*NOTE* This blog contains a spoiler-free overview of the book for those who have not read it yet but want to decide if it’s right for them. At a clearly marked point, we will shift into a review section that does contain spoilers. Proceed as you see fit.
If you’re on BookTok at all, you may know all about “Assistant to the Villain” by Hannah Nicole Maehrer. What many of us first saw as series of humorous TikTok posts has become a best-selling, incredibly popular fantasy novel. And after months of having it sit in my TBR pile, I can finally mark this one as “Read” on Goodreads!
So now, I can confidently tell you that you’ll love “Assistant to the Villain” if you’re into:
- Mostly light-hearted stories
- The idea of “The Office,” but make it fantasy and turn the boss into an “evil” villain
- Villains with sympathetic motivations
- Dark humor
- Light fantasy with solid world-building and accessible/ understandable rules
- Morally grey characters
- Literally falling in love with a villain
- Mutual pining
- Grumpy/sunshine dynamics
- Slow-burn romance
- Quick reads
- Dual POV
I cannot wait to talk about this book with all of you! But first, here’s an overview of “Assistant to the Villain” for those who haven’t read it yet and want to see if it’s up their alley. (Don’t worry! We’ll give you a spoiler warning before we give anything away.)
Spoiler-Free Overview
“Assistant to the Villain” brings us into a very accessible fantasy world where a young woman named Evie finds herself working for her kingdom of Rennedawn’s dastardly Villain. She’s a little clumsy and quite literally falls into the role — an opportunity she can’t pass up since she has to support her ill father and young sister. (Apparently good, safe gigs are hard to come by in Rennedawn.) Evie’s mom and brother are not in the picture anymore, and at first we don’t know why. Of course, we find out later and of course, that’s a very sad story, but all we know at the start is that she’s got a lot on her shoulders.
She finds she’s quite good at being the Villain’s assistant, and she comes to love her job. She finds friends in her coworkers Blade the dragon trainer and Tatianna the healer, and even a frenemy in Becky, who works as office manager/HR manager of sorts. A professional life at Massacre Manor seems to be pretty great, despite their boss’s murderous, vengeful tendencies.
The issue is that someone keeps thwarting the Villain’s plans and making attempts on his livelihood. And that just won’t stand. The Villain tasks Evie with finding the traitor. This means the two of them have to spend even more time together, which is a little complicated because she is definitely starting to catch some feelings for her boss. And then it gets even more complicated (and delightful) when we realize that those feelings might in fact be mutual.
This book has a lot of humor and heart, but also covers a fair amount of trauma in it’s characters’ pasts. It’s mostly a light and fun read, but it also has a good amount of weight to it. I think it strikes a great balance, though. Let’s get into how exactly Maehrer does this, but beware of spoilers ahead!
SPOILER WARNING! My Thoughts on “Assistant to the Villain”
I found “Assistant to the Villain” to be a delight. It was a bit slow at first, but still a super fun read from front to back. I thought it was going to be a bit of a palette cleanser since it was so humorous and easy to read and the page count was lower than a lot of the other books on my shelf, but then it ramped up to an amazing payoff! If it had stayed a chill, kind of cozy read all the way through, it still would have been great, but I was pleasantly surprised by the route it took.
The backstories of our main characters (and many supporting characters) were filled with traumas that I thought were explored with care. It made sense that the Villain and many of those around him would be disenfranchised and want to take down King Benedict and his ilk. The establishment caused harm to so many of our favorite people in this story, so naturally we are rooting for that establishment to fall, and the Villain is therefore justified.
The twists and turns this book took were so effective. I suspected the traitor wasn’t someone we knew well and loved, because I just trusted all of them so much. So really, any reveal would have been surprising and upsetting to me, but the truths about Evie’s father were devastating in the best way. The fact that this man lied about an illness and could have supported his daughters at literally any time, but just didn’t, was a super effective gut punch. And when I thought it couldn’t get worse, we find out that he sold his daughter out to the despicable man she used to work for? I loathe him, and I felt the rug pulled out from under me as much as Evie did. Talk about a true villain!
Speaking of villains, I adore Trystan. What a guy! I want to give that man a blanket and a warm beverage and protect him at all costs. He’d never let me, but that’s okay. He’d probably let Evie do it, and that makes me so very happy. I loved his chapters and his perspective, especially because of the insight it gave us into how he sees Evie. It shows us that he respects her, which is key when we’re exploring a potential love story between an employer and employee. That can get less-than-chill really fast because of the power imbalance, but it doesn’t in this case.
That love story left me wanting more in the best way. Maehrer found a way to satisfy us a little bit without plunging our MCs into a fully-fledged romance. There’s so much potential there, which is one of the many reasons that the ending broke my heart. King Benedict can go lick rust as far as I’m concerned.
But I’m so excited to see Evie come into her own and save Trystan. I truly think she’s gonna make a great villain herself and once she’s more Trystan’s equal and less his employee, I think the love story is going to play out more. Again, Maehrer is doing a great job of planting those seeds of genuine affection and respect and keeping them apart until they’re on more even ground and I’m really enjoying that. I can’t wait to dive into “Apprentice to the Villain” and see if my predictions are right!
So, what did you think?! Let’s discuss in the comments.