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theaceofpages's review against another edition
I tried so hard with this one... I really did. The premise sounded great - someone stuck in a time loop gets tired of it and decides to flip the script and go their own way. And I often enjoy funny fantasy (Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors - no, I didn't mind the footnotes other reviews complain about but I have yet to find someone who can do them as well as Pratchett). But the way these were put together just didn't work for me, although I know it will for others.
My main problem was the main character. It was told from a first person perspective and I just couldn't stand her. She feels like a combination of an edgy teen and the stereotype of a horny cartoon character. And... yeah. That's not really my style. Apparently maturity doesn't come with spending a thousand years (give or take a few hundred) in a time loop. Take out the more graphic sex jokes and maybe tone down some of the violence and you have a lovely YA book. Maybe even MG if you tone it down enough. The actual writing style (minus the more adult contents/edginess) makes me think of something like Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart (which I loved as a kid!). I think the humour working for you is a massive, massive., massive part of if this book will work for you or not. I could see where the jokes were meant to be, but they weren't funny to me. Granted, there were one or two that made me smile, but overall they were more annoying than funny or enjoyable. I also found the constant references to Earth jarring. Especially as she supposedly doesn't remember much of her time there anymore?
I'd strongly suggest reading a sample if possible before going in so you can see if the writing style works for you. If it does, I think you'll have a great time. If it doesn't... Well it doesn't get any better. I think I would have loved this had it been written differently. But to each their own and I hope others have the fun time the author was aiming for!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
My main problem was the main character. It was told from a first person perspective and I just couldn't stand her. She feels like a combination of an edgy teen and the stereotype of a horny cartoon character. And... yeah. That's not really my style. Apparently maturity doesn't come with spending a thousand years (give or take a few hundred) in a time loop. Take out the more graphic sex jokes and maybe tone down some of the violence and you have a lovely YA book. Maybe even MG if you tone it down enough. The actual writing style (minus the more adult contents/edginess) makes me think of something like Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart (which I loved as a kid!). I think the humour working for you is a massive, massive., massive part of if this book will work for you or not. I could see where the jokes were meant to be, but they weren't funny to me. Granted, there were one or two that made me smile, but overall they were more annoying than funny or enjoyable. I also found the constant references to Earth jarring. Especially as she supposedly doesn't remember much of her time there anymore?
I'd strongly suggest reading a sample if possible before going in so you can see if the writing style works for you. If it does, I think you'll have a great time. If it doesn't... Well it doesn't get any better. I think I would have loved this had it been written differently. But to each their own and I hope others have the fun time the author was aiming for!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Gore, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Suicide, Blood, and Self harm
devynreadsnovels's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Kidnapping, Gore, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and War
Minor: Sexism
heather1023's review against another edition
This book has such a promising premise, but I had to DNF at 30% because I just could not do another 200 pages of Davi's irritating POV.
Several issues here:
I'm not opposed to cursing and strong language, but *literally* every single page had at least one "fuck" and the random page I decided to share with my husband when I ranted about how frustrating this writing choice was had SEVEN, plus a few other curse words. It was just gratuitous and didn't enhance the story in any way.
I'm also often on board with an irreverent, snarky FMC who knows how to wield a weapon, but I just never managed to find Davi likable. I frankly couldn't bring myself to care about whether she succeeded or failed at her goal, which is probably the cardinal sin of this book for me. If you're going to have a lot of gore and trauma in your book, at least make it meaningful and make your MC someone I can connect with and care about.
The other thing that I truly could not get past was that Davi supposedly can't remember where she is from, to the point of saying that *maybe* she's American? Yet she constantly makes very specific pop-culture references and even references Reddit at one point... So what, exactly, is the issue with her memory? She can recall random details about her home world but not anything about her life? Maybe this gets resolved or answered later on, but again, I can't bring myself to care.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Several issues here:
I'm not opposed to cursing and strong language, but *literally* every single page had at least one "fuck" and the random page I decided to share with my husband when I ranted about how frustrating this writing choice was had SEVEN, plus a few other curse words. It was just gratuitous and didn't enhance the story in any way.
I'm also often on board with an irreverent, snarky FMC who knows how to wield a weapon, but I just never managed to find Davi likable. I frankly couldn't bring myself to care about whether she succeeded or failed at her goal, which is probably the cardinal sin of this book for me. If you're going to have a lot of gore and trauma in your book, at least make it meaningful and make your MC someone I can connect with and care about.
The other thing that I truly could not get past was that Davi supposedly can't remember where she is from, to the point of saying that *maybe* she's American? Yet she constantly makes very specific pop-culture references and even references Reddit at one point... So what, exactly, is the issue with her memory? She can recall random details about her home world but not anything about her life? Maybe this gets resolved or answered later on, but again, I can't bring myself to care.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Suicide, Torture, and Rape
thisbookisbananas's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is an absolutely fantastic zany good time. It might be a contender for one of my favorite books this year! In this book we follow Davi, a human, who has somehow been dropped in a fantasy world as the chosen one to save the people. She’s stuck playing out all of these scenarios and always meeting her demise— only to restart her story as she always does. Except this time, she’s decided to eff being the hero and tries to be the Dark Lord who’s been terrorizing her instead. This book is chock-full of snark, all around humor and a rag-tag group who wants to bring on world domination. Davi is fantastic and her growth as a character is great. People should read this if they play RPG video games or campaign-based tabletop games. I will be purchasing a finished copy. I need the next book now. ::sigh::Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Cursing
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Gore
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