This has to be hands down my favorite book of the year so far and definitely falls into my Top 10 Fantasy reads.

Davi is sick of her time loop and for funsies decides to become the Dark Lord herself instead of dying over and over again trying to defeat the Dark Lord.

Full of laugh out loud sarcasm and pop culture references that seem out of place in a fantasy world filled with orcs and talking animals, Davi is a welcome breath of fresh air. There is sex, adventure, cursing, and ALL THE SATIRE that kept me eagerly reading. Wexler manages exceptional wit, writing, and worldbuilding which are my three must haves for a successful comedic fantasy...comantasy? Fantomedy? We need to make one of those happen.

This book is not for everyone. It is NOT a cozy read. It is a comedic fantasy novel that if you like to clutch your pearls, will not enjoy. However, if you drink sarcasm for breakfast, are open to consensual interspecies sex, and like Davi are just done with the status quo of typical fantasy/time loop novels, then you will absolutely love this book even though the author is a bit of an asshole for leaving the ending on a very big cliffhanger.

That being said, I cannot wait for the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley, Django Wexler, and Orbit for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a DNF for me. I had a really hard time getting into this style of writing and didn’t care for it. I tried to pick it up multiple times and each time I put it down quickly and was not interested in learning what happens.

This was a hilarious time! I was immediately drawn to the this book because of the title. This book was fun and silly but surprising dark and sweet at times. I have not laughed because of a book in a long time and Davi was such an amazing character to follow. Her sarcasm was so on point and I really enjoyed the almost 4th wall breaking points. This was just overall fun. While there is a lot of pop culture references (some of which I didn't know), it felt so authentic to Davi's character. And I loved the addition of footnotes!

I am really excited to see where this goes! I am so curious to see what happens with Davi in the next book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

How many double crosses can we fit into one evening? Thank you Orbit Books @orbitbooks_us , Netgalley @netgalley , and Django Wexler @djangowexler for this free ebook!
“How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying” (Dark Lord Davi #1) by Django Wexler STARS Genre: Satirical Fantasy. Location: Another universe where magic is real and so is time travel, and there are sexy orcs and fox-people. Trigger Warnings: Over-the-top blood, gore, torture, abuse, sex.

THE SERIES: Snarky yet endearing Davi Morrigan (early 20s) is from Earth. But she’s been trapped in a fantasy world time loop for the past 1000 years. Davi tires of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, and decides to become the dark lord herself.

THIS BOOK: Davi’s rallied humanity 1000 times, but the endless time loop always defeats the humans and kills her in the end. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi Morrigan Skulltaker’s turn to be the Dark Lord. She heads to the Convocation, where the new Dark Lord will be crowned, trailing her horde of adorably fierce and diverse minions behind her. There are orcs, fox-wilders, wolf-wilders, lizard-wilders, stone-eaters, deer-wilders, snake-wilders, minotaurs, and more. She’s such an Earth Girl, she even teaches 600 marching orcs to sing a Spice Girls’ song.

Author Wexler has written a gory, sexy, violent, sarcastic, campy rollicking tale of a young woman determined to change her future. His heroine is witty, sex-obsessed, intelligent, clever-even if she does find herself constantly tempted to judge certain wilders by their adorability. Wexler gives her hoards of current cultural references to quote: e.g. Jeff Goldblum and Chaos Theory, Survivor and Kenny Loggins, Brave New World and D&D. There’s diversity and stabbing, humor, axes and arrows, hearts of gold and sneak attacks. It’s outrageous, , raunchy, campy, perhaps a bloody homage to Terry Pratchett, I can’t wait for book 2, and it’s 5 stars from me🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️ #orbitbooks #djangowexler #howtobecomethedarklordanddietrying

What a hilarious, wacky fantasy book, a mashup of Dungeons & Dragons and video games and causality paradoxes! I had a total blast reading this; from the first few pages I was tickled by the concept and along for the laugh-out-loud ride.

