Long Live Evil Readalong: Day 2!

Stunning photo by @aaliyahsbookshelf._!

Hey fairies!

Welcome back to day 2 of our readalong for our August Adult featured book: Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan!

I hope you’re all enjoying the book so far! I am so excited to see what happens today!

Today we’re reading from chapter 8 to the end of chapter 14. Let’s go!

---

Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan from chapters 8 to 14. Please only read on if you’ve finished this section!

-!SPOILERS!-

Oooh ok, the Cobra’s story is very different to Rae’s. He changed the story, when he entered the book the Cobra didn’t even exist. It’s weird how the real world version of the story changes in time with this version… does that make sense? 👀

Bless his little heart being worried about whether readers like him ok! 😂😂😂 He’s quite shocked to learn from Rae that he is, in fact, a villain. And even more shocked to learn his best friend, The Last Hope, will kill him.

Not one for subtlety, he calls Marius right over. Before he can confront him though, Rae spills the beans that Marius dies too… that didn’t happen in the version the Cobra read which means at some point his actions have changed the course of the book. Guess he technically kills him too then?

Rae needs to steal the King’s key to get the flower and the Cobra is willing to help her do it, but he doesn’t want it. They discuss the book to work out a plan and then The Last Hope arrives!

The Cobra really doesn’t know how to play it cool, hey? He immediately mentions that Rae prophesised that Marius would kill him. I can’t help but think the Cobra’s confused about their friendship cause they don’t SEEM like best friends to me????

Oh, Marius goes for the jugular and even tells him they were never friends. Is this like a story shift that Rae caused or has he just been faking friendship the whole time? So weird!

Anywho, Marius doesn’t buy into the Cobra’s promises that he’ll stop being a villain and vows he’ll uncover his and Rahela’s plan!

Speaking of villainous plans, Rae needs a way into the ball and is attending a ladylike day of archery in an attempt to do so. These girls hate her though. Hortensia and Horatia are really wearing their hearts on their sleeves!

Rae gets interrogated again when Princess Vasilia arrives – I feel like all these interrogations would be easier if Rae had read the book like she said she had!

Oh Rahela’s sister is here too! They all come up with a rather brutal forfeit, whoever loses has to leave the palace. A risky game – if Rae loses that’s her life lost too, she’ll have no shot at getting the flower.

She does hit a bullseye, but the challenge isn’t completed andddd it’s for good reason. Ghouls. They’ve already killed and ripped out the heart of a guard.

What’s weirder is Rae comments on how the story is going off the rails, she’s sure this wasn’t supposed to happen until the end of book one. She’s got to have altered something somewhere right???

They’re short of help, with only Karine, Vasilia’s guard, and Emer to help. Emer has moves though!

They manage to get to safety temporarily and Key finally arrives. Rae seems very happy to see him too, and not just because of the ghoul situation!
The King barges in and their safety comes to an end. Poor Karine is lost to the battle but the cavalry is here and honestly, the whole thing just turns into drama central!

Rae’s very fearful of being left alone with the King, after failing to predict the attack it’s looking quite clear she’s a fraud! Instead of coming clean, she decides to keep up the charade and tells him she CAN tell the future but the timeline can sometimes change in small ways that can be hard to predict. Nice save!

King Octavian orders Key to hang back and her fears are realised. She’s alone and inexperienced. She’s also finding it harder and harder to navigate things without actually knowing the story.

The King is certainly a cheeky devil, he makes a valiant attempt at trying it on with Rae but she uses the excuse that she can’t betray her sister, Lia, and manages to evade it. He does, however, tell he she’s not going to the ball. Welp. Plan B Rae?

When she returns to Key he’s VERY eager to know why she didn’t bed the King, clearly Rahela’s reputation differs somewhat to Rae’s! She changes the subject and tells him all about her latest scheme which involves costumes… and a great escape…? Confused and intrigued!

I’m starting to like Key more and more as the book goes on! Not so found of the sound of this Cauldron though. It sounds BRUTAL.

They both head into the Night Market and when Rae realises they’ve walked into the Death Day festival, she wishes Key a happy birthday. She WILDY misinterprets him when she asks him what he wants and ends up kissing him when what he really wanted was money. The awkwardness doesn’t last for long though ’cause Key is pulling her back in for another smooch!

Rae starts to think that her and Key might be more alike than she first realised, but when she voices that… she doesn’t get the answer she expected.

She has a theory that like her and the Cobra, Key might be real and may have walked into the book… but he has no idea what she’s talking about.

---

Gosh we are IN IT NOW!

Do you think Rae’s done something to change the story? It seems really weird that things are starting to happen out of sequence!
How do you feel about Key? I do have mixed feelings considering he told Emer he doesn’t plan to uphold his oath to Rahela!
Rae keeps mentioning how the characters aren’t real, but I think there’s more to it, do you have any theories?

Can’t wait to hear what you’re thinking! Catch up with me in the comments about today’s section and I’ll see you tomorrow for day three!

Love,
Shannon