Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Assistant to the Villain

The beginning of this was choppy. I struggled to relate to the characters. By the end however, I was invested. There were some things that irked me and I know shouldn't like the word "robotic" in a world that seemed to be tech free save the "bomb". I liked the premise and have high hopes for the second installment

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wickedgrumpy's review

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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.

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notsobinaryart's review

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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.

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lilawsahar's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I breezed through this book trying to figure out if the villian and sage would realize they’re in love, why did the villian hate the king, who was the leak!? We got all the answers but I’m not satisfied hopefully the second book will add more clarity to the situation.

I’m glad that the villian realized he’s in love but Sage is still in the dark. Hopefully she figures it out while she goes to rescue the villian. Next, I still don’t understand why the king was trying to control the Villian. What are his motives? Also what is he doing with the monsters? Is he trying to find a cure? Is the king actually bad? Lastly, I CANT BELIEVE THE DAD WAS THE MOLE!! Wtf. And I can’t believe he sold his daughter to the blacksmith. He is actually a villian. I hope the daughter tortures the shit out of him.

Also no spice!! The second book better have that too!!

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