Why we’re excited
Joslen, a poor village girl with a crooked back, is tired of being ignored and pushed into a bad marriage. So she asks the Scourge King, the half-demon who conquered her land, to teach her how to be wicked. He agrees, on the condition that she follows his strange rules and lets him pursue her.
Ruby Dixon is known above all for the Ice Planet Barbarians series, which found a huge new audience online. This is a standalone, so new readers can start here. Expect humour and heat in roughly equal measure, with a heroine choosing to become the villain.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about Villain Origin Story
Bull Moon Rising is the one Ruby Dixon book we have reviewed, at 4 out of 5.
At 400 pages it is about the usual length for a fantasy release this month.
From the publisher
A poor village girl enters her villain era with the help of the resident evil tyrant...
Everyone has their limit. Joslen just hit hers.
Life has never been easy for a poor, uneducated village girl, especially one with a crooked back that has some villagers muttering she’s been cursed at birth. But when things in Joslen's life go from bad to progressively worse, it fills her with intense frustration. How does she fight back against an arranged marriage and a lifetime of misery if no one will even listen to her? What's a nice girl supposed to do?
A brush with the handsome but dangerous Scourge King, the conqueror of her land, teaches her something important. It's time to stop being nice and start being ruthless. And the perfect person to show her how to be bad? The Scourge King himself, Vilos Saumien.
But the maniacal half-demon overlord has a few stipulations. If Joslen wants to be his apprentice, she needs to play by his rules. She must agree to obey his unhinged commands, keep him entertained...oh, and let him seduce her. It's clear Vilos loves the thrill of the chase, and giving in will mean her downfall. Now Joslen has to figure out how to navigate the poisonous court, learn enough magic to thwart her enemies, and keep Vilos wanting more.
Let the games begin!
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read Villain Origin Story yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
