Reviews with content warning for Child death - Assistant to the Villain

This is a hard book to rate. I really enjoy the concept and a lot of the plot points. An grumpy evil villain with a sunshine down on her luck assistant? Amazing! I think the issue is execution. The book is incredibly slow and any story advancement is basically in the last 50ish pages. The characters are also relatively flat and boring. Like Evie got a blip of development past the box she was shoved in during the last 5 pages. Becky and Blake are the worst examples of this because they're exclusively office suck up and the goofy guy. I tried to give this book grace because its part of a series but a lot of content could have been added to create context for a lot of things we're just like asked to believe. Like the Villian being a village terror (

he basically only beheads people who work for him, people trying to kill him, or anyone who disrespects people he cares about

), King Benedict being a "hero" in literally anyones eye??, or the lack of world building (where are they, how far away is the palace, is it like a fairytale kingdom or am I supposed to be imagined King's Landing from GOT?) This just needed more world building content, more contextual characterization, and a story restructuring for me.

Also when the Villian is like I love Evie! I literally closed my book and rolled my eyes. WDYM? This is a slow burn bro you aren't supposed to know that yet.

Content Warnings

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

This book felt unpolished. It had the makings of a fun story but it was way too long. I think it would’ve been better-paced if it had been condensed into novella-length; I felt myself getting bored and antsy with the slow-moving plot.

The characters also were kind of flat—they seemed almost caricature-ish in their personalities. I think this story could’ve worked better in another format, like a cartoon or a short comedic story. But it felt like the author was trying to write a romantic comedy, and it fell somewhere in between romance and humor. To me, it didn’t feel entirely like one or the other, resulting in a comedy that was dragged down by plot mixed with a romance that felt insincere and underdeveloped.

Overall, I was somewhat entertained and I think with some editing, it could’ve been a fun rom-com story, but it just wasn’t there for me.

Read if you like slow-moving, simple lighthearted comedies.

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dalek_caan's review

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book has a really drab start, and the characters begin exceedingly bland which makes the book hard to get into. Getting past the first half, however, the book picks up a bit in the second half, though in my opinion the drawnout buildup to the conclusion was mildly unnecessary and could have been filled with more useful content. As the reader gets to know the characters a bit more, there is some clever banter that's rather enjoyable. It's definitely a fun albeit somewhat gorey MG/YA novel that pokes fun at a lot of fantasy genre tropes while simultaneously falling into them.

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busyknitting's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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