If you like pop culture references, witty/sarcastic humor, Dungeons and Dragons, and a story that doesn't take itself too seriously this is the book for you.

I know other reviews had issue with it the book taking place in a medieval fantasy setting while speaking modern language and current pop culture references but that only added to the fun for me. It reminded me of DnD campaigns with my friends.

My one draw back was this book should have ended around the 375-400 page mark. There was a section after the halfway mark that felt like filler before reaching the final destination, and the book would have been stronger without it.


***Thank you Netgalley and Orbit Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. ***

How to Become Dark Lord and Die Trying
By Django Wexler
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5
Release Date: 5/21/24

This book was such a fun time, action packed, and hilarious. A witty and humorous epic fantasy with great world building and such diverse characters as Davi’s minions - orcs, stone-eaters, wilders (humanoid animals), Yeti’s. If you’re sensitive to bad language and sex talk this book is likely not for you, but for anyone that enjoys that with some silly humor thrown in you will devour this fun unique epic fantasy with some complex characters (looking at you Amitsugu, fox-wilder). Went into this not expecting it to have a sequel but ohhh that cliff hanger.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for providing me with an advanced reader copy!

This book certainly won't be for everyone, but I had an absolute blast reading this. I didn't read the synopsis beforehand, but the comparison to Deadpool is absolutely spot on. The pure amount of sarcasm, sass and breaking the fourth wall makes for something I've only truly encountered through the Deadpool movies. I can't say the sarcasm didn't get to be a little much at times, but over all this was such a fun read and I'm intrigued where the next book will go.

Not my cup of tea. Didn’t like the tea or the cup.
This book is trying very hard to appear to be written by Ryan Reynolds.
I’m good with weird, but this was even a level of weird I couldn’t get on board with.
Think of Lord of the Rings, but like a giant orgy furry convention on the way to Mordor.
I’m sorry it’s a no from me dawg

I really don’t like to DNF eARCS but life is short and all that jazz.
Thanks but no thanks NetGalley

1 ⭐️

"How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying" was fun, funny, and I almost want to say lighthearted but I don't think it was? I mean that as a positive thing. This book was immensely creative and at times laugh out loud funny, while also dealing with some serious topics.

I loved Davi's "give no fucks" attitude even if I wished we saw a little more depth to her at times. However, there was some serious character development that happens towards the end of the book that I really enjoyed, and I'm very excited to see how it plays out in future books. I also enjoyed the other characters we meet, though I had a little trouble keeping track of them at times.

This book has a lot going on (time loop, portal fantasy, high fantasy worldbuilding) but I never found myself too confused by anything that was happening. If anything, I almost thing the portal fantasy element was unnecessary. I get that Wexler used the character being from Earth in order to use real world cultural references. This references sometimes hit and sometimes didn't, and I think there was room for the book to be funny and have a similar tone without them. However, I'm curious if this element of the plot is going to be important in later books.

I don't think this book is going to be for everyone. It's raunchy, violent, and very goofy. However, I think those who enjoy this type of writing and storytelling and the subversion of the classic chosen one fairytale narrative will really enjoy this one.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I thought this would be very funny and witty, but I kind of found it to be a little over the top immature. I did not not care for this story at all.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't well written. It also wasn't poorly written. We're not in Fourth Wing territory here, but there were multiple inconsistencies strewn about that repeatedly brought me out of the story to say, "that doesn't make sense." That's really the reason for the rating, Now I want to be clear though, that does not mean that I did not ENJOY this book. I actually really enjoyed it.

There are, however, a few things that I think readers could find very off-putting so I'm going to start with that, and then go into the good.

The bad:

-The main character felt like a woman written by a man. (She is a woman written by a man.) We've all seen it, it's super annoying, but once you get past that these books can still be enjoyable. (Artemis by Andy Weir, the original Mistborn series, Riley Sager's entire catalogue except for that one that was just too bad, but I digress) This book has those same vibes. The first 10% I spent thinking, "why make the main character a woman, this is silly," but then somewhere along the line she grew on me and I stopped caring so much. I want to be clear, it didn't get better, I got more tolerant. You might too. But if that's really not your jam, move on to the next book.

