This isn't what I was expecting at all, though the title does exactly match the tone of the book. For some reason I was anticipating something more gritty, grim, dark. Instead, this is optimistic, lighthearted, and humorous. It captures a sentiment of going for broke in a scenario where you're immune to permanent consequences. It's a well written, fun, entertaining story, if a bit lacking in depth.

"How to Become the Dark Lord or Die Trying" is an enthralling fantasy novel that combines dark humor, adventure, and complex character development. The story follows a protagonist who embarks on a daring quest to achieve ultimate power, facing numerous challenges and moral dilemmas along the way. McLean's sharp wit and engaging writing style keep readers hooked, while the unpredictable plot twists add excitement and depth.

You could tell this was written by a man; with the way the MC is described and how she acts…Incredibly insufferable. I wasn’t a fan.

I truly wanted to love this novel on the title alone, unfortunately, that was not the case. While the author's world-building and concept of the novel were unique and interesting, the character development and design in general fell flat and oddly stereotypic at certain point, especially regarding a character's sexual identity. Though I did finish the novel, it felt as though the ending a bit rushed in my opinion. A decent read, but could benefit from a bit more editing and tightening up.

I ended up DNFing the book at about 31%. I think it is very clever and an original idea, I just wasn't vibing with it. Some friends have read it and really enjoyed it, which is wonderful! I may try to re-read again to see if it jives with me at a different time in my life.

Appreciate the e-ARC from the publisher!

Not what I'd expected in the best way possible. An exciting and often brutal isekai-inspired romp that turns traditional fantasy tropes on their heads. Wexler's use of humorous footnotes was an unexpected delight that offered a glimpse into Davi's mind in a way that didn't half the narrative flow. The twists and turns and reveals are well worth it! For any lover of humorous, queer, and action-packed fantasy this is a great choice.

In How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler, Davi has died 237 times, and, strapped to a torturer’s block, she’s about to die again. In this way are we introduced to our protagonist, who is trapped in a kind of death / time loop which can best be described as playing a game of Dark Souls meets Morrowind meets Boss Level.

Cover image for How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

Early on in How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, it’s well established that Davi has stopped seeing the people in this world as people. Having seen them all reset, forget she ever existed, and start over as if nothing happened so many times means to her they are just things to be used or murdered to defeat the dark lord and get back to her real world of social media and Reddit. Her deaths may take minutes or years, but they always happen and she always loses to the dark lord, in whatever form the dark lord takes.

This time Davi has had enough. It’s time to switch sides from the Kingdom (humans) to the Wilders (fantasy people) and become the dark lord (while dying A LOT trying). She needs the get to the Conclave to claim her dark lordship. She’ll need a horde. She’ll need to cross lands of bandits and beasts and lords who may not be too happy she’s there. It’s time to try something different.

Up front, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is a dark comedy fantasy. Our protagonist is snarkier than Deadpool, and much like the Merc with a Mouth, we get to see her story arc move from seeing all people as something to be played with—murdered without thought, betrayed without guilt, used as minions to be thrown into the meat grinder without remorse—to caring about those under her charge. Amongst her snarky, driven, angry-at-the-world, cynical as fuck, and tired-of-this-shit attitude, we eventually find a relatively decent human being and somebody to root for. I take my hat off to Wexler for really nailing the voice of Davi. It’s a style that is really hard to get right and deliver across 100,000+ words without it becoming repetitive and boring, and Davi is nothing if not hilariously entertaining cover-to-cover.

Not to be left behind, the supporting cast are excellent, in particular Davi’s horde’s generals. The way they grow to accept Davi at her whacky best (including not understanding 90% of her non-world references, songs, and sayings) is at times hilarious and heartwarming. Their prejudices, failures, and growth make them a superb supporting cast.

I think books like this are important to the grimdark community. It’s a funny, and immensely fun read, while also delivering strong messages around how we treat each other. It’s a different kind of morally grey read to our usual fare, and while it retains so many things we like, it dials up the cheek and laughs for a nice, relevant break from the grit.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler is a wildly fun tale that is going to appeal to gamers who embrace the grind just as much as to lovers of great dark fantasy books.

⭐️: 2/5

I won’t lie to you, this one was tough. I thought about DNFing at like 10%, again at 25%, again at 50%, then at 70%, and just pushed through because I wanted to finish the audiobook. But…I really struggled with this.

The premise is interesting. But because of the time loop, and even though it’s expressly stated that the main character learns in each of their “iterations,” it felt like the book made no progress. Since the main character doesn’t have milestones for their journey, the reader didn’t, either. It was difficult to feel like the book was moving forward.

The ending was also so unsatisfying. I still don’t know what was going on, why things happened, or even the main premise of the book--it’s never explained. Apparently we have to wait until the next book to learn more? There wasn’t enough to prompt me to read another one. This was very long and it didn’t resolve anything for me. The main challenge of the book (“will Davi become the dark lord?”) is answered in the title, so there was nothing for me the reader to invest in.

Out of respect for the author and publisher I won’t be posting a public review!

Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️ only because of the many innuendos and insinuations. The rest of the spice is fade to black.

The best way to describe this story is a comedic portal fantasy with the love language as sarcasm.

