[NOVEL] Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

NOTICE TO STAFF: There has been a disturbing increase in cheeriness, sprightly behavior, and overall optimism of late. Please resume your former dark, ominous terrors at your earliest convenience. ―Mgmt

Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain. Who would have thought that working for an outrageously handsome (shhh, bad for his brand) evil overlord would be so rewarding? Still, the business of being bad is demanding, the forces of good are annoyingly persistent, and said forbidding boss is somewhat…er, out-of-evil-office.

But Rennedawn is in grave trouble, and all signs―Kingsley’s included―point to catastrophe. Something peculiar is happening with the kingdom’s magic, and it’s made The Villain’s manor vulnerable to their enemies...including their nemesis, the king.

Now it’s time for Evie to face her greatest challenge: protecting The Villain’s lair, all of his nefarious works, and maybe (provided no one finds out) the entire kingdom. No pressure, Evie.

It’s time to step out of her comfort zone and learn new skills. Like treason. Dagger work. Conspiring with the enemy. It’s all so…so…delightfully fun.

But what happens when the assistant to The Villain is ready to become his apprentice?

Assistant to the Villain series. Book 2

With the first book I could be forgiving, but the second book should do more, but it did less for me. I still like the world, no matter how small and empty it actually is, if you truly dig for it, and I like the wit of the characters and the banter and also I'm not against of what happened in the end and the reveal. But it felt like the book needed more work? At least it's in my case.

I only like Kingsley more and more.

My problem #1. The world still feels empty. This one I was forgiving about in the first book, but it actually feels empty. Even if we hear about places and visit them, but mainly the world and how it was built feels a bit underdeveloped. Maybe mainly it's the descriptive problem. A lot of the time the scenes will switch really fast but they still feel like they could have some work done and have more description to give an idea of what is happening, to fill the scene more. And I point it out because so many times the two main characters will have at least three passages about their untimely pining for each other.

My problem #2. Pining that never stopes. I think the author used too much of description of how they want each other and how they affect each other all the time. Don't get me wrong if the man I was interested in would be near me I would be well aware, but when it comes to untimely situations I still think it would be more organic to pour out different emotions. And most importantly, too much tension is not great, by the middle of the book when there was finally progress I honestly was already mad, like you can't be seriously making them come closer, almost having scenes where they're plastered together and then do it all over again before they finally make that last step. And we don't talk about something more than simply kissing. That tension was so overworked that when things happened I was just tired how mispaced these antics were.

Problem one turns into problem two. Since the world and the plot don't have much filling, a lot of it is replaced by the pining. This turns into my problem number three.

My problem #3. Due to pining the plot stumbles on its way. The pace of this book felt so much slower. I felt like nothing was happening, because we had too much attention on "emotions". Honestly, I think with this amount of text we get that they love each other to death, it's destiny, it's like they saw each other and it was that magnetism and them working together opened this new path. But honestly because they had so much time, the plot had less time. I still feel weird that everything that happened were like.. three trips to different places and the final, fourth one was what mattered. The first trip was okay. Though beats me every time how are they found by Valiant Guards, like we're def in the movie where they know how to enter the scene. The second trip to the Heart Village did nto move me. That scene in the basement was weird, like they were supposed to be underwater, but there were windows and they smashed one and water poured in so they could drown, but then Villain's sister and the healer appear in that same window? Like my brain was catching on the mechanics so much. The third trip too. Although has such a potential with so many magical flowers and stuff, but I couldn't care less about Becky's mother motivation since she barely had the chance to explain herself or showcase it somehow, like there is no intrigue in that place before the Valiant Guards come and boom we find things out.

My problem #4. More said than done. A lot of things suffer from this. I like when authors showcase some things through actions, it is more interesting to pick things up, but sometimes it's more of the what is said and not what is done case.

/SPOILERS/

I'm surprised this will have at least 4 books. While I think the content could have been either shortened or expanded. Like okay the content of the first book was the mystery of who betrayed the villain. It is cool to find out that there is a magical ink that can help to copy what is written in the journal, thus there was no direct traitors, there is only one unknowing one and that is Evie, who was betrayed by her father. So also because it's the first book I was forgiving of some obvious flaws. The content of the second book is how we save the Villain from the king who is all about the Rennedawn profecy. And what the prophecy reads is as follows:

The person who saves the magical lands will take fate's youngling well in hand; when fate and starlight magic fall together, the land will belong to you forever. But beware the unmasked Villain and their malevolent dark, for nothing more dangerous than a blackened good heart.

Meaning that we already know that Evie's mother, who should not be dead holds the starlight magic, so sought by the king. We know that guvres mated and now await their child, which is basically the above mentioned youngling and fate, since these creatures are super magical. Villain is of course Trystan with his dark magic, while the last bit.. is Evie. Her journey is full of thorns, her path is full of betrayal from her father and disappointment fro others, like she is so tired of seeing the hurt, just because the king has his own plans, so her heart is blackens with all the advercities. I actually am quite fine with how this part played along, we start from this prophecy, we start from the cave with a weird godly creature, but we also end with the same prophecy realising what it means. Though it sounds cool, but mean little to me right now, like what are the mechanics, how things should come together.

Anyway, I was a tad bit disappointed with how it turned out. Maybe someone was expecting and they are loving all the love going on, but I only felt like there should be time and place for everything. I lacked depth to events that shaped our characters of what they are.

PS: I have a weird moment when I wanted them to react strongly, the moment we realize Lyssa basically is a little kid who helped her father escape, she is unprotected kid who believed her manipulative father. But she did not face any consequences.. So she was found in the dungeons, but honestly instead of being all sloppy she deserved to have some sense talked into her instead of people acting like they're afraid to hurt a little girl. You can't protect her forever, sometimes it's even worse than anything else. You raise the stakes so high, so much shit was bound to that magical creature, but the girl did not get even a raised voice. I'm against any other sort of dealing with this situation, but it felt like nothing matters eventually.

I start to like Kingsley more and more though. One fun frog.

/-/

RATE: 3,25/5. I'll be honest. I was threading through this and it shows, since I managed to read two novels in between. I basically started this on 3rd of January, next day after the first book. Got 1/3 down. Got to the middle yesterday or so and actually finished the second half today, because at that time it felt like it finally picks up... not really.

I'm not saying that their romance is utterly bad and they should downsize, it is a slow-burn and there is a lot going on, they both have reasons to stay away though they can't, but I wanted something outside of this couple too. Even if it felt like things happened but our attention is always brought up to these two.

Also not mad at the multiple POVs, though it basically was needed to put into perspective what things happened back at the manor and what happened with the main cast.