A review by cclift1114
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

I really loved just how unique this story felt. Sure, having the villains be the star of the story has been done. Sure, everyday people entering a fantastical world has been covered. However, doing both in the same story and being so playful with things was so refreshing after reading quite a few books that seem to just recycle the same tropes over and over again. It was fun to see Rae enter this book that she has read and think she has everything figured out, only to have the story change because of her actions. I loved seeing how she grew and changed her perspective over the course of the novel. It gave me the brain tingles to see how things she thought she knew from reading the book actually turned out to be completely wrong, especially as she discovered the complexity of other characters. And, to top it off, I appreciated the humor. To have Rae (and others, but no spoilers) use modern day language and customs with characters from a more medieval fantasy novel, it was fun to see how they negotiated meaning. Plus, I loved the references that Sarah Rees Brennan makes to other media, such as with other books that Rae has read, or even a character thinking that another character is so vain that they probably think the song being sung is about them (but in different verbiage). My only issue is that she left off at that point. That’s just mean to leave us on a cliffhanger like that.