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Will be gushed over in May Reads pt 1

**TL;DR**: I haven’t laughed this hard at a book in a hot minute. Definitely not for people who don’t like humor or sarcasm in their books book definitely for me.
**Source**: NetGalley, thank you so, so much to the publisher!

**Plot**: Davi is stuck in a loop of ‘Wake up and try to save the Kingdom, die a horrible death, wake up and try again’ and she decides she’s going to do the opposite. Madness follows.
**Characters**: I really enjoyed this cast. Davi is our strongest character, but everyone was fun and I enjoyed seeing them react to the madness that follows Davi.
**Setting**: Loved the world, I am excited to see more of it in the upcoming books.
**Magic**: The detail on the magic is light, but intriguing all the same. I would be throwing back those magic stones like candy.

**Thoughts**:
How to Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying is going to go down as the funniest book I read in the first half of 2024. I can’t say something else is going to come along later, but I highly doubt that. This is the story of Davi who was isekai’d (transported) to another world. She woke up in a pool of water, and told ‘You’re the Chosen One’ and taken to train and save the Kingdom. The problem is that that was about 1000 years or so ago and Davi has died and been reset to that beginning more times than she can count. She’s gotten almost to saving the kingdom, died horribly and reset. She’s only gotten down the road a ways, died horribly and reset. The biggest problem being, the world resets and behaves almost exactly the same each time. Can you imagine your mental state after this? Because though she only remembers a handful of things of her life on Earth - she definitely remembers all the lives and deaths and torture she’s gone through as the Chosen One. This time she decides, she’s done. She’s going to become the Dark Lord this time and say screw it. Thus begins our absolutely bonkers adventure.

Davi is crude, rude, and a bit ruthless if I’m going to be honest. I loved her of course - don’t get me wrong. Unfortunately, I can see her not working well for a lot of readers. She’s been through hell and back more times than she can actually count so as far as I’m concerned she’s probably allowed more than a few passes. She meets and makes friends with a lot of unexpected characters, my favorites of course being Tsav, Mari, and Droff. The story is told entirely in her PoV so we’re along for every pop culture reference she remembers, each time she dies and resets, and the moment when she finally realizes her life is actually changing course for a change.

The book, in the last third really starts to change things up, and for me it left me even more excited for the next book. I cannot wait to get my hands on the physical of this and to read that next volume. This was irreverent, hilarious, gross, and all around a blast of a time. If you enjoy pop culture references (I know it’s not one everyone does), and comedy in your fantasy you have to give this a try.

5 out of 5 Stone Eaters because I want so many more of those guys, they were the best.

Wexler’s latest book thrusts readers into an uproarious fantasy journey led by Davi, a protagonist whose quick wit and sarcasm quickly win over audiences. The tale begins when Davi crosses paths with Tsav and her group of orcs, laying the groundwork for a story packed with clever scheming and surprising partnerships.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I assumed that the book would be a fun cozy fantasy. And I think it still might be fun for some people but I wouldn't classify it as cozy.

For me it almost read like an Urban Fantasy but in a High Fantasy setting.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying has some things that some readers will like more than others:
1. Breaking the fourth wall. The main character talks to you all the time. Which in a way makes sense with a title like "How to...".
2. Footnotes. There are A LOT of footnotes. And yes the MC talks to you in the footnotes too.
3. Modern references (Netflix, pop culture). I'm not a fan of those but if you are, there'll be a lot of easter eggs.
4. Sexual content. Not a smut level but present.
5. High amount of F-bombs. Especially in the first chapters, a little less the longer you read.

I wanted to love this book so bad but I think it just wasn't for me. I hope the book will find its audience :)

DNF @23%.

This book had a lot of things going for it when I first picked it up. For one thing, I’ve really enjoyed all of the books I’ve read from Django Wexler in the past, including his most recent trilogy which just finished up a year or so ago. So he’s an author I’ve read recently and enjoyed. Secondly, I typically enjoy fantasy novels that take a comedic, tongue-in-cheek approach to storytelling. T. Kingfisher, for example, is one of my current favorite authors, and all of her books have a distinct humorous aspect to them. All of this to say, when I actually started reading this one, I had high hopes. But by the time I’d finished the last page (a feat unto itself, honestly), those hopes had thoroughly crashed and burned.

