Long Live Evil

After her whole life collapses, Rae still has her books. As she is dying, she accepts a magical bargain that gives her a second chance at life inside the world of her favourite fantasy series. She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom close to war, surrounded by dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character, the Once and Forever Emperor, who is as alluring as only a character in fiction can be.

Then she learns that in this story she is not the heroine. She is the villainess in the Emperor's tale. Rae decides she can live with that, since the wicked have better clothes and better one-liners, even if they are doomed to bad ends. She gathers the story's very different villains under her own evil leadership and sets out to change their fate. But the body count climbs and the Emperor's fury grows, and Rae and her allies may not live to see the final page.

This is Sarah Rees Brennan's debut adult epic fantasy, and it puts the reader in the villain's shoes. Her band of villains includes an axe-wielding maid, a shining knight given to dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.