Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is the second book in the Dark Lord Davi series and definitely lives up to its predecessor. I was very curious to see how the series would conclude with it only being a duology but I think that the ending was a great ending and didn’t leave me wanting or questioning things that I feel like I missed. Like the first book the footnotes were a great addition and had me laughing many times and the humor was right up my alley. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be and it felt like my friends and I were playing a D&D campaign which I love when fantasy books make me feel like that. I have already recommended this series to many friends and most love it just as much as I do. I will say the footnotes of the ebook sort of irked me since I had to go back and forth from the end of the chapter back to where I was reading but that is the quirks you have to deal with when reading an ebook, makes me wonder how it would work in an audiobook format. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Review: 3.25 stars

I enjoyed the first book in this duology - I thought that it had really fun humor and an interesting writing style. I still found that true in this book but I didn’t find myself as engaged in this book as I did the first one. I can definitely see the potential and think other readers could love the duology to the fullest. It just wasn’t for me as much as I’d thought it would be.

BEWARE! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE!

SERIOUSLY. GO READ BOOK ONE.

Did you do it? Okay.

Cool. Here we go.

Hail Dark Lord Davi!

Last time we checked in with Davi, she’d successfully manipulated the time loops that she’d been experiencing since she first woke up in The Kingdom, roughly 1,000 years ago (by her own personal reckoning). Since that day, when the wizard Tserigern first told her that she was the Chosen One, fated to save The Kingdom from the Dark Lord, she’s lived and died thousands of times. Each time, beginning a new time loop has allowed Davi to take advantage of her own memories and predict the actions of others around her. Each time, she’s failed to save The Kingdom. So, back at the beginning of Django Wexler’s absolutely brilliant How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, she started a new tactic—killing Tserigern and setting off on a path to become the Dark Lord (surprise! Bet you didn’t see that coming).

Finally arriving on the far side of the continent and triumphing over her rivals, Davi now stood at the head of a massive horde of wilders with her second in command, the orc woman, Tsav, at her side (as well as frequently in her bed). With Artaxes, the arbiter of the challenges, having officially crowned her as Dark Lord Davi, all that remained was… wait… what happens now?

See, during the challenges, Davi died. Again. Only this time, she didn’t reset back to the beginning with Tserigern. She only went back one day. The rules changed, and suddenly consequences meant something again. Now, Davi faces a new problem. If she doesn’t want to lose all of the progress that she’s finally made in her march to power (and her relationship with Tsav), she’s going to have to stop treating the other people around her as tools and stepping stones. So, new list of tasks: 1.) Convince the wilders that they don’t have to kill all the humans. 2.) Convince the humans that they don’t have to kill the wilders. 3.) Not die.

No big deal, right? Davi sets off from the wilderness back to The Kingdom to uncover the mysteries of how humans ended up in this world in the first place, what changed about the time loops, and, if she’s The Chosen One, who did The Choosing.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is another brilliant, darkly hilarious fantasy adventure from Django Wexler, and is a perfect ending to Davi’s long, long, long life. The footnotes throughout continue to annotate Davi’s incredibly ADHD approach to things (supplementing many of her thoughts with her own intrusive thoughts based on her fading memories of our world). Wexler’s humor ensures that Davi’s journey isn’t too fraught, but there’s definitely more consequences for her actions this time around.

It’s out in the world today, May 27th. Get yourself a copy, and dive in!

My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. I’m pretty glad I didn’t need a time loop to get it.

OR DID I?!


This review originally appeared here: https://swordsoftheancients.com/2025/05/27/everybody-wants-to-rule-the-world-except-me-a-review/

The first book in this series was one of my surprise 5 stars of the previous year, and this one knocks it out of the park to make this perhaps my favorite duology ever. While this book has the same humor that we got in the first one, Davi is more serious in this one as we learn more about her backstory. Absolutely loved it

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit for the early copy!