I can see the bones of a good story here, and I know that Wexler is a capable author, able to create unique worlds and people them with characters with whom readers can become invested. However, this book seemed to fall into one simple problem in almost every arena: excess. Take any single good idea, but then see that thing multiplied by a million. This applies to every area, but the first and most obvious has to do with the humor itself. It simply doesn’t let up! It’s joke after joke after joke in what quickly becomes an exhausting exercise of pure endurance. The reader is never given the necessary moments to really sit with the characters, to take any sort of breath and find a reason to actually care about the people and what they’re going through. Instead, it’s just a barrage of quips and takes.

One clear example is the use of footnotes. Now, I think this technique can be very successful if used well. But one of the key parts, in my opinion, is knowing exactly when and how to use a good footnote. Here, not only did these fall into the same category of used to excess, but the notes themselves were simply the same sorts of jokes found in the narrative. There was no rhyme or reason to why certain quips warranted a foot note and why another would simply be inserted into the body of the story.

Other than the sheer amount of humor that was packed into this book, much of it failed to land on its own merits. I don’t consider myself prudish by any means, but right off the bat, many of the jokes felt overly crude and crass. At many points, it felt like shock value was being prioritized over actual humor, and I found myself cringing more than anything through much of this.

As for the plot mechanics, I liked the overall idea of a “Groundhog’s Day”/video game scenario where whenever the main character dies she “respawns” at the same starting point and must make her way forward from there once again. But this quickly became tiresome, and in the beginning of the book, much of this history is simply presented to the reader, something our main character is already resigned to. Again, the reader has very few opportunities to truly become invested in her situation.

By the time I finished this book, all that remained was sheer exhaustion. I know that Wexler can write good fantasy; I even know that he can write humorously, as most of his novels included good, quippy characters who made me laugh. I’m not sure what went wrong here. It’s almost like he set out with the goal to right a comedic book and got so carried away with this one feature that he left out all of the rest. I honestly can’t recommend this one to most readers. Perhaps if you read the first page or so and the style of humor is working for you? But for most readers, I think this is a severe departure from the quality of Wexler’s previous books.

Rating 5: The jokes didn’t land and there were too many of them; a very disappointing read.

(Link will go live June 1 on The Library Ladies blog)

(Jason from The Good Place voice) Oh, Sir Terry, we’re really in it now!

Here’s the thing: I should’ve loved this book. While I’m mixed on Guardians of the Galaxy, I love a good time loop story. I especially love Happy Death Day and its sequel Happy Death Day 2 U, in which a snarky, sex-positive 20-something navigates a time loop that ends each time in her grisly death. I love an isekai, and I love irreverent fantasy. What went so wrong here?

The issue, I think, is that Django Wexler fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of a time loop. We care about Tree from Happy Death Day because a) there are tangible stakes to her repeated go-rounds (mild spoilers: each time Tree ‘dies’, the physical effects of her previous ‘deaths’ begin to compound - making it unclear how many more ‘lives’ she has before this loop is her last) and b) Tree learns from her loops. I’m not just talking about the plot, although it is incredibly satisfying to watch Tree begin to learn the patterns of when car alarms will go off, or when certain characters will pop up from dark corners. No, more importantly, Tree grows as a character and as a person. The same can be said for Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day, or Finn in “The Hall of Egress” episode of Adventure Time. You have to learn something. Otherwise, why are we even here?

And why are we even here? All How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying knows is oversexualized protagonist, stab, make Netflix reference, say “fuck”, and die. Holy fuck, is our main character a lot. Davi is from Earth, but she’s been living in this time loop for 1,000 years. She doesn’t remember where on Earth she was from, exactly, but God knows she remembers those Lord of the Rings references. This entire book reeks of someone whose sense of humor never matured past eBaums world. It’s exhausting. Does anybody remember that semi-viral “Chronicles of Rick Roll” project? I hope you’re ready for a Leroy Jenkins reference in 2024!

(If this author is allowed to make outdated internet pop culture references in a published book, it is my god-given right to make different, equally outdated references in a snarky review of said book.)

