Apprentice to the Villain (2024) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer is the sequel to her 2023 novel Assistant to the Villain, which became a New York Times bestseller and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. The series is inspired by Maehrer’s viral TikTok series that launched her writing career.

Both works blend the genres of adult fantasy with romantic workplace comedy, exploring the complexities of morality, power dynamics, and the blurry line between good and evil. Building on Maehrer’s signature subversion of fairy-tale tropes, this novel delves deeper into the relationship between heroes and villains, challenging traditional notions of justice and villainy.

This guide refers to the 2024 Entangled Publishing e-book edition.

Plot Summary

After the events of the first novel in the series, King Benedict of Rennedawn has imprisoned Trystan Maverine, the novel’s eponymous Villain, using enchanted chains that suppress Trystan’s death magic. As Trystan agonizes over the fate of his assistant, Evangelina (Evie) Sage, King Benedict cruelly informs him that Evie is dead.

After a week, the king stages a public event to unmask Trystan. At the unmasking, Trystan sees Evie’s body displayed in a glass coffin and loses all hope. King Benedict presents Evie as The Villain’s last victim, but to everyone’s shock, Evie rises from the coffin, very much alive.

Trystan and Evie escape the king and his Valiant Guard on Fluffy, a dragon cared for by Trystan’s dragon tamer, Blade Gushiken. Blade reluctantly admits that one of Trystan’s guvres, a pair of venomous magical creatures, is pregnant, which means that the first element of Rennedawn’s Story, a prophetic text, has been fulfilled.

They regroup at Trystan’s home, Massacre Manor. Using letters from her mother, Nura Sage, as a guide, Evie and Trystan travel to a cave to retrieve a vial of stardust. The cave’s monstrous guardian gives Evie the stardust, calling her the “daughter of wishing stars” (113) who will return.

Outside the cave, the Valiant Guards ambush them, but one knight turns on the others, helping to save Evie and Trystan. The knight reveals himself as Evie’s brother, Gideon, who was believed dead. Evie reunites Gideon with their younger sister, Lyssa, who was an infant when Gideon disappeared.

Evie and Trystan pour the stardust on Nura’s letters, which form a map pointing to Heart Village. Alongside Kingsley (a prince turned into a frog), Clare (Trystan’s sister), and Tatianna (the healer of Massacre Manor), Evie and Trystan head to Heart Village, but are soon captured by a theater troupe led by Evie’s cousin, Helena.

As they try to escape, Trystan and Evie accidentally break a window, flooding their underground cell with water. On the verge of drowning, Evie asks Trystan to kiss her, but he refuses, knowing she is intoxicated. Kingsley, Clare, and Tatianna rescue them, and Evie’s newfound ability to control her magic dagger telepathically helps them defeat Helena, who admits that Nura once stayed in Heart Village and gives Evie a pouch from her mother.

The pouch contains a piece of a broken picture frame from Evie’s childhood home. Evie and Trystan visit the house and share a passionate moment before being interrupted by Trystan’s brother, Malcolm. The brothers work through some of their past conflicts, and Malcolm gives them a picture of two young girls, one of whom is Nura.

Evie confronts her imprisoned father, Griffin, at Massacre Manor about the picture. After Evie stabs him in the thigh, Griffin states that the other girl in the picture is Renna Fortis and blames Gideon for what happened to Nura’s magic. Evie, furious, seeks out Gideon.

Gideon’s ability to suppress others’ magic allowed King Benedict to capture Trystan. As a boy, he unknowingly suppressed Nura’s magic to help her. One night, after he fell asleep early, Nura’s magic spiraled out of control, hitting Gideon and erasing his memory. Gideon blames himself for the loss of their mother.

Lyssa accidentally teaches Fluffy to breathe fire, resulting in part of Hickory Forest burning. Evie wonders how they will enter Fortis Fortress to find Renna. Becky Erring, The Villain’s HR Manager, admits that Renna is her mother and warns them that the fortress is full of hidden dangers. Evie and Trystan travel to the fortress with Becky, Trystan, Evie, Tatianna, Clare, Blade, and Kingsley. While the fortress seems happy to see Becky, sentient plants on the property capture Trystan and drag him to the Trench of Anguish, where he is forced by the hands of destiny to relive his most traumatic memories. The hands whisper that meeting Evie will be his downfall, just as he will be hers.

Back at the fortress, Renna reveals that Nura died, leaving only a vial of stardust behind. Becky left her family after Renna and King Benedict attempted to steal her magic. The group flees when they learn Renna is still collaborating with the king and that the Valiant Guard is coming to arrest Trystan. Before they leave, Renna gives Evie a crystal slab that once belonged to Nura.

Returning to Massacre Manor, they find the wards have fallen, and the Valiant Guard is engaged in battle with the residents. The Guard has already captured the female guvre, but the Villain’s allies manage to drive off the Guard. During the chaos, Griffin escapes, locking Lyssa in his former cell. Lyssa accidentally drops Nura’s vial of stardust on the crystal slab, transforming it into a piece of the midnight sky with a single star.

Evie and Trystan return the slab to the cave guardian, noticing that the once vibrant route is now barren due to fading magic. The creature places the slab in the sky of the cave, and the star transforms into Nura Sage, who reveals that she has been watching over them all along. As the cave collapses, the creature sends them away.

Back at Massacre Manor, Trystan distances himself from Evie, fearing he will be her downfall. Determined to avenge those who have manipulated and confused her, Evie vows to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, Gideon begins to suspect that the villain from the prophecy is not Trystan but Evie.