall, the chaos is good and a refreshing change from many other books recently published. It turns things around and yes, it may not be for everyone, but if you like chaotic funny books that deal with heavy topics in a relatively “light handed” way (none of it felt badly done but rather more of the type of humour of someone who has seen hell and can only laugh now about it).
One final thought is that it made an interesting point on what exactly defines a strong female character, by the many female characters in it and how each shows their reasons and work.
I highly recommend you read this book because it is worth the journey!