As many other reviews have noted, this is a book that suffers from absolutely critical levels of Man Writing Woman Syndrome ™. Davi is a bisexual woman. She’s also lecherous, hypersexual, predatory, promiscuous, emotionally immature, and, at times, comes across as a downright nymphomaniac. This is a character who spends the first quarter of the book completely naked; who, in the middle of a hostage/torture situation, thinks about what it would be like to get head from her snake-woman torturer; who mentions her ‘gory tits’ every few paragraphs; who observes an enemy-turned-ally’s “impressive rack” immediately after surviving a battle to the death; who brags about her ability to turn a straight woman gay.

Look, I get that Davi is an antihero. I get that she’s lived hundreds of lives, and her experiences with sex, violence, and torture have eroded her empathy. I get that she has a crass, cavalier way of thinking about relationships. I get we aren’t supposed to think she’s a role model or whatever. But as a bisexual woman myself, I have certain… red flags I look for when I see men writing about us. This doesn’t feel like a real woman. This feels like some dude’s fantasy.

I wish I could say something remotely positive about this book. I really do. Maybe I’m just not the right audience for this one. Maybe give this to the sixteen year old boys in your life. I’m sure they’ll eat it up.

This book is the start to a fantasy series, not sure how long it is going to be. This is a book to not go in with an Epic fantasy mind set. This is the book to go into knowing it is just for entertainment, not a serious book. This book does entertain to a certain point. We follow a single pov of Davi our dark lord in waiting. She is from our world Earth, but has been in this fantasy world with orcs, wolf/ fox wildings, rock monsters and all other means of fantastical creatures. When she dies she wakes up from the beginning of her adventure and has to try again. A great premise for a book, with quite a few eye roll moments. I thought Davi was interesting as she made a choice to become the dark lord in her newest life, but I found myself getting annoyed with her being so obsessed with want to get laid so much. I get her character is supposed to not really care anymore because she’s died so much, she doesn’t hold back with the cussing, and isn’t afraid to do the hard-work, so there is redeeming qualities. I think this book is entertaining to the right people, I was on and off with this one. I would look up triggers / warnings before reading.

Okay so I really should be rating this a 2, but by the end of the book I was into it a little more than at the beginning, which is going to bump this to a 3. This is the story of Davi who has lived for a thousand years, Groundhog Daying it through life in an attempt to fulfill her prophecy. One day she wakes up and decides that she has had it and decides to switch sides, and become the dark one. When I heard about this book I was down with the premise, and was hyped for this book. Reading it however was a very mixed bag.

Let me start with some of the strong points. I loved the side characters here. They were fleshed out enough I got to know about them without being bogged down in exposition. They were funny and charming and you will get attached to them quickly, with Tsav, Droff, and Jeffrey being the standouts. I liked the writing of the book with a few exceptions, and those were big exceptions. When it wasn’t annoying me with the try hard comedy dialogue I thought the writing was very good. The last 40 so pages were also very good and you could see the person behind the facade Davi had built up and it was lovely.

Now my problems with the book. Let me preface my first critique by saying I read this as an ebook Arc so the issue could be fixed in a physical copy of the book. That issue is the footnotes it was incredibly annoying to try and click on the attached footnotes. It took me out of the story almost every single time, for unnecessary commentary. It was the biggest issue I had with the book, incredibly obnoxious. My other big issue with the book was the humor. It felt very try hard to me in a way that was very unpleasant. It made it incredibly hard to connect to Davi because everything was a joke. It was always with a wink and a nod, and I think I was supposed to be impressed with the cleverness but i was not. The final issue is a small one I guess but it bugged me that she kept mentioning she was from Earth but didn’t, remember anything, how could she, she was a thousand years old. At one point she mentioned she only remembered six things about her time on Earth, but all of her references were from earth based pop culture, and there are a lot of them. Every time she made a reference I would think, aren’t you supposed to not remember this and it would take me out of the story.

