A review by bzliz
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

2.75

Edit: This book was so mediocre it put me in a 2 month long reading slump. It is ideal for people who don’t love reading. 

—
Original review:

Evie needs a job so it’s a happy coincidence that she comes across an injured man in the forest who happens to be The Villain, notorious across the kingdom for his dastardly capers, and he just so happens to be in search of an assistant. She quickly becomes indispensable to the operation of his manor office and she’s the only one he trusts when they discover there’s a spy among them passing plans to the king. 

As soon as I opened the book and saw the map, I knew I needed to adjust my expectations. I thought there would be more grit, gore, and higher stakes but no, it’s very cartoony. It has the same vibes as Ella Enchanted (movie, not book) of modern mixed with light fantasy. There’s next to no world building or character development and it’s heavy on dialogue, light on description. The characters voices are pretty similar so much of the banter, though fun, felt similar to every other conversation. The “big” moments feel like the TikToks so I started to feel like we were in a compilation very loosely held together by interim scenes that had little significance overall. 

My favorite character was Kingsley, which is kind of a bad sign and no, I’m not sorry for that pun. Evie was very forgettable and blah. Her main personality traits are nice and clumsy and her biggest “flaws” are her honesty and naïveté. The Villain was also pretty non-villainous the whole time. He grumbled a lot about murder and made little quips about violence but he rarely acted on any of it that we got to see. We didn’t get to learn about his traumatic origin story until waaaay too late so I had a hard time believing in his mission. 

All that said, I did read it in one sitting and I was entertained. The twist of the traitor got me (because we didn’t get the chance to play along with the clues. Evie did is all in her head). I appreciate the content warnings page up top and I think more books should do this. If there is a follow up, I probably will read it and hope the author has grown to give the world and characters more depth. 

Content warnings:
Blood, violence, death (on page):
This book is about the “bad guy’s” side of the story. They are explicitly on page but feel pretty cartoony in my opinion.

Body horror (on page):
Severed heads hanging in the foyer, people having their skin melted off by a magical combination that spits acid. Scenes are pretty brief.

Chronic illness (on page):
a plague called Mystic Illness is going around the kingdom and either kills people quickly or they live with the effects for years and years.

Abandonment (off page):
The Villain’s father was away a lot until after he’d grown too much to develop a relationship. He harbors negative feelings about this because he feels his father left his children behind in favor of everyone else.

Child death (off page):
Evie’s brother is killed by an outburst of their mother’s magic. This is mentioned once or twice but doesn’t impact the story much at all.

Sexual assault (off page):
Evie’s previous boss propositioned her and when she refused his advances, he attempts to assault her and stabs her in the shoulder with a magical blade. She feels shame about the incident and never told anyone what happened. We find out at the end of the book that her father was going to accept money from her boss in exchange for her “company,” akin to sex trafficking.
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