(^^,)
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.
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.