3.5
NetGalley ARC

Reminds me of Descendants - over the top drama with teens living out a real fantasy ren faire as villains.

The last 10% really brought up the rating for me.

I really struggled with the very modern, colloquial language used - not just by Rae, but by everyone, at times it was cringe. There was also an almost “silly” OTT vibe to the book. Because Rae wasn’t taking anything seriously, I couldn’t either.
I felt the multiple POVs unnecessary- Rae and maybe Eric would have been enough.
I liked the overall idea and plot, especially the twist at the end, but the tone/writing style wasn’t for me.

As a big fan of Sarah Rees Brennan, I was so excited and thankful to win this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Getting to read this one early was a real treat.

Having said that, I think this was a case of a book not hitting right for me. The humor didn't quite land, but for someone that it does I think this would be a fun read. Romantasy readers in particular will get a lot more out of this than I did. There were a lot of times where I could tell something was intended to skewer a trope or character archetype, but not being familiar with this particular sub-genre it didn't hit. Also since the entire premise of the book is a commentary on the romantasy genre, there isn't much nuance with a lot of characters. Many of them are more archetypes of their roles and don't begin getting fleshed out until much too far into the book.

The book also has pacing issues and can be a bit repetitive at times. The pace really takes off about 70% of the way through the book and races to the end from there. That's too long for your average reader to stick with it if they're not otherwise enjoying the read. It is the first book in a series and very much felt like a set up to the overall story rather than a fully fleshed out book of it's own. I did really enjoy that last 30% though and I will be back for book 2. ( )

I received this novel from Orbit Books through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.

Deciding to DNF a review book is never an easy choice for me, since I always feel an obligation to fully read the ARCs that publishers make available to the blogging community, but in this case the struggle to keep going proved to be too hard: Long Live Evil is not a bad book in itself, but it turned out to be the wrong fit for my tastes, and to be something different from its premise and promise.

Rae is a young woman dying of cancer: while she lays in her hospital bed, her younger sister Alice keeps her company by reading aloud from her favorite fantasy series, Time of Iron, a saga over which the two of them bonded despite the differences in age and reading tastes: where Alice prefers the positive characters, Rae always had a penchant for the series’ villains and the sisters often debate the various merits of the two sides of the story. One night, a strange woman materializes at Rae’s bedside with a strange proposal: to cross over to the fictional realm of Time of Iron and collect a special flower that will cure her. Once she crosses into the fictional world, Rae discovers she’s impersonating Rahela, the arch-villainess of the saga, and she proceeds to collect allies and minions to avoid her impending execution and to fulfill the task that will ensure her survival.

As a premise this sounded very intriguing, with the promise of poking some fun both at the general themes of fantasy literature and at the tropes typical of YA sagas burdened by purple prose. Unfortunately the execution, at least from my point of view, fell quite short of its mark: for starters, there is a huge amount of info-dumping due to the necessity of acquainting the readers with the overall story of Time of Iron, and with the individual stories of the various characters - this of course considerably slows down the narrative, and since it happens very often, it soon breeds annoyance and impatience for the plot to move forward. Which does not happen, at least as far as I managed to read…

Also, it does not help that what promised to be a tongue-in-cheek humorous delivery does not feel like it: in my opinion the book tries far too hard, and in so doing defeats its own purpose. An example? Every single character, besides their own name, sports a moniker - and for the most part they sound either goofy or absurd - so that the plethora of characters is further saddled by these nicknames that always, always accompany their mention. After a while what little amusement I could derive from that swiftly evaporated.

As I stated, this is clearly not the right kind of story for me, and despite my negative outlook I’m comforted by the fact that the overall reception for this book is positive, so that I feel a little les guilty in expressing my unpopular opinion…. ( )

This book is a very weird experience to read.

On the one hand, the book series within the book that fans are supposed to be so rabid about is... very fond of over-the-top language. It's florid and extreme and since I don't really find it appealing, it's hard to buy-into it as a fandom. There are also, as another reviewer has mentioned, some really cringe moments.

On the other hand, it's some really powerful storytelling, and there's something about it that just kept me coming back. I also really appreciate how the very flat characters develop over time, which makes sense given the plot structure. I had no idea about Brennan's cancer diagnoses and journey, and I'm so glad she is surviving. That authenticity certainly lends a lot to the book as well.

Weird, but very original and surprisingly addictive.

Advanced reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

An adult fantasy isekai about loving stories and sometimes their villains by one of my favorite authors?? I'm snarling, foaming at the mouth, pawing at the dirt for this release