Davi has been stuck in a time loop for 1000+ years, and finally decided to try a different approach entirely. If you can’t beat the Dark Lord, why not become one? And so she did. It all used to be fun and games, but now the game has changed. The last reset didn’t work right. Does that mean things are going right? Or are they going very wrong?

Book 2 was as equally a fun time as book 1 was. While still having the entertaining and loveable cast as before, we get to meet some fun new characters, like Himbo Boyfriend Johann. While still chock full of the humour and hijinks of the first book, this one takes a bit more of a serious turn. Now that everything is suddenly more permanent, with real consequences, Davi starts to learn that her actions have consequences that other people have to bear. This isn’t a game anymore, and she has to learn to stop treating people as if it still is. Especially if she wants to grow her relationship with Tsav, sexy bald orc lady extraordinaire.

A satisfying conclusion to the duology, it has left me wishing for more. It was such a fun concept, and while most things are satisfactorily explained, it still feels like so much more story could be told if the author ever chose to. And I’m really hoping he does.

We pick up with Davi after her being declared The Dark Lord, after countless restarts to her life she feels she is finally on the right path, and now that she has the power what she wants to do with it is not conventional. She is not interested in taking her horde and killing every human, she just wants everyone to live in harmony, and to have peace between the humans and wilders.

Honestly this was really such a fun series, I loved the humour, the camp, it had a good balance of plot, and other shenanigans. I just had the best time with the conclusion to this series, it didn't take itself seriously and it was a grand time.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me had the same bawdy, satirical humor as the first Dark Lord Davi book (How to Become the Dark Lord or Die Trying) but lost a little bit of the pacing as it dealt more with Davi's internal turmoil. With plenty of twists and turns, this second book wraps up Davi's story by giving us Davi's origin story as well as the final epic battle for the Kingdom. It gets bogged down a little when Davi and Tsav head for the human city of Vroken, where they spend most of their time talking to each other. Davi also fits together the clues of her origin and parts of her grand plan mostly off page. This and several chapters of interior monologue followed by "oops that plan failed" contribute to the slower pace. There's a lot of psychological work that goes into Davi and her band of found family this book (the addition of Himbo Boyfriend Johann is a highlight), but it becomes a little repetitive. Overall really enjoyable but at a slower pitch than its predecessor.

3.75 Stars

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an ARC for review purposes.

The anticipated sequel to How To Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, this book picks up where we left off with Devi stepping into the role of Dark Lord. She must use her charisma to smooth out the conflict between the Wilders and humans facing enemies and betrayal at every step.

Full of sarcasm and fourth wall breaks, this is a fun take on a fantasy adventure story. As the stakes are higher, the book does take a bit more of a serious tone and (thankfully) also tones down Devi's overt sexuality, while still maintaining enough to feel like the same character. Devi has some wonderful character development in this novel that felt earned. The rest of the cast of characters include some faves from the previous book while also introducing some fun new characters like the himbo prince. The ending of the story felt earned and satisfactory based on the characters and world-building established in the first book.

Where this did lose some stars for me was the cohesiveness of the writing. Without spoiling too much plot wise, there were some lore introductions that happened, were swiftly dropped to move on to other issues, and then picked up back again in a way that felt disjointed to me. It lacked a flow that pulled me out of the story on occasion but I overall had a good time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC!

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is a sharp, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt conclusion to the Dark Lord Davi duology. If the title alone doesn’t hook you, the book’s blend of irreverent humor, emotional growth, and time-loop chaos should do the trick.

Right away, I appreciated the recap of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying at the start. It was a great refresher that made it easy to dive back into Davi’s wildly unpredictable world. This time, however, things hit differently. Unlike in the first book, Davi is forced to confront life with actual stakes: mortality, emotional consequences, and the permanence of her choices. Turns out being human is hard when you can’t rely on an unknown-sourced time-loop to reset back to level one. Who knew?

One of my main critiques of the first book was that Davi’s character felt noticeably… written by a man. It wasn’t a dealbreaker, I still found the premise of the book fun and clever, but it did hold me back a little in terms of connecting with Davi. That said, book two changes the game. Davi undergoes genuine, earned character development, gaining the kind of emotional depth I was craving the first time around. Her growth felt natural, satisfying, and well-paced.

