Long Live Evil is the first book in the Time of Iron series, the adult fantasy debut of Sarah Rees Brennan, published by Orbit Books. A portal fantasy proposal that reads as a letter of love to the classic tropes of the genre, parodying and twisting them, with an amazing cast of flawed characters, giving the spotlight to those great forgotten in fantasy: the villains; prepare yourself for a great story with a dose of humour.

Rae is dying of cancer, an illness that has destroyed her life; but when she thinks all is over, she's offered the opportunity of entering her favourite literary world. A bargain with a mysterious woman that will allow her to continue her life if she's able to retrieve the Flower of Life and Death, but which will condemn her to a life in Eyam in the opposite case; but what's her surprise when she discovers she's in the body of Lady Rahela, the evil stepsister that will be executed the next morning. As she wants to succeed in her quest, she will gather a team of villainous characters in order to aid help, escape that destiny, and change their lives forever.

With this premise, Brennan proceeds to draw us into Rae's journey from the real world to Eyam, taking advantage of Rae being a young modern adult to play with her character in ways to introduce modern slams and anachronism into the fantasy world, turning this novel into a really fun piece, one that will make you laugh while keeping you glued to the page. As Rae has a fragmentary knowledge of the story, she will try to use it in her favour, embracing the villainess of her character, and attracting companions to her band of morally grey-almost black characters; but I feel her best moments come always accompanied by a surprise, such as the number with the Cobra (I don't want to spoil this part, you need to experience it).
Now, I want to take a moment to also give a shot out to how Brennan has represented through Rae's story the struggles and suffering that many people experience with cancer, from the own shattering diagnostic, to the hardness of chemotherapy, to how the family is affected with it. An excellent case of how representation matters in fantasy.

Not only Rae is a memorable character, but the rest of the clique accompanying her are well fleshed; I personally grew fond of Key, as our little small psycho has many memorable moments, but I think many people will also enjoy Cobra and, especially, Lia has more layers than you could expect. It is true that many of the fictional characters are created to fit a role into the Time of Iron world, but even in those cases, Brennan gives them enough freedom to be surprising.

Eyam itself is an homage to classic fantasy, having all the elements you could expect for this genre, but it also includes some places as the abyss which feel as a reference to the hero's journey figure. The pacing is a bit weird, as meta fiction interrupts many times the normal flow of the story, but I think that's intrinsical to this kind of story; said that, I stopped many times because the one-liners are extremely good, as Brennan's prose work is excellent.

Long Live Evil is a great and fun homage to fantasy, a love letter to it sprinkled with humour and which also puts the spotlight on the villains; it feels as the answer to a question of why villains attract. Sarah Rees Brennan has crafted a marvelous adult debut, and I can't wait to see how Rae's story continues.