-The humor is mostly pop culture cringe. Sometimes it's also funny. Sometimes it isn't. For a character who repeatedly mentions how little she remembers about Earth, she has a pop culture reference around every 4 paragraphs. That annoyed me. However, there was some great humor in this book. (As there should be. This will be shelved with the SFF books, but much like the romantasy/fantasy romance debate, this is definitely a fantasy comedy. Or a cometasy.)

-The main character sexualizes and objectifies everyone. Which amplifies the first two points. Do people really think that way? It made it really difficult to like her for the first, although she did eventually win me over. I'm not entirely sure if that was me getting more tolerant or the character growth though.

The good:

-I love a good time loop. I'll admit, that was all it took for me to request this book, but the trouble with "i start over every time I die" stories is that the reader doesn't really want to see the character's progress erased, so they don't die enough. This was handled in a cool way, that left me wanting more. (admittedly without reading the rest of the series though, it could be a cop out. I'm hoping it sets up this story for something fascinating to come.)

-the magic/worldbuilding/etc. I think if we were looking at Epic Fantasy here I would be let down by the world building because (it's even mentioned in the novel) it felt more like moving through biomes in a video game, where every biome and the people who live in it have to be super distinct from the others, and on a grander scale that doesn't really make sense, but in this type of novel it worked well. I've rarely been so entertained by a "the main character moved from one part of the realm to another for the entire book" book. Plus the magic is neat!

-It was funny. It felt like the author might have been trying too hard on the humor, but a lot of it worked.

Overall: This book certainly has flaws, however if you're looking for a fun, easy, summery fantasy, I would recommend this one.

I love the concept and the details that the author puts into this. I love the different roads that the MC has to travel and decisions. My biggest struggle was the footnotes honestly. I think that if I had the physical book in front of me to flip to end of the chapter and back it would greatly increase my enjoyment of this book. Please give it a chance the writing is really good.

Knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud kind of book! Perfect for a carefree, summertime read.

I never knew Django Wexler was such a fun guy. Straight out of the gate I was snorting with laughter. Davi needs to become the Dark Lord and has to gather her minions. Minions! I love this idea! Truly, a great cast of characters and story.

Thank You to NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Django Wexler for the advanced copy so that I can leave an honest review!

I gave this a reluctant 4 stars (really 3.5) for a book that I was so so looking forward to. I walked away half annoyed and half ready for book 2. My feelings about this book are so complicated.

Dark Lord Wannabe Davi is stuck in a Groundhog type existence (how did she get there! I need to know!) where she is tasked with trying to save the Kingdom. After many failures, she decides to take different route and see if she can become the new Dark Lord!

What promised to be a funny high fantasy story became a struggle for me to read in some aspects. First, she should NOT be throwing out current pop culture references when she's been in the Kingdom for over 1000 years. I mean...what? Second, the sin of all sins for me.....WHY ARE THERE FOOTNOTES? I ended up skipping most of these because they are mostly pointless and no way move the story forward. Goodness, do not do this for book 2.

The non-struggle part of this for me was the book was funny in spots (Tyrkill was amazing) and the story arc kept me hanging on. I was invested in the story and what Davi was going to do to earn her Dark Lord title.

Overall this was a good book. Not one to write home about, but still worth the read!

3.5/5

"I'm not some holy savior here to protect your f****** kingdom. I've been doing that for, hold on let me check my watch, f****** ten centuries, and where the f*** has it gotten me? A f****** snake-woman eating my goddamn fingers, that's where."

This book was a wild ride from start to finish. Davi is probably the most sarcastic character I have ever read and she doesn't hold back her thoughts or emotions at all. She is a chaos goblin, through and though.