We get the return of familiar faces, along with some memorable new additions, most notably Johann, her himbo ex-boyfriend-from-another-life. I get what she saw in him, he definitely stole the show for me. Other characters step into unexpected roles, shifting Davi’s understanding of the world in ways she’s never faced in all her past lives (but no spoilers!).

The humor is still present—crude, chaotic, and clever—but the tone deepens. Davi’s struggle with the loss of her time-loop safety net gives the story a more serious undercurrent. She can’t just brute-force her way through problems anymore, and her connection with Tsav brings a new layer of vulnerability that challenges her old instincts. Combine that with trying to stop the world from collapsing under two opposing powers, and it’s safe to say Davi’s really going through it. Poor girl.

Overall, this was a fun and fulfilling read. It delivers on the promise of the first book while adding emotional weight and a more grounded core. Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is a solid 4/5 stars for me… a smart, snarky, and heartfelt end to Davi’s story. Django Wexler’s dive into comedic fantasy absolutely pays off.

I’m going to start with the obvious. I didn’t know this is a duology. I think that’s a good call on DWexler’s part. Given the pace and the overarching arc of the series, it makes sense to end Davi’s story here and end it on a high note.

As for the plot of this, I find it weak compared to the first book. Still good, but it didn’t have the same verve as the first book. There’s some cool twists, Davi leaned into her humanity a lot here, not bad, but I was looking for an epic scorched Earth ending.

Personal preferences and expectations aside, this is a good ending. I will miss the tongue-in-cheek humor, the clever comebacks, and the overall ridiculousness of this world. We need more books like this, for sure!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Somehow this was worse than the first one? All of the insufferable humor and non-stop social media references, none of the heart or adventuring. Despite going on several excursions and doing quite a lot of walking, this felt more like an extended politicking scene than anything else. God the sheer amount of “we gotta make a plan” was mind numbing.

Don’t get me wrong, there were a number of fight scenes. But they were so bloated and nonsense that I skimmed them and hardly missed anything. Each fight felt so formulaic, of course they were going to keep losing again and again until the ending, what else was there to do? Davi spent the whole book reacting to other people doing more decisive things and it made everything she did boring as a result. She really thought a dance party was going to solve everything? Bffr.

The book also insists on calling Tsav a main character even though she does basically nothing but act as Davi’s moral compass the whole book. In fact, all of the secondary characters feel SO superfluous, which is crazy considering a major theme of the book is Davi learning not to use people as objects. Ok then why do they all behave as objects in Davi’s world?

Don’t even get me started on the Big Reveal. I saw it coming a mile out and felt nothing over it. That’s the problem when the only time loop shenanigans we get is in hindsight, it leaves all of it feeling a little distant and a lot “who gives a shit.” If your main character can’t even stop joking long enough to take it seriously, why would readers? It’s all just so silly and pointless.

Overall I gave this a 2.5, rounded up to 3 here. And I gave the first one a 3, so somehow this man has managed to do a worse job in the sequel. Amazing.

This book was every bit as silly and ridiculous as How to Rule the World and Die Trying. If you found that one to be unbearably annoying (which I completely understand) you won’t like this either. But if you enjoyed HTRTWADT, I am happy to say that Wexler wrapped the duology up perfectly. Every bit as silly, but also with a lot of heart.

The books starts out with Davi working to prevent a war between the wilders and the Kingdom. She is, given the events of the first book, able to play both sides, using both her friends and allies among the wilders and her deep knowledge of the Kingdom. This involves both convincing the people on both sides who would welcome peace that peace is possible, while also overcoming resistance from those (again on both sides) who actively oppose any sort of peace. Much maneuvering happens. Along the way we finally get to meet the oft-mentioned Prince Johann the Himbo Boyfriend. Happy to report that he fits all three requirements of the classical Himbo: he is beefy; he is kind; he is dumb as a bag of hammers. He’s an utterly delightful cinnamon roll.

