A review by teawiththefates
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

adventurous dark funny
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

I’m not sure I can get on board with quite this level of villainy - like, he’s supposed to be both “I enjoy torturing people” evil but also adorable when he starts to smile around Evie. But he only tortures people who “deserve” it so I guess that’s supposed to make it palatable?? Because he’s secretly a softie. A softie who uses the decapitated rotting heads of his enemies as decor.
I get that the King is the real villain, just like another trusted person in Evie’s life turned out to be a villain (and I assume that will be followed up on more in the second book) but I can’t get on board with the level of behaviour Trystan was willing to stoop to. Like, even if he only tortured the guards who came to try and assassinate him, why have “Scatter Day” and needlessly torment the interns who are on his side?? I think it was supposed to be funny??? I think I identified the most with Clare, and her consistent distaste and disapproval of her brother’s choices. And notably all the torture and really awful bits are off screen so we don’t have to dwell too much on how dark Trystan actually gets.

I want to specify, there were things I did really like: all the side characters, especially Kingsley, are so fun. And I know for some people this was an issue, but I actually really enjoy a vaguely anachronistic fantasy world. I think that’s why I was so disappointed, because I couldn’t just enjoy the book whole heartedly.


I don’t know, I just really don’t think this book was for me. The worst part is, while there are many moments in this book I was disturbed that the reader is apparently supposed to be okay with, the main plot is interesting and I still want to know how the story ends. I may end up  hate-reading the sequel just to satisfy my need to find out, but if I do I won’t bother rating it as I don’t see any reason to penalize the author for my choosing to read a second book I know I’m going to have problems with.

I honestly wish I could have enjoyed this more but as it is I feel very conflicted, hence the 2 stars (a rating I use for books I find too problematic to recommend to others).
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