Time of Iron

About the Time of Iron series

Alexa has spent her whole life being trained by prophecy to save the world from her evil twin sister -- until the day the prophecy is fulfilled, the world is saved, and Alexa promptly gets murdered by the sister she just spent a book defeating. She wakes up in the body of that same villainous sister, Alexandria, with all of Alexandria's power, all of Alexandria's enemies, and none of the moral high ground she used to take for granted. Long Live Evil (2024), Sarah Rees Brennan's adult epic fantasy debut, is built on that premise: a chosen-one heroine forced to live as the monster she spent her life fighting, and to decide how much of Alexandria's cruelty she's willing to use to survive.

All Hail Chaos (2026) continues Alexa-as-Alexandria's story as she tries to hold together a kingdom she never wanted and a body she's still learning to wear, while old enemies -- and the family of the sister whose life she's borrowing -- close in. A concluding third volume, Kill Your Darlings, is scheduled to complete the trilogy. Brennan brings the same wit and morally tangled family loyalty that defined her YA work to a considerably darker, more violent adult register here, trading teenage sorcerers for full-blown fantasy-kingdom politics.