We also get answers about why, exactly, Davi has been stuck in this time loop for hundreds and hundreds of iterations.

Mostly what we get is a spectacular story of character growth. Centuries of fighting the same utterly futile battle, ending painful death after painful death, has understandably left Davi a tab bit fucked up. Not a bad person, but very definitely damaged. The real heart of this book is her personal arc. She has to grapple with the absolute trauma of what happened at the end of HTRTWADT (which was profound in ways I hadn’t appreciated at the time, but make perfect sense). She has to deal with the kind of person she has become, both the realization of it and growing beyond it. And she does. It’s not easy for her, and the path isn’t smooth, but it was very well done and everything felt appropriately earned.

My one complaint: we never did learn how Artaxes poops. Django, if you read this, the people (and Davi) need answers.

A fun follow-up to How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, with the same brand of irreverent fantasy humour! I would like to personally thank the author for including a short recap of the previous book at the start of this one, as there were so many time paradox twists and side characters that I had forgotten in the year since I’d first read it. In true Davi style, the recap was quick and dirty, and launched me right back into her world. Being a Dark Lord is not all it’s cracked up to be, and behind all the pop culture references and raunchy jokes, it was great to see some deep emotional growth from Davi as she learns to trust other people. It’s hard to talk about the plot without giving any spoilers, but I will say I really enjoyed the campy D&D-style tone and conceptual nature of the first book, and while the vibes were still present in the sequel, there were some necessary changes to the concept in this one that affected the plot momentum and made the stakes feel a lot lower. Still, it’s a fast-paced and entertaining read, with a breezy bawdy internal monologue and some satisfying character development.

3.5 stars

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

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is a worthy follow-up to Django Wexler's prior romp -- How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. This time the stakes are higher, time looping is out of the question, and Davi has to deal with, like, actual relationships?

Django pulls off a big switch to a more grounded, serious plot while also filling it up with vulgar jokes to lighten the uphill battle the characters face. Ultimately, the story pays off in a big way and makes the journey that much sweeter. I'd almost say the first book isn't necessary reading - - this can be enjoyed all on its own - - though it has its own merits beyond simply the plot.

While I personally wanted a bit more time to marinate in this now-more-fleshed-out setting with a longer epilogue, ultimately it delivers a super fun, if a little crude, fantasy romp that is easy to devour and recommend.

This was hilarious and just truly so much fun. I love this entire series, it's just so much fun. Definitely one to read.

Unfortunately, I’m DNFing this at 63%. I have been struggling to find motivation to read this for weeks, and when I do sit down to read it, I get bored and set it down just a chapter or two later. This book really lacks forward momentum, in my opinion—it doesn’t feel like anything is improving or significantly changing or wrapping up, and that’s exhausting to read each scene knowing that it’s just going to unravel right away.

Things I enjoyed:
- The humor still works for me, I still laughed at Davi’s terrible jokes and some of Wexler’s choice of words are unexpectedly hilarious to me.
- The overall setting is so colorful and interesting, the magic and worldbuilding are both thoughtful and unique (enough) and he does a good job of describing without over-explaining.
- Johann and Matthias were adorable, and I love himbo characters so Johann was always going to be my #1.

Things I struggled with:
- The pacing, both within this book but also within the larger story; I still don’t know how many books are in the series, so that really doesn’t help me set expectations well either.
- Caring about Davi or Tsav—I like both of them but they felt very bland in this book, perhaps too much of the same thing? I’m not really sure.
- Some of the petty drama. I understand that part of the humor is the push-pull of the petty drama in contrast to the more serious world-conquering storyline, but I found the mix tedious in this book. It made Davi and the writing come off as unfocused (in a bad way, rather than a humorous way) and introduced or dragged-out scenes that didn’t need to happen.

I do appreciate that this book is 50-ish pages shorter than the first one, but it didn’t feel like it was using the shorter length to be snappier. Perhaps I’ll return to read the final 140 pages one day, maybe some of the other reviews can convince me that the end of the book is so amazing and makes the slog meandering worthwhile, but unfortunately today (this month, this year) is not the day for it.

I’m sorry to have DNFed, but I read for enjoyment and this isn’t sparking joy right now.

3.5 rounded up
*Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit books for early copy for review*

Davi is back and struggling a little after the ending of book one. With book one reveal I thought something about the orgins of this world was clear, but was not revealed until the ending of this book. Kind of seemed obvious, but oh well.

So this books has Davi filled with lots of one liners and the sex drive of a teenager. Instead of a journey to a location and a trial its more of war and peace with an existential crisis mixed in. Davi spends the beginning of the book travelling to human town and expecting similar results to her past life and became disappointed tat her becoming dark lord changed some things for them too. The plot was okay, but I found myself missing some character from book one. They were there, but felt less important this time.

If you liked the first book you will probably also enjoy this one as well. I just didn't love it as much as the first/

An incredibly fun sequel to the first book in the series. Davi has succeeded in becoming the Dark Lord, but establishing peace between the humans and the wilders will be a far, far harder achievement. This book builds on many of the dangling plot threads left by its predecessor, and does something almost unique in the time loop/isekai genre: reveals exactly how and why Davi has been trapped in a fantasy otherworld time loop in the first place.

And we're back with more irreverent, bawdy Dark Lord Davi on her mission for peace between the humans and wilders. After taking up the mantle of Dark Lord in book one, she now has to figure out how to keep both her horde and the Kingdom from killing each other long enough to strike a truce, all while unraveling the mystery of the time loop and trying to maintain a healthy relationship with her hot new orc girlfriend.

Just like book one, this book is fun and funny with some genuinely laugh out loud moments. We finally get to meet himbo boyfriend Prince Johann who is simply a delight.

I enjoyed this one, but I felt it lacked some of the heart and charm of book one. How To Become the Dark Lord... shines because of its cast of misfits and how Davi builds relationships with each of them throughout the book and grows from the experience. Everybody Wants to Rule... focuses more on the overarching mystery, and most of the cast is comprised of Davi's companions from past lives. As a result, most of the characters feel more like set dressing, which is ironic given one of the main themes of the book is Davi struggling to treat people like people and not chess pieces (an arc that had me feeling like I was the one stuck in a time loop!).

Overall, this was a fun, lighthearted read that's worth picking up if you enjoyed book one. If you're worried you might have forgotten what happened in book one, don't, because there is a very helpful recap at the beginning of this one, complete with a million footnotes.

3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I read the first book, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, in Django Wexler’s Dark Lord Davi duology last year, and while I didn’t love it, I enjoyed it enough to want to read the sequel, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me.
The book continues the story of Davi, a young woman from our world who has gotten herself trapped in a time loop in a fairly standard medieval fantasy world. Every time the loop resets, she wakes up in a pool to a wizard telling her she’s the chosen one, destined to be the saviour of human kingdom against the invading Dark Lord. When she inevitably gets killed, the time loop resets and the whole thing begins again. In the previous book, Davi basically says “Fuck it” after failing over hundreds of lifetimes and decides to use her knowledge to instead attempt to become the Dark Lord herself. The first book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and the second picks up shortly after, with Davi attempting to bring about a peaceful resolution for both the humans and the mystical creatures of the Dark Lord’s armies.

This installment continues to be very funny, with Davi’s constant fourth wall breaks and pop culture references spread throughout her narration. It’s one of those books that your enjoyment of will greatly depend on whether or not you vibe with the particular style of humour. I didn’t like this book as much as the previous one – the first half of the novel sees Davi leaving the Dark Lord’s horde to meddle in human kingdom politics, and the human side characters aren’t nearly as interesting as those on the “evil” side. It does pick back up in the latter half and the conclusion is satisfying. Overall, a fun end to this duology!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. This hasn’t affected the contents of my review.