Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Assistant to the Villain

honestly? it was quite nice, won’t lie.
a literary masterpiece? no, but nice.

HOWEVER IVE GOT A BONE TO PICK AND THAT BONE IS ENDING BOOKS IN A CLIFFHANGER !!!!

babes, I’m a med student that’s so close to finals I can feel them breathing down my neck WHEN IN THE LIVING HELL I AM WILL I GET TIME TO READ THE SECOND PART??

that said…

Dearest authors,
PLEASE don’t end your book in cliffhangers like this. I ASSURE you that if I like the book I’ll gladly read the whole saga even if it’s a nonsensical mess. PLEASE. IM BEGGING (like trystan lol)

Yours dearly,
Maria.

Edit:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SECOND PART IS OUT AUGUST 8???! Honestly, f-ck every author that writes such cliffhangers. I’m tempted to rate it one star now.

Content Warnings

laurao's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

I’ve never read anything like it before, but it’s not my usual genre.

For a romance novel, there is surprisingly little coupling off. But, there is so much internal monologue about being interested in being a couple, that there’s little room for world building. Despite mentions of windows and lamps, it felt like the characters were running around in a black void. They never even explain the magic systems.

Content Warnings

simmonsj's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.25

A middle-of-the-road fantasy romance with a fun twist - the side of the Villain. Evie Sage needs a job to support her sister and I'll father. Serendipity lands her a job as The Villian's assistant, hired to help manage his nefarious plots to damage the King.

It was fun to see how the author made gore, torture, and murder light hearted, but that's really how it read. I actually liked those parts, that this is just the daily life of a Villain and it's all a little hum drum. I liked Evie Sage, she doubts and debases herself at times but does grow through the novel and has moments of fun feminist bad@$$ery. She stands up to people just fine and can disarm through her supposed innocence. She's also learning that she really doesn't mind the torture and villainy like she knows she's supposed to.

The plot is fine, it leans more towards romantasy than anything else. The romance is very, very slow burn but kind of cute. Many of the thoughts of the two characters got repetitive though. The backend plot is finding a traitor - without the relationship/romance/Evie growth pieces, this plot would have been drawn out way too much and been disappointing. The ending was good as far as learning the identity of the traitor, which was a surprise for me, but it also leaves several unanswered questions, wide open for the sequel coming in August.

The writing lets the book down some. I lost track of how many heads "whipped back" and how our Villain had muscular thighs, a strong chest, and eyes to fall into. We get it, he's lovely, move on. The last quarter of the book picked up speed and had less repetitions.

Overall it was a fun little foray into the world of Villainy and a little romance. Nothing too striking but an easy read and a little getaway book. While one should note there is torture, gore, and murder in this book (and talk of it. A lot), it is treated rather lightheartedly. Oddly, it reminds me of something Mel Brooks would write a movie of - quirky murder in a fantasy village and with a love story tied in.

Content Warnings

dinahquinn's review

Go to review page

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

I actually didn’t guess the twist until close to it happening which a nice change up. There’s definitely hints before, but not the “hints” that are really a brightly lit billboard.

Content Warnings

abicaro17's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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

wickedgrumpy's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

2.5

It had promise but ended up lacking. The pacing felt awkward, the pining was uninspired, the world building was confusing.. I could go on, but it wasn't a bad book. Doubt I will continue the series.

Content Warnings

notsobinaryart's review

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

A fun and easy read, but I had some major issues with the book.

It’s a fun concept, showing The Villain being not a bad guy and having a sweet bubbly girl working for him. The characters are overall charming, and you do root for them even when they do less than ideal things.

The book was long, having unnecessary scenes that serve as fun little moments without furthering any obvious plot, which can be fine but don’t seem super well edited. The book is very on the nose, which isn’t bad for an easy read, but don’t expect some earth shattering revelations, new concepts, or major twists on any tropes. The characters weren’t super complex either, and we mostly only get surface level insight into the characters until we get a few moments of insight to their trauma, often in an info dumpy way.

One of my biggest issues is with some ableist tropes is at the climax of the book.

In the end, you find out the sick disabled father was faking it all along. Not only is he faking, he’s faking to further his villainous intentions. This stereotype further perpetuates that many disabled people are actually faking it, which is incredibly harmful towards public perception of real disabled people. I am extremely tired of disabled people, even fake disabled people, being the villain, especially if it’s a direct tie to their villainy. Almost every disabled person has experienced ableists questioning their disability perpetuated by these harmful tropes.

If you’re looking for a fun read, it can be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book.

Content Warnings

wonderingintothevoid's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

More...