This review contains spoilers for all books in the Assistant to the Villain series.
The third book in the “Assistant to the Villain” series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, which is a young adult, romance/fantasy series, was recently released, and it did not disappoint.
This series follows Trystan Maverine who is the villain and Evie Sage who starts off as the villain’s assistant after a chance encounter, but she moves up in the ranks and in this book is promoted to accomplice.
Evie and Trystan are working together with the rest of the villain’s staff to stop the king of their kingdom, Rennedawn, from fulfilling the prophecy that would give him immense power, but it comes at a cost for the rest of the realm.
As the prophecy unfolds and truths come to light, the lines of who the real villain is become blurred.
Altogether, “Accomplice to the Villain” was added to the series with familiar characters and plot from the first two books, but it added so much depth and great moments to the series.
To start off, the relationships between the characters were truly able to grow in this book. One of those relationships is between the villain and his accomplice. The development of their relationship alone is one of the reasons that this book is my current favorite in the series.
The two of them are a great example of a slow burn romance. Their feelings for each other are annoyingly obvious to everyone, but still, they are fighting against what they are feeling, especially Trystan.
With prophecy about Trystan being Evie’s ruin hanging over his head, he tries to push her and his feelings away in order to protect her. However, Evie doesn’t make it easy. This leads to many cute scenes where Trystan lets his feelings before he tries to push her away again.
Despite his best efforts, he is unable to control his feelings, which shows just how deeply he cares about her. This appears to put an end to the slow progression of their relationship that was happening in the first two books.
The relationship between Evie and Trystan wasn’t the only one that had some development, but it was definitely my favorite one that did. There are other aspects of the book that added to its charm too.
One of those aspects is all of the shocking plot twists. Specifically, the major plot twist at the end. For a little context, Trystan has power known by many as being death itself. This has made him feared by many and made his life as whole a little more difficult.
Therefore, when it was revealed that Trystan’s powers aren’t actually his, and instead they are Evie’s, that added a whole new element to the story. I can’t wait to see how it will be explored in the next book.
Overall, this book is a fantastic addition to the series that adds so much to the first two books while also setting up the next book to potentially have some unique and interesting aspects.
