Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Assistant to the Villain

This book is AMAZING!! I ended up speeding through the second half of the book because of how intense it got!! This author has done a great job creating loveable and memorable characters! The plot of this book is amazing, and the plot twist at the end was insane. I did not see it coming at all!!!

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rustbeltcoastie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I laughed out loud multiple times. This is morally grey hero done right, not just thinly-veiled abuse and toxicity masquerading as devotion. I’m starting the next one right away.

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anniemay011's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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edgybutfemme's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was absolutely excellent! I think this is a book you will either love or hate depending on whether the humor lands for you / if you like a funny narrator and tone overlaid on what otherwise would be incredibly dark and dire circumstances. I feel like more than any book I've read in a long time, there were truly just so many funny one liners. If I had stopped every time that I thought something was particularly clever or funny to read it out loud to a partner like I usually do, I genuinely would have been stopping every other page and, well, that's just too often to interrupt their reading with my reading. I had to ration myself on only a few pauses every few dozen or so pages instead.

The Romance
Evie and Trystan are honestly everything I love in a romance: constant bickering and relentlessly horny mutual pining. They just work so well together, and bring out the truest versions of each other. I love that Evie is able to gain confidence in herself and find someone who sees her as the brilliant, stubborn, competent, and deeply kind person that she is. She's also allowed to be clumsy and need things and no longer feel like she has to hold the weight of the world on her own. Trystan, the absolute marshmellow of a murderer that he is, is able to be a person with Evie, instead of just being The Villain (tm): the terrifying larger than life figurehead. He is allowed to be vulnerable and funny and show that he does actually care rather a lot about his people. Don't get me wrong, these two main characters are cheerfully down for torture and murder. The villain makes a habit of throwing employees he doesn't like off the parapet. They (usually, mostly) deserve it and he does it way less often now! Evie is really softening him and he hates it. Also, for such a funny and lighthearted book, their backstories go hard as hell and I am deeply emotional about them both. Despite how generally Horny and Unhinged they are about each other, I will say the relationship is definitely a slow burn.

Backstory / Plot Spoilies:
Evie:

Oh my goodness this poor woman has really been through the ringer. Even though I had my suspicions about her dad, everything about the climax and falling action of this book had me so fucking mad on her behalf. Evie had the major trauma of losing both her mother and brother so young, then spent her childhood raising her sister instead of being a child herself. As a big sister with bad parents, Evie's backstory and relationship with her sister Lyssa had me DEEP in my feelings. Also, extremely proud of her for getting to kill at least one of her abusers, her former boss absolutely deserves to have his head hanging from her rafters.

Trystan: Background:

My boy! My sweet little murderer! He is afraid of the dark! Because he spent a whole month! Locked in the dark with no human content! Which was so traumatic! That it unlocked his absolutely deadly powers!

I love a fucked up little guy, okay? He's like Meghan catnip. Family:

I absolutely love his complicated relationships with his siblings and father. This book really gets into the spectrum of the type of people that can come out of bad homes and is big on differentiating between who is worth and isn't worth reconciling with. I really really like Malcolm though, and I have a feeling Clare will come around with time.

The Plot / Worldbuild
Honestly, this is one of the more plot heavy book series that I've read in a hot minute. The worldbuild is deeply fun and somehow manages to straddle the perfect balance of humorously zanny while still taking itself seriously enough and clearly having actual thought put into it. This book does a good job introducing a wide cast of characters, the world, and putting in place the larger overarching plot of the series. The best part for me was how well the romantic plotline and the high stakes fantasy adventure was woven together.

The Side Characters
I adore every single one of the side characters in this book. Even Becky. You are going to meet Becky and be like "Meghan, even Becky?" Yes, even Becky! She grows on you, I swear! She's a nightmare HR person, but she's their nightmare HR person. Other side characters to love include:

Blade: the charming dragontamer (
~~who definitely didn't pad his resume~~
)
Kingsley: Trystan's ~~best friend~~ frog who humorously communicates in single words via held up signs
Tatianna: the eternally pink-adorned healer who makes you pay for healing with secrets
Lyssa: Evie's adorable and mischievous baby sister
Edwin: the delightful ogre baker/chef that keeps them all fed

And seriously so many more, both ones talked about more in the spoilers above as well as many many less frequently on screen side characters. This evil organization is one big found family of weirdos and I absolutely adore them.

Okay! I have rambled way longer than advisable, which is absolutely what happens when I write the first book review at 3 am only after finishing the second book (and after discovering the joy of writing reviews on a laptop like an adult or something). I am likely going to halfass the second book review as a result but if you got to the end of this very long review you should probably just go read the books now!

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espurrr's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book started out pretty silly, but then it gets so good. The characters are better developed than I expected. The plot is also surprising and fun.

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slanderstar's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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