Rae enjoys the Time of Iron series. What she initially dismissed as one of her sister’s ridiculous fixations ends up being a lifeline when she gets a fatal diagnosis and has to distract herself in the endless waiting rooms and endless tests. She is especially attracted to the series’ villain, the Emperor. Not because of his psychopathic murderous tendencies. That’d be weird. But he has all the anger that she has. Her boyfriend and best friend hooked up. Her father left. Her mother’s in debt paying her hospital bills, and she’s in constant pain. Physically and emotionally. 

Then the series becomes a literal lifeline when one of the characters’ offer her a chance to live. Get the magical Flower of Life and Death and she’ll be cured. 

Only when she’s plunged into the world, she is inhibiting the body of the story’s villain, a harlot named Rahela and she’s to be executed the next morning! No one is going to make it easy for her to get the flower. But hey, when you’re cast as the villain, it only gives you more opportunity to build up a ruthless army to get what you want. 

Now take this review with a grain of salt because I don’t read much dark fantasy, and after reading this I realize I don’t like it that much. From the premise, I expected that there’d be some cool meta-commentary on the genre and it’s tropes but because Rae only got started on the book she doesn’t have much knowledge of the world or it’s character much less be able to subvert it. She does use somethings to her advantage like knowing prophets/prophecy are a big deal so she escapes her execution, but otherwise it’s just confusion. 

Confusion, confusion, confusion. I felt like I was dropped into the world with Rae and it was even more disconcerting as the novel would jump between Rae’s POV to those of characters within the novel who obviously believed themselves to be real and not fictional like Marius, Emer etc. I get Brennen would have wanted to use the alternate POVs to immerse the reader in the ToI world but as I barely had a grasp of this cast, it felt distracting and could have been saved for the second book. 

But when it was focused on Rae’s POV because I enjoyed the tension where Rae leaned into Rahela’s evil harlot characterization when it was for her advantage and showing the intoxicating freedom of being the bad guy with no rules to follow. But there’s also the point where Rae is simultaneously struggling not to give herself away as an unknown intruder from another world and becoming too into her character. 

But just as Rae tries to keep her lies in line, it’s interesting to see how she is actively changing the story. This is best exemplified with her rivalry with the virginal, princess heroine Lia and how it points to the binary and often sexist presentation of female characters in fantasy. 

Another character that seems to be changing the story is The Golden Cobra who is simultaneously the baddest bad with a tragic backstory that makes him sympathetic and understandable and I. . . I didn’t like it. He reminded me too much of Rhysand from the Mass’ ACOTAR books where he does heinous things but it’s justified because he’s actually good all along and doesn’t realize how badly his actions are perceived. 

I like Rae’s villainy better because she hasn’t crossed the line of burning entire villages and those good intentions, bad execution has consequences for her outside of fearsome reputation. I also liked Key, Rae’s murder-happy bodyguard/lover who is peak villain and loving it. He thrives on the bloodshed and you shouldn’t like him but he’s just having so much fun, it’s enjoyable. 

It has other staples of the genre like plenty of gore, and fighting and scantily clad outfits but no sex because everyone’s too busy with bloodshed and as Rae gets further sucked in, you can see Brennen painting out the joy of fantasy escapism while trying to gently point out the negative messaging (see Lia/Rahela complex, and actually dating the villainous Emperor as opposed to fantasizing about him, not so fun). It’s a love letter to the genre and if I was more familiar with it beyond knowing it has medieval dragons I might have been impressed by the subversions Brennen sprung out in the end.

For me, I simply had more confusion. It was all so dramatic and constantly shifting alliance and worldbuilding that I don’t think I’ll continue.

3 stars.