I’ve heard great things about this author and maybe the darker things he writes will be more my speed, because his humor just isn’t for me. I will probably try the next one because I gather this is a duopoly, and I am have to finish series I start, however, I will be quick to DNF the next one if it is to close to the writing of this one. I received an arc from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Django Wexler and Orbit (through Netgalley) for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

What would you do if you awoke naked, in a pool, and an old wizard begged for your assistance in saving The Kingdom? You'd probably follow him and help. What would you do if every time you died (usually horribly, let's be honest), you respawned naked, in a pool, to an old wizard using the same exact dialogue, pleading for your help in saving The Kingdom? I’m assuming, after a while it would get quite old, you'd feel a bit angry, and you'd want to try something new. Enter Davi, Dark-Lord-in-Waiting. Follow her on her quest for Dark Lord…ness? Davi's had enough, and this time she's choosing the path of evil. Frankly, I don't blame her.

This was Fun! With a captain F for emphasis. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is a comedic take on “the isekai trend in anime”, which I didn't know about before I read the acknowledgements. For me it felt a lot like a fantasy action role-playing game. If you're familiar with Skyrim, Fable, Baldur’s Gate 3 (it's the romancing. Quite a bit of romancing), or you’ve played campaigns in D&D/Pathfinder, you'll enjoy the author's humor and the story. It's not a prerequisite, it would just be a bonus to the reader.

The magic system is cool, the fantasy world is pretty straightforward, and I love the idea of a Convocation for baddies. Just a big ol' get together to decide who the new Dark Lord is going to be.

I’ll quickly address the few things that are distracting, and could make/break this book for a reader. Davi is a FMC who is written by a male author. Technically nothing wrong with that, she just focused on a lot of things I normally wouldn't. I could see this being a turn off for the reader (Davi is turned on quite a bit). Just know it's quite prevalent at the beginning, and tones down as the story continues. Davi has a lot on her plate and eventually she has to prioritize the running of her horde.

The other little niggle is that Davi isn't supposed to remember her life as a human, before being transported to The Kingdom, but she references A BUTT TON of pop culture, which she really has no right to remember. I made an active choice to ignore this, and ended up enjoying myself that much more. I felt like a real winner when I got the references. Gold stars for me.

There are some sensitive subjects that aren't addressed sensitively in the writing (Davi doesn't beat around the bush). There is a warning at the beginning of the book,

Overall, I had a ton of fun. I wanted to keep picking up the book, and that's important. Davi’s character arc is a wild ride, and I’m here for it. I can't wait to see where the next book will take her!

Available on May 21, 2024

I love the synopsis and plot of this book - a chosen one set to save the world, stuck in a time loop, and has failed enough times where they go off book and decided to become the Dark Lord who they are meant to overthrow instead? Amazing, because when you've tried to save the world countless times, why not try something different? Its not as if you have anything to lose if the world keeps resetting if you fail. The world is cool - a neat traditional fantasy style world with magic and different races. Thuamite is super interesting as a magic system and I really wish we saw more of that aspect both how it worked, effects, etc. especially with some things that were pretty much just dropped in in the last chapter that I wish we got earlier to flesh it out more. There are some side characters that I really liked, and the new

I wanted to love this book so much, but there were two things that really let me down.

1. Davi. I hate Davi. Don't get me wrong - I can love a crass and vulgar person (hell, I AM a crass and vulgar individual) but everything about her is dialed up to 11 making her sarcastic jaded personality just grating to read through. If I were someone who DNFs books, I would have happily stopped at 16%, purely based on having to deal with her narrative. She did grow on me slowly like a fungus in the back half of the book, but it just raised her from one of the worst protagonists I've read to tolerable, which isn't a glowing recommendation. She screamed of "ugh this female character was written by a man" which is disappointing because I really liked how Wexler wrote Maya in Ashes of the Sun - they are very different characters, but Davi is just so one dimensional (horny and sarcastic). I can't suss out why anyone is choosing to be in her hoard.

2. The pop culture references. Normally, I don't mind pop culture references, but it has to make sense within the world. These were so heavy handed, especially towards the beginning of the book, which makes no sense because it has been established that Davi has been stuck in this world for so long that she doesn't remember our Earth outside of the fact that she's American (can't name her state or city) but yet she's making quips about spin class, American Ninja Warrior, and Klingons at an alarming rate. Early on its like once a page, though it does taper off and it just doesn't make sense other than trying too hard for humour to hit.

