dalek_caan 's review for:

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

3.25

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Torture