Scott's Take: Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan is a book I would not have gotten except for the fact that when I was scrolling through Libby the cover made me take a look at it. There was a blurb comment attributed to Leigh Bardugo that she liked it. I like Leigh Bardugo’s books, so I picked it up.

 

This first book in the Time of Iron series is a strange read with a lot of metafictional elements making fun of adult fantasy novels. In this novel, a woman who is dying of cancer is given a second chance at life by going into a book series she has somewhat read. Without spoiling the read, there is a way for her to come back to the real world and be well, if she escapes into the fictional series and does what she had to do. This is not explained in the book synopsis.

 

So, she goes into the fictional world and ends up taking over the body of a villain that is going to be executed. She thinks that by paying the role of a villain, and using her knowledge of the series, she can find a way for the bad folks or, at least the bad woman she now inhabits, can win. This is also not really explained well in the book synopsis. I think the book synopsis does a bad job of explaining the book, but a good job of describing elements of the book.

 

There is humor, action, adult sexual content, violence, and more, as this book weaves through multiple perspectives until its abrupt end. This is a read that I think you will enjoy more if you have read a lot of these kind of fantasy novels. There are jokes that one character makes that another does not like, such as calling his horse, Google Maps, since it never gets lost.

 

It gets weird since it’s a book about someone becoming part of another book, which is changing the original plot line of the book that the real person got inserted into, which also gets even weirder because of spoiler reasons. Having a normal person interacting with fictional archetype people is a big part of the fun. The next book,  All Hail Chaos, is already out and I have put a hold on it through Libby. 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/432zZpW

 

 

As mentioned, my reading copy was a digital read through the Libby App and the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple © 2026