Assistant to the Villain

Perfection. This is funny but also deep, this is complex but always understandable and fast paced, this is the dragons golden egg of fantasy and i adored it! 

To begin with we have this really interesting set up where Evie is the assistant to the villain and the villain is essentially a corporation except his company goals are less revenue and more heads dangling from the ceiling in the foyer. It’s such a breath of fresh air to read a fantasy book that doesn’t center around being a hero, Evie is a willing assaceory to a villain but she is doing it because she needs the money which is such a good villain arc motivator. The question isnt asked directly in the book but i really do think that some amazing analysis could be done of this book connecting with the real world and the realties of supporting evil for money if you work in a big corporation despite doing it for good reasons. I really love how this book isnt just a boss/assistant romance set in a shifty fantasy steryotypical world this is thought through and actually works on a deeper level than just you know that the steryotypical pseudo European fantasy world looks like despite having relatively few settings outside the Villains office. 

Evie herself is a ray of sunshine and i loved her. In a world of kick ass FMCs who sass back constantly and have the maturity of a unripe tomato she was so nice to read about because she was sensible and funny and interesting as a character beyond the plot. All of the characters (Kingsley included you little adorable frog prince!) were so interesting and easy to grasp i feel like i could fall right into their world. 

The romance had me giggling and it was just so so good that I already have the second book that i cant wait to get started on!

World – 4.5/5 – this is not the heavy duty epic fantasy worldbuilding but i loved the world and atmosphere so much I cannot dock points because this is a five star read and I don’t always need to be able to write a disatation on economics of a fantasy world after reading it!

Characters – 5/5 – yes, yes yes! Even the office rulemaker has depth and i loved it. 

Romance – 5/5 – trystan has joined the list of February’s literary valentines and he works so well with Evie their combo is *chefs kiss*

Plot – 5/5 – that cliff hanger? I’m sorry but when did i sign up to have the next week exclusively blocked off for aprentice and acomplicing a villain??

Romance Rating: Sweet – described kissing, make out scenes but goes no further than kissing on or off page.

Violence Rating: Level 4 

Content Warnings: Evie does have a past of sexual harassment at work