I'm giving this 2.75/5, which sounds high based on what I just wrote but it was way lower at the beginning and it slowly got better as we got further into the quest, and the world and magic saved it for me. I highly recommend people read the first few pages before buying because you are going to be able to tell really fast about whether you want to continue.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the advanced copy.

So…I took a significant hiatus. And this book welcomed me back!

I’m on the fence.

To clarify, this was in no way a bad book. I do, however, think the summary is misleading. I had no idea what I was getting into. Despite the intrigue, this book just wasn’t for me (for right now) and I couldn’t completely get into it.

It was a fun and adventurous book. I can definitely say that I was never, at any point, bored. The world-building itself was well-done, and wasn’t overwhelmingly difficult to understand. It left space for Davi’s journey, growth, and battles, which I’m grateful for. I actually really really liked reading the battles and watching Davi’s decision-making throughout the book.

Writing wise, I’m meh. The writing itself felt like it fell victim to telling what was occurring as opposed to showing. On top of that, the organization of the footnotes threw me off. In every chapter, there were various different footnotes, but they were placed at the end of the chapter. The footnotes were funny! But by the time I read the footnotes, they felt disengaged from the scene, and didn’t add much to my interpretation of what was happening. Granted, I read this book on a Kindle, and the formatting might be different and more accessible with a physical copy.

Character wise, I can’t say I loved Davi. It was less about Davi herself, and more about how she was written. From the get go, her descriptions of herself felt oddly sexualized, and not even in a “funny” way…it just felt uncomfortable. I mean, a “body you’d probably swipe right on but maybe not brag to your friends about afterward” ??? In that sense, the sexualization, raunchy comedy felt out of place and forced. That being said, however, she wasn’t a bad character! I can definitely appreciate her character growth. She’s also insanely funny, but despite that, I was thrown off by her more than a couple of times.

Honestly, I do think I’ll be willing to retry reading this book in the future. The book is worth reading, but it’s definitely a book you have to prepare for.

* I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Be warned that this does end on a cliffhanger if that’s the kind of thing that frustrates some.
I really enjoyed this one! It’s got similar vibes to a superhero origin story, in that you’re following the MC as they’re building their abilities and followers. Except, you know, time loop.
I always enjoy that origin story, so this one was already something that I was predisposed to liking. The build up and gaining powers (or followers here) on the way to completing the main quest was really satisfying.
The cliffhanger didn’t bother me, the pace and excitement of the story kept moving along really well so I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series!

This is a funny, smart, new take on fantasy that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. I even forgive the cliffhanger, but I want to next books ASAP please.

I don't have the words to say how much I loved this book. I read the blurb and my expectations were high and this book still when above and beyond. I was worried with having a male author but a female lead but Davi is a badass sarcastic lead unlike any other I've read (which says a lot in a genre generally filled with them) and I loved every minute with her on her grand adventures. Her voice was wholly hers and she is a fully developed complex character. Davi's irreverent tone and strength of personality lets us see the trauma and baggage as well as some fairly dark plot points without every making this book a dark book. This book was fun, and the incorporation of deeper themes added layers that I was not expecting but was glad to see.

I feel like the best world building is when I don't notice it happening and this book was one of the easiest fantasy books I've ever read. I was in the world with Davi not questions just racing through the action with her.

I would recommend this for anyone who like humorous fantasy that will still have you think while laughing your ass off (think Jasper Fforde or Douglas Adams).

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review


I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler is a comedic, nostalgic fantasy about Davi, a young woman who has been portaled into a fantasy world and is the designated Chosen One. After hundreds of years of trying to accomplish the task set before her, dying, and then being reborn only to do it all over again, Davi decides that she’s done fighting the Dark Lord—she’s going to become the next Dark Lord.

The Voice is so strong and it gives you a real sense of who Davi is. There are references to Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, Dungeons and Dragons, video games, and other aspects of broader nerd culture that people who grew up in the 90s will appreciate. It’s delightfully nostalgic while still feeling like a spin on the Chosen One narrative. Davi’s humor is not going to be for every reader, but it will hit hard with the right reader and this novel is a love letter to nerd culture.

