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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler
1 review
sarrie's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
TL;DR: I haven’t laughed this hard at a book in a hot minute. Definitely not for people who don’t like humor or sarcasm in their books book definitely for me.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so, so much to the publisher!
Source: NetGalley, thank you so, so much to the publisher!
Plot: Davi is stuck in a loop of ‘Wake up and try to save the Kingdom, die a horrible death, wake up and try again’ and she decides she’s going to do the opposite. Madness follows.