Definitely liked that the main character was pansexual. There are not a lot of books with pansexual mains out there. I am not going to say anything more about this book and its plot because I truly believe you should just go in knowing almost nothing and just be ready for a good time.

Read this if you like:
Chaos goblin characters
Whimsy
Isekai storylines
Dungeons & Dragons
Fantasy role-playing games like Baldur's Gate

Thank you NetGalley, Orbit and Django Wexler for this ARC in an exchange for an honest review!

I wasn't sure what to expect from How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. It is advertised as a comedy, but it is also one of the most violent books I've read in awhile. Our main character Davi is stuck in a time loop and because she's been going over the whole killed or be killed for a thousand years, it causes her to become desensitized to murder. I wasn't sure I was going to stick with the book, but the funny parts were truly funny, and Davi's character development was well done. She was still a grating, irritating main character and if I hadn't enjoyed the other characters so much, I might have decided to DNF the book. I'm not sure I'll pick up the next one, but How to Become was entertaining for what it was.

What a hilarious, wacky fantasy book, a mashup of Dungeons & Dragons and video games and causality paradoxes! I had a total blast reading this; from the first few pages I was tickled by the concept and along for the laugh-out-loud ride.

Davi, a regular human from our regular world, is caught in a seemingly never-ending time loop in a fantasy land, one where she is apparently part of a prophecy to save the Kingdom from a Dark Lord. After hundreds of attempts to fulfil the prophecy, always eventually getting killed and ending up at the beginning all over again, Davi decides to try a new direction and become the Dark Lord herself. We follow her misadventures gathering her horde of minions and forging alliances; she may have the advantage of hundreds of lives in this world, but becoming the Dark Lord is no walk in the park.

I always enjoy when a comedic fantasy novel is self-aware, and the irreverent humour in this one really worked for me, but I think it could be hit or miss for others. I chuckled at all of the cheeky references, and it was fun being in Davi’s weird filthy little head. There were also some surprisingly heartfelt moments alongside all of the dirty jokes and pot twists, and I am eager to read the second book after that cliffhanger!

Thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die trying by Django Wexler is a combination of Guardians of the Galaxy and Ground Hog Day. Except here, there is only one guardian of the galaxy. That guardian is Davi. She is a human from earth and she has been transported to another world where she is tasked with defeating the dark lord and saving the world. She enlists the help of others on her quest, but ultimately she dies every time. She is reborn and has been reborn hundreds and hundreds of times but her quest always ends in her death. One day Davi decides she has had enough. If she can't beat him she will join him and just become the dark lord. First, she needs minions. She already has plenty of sarcastic humor and a fake it til you make it attitude. But, her "I don't know, I making this up as go" schtick wears a little thin before you are halfway through the book. I liked it and laughed at it enough to give it 3 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Orbit for the e-arc of the book.

This one has left me with some mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I want to know what's going on with the main character. On the other hand, she is insufferable when it's not Dark Lord related. Although Davi is bi, her entire romantic existence is easily explained as sexsexsex with practically anybody. If she's not actively having it, then she's thinking about it or referencing it. She's also full of very cringey gamer references (especially WoW and DnD). This could be intentional, but she's written as though a stereotypical male high school gamer wrote her character. Maybe he did. (RE: We have no clue what's going on with the FMC.) I also could not tolerate the fact she's been around for many years and can't "really remember high school", but seems to remember very specific things that I personally barely remember. So in a nutshell, Davi is all over the place and very superficial.

As far as the plot, I really enjoyed it. We get to watch somebody go from having literally nothing and developing into a candidate to be Dark Lord. The entire thing was really fun and oftentimes ridiculous. I wish we had a more obvious hint at an unreliable narrator earlier in so it could make Davi's superficial character more bearable, but somehow I still made it through and found myself wanting to know how things developed. The cliffhanger is really rough, and now I'm wondering if I want to read the sequel - despite not caring about the character personally. I just want to know what's going on!