What I really liked was how Davi isn’t a cruel Dark Lord or looking to hurt people; she’s acting out of self-preservation but also out of frustration. Dying over and over again has made her a bit flippant to certain ideas but it never feels off; it feels like that’s exactly how someone who is quite possibly a college student would react in that situation.

There’s a lot of D&D-style worldbuilding, though it’s unclear if that’s the kind of world Davi has fallen into. It could be a video game, it could be an anime, it could be a book. In a lot of ways, it doesn’t matter exactly what kind of world Davi is in; what matters is that she can’t leave as far as she and the reader is aware. But it also does help to inform how you see the world because there are orcs, animal beings with human characteristics, humans, rock monsters, magic, and more, which could make it, most likely, a tabletop game world or a video game.

I would recommend this to readers looking for D&D-esque fantasies with Bi/Pan female leads, fans of nostalgic books that also feature anime and video game tropes, and those looking for a new take on the Dark Lord of fantasy.

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Dark Lord Davi series. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: I was really, really looking forward to reading this. A snarky, dark, humorous fantasy about switching from the heroic side (that always looses) to the winning dark side! It features a woman displaced from the modern world and stuck in a time loop...it sounded fantastic. I ended up stopping this at 30% of the way it because this book has some major issues.

Okay first for what I liked. I enjoyed the snarky heroine, the slap dash violent action, and the idea. I also liked some of the world elements; like the ability of the creatures to eat magical crystals that become a part of them and the classic fantasy world races.

Now for the issues...and there are quite a few of them. Our heroine, Dani, is like a 2D sketch of what a man thinks a woman in this situation would be like. She has no dimension or character besides having survived a lot and wanted to have sex with everything. She can be summed up as willing to die...a lot...and horny...that's pretty much it. I find it hard to believe that a woman who has the forethought to find poison to carry on her so that she can kill herself before she is raped and tortured to death (again), is cool with having tons of unprotected sex with a variety of creatures that could end up with her pregnant. It's just a lack of depth and thought that is inconsistent throughout.

Dani also likes to make a lot of humorous cultural references which normally I would find entertaining. Except that she makes a lot of them, too many, and it is jarring in the context of the story. And...she has been being reincarnated in this time loop for literally thousands of years and has admitted she can't remember where she came from or her past. I just could not see past this...how does she know all these cultural references if she doesn't remember the culture she came from? It's a huge flaw in the story.

Lastly I was incredibly annoyed at all of the footnotes. There are a lot of footnotes in each chapter. If you are reading on ebook you have to click on the link, read it, and then go back to the story. It is incredibly jarring. Some of the footnotes are mildly helpful but most are just empty snarky comments that weren't worth either the time to click and read on them, or getting jarred out of the current story for.

I got so incredibly annoyed with this story that I couldn't take it anymore and put it aside. I am sad because I think this had potential. Get rid of at least some of the cultural references and those pesky footnotes and explain how Dani has the background for all these cultural contact points and that would be a start in making this more readable. Actually make Dani a character with some depth to help readers engage with her and that would make this excellent.

My Summary (2/5): Overall this didn't work for me. The story is just too flawed and the characters are 2D characterizations of typical character tropes. This is a neat idea and I think with some work and filling out of the characters this could be a really well done story. I don't plan on reading any of Wexler's future books, this style just isn't my thing and not enough attention was spent on making the story seem plausible.

This book is FUN. In the same vein as Assistant to the Villain and Butcher & Blackbird, our main character is not a good guy. Davi has spent hundreds of years trying to play the part of good guy to save a fantasy kingdom she got dropped into, but she’s given up. After failing and dying (over and over) (it’s complicated), Davi decides to become a big baddie instead. The character and voice are flawless. We immediately understand her, despite the many questionable decisions she leans into. It’s a bit of a shock to read a narration that’s so callous to pain and death, but Wexler helps us quickly adapt to that way of thinking for this character’s unique circumstances. The use of footnotes seems frivolous at times when we already have such a strong character voice coming through in first person. And the fast pacing majorly slows down after Davi passes what we might call the first checkpoint about 15% into the book. But overall, the book is great fun for villain-minded readers!

