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arcaneprism 's review for:
Assistant to the Villain
by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
This book is not for me at all. I can understand why people enjoy it and it is fun, but from the very start of this book I was struggling with it. Still, a lot of people enjoyed it so I kept going and I will admit, some of the dialogue made me giggle but overall it's just not an enjoyable book for me. I spent most of the time reading it complaining and even when I was nearing the end I kept considering DNFing. In the end I only finished it because I was so close to the end it felt like a shame not to finish up.
I enjoyed the dialogue, and the relationships and workplace dynamics between the characters are fun. It's not the heaviest read so may be enjoyable for someone looking for something light and easy. There are multiple individual scenes throughout this book that I enjoyed and some lines that I thought were lovely. However, there were many more things that I disliked about it that what I liked simply could not beat my dislikes.
First of all, I'll be honest, I feel lied to. This book was about her working for a villain but he's an anti hero at best??? Apart from killing and torturing people (while having morals about it) he did literally nothing villainous. There are villains in this book for sure but "The Villain" is not one of them. I expected a proper villain not.... this.
Second, the plot. While I understand that it's more on the 'cosy' side of things and is meant to be a slowburn there was something about the way this was written that really irritated me. I spent most of this book feeling like I'm reading a series of tropes strung together with a vague overarching plot hanging around in the background. This book gave fanfiction vibes to me and in this context I don't mean that in a positive way. To briefly comment on the plot twist, it wasn't one I was expecting but it did get me wondering if there were sufficient hints building up to it cause I didn't feel satisfied or delightfully shocked at the plot twist. I will admit though, that may be my bad. I may have missed the clues because of my general irritation at reading this. Also the setting??? I do feel like this would have benefitted from a superhero setting rather than a fantasy one but that's fine. My main issue was that I couldn't envision the world the author wrote. Some times it felt modern but then it was explicitly written to not be so the world I envisioned this taking place in was constantly shifting and again, I don't mean this positively.
Then there's the characters. I'll admit that Evie grew on me and I didn't hate her by the end but that doesn't really make her any less annoying? The vibes were off with her and facets of the way she was described feels so conflicting and I hated that she kept describing how hot the villain was. Like, okay. I get it. He's your boss tho??? Be professional. And the villain???? Okay so first I hate the spelling of his name - "Tryst" as a nickname doesn't read the way it was meant to I kept having to go back and reread every time they used it. I've already mentioned this but him not actually being a villain??? AND HES SO EDGY ABOUT IT !!! Every time he talked about being evil and soulless when we've not seen any evidence of him being that way I felt like I was reading the pov of an angsty teenager instead of a man in his late twenties. I also, above all, despise the way he talked about Evie. He was so absolutely insufferable in his pov about her scrunching her nose and being small and widening her eyes and I felt offended on Evie's behalf. I stand with Evie in short cute girl solidarity and I would despise being thought of and described constantly in the way the villain does it. The other characters were so much less insufferable and Kingsley is the shining star of this book.
So yeah, overall, I wouldn't call this a good book in any way and I absolutely hated it but I can see why people enjoy it. I will not be reading the rest of the series but I wish all the joy for everyone who loves this book and wish to keep going.
I enjoyed the dialogue, and the relationships and workplace dynamics between the characters are fun. It's not the heaviest read so may be enjoyable for someone looking for something light and easy. There are multiple individual scenes throughout this book that I enjoyed and some lines that I thought were lovely. However, there were many more things that I disliked about it that what I liked simply could not beat my dislikes.
First of all, I'll be honest, I feel lied to. This book was about her working for a villain but he's an anti hero at best??? Apart from killing and torturing people (while having morals about it) he did literally nothing villainous. There are villains in this book for sure but "The Villain" is not one of them. I expected a proper villain not.... this.
Second, the plot. While I understand that it's more on the 'cosy' side of things and is meant to be a slowburn there was something about the way this was written that really irritated me. I spent most of this book feeling like I'm reading a series of tropes strung together with a vague overarching plot hanging around in the background. This book gave fanfiction vibes to me and in this context I don't mean that in a positive way. To briefly comment on the plot twist, it wasn't one I was expecting but it did get me wondering if there were sufficient hints building up to it cause I didn't feel satisfied or delightfully shocked at the plot twist. I will admit though, that may be my bad. I may have missed the clues because of my general irritation at reading this. Also the setting??? I do feel like this would have benefitted from a superhero setting rather than a fantasy one but that's fine. My main issue was that I couldn't envision the world the author wrote. Some times it felt modern but then it was explicitly written to not be so the world I envisioned this taking place in was constantly shifting and again, I don't mean this positively.
Then there's the characters. I'll admit that Evie grew on me and I didn't hate her by the end but that doesn't really make her any less annoying? The vibes were off with her and facets of the way she was described feels so conflicting and I hated that she kept describing how hot the villain was. Like, okay. I get it. He's your boss tho??? Be professional. And the villain???? Okay so first I hate the spelling of his name - "Tryst" as a nickname doesn't read the way it was meant to I kept having to go back and reread every time they used it. I've already mentioned this but him not actually being a villain??? AND HES SO EDGY ABOUT IT !!! Every time he talked about being evil and soulless when we've not seen any evidence of him being that way I felt like I was reading the pov of an angsty teenager instead of a man in his late twenties. I also, above all, despise the way he talked about Evie. He was so absolutely insufferable in his pov about her scrunching her nose and being small and widening her eyes and I felt offended on Evie's behalf. I stand with Evie in short cute girl solidarity and I would despise being thought of and described constantly in the way the villain does it. The other characters were so much less insufferable and Kingsley is the shining star of this book.
So yeah, overall, I wouldn't call this a good book in any way and I absolutely hated it but I can see why people enjoy it. I will not be reading the rest of the series but I wish all the joy for everyone who loves this book and wish to keep going.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
Minor: Trafficking, Abandonment