It was a fun ride Davi!

I started out by loving this book. It was witty, the main character was sassy, and the premise of "groundhog day" for over 1000 years was hilarious. While I enjoyed the beginning, the book began to falter throughout. The main character, Davi was obnoxious. Utterly obnoxious and unlikeable. The gross misrepresentation of bisexual women was a huge miss for me. Bisexual woman are not sex-crazed creatures! Every single time we have a new character show up from her POV, we learn about how they're sexualized. Excuse me, but WHAT?? I'd much rather know their features and mannerisms versus this. It was truly giving "woman written by man" vibes, and that does indeed check out. It leaned way too much into the "I'm not like the other girls" trope. It was crude throughout, when I genuinely just wanted funny groundhog day. The blurb of the book leaves out some of the cruder parts - namely, after being tortured, she is curious about getting head from a snake creature. Furthermore, it felt like sex, blood, gore and violence were truly just slapped on for sticker shock and just for violence sake.
Overall, none of this books content warranted the 528!!! pages. I will not be reading the second, that's for sure. Maybe someone else would like this but I know I don't.

This book had me from the very beginning and kept me entertained the entire time! I don’t think I was 10 pages in before I already recommended it to a friend. Humor, strong characters, fast moving plot and action kept me engaged!

How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying by Django Wexler was a fun, adventurous story for those of us who loved video games. Creative, funny, I for one can't wait for the next book!

Recommend!!

Thanks To the publisher and #NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have read other books by this author and it was compel l completely different than I anticipated in both a good and bad way. I thought the Groundhog Day elements were done very well it gave the story some originality. The story in and of itself was a bit of a let down to me. I found most of the characters unlikable and bland. The plot was more intriguing for sure. I’m hoping book 2 improves on the characters and fleshes out their story/ motivations.

I also was not a fan of the foot notes I felt like it took me out of the story. I’m cautiously optimistic about the sequel to this book.

I would like to thank Orbit Books, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Read if you like:
🕰️ Time loops
😈 Villainous MC
🦄 Fantasy
🏳️‍🌈 Representation

1️⃣ POV
📍 Fictional kingdom

“That’s right, door. I’m the Dark f*cking Lord. Don’t f*ck with me.”

Davi has died 237 times. One day she just woke up in this strange fantasy land with an old wizard telling her she’s “the one” come to save the kingdom. So 237 times she’s tried and each time has ended in her death but she always wakes back up in the same pool with the same wizard. So she’s had enough. She’s not going to save the kingdom from the Dark Lord, she’s going to become the Dark Lord. She uses her knowledge to gather her minions to get to the Convocation where the next Dark Lord will be chosen. And this time, she’s determined not to die.

This book is so much fun. Davi is witty, crass, a little bit crazy, and hilarious. This book feels like a mix of D&D, World of Warcraft, Groundhog Day and Deadpool. Davi is a bit over-sexualized and the romance scenes weren’t great but I was a fun ride. The book is not for anyone sensitive to language (see the quote above) or violence, it’s fairly graphic. Also, please take care if suicide is a tough topic for you, since Davi knows she’s in a time loop she describes ending her life to start over.

I kept saying I was going to get back to this book, but I put this book down back in July. The beginning really had me invested, but it just wasn't moving fast enough for me by about 37%. I still might end up going back to this one day, but it's been long enough now that I'd probably have to start over again, and I'm not in the mood for this kind of story right now.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying!

I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley.

Django Wexler taps into his comedic side here with this trope-shattering humorous fantasy adventure. Our narrator, Davi, has been suffering through a Groundhog Day type situation where she's on a quest to save the world, only to have it reset back to the beginning whenever she's killed in the attempt to defeat whatever forces of evil the Kingdom is forced to deal with.

After a thousand years of this, Davi is fed up. She's looking to spit in the eye of fate by changing her own narrative. Instead of trying to save the world and ultimately failing, she's going to BE the Dark Lord, gather her minions, and try it from the other side.....

This was a lot of fun, often hilarious, and even had some heart wrenching moments. Great stuff, and I'll be looking forward to the next stage in Davi's plan (which is more from the hip than thought out, to be honest).

While the premise was intriguing, I felt that the book ultimately had some issues with pacing and character development.

Our main character, Davi, had a bold sense of humor that sometimes worked but most often felt like she was trying way too hard to be funny. It's one of those senses of humor you find when someone is used to being funny out loud, and is having a hard time translating that to the page.

Davi did have some character growth, but she didn't change nearly as much as I was hoping she would. In addition, there were a few convenient saves later on in the novel that didn't fit with the rules of the world.

It was still a fun read, but not a series I'll be continuing on with.

This was on my list of books that I was highly anticipating, however while reading it I am desperately disappointed.

This is the classic case of a woman written by a man, and it is so annoying I had to DNF this book under 50% through. I really wanted to like this book but it's a bit too much. Thank you though for letting me take a chance on this book.

The humor in the book was perfect for me. It did slow down a little for me in the middle but picked back up at the end. Davi is stuck in a groundhog kind of situation but eventually develops a plan for her life…a new goal… to be the next Dark Lord. It has action, some puzzles, monsters, and battles along her way.