This was not what I was expecting. It’s like a video game main character become sentient and taking control of the narrative. Funny with a relatable main character. I would recommend this to any video game lover .

This one is for all the MMO/table-top RPG players out there who have ever wondered if they could cut it if they were dropped into a fantasy world. I had such a fun, meta time reading this time-loop adventure. Davi does not remember how she was first dropped into the world of The Kingdom and The Wilds, but she does know she is originally from Earth. And that, when she dies, she wakes up at the exact same moment in this new world every time. Having done so hundreds of times over the last thousand years, she's pretty sick of the same old script. So why not try to become the Dark Lord instead of the hero this time?

Hijinks ensue as Davi uses the knowledge she's acquired over hundreds of lives to build her army of minions and make her way to the big, evil meetup called the Convocation. She'll endure its trials in order to officially earn the title of Dark Lord. But along the way Davi does not expect to make so many connections with her minions, or come to care for the motley crew of humanoid Wilders that agree to follow her.

What I loved most about this book was the way it took the stereotypical dichotomy of hero vs. villain and asked the question of what makes someone a villain. Davi starts her path feeling full bad guy - she'll slaughter and pillage her way to the top with no thoughts for consequence! Except Davi starts to care what happens to both her followers and those they encounter. And maybe she doesn't like indiscriminate violence. And, eventually, is she really a Dark Lord if she cares this much? Amidst the dry, raunchy humor of the novel is real questions of ethics. It made the farce of Davi's efforts at the beginning something you could really sink your teeth into.

Perhaps my only critique - and one that was not enough to keep me from loving this book - is that at moments I was pulled from the story thinking "Yeah, this is definitely a woman written by a man." The sporadic focus on breasts and the flippant sexuality made this female reader occasionally roll her eyes. But the entire book is satire, and this too seemed like a self-aware poke at the frequent sexuality of other RPGs.

Overall I had a phenomenal time reading this book, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what book 2 will bring! I'll be recommending this to all my D&D, WoW, and CritRole enjoying friends for sure.

The premise of this is great, but unfortunately, I DNFed early due to an unlikeable narrator. I was hoping we might see some more growth in the character but it was apparent early on that this was unlikely to be the case - if she hasn't grown in this many incarnations, why would she now? Her sex-crazed comments and crassness became tiresome very quickly and needed to be a bit more balanced to encourage me to continue.

I thought I was really going to enjoy this book given the premise: a woman wakes up over and over in a fantasy world and cannot die, just ‘respawns’ again at the start. Fed up with trying to save the kingdom and repeatedly failing, she finally decides to become the Dark Lord instead and the book follows her D&D style adventure to achieve this goal.

However, the narrative voice was not for me. I had a really hard time spending the entire book with Davi’s voice. It read like a middle school boy who just learned he could curse mixed with the type of person at a party that brings up all their sexual past and makes constant sexual jokes to try to impress you. I don’t mind vulgarity or sexual content in books, but it felt so forced that, even knowing this is satire, the jokes just didn’t land.

You will know very quickly if this book is for you or not. I read the entire thing hoping Davi would grow on me, but she did not. And I never stopped cringing at her modern references and her sexualization of every character she interacted with. If you like the first couple of pages, you will likely enjoy this book.

I wish this book had a satisfying ending that answered any of the many questions opened in this world, but it seems like it is part of a series and the reader will have to wait to get any meaningful answers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

While the premise of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying initially intrigued me, the execution fell flat. The writing was often vulgar and filled with jokes that didn't land for me. Despite the attempt at humor, I found myself disinterested and unable to connect with any of the characters, particularly Davi, who felt more like a caricature than a relatable female protagonist. It's evident that the author struggled to create a believable female lead, as Davi lacked depth and relatable characteristics.

The constant pop culture references felt forced and out of place, serving as the primary source of comedy along with Davi's tendency to sexualize other characters. Instead of a complex and engaging story, the book relied on these shallow elements for entertainment.

While some may find enjoyment in the meta fantasy aspects of the story, it ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied. If you're considering reading this book, I recommend checking out other reviews first to see if it aligns with your preferences.