(^^,)

Disclaimer: This is a review of an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC).

Onwards! To the moon!

I devoured this book.

I read quickly, much to to the chagrin of my partner and fellow book club members. Most of the time, when I read quickly, I'll glaze past some words or even whole sentences, as long as I could still understand the general setting and scenario.

Not this book, though. I ate every single word, curious about what would happen next in the story, what twists awaited, what challenges were incoming. I really like like I was on an adventure alongside them.

I felt for each character, truly. I think all of the main characters were well thought out and defined. Those who have read it will understand what I mean when I say both sides of the coin are dealt with properly. I think certain themes were handled with grace and fairness - there were heavy topics sprinkled throughout, and I'll admit, they shocked me but I think adding that unfortunate realism brought meaning.

Due to the setting there wasn't much required in the way of world building, but that's not a bad thing at all; The fact that the scenarios were carried out in different areas of the same "section" of the world meant it wasn't too difficult to place everything in my imagination. Just like you learn about the characters and watch their growth, you also watch the growth of the setting happen at a good pace.

As I write this review, parts of the story remind me a bit of The Uncanny Counter. I won't go too much into that, because spoilers and I'm digressing, but I absolutely adore that show, and adore this book all the same.

Thank you Frances, for writing this book. I apologise for reading the book so quickly despite you saying it took a while to write - but sorry not sorry, you wrote something amazing.

Also, what a cute ending. How dare you make me cry. Please don't tell Father I did.

Disclaimer: This is a review of an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC).

I'm not angry. I'm sleeping.

I missed this universe.

It picks up right after the first book. There's no breather, no time skip, just immediate gas. As with most books, I did have to revisit a few pages, remember a few names - but once I got myself embedded in the world, I needed to know what was going to happen next.

One thing I liked about the book is acknowledging how meta it is. Like in my first review, the series has all the standard transmigration tropes, and this theme continues with the good ol' "I haven't read this far ahead" trope...ish. It gives authors another ex machina for diverging from a "pre-defined" fantasy story, but it can be a double-edged sword in that one can't go too bizarre. I mean, screw it, you could, but beware the reader's wrath. Again, I personally love the general genre of isekais (and yes, even the one about someone who woke up as a Japanese vending machine), so I'm honestly not complaining.

That being said, I did not expect some of the things in the book and boy, did I enjoy those too. I should have learned after the ending of the first book. The writing was on the wall, but then again, fool me twice AND shame on me? Fair enough.

It was good to get more perspectives from the rest of the cast compared to before. It's easy for readers and even the main characters (for books in first-person MC perspectives) to forget that the world they've been thrown in is a living, breathing world, and people aren't just third-party characters who are there to string a story along.

I felt the writing was a little more serious, more mature this time round. I don't know if it's because Sarah started with YA novels, but Long Live Evil felt like it was inbetween YA and... A. It meant it was easy to consume, while still being able to discuss darker and stronger topics and introducing deeper worlds (at least for me). All Hail Chaos continued that movement, and I felt that the way they wrote this book improved.

Throughout reading it started feeling like I was watching a movie in my head, if that makes sense. It felt like how Stephen Fry narrated parts of the film version of A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - jokes sneakily inserted in the middle of pretty serious situations, delivered in a deadpan manner. I loved it.

Review and rambling aside, I really liked reading this book.

Oh, and Google Maps, how I missed you. You were worth waking up the neighbours with my laugh at a 3am on a Sunday.

hiss

I unfortunately have no idea where I was while reading this, and I don’t think the book did either. Like a certain snake, I started hibernating by the end of it.

The ending felt like one of those special deleted scenes you get in DVDs of films; roughly inserted as a “oh, we forgot to add this” entry.

The pacing… should have been better.

I do appreciate the snark of the main character - it strikes a balance between damsel in distress and damsel causing havoc.

That’s it, though, really.

You’re probably wondering why my thoughts are all over the place. That’s because that’s how the book is too.

bam-ba-ba-dam, shinee's back

I really liked this book. I really, really liked this book.

I'm so used to both the villainess and transmigration tropes being solely manhwa/webnovel only things (and yes, I had to figure out the difference between reincarnation, regression and transmigration), so finding out there was a western romantasy-villainess-transmigration book was exciting! (Also, yes, I know, the Venn diagram between villainess stories and transmigration stories is basically a circle.)

Anyone familiar with those tropes knows that there is a kind of formula that they all follow.

• "Where the hell am I?"
• "Hang on a minute, this wasn't in the source material!"
• "Argh, fine, I'll deviate (as if I wasn't complaining about it a few scenes ago)."

I can't lie, this book does follow the formula, but it didn't bore me at all. There were some twists and turns that I really didn't expect, but they didn't feel shoved in for sake of deviation.

I found the pacing of the flow of the book quite good, at least compared to other romantasy books; it's unfortunately too common for a romantasy book nowadays to be like a sports car in the winter: you spend 50 chapters trying to start the car, then suddenly it goes from 0-60 in 2 chapters. This book goes about balancing trying not to do that, and it tried its best at succeeding.

If you want to continue reading something like this and want a western source, try the "Oh God Not Again!" fanfic, by Sarah1281. It's on the red website.

For an eastern source, try "The Villainess Turns the Hourglass", or "Beware the Villainess!".

Disclaimer: This is a review of an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC).

Which plebian with a death wish is throwing dead rats through my window?

This is such a strangely wholesome book, and I needed this.

I really liked the story! It starts off with wit, a dash of bones, some crudeness but nothing out of place as you read about the characters and why they are where they are. Nothing unfounded, either - it becomes abundantly clear real fast that everyone has skeletons in their closet (or on their headboard, but spoilers).

The writing was pleasing to me: casual use of wit, a light mist of romance, a peppering of humourous yet awkward situations, and an overall level of snarky banter shared among the main cast that fit my taste just right.

It was very easy to feel the settings, feel for the characters as they develop to the reader, their interactions and feelings with each other. As much as the book cover greatly influenced by idea of the main characters, the book did well in describing them enough that I saw them as a mishmash of a cuter Karlach from Baldurs Gate 3 and a less gaunt V from Devil May Cry 5 in the end anyway.

I will say the magic system was interesting - I did find it a little difficult to understand how the necromancy worked in terms of finger movement, but I appreciated the realism and risks that came with that. It's good to utilise the practicalities when having a magic system - even if the equivalents of a system's mana may be seemingly infinite, one's ability to use them may not be.

It's fine for a book to have tropes but I feel the pacing of some major plot points forced the tropes nearer the end. An unexpected but fast use of Chekhov's gun, and a somewhat reverse deus ex machina for example. It caught me by surprise, but I'm not seeing them as bad things necessarily: their places in the story make sense to me and they leave the book with a really nice ending and some closure while leaving the story open for the next adventure.

In a sea of moody male characters with shadow powers and an ocean of female characters with a point to prove, there's more flavours of people than spicy or salty. Sometimes you need something sweet and filling, and this book is it.