Starred Review ALA Booklist (Fri Dec 06 00:00:00 CST 2024)

Starred Review Rae is dying. She was head cheerleader and head bitch in her high school, until she started to forget things and could not keep up with her classmates. Lying in her hospital bed, her only escape is a series of books that she and her sister love. The characters are all beautiful, but complicated; the rules of the world are strict; and Rae is a bit in love with the hero. When a mysterious woman shows up at her bedside and tells Rae that she can enter the book and try to complete a mission that might mean a cure in the real world, Rae, half in a daze, wanders into the series. But when Rae wakes up, she is in the body of the main villainess of the work, due to be executed the following day. Rae decides to lean into her natural-villain powers, creates a whole team of villains, and plots to achieve the mission. Readers will laugh at the absurd situations and revel in all of Rae's successes. Brennan's adult fantasy debut is two great stories in one: the romantasy in the background and Rae's adventure in the foreground.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Dec 06 00:00:00 CST 2024)

A young woman with cancer is presented with a fantastical opportunity to save herself in this adult debut.Rachel Parilla is sick. Very sick. She used to be a cheerleader. She used to take her younger sister, Alice, to conventions for Alice's favorite book series, Time of Iron, a melodramatic epic fantasy in which characters like the Iron Maid and the Golden Cobra have bloody adventures and torrid love triangles in the magical land of Eyam. When Rae was getting her first cancer treatments, Alice kept her entertained by recounting the plot of the first book in the series. Soon Rae became a fan herself, but her aggressive cancer makes it hard for her to hold a book, let alone read it. One day she wakes in her hospital bed to see a strange woman who has an even stranger offer: She can stay in her own world and die of cancer, or she can embody a character in Time of Iron, find the magical Flower of Life and Death, and come back to a cancer-free body. Rae scoffs at the idea, but lo and behold, there is a door waiting for her-and when she opens it, she finds herself in the body of the books' infamous villainess, Lady Rahela, the Beauty Dipped in Blood, immersed in the world of Eyam. Rae's adventure begins with tremendous wonder, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments as she revels in the fun of being a fictional femme fatale. But as Rae gets closer to her goal, Brennan brings the people and the world of Eyam to vivid, often heartbreaking life with such incredible skill that readers will be even bigger fans of Time of Iron than Alice.Absolutely wonderful.

Kirkus Reviews

A young woman with cancer is presented with a fantastical opportunity to save herself in this adult debut.Rachel Parilla is sick. Very sick. She used to be a cheerleader. She used to take her younger sister, Alice, to conventions for Alice's favorite book series, Time of Iron, a melodramatic epic fantasy in which characters like the Iron Maid and the Golden Cobra have bloody adventures and torrid love triangles in the magical land of Eyam. When Rae was getting her first cancer treatments, Alice kept her entertained by recounting the plot of the first book in the series. Soon Rae became a fan herself, but her aggressive cancer makes it hard for her to hold a book, let alone read it. One day she wakes in her hospital bed to see a strange woman who has an even stranger offer: She can stay in her own world and die of cancer, or she can embody a character in Time of Iron, find the magical Flower of Life and Death, and come back to a cancer-free body. Rae scoffs at the idea, but lo and behold, there is a door waiting for her-and when she opens it, she finds herself in the body of the books' infamous villainess, Lady Rahela, the Beauty Dipped in Blood, immersed in the world of Eyam. Rae's adventure begins with tremendous wonder, and there are many laugh-out-loud moments as she revels in the fun of being a fictional femme fatale. But as Rae gets closer to her goal, Brennan brings the people and the world of Eyam to vivid, often heartbreaking life with such incredible skill that readers will be even bigger fans of Time of Iron than Alice.Absolutely wonderful.

Publishers Weekly

YA author Brennan (In Other Lands) hooks readers from page one of her spellbinding adult debut. Rae, who has cancer, delights in having her sister Alice read from their favorite fantasy series, Time of Iron, in her hospital bed. One night, she dreams of a mysterious woman from the world of the series, who offers her a cure. All Rae has to do to be cancer-free is enter the books and pluck the Flower of Life and Death. But if she fails, she’ll die in her earthly body and wind up trapped in the story forever. Rae takes the deal and is transported into Time of Iron—in the role of villainess Rahela Domitia. Arriving in medias res, she must evade execution or risk dying in both worlds. Brennan has a lot of infectious fun with her meta conceit, and as Rae interferes with the plot she knows so well, the stakes ratchet up and the story takes some unexpected turns. Readers won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough. (July)