Week 6 Review: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

From Goodreads:

From bestselling author Django Wexler comes a laugh-out-loud fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides maybe the Dark Lord doesn't have it all wrong after all, perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett and KJ Parker.

Davi has done this all before. She's tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she's rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she's killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she's been defeated every time.

This time? She's done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that's who she needs to be. It's Davi's turn to play on the winning side.

My Review:
This was such a fantastic read! The synopsis was really gripping to me, and when I got approved for it, yeah, I just picked it up and binged it. And while Adobe Digital Editions and the NetGalley Shelf (I read the book in the later, and the footnotes in the former) said this book was about 350ish pages, while Goodreads says over 500, yeah, this book flew by, it was so engaging! 

Davi has lived so many lives, trying to stop the Dark Lord, and all these times, she's failed. So after one particular end of life, she decides she's had enough-she's going to switch sides and go become the Dark Lord, since the Dark Lord always wins. But first, the journey to be declared the Dark Lord, and boy is it a journey! 

This world of the Kingdom and the Wilders, the different ways that they use the magic, the different Wilders, and the different places that they come from, it's all so interesting to read about! We see a fair amount of the world while Davi is on this quest, the different political structures and cultures and I loved seeing it all! 

Davi was such an incredible narrator. Between all the time loops, she's lived over 1000 years, and she's learned a lot, but also, experienced a lot, and she's really jaded, and maybe she was always like this, but all those lives increased the sarcasm to 11. Watching her on this journey, the machinations, the battle planning and executions, the gathering of minions for her Horde, it was all so great! Plus there's the mystery of why she was in this time loop in the first place. I loved it all! 

I loved this book so much, and I can't wait for more! 

Author: Django Wexler
Series: Dark Lord Davi #1
Read: February 3rd, 2024  
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Orbit
Published: May 21st 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars