This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain’s shoes, for an adventure that is both “brilliant” (Holly Black) and “supremely satisfying” (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue’s gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil, which is out July 30th 2024.
When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favorite fantasy series.
She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she’s not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor’s tale.
So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they’re doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor’s fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.
And in this scene, our scheming villainess and her newly acquired evil minion, an assassin turned bodyguard from the gutter, have just stormed into the throne room intent on escaping execution… and meeting our villainess’s favourite character.
Courtiers turned towards them like flowers towards a wicked sun.
Rae took a deep breath.
“Nervous?” Key asked.
“Well. Yes. But I can’t wait to see the king.”
Key seemed vaguely surprised. “Isn’t he about to execute you?”
“I love him despite the death sentence. He’s the handsomest man in the world, he’s funny, he has an enormous menagerie—”
Key smirked.
“—He has an enormous collection of cool monsters,” Rae explained. “He makes epic speeches, he wins unwinnable battles, he’s loyal past death, and he’s lonely.”
“Aren’t we all,” Key murmured.
The throne room was treasure laid out before her. Court officials lined up against the walls, but in her excitement Rae perceived them as simply gold-braided blue-uniformed wallpaper. The riches of Eyam had only been words to her, but now they were more than words.
A divine tragedy had occurred in this land. The very earth here was strange, and strange jewels and metals could be mined from it. Metal from Eyam could be wrought into enchanted weapons. Though few visitors travelled here, merchants came offering fabulous prices for what was known as orichal steel and orichal silver. The pillars of the throne room, as outside, were ruddy orichal gold. The walls and domed ceiling were lined in green crystal, facets tinged crimson, shimmering as though they were all trapped in a broken mirror.
The floor was hammered red-gold mosaics, showing the lost goddess
disappearing into the sun.
The master of all these riches waited to meet her. Even the air between her and the throne shimmered. Rae prepared to be dazzled.
She quoted the Emperor in the future. “Love is the song that wakes us from the grave. Death cannot stop my heart.”
Key sounded impressed but doubtful. “Love survives execution?”
She recalled an internet manifesto on why villains were better lovers. “Love burns down the world for a kiss.”
“Did you say, burns down the world for kicks?”
“Hush, minion,” Rae murmured. She only had eyes for the Emperor now.
The king’s throne stood on vast golden talons holding rubies big as dinosaur eggs. A minister stood on either side. One must be the prime minister and the other the commander of the king’s armies, though Rae couldn’t tell which was which. The throne was backed by a representation of raven wings, jet and red-gold feathers fanning out. The bird’s rapacious beak was enamelled with human bone. Diamonds and rubies trailed after the wings to signify sparks cascading against a lapis- lazuli sky.
Against the gold and glitter, the black of the king’s clothes made him stand out like a void opening up in the sun.
Rae hit Key’s arm in high excitement. “It’s him! I love him!”
“So you keep saying.” Key started to laugh. “Don’t strike me, I stab when startled.”
Here he was. The most powerful and merciless man in the world. The future Emperor. Rae’s favourite character.
An antihero was just a villain with good PR. The Emperor might sympathize with Rae. She’d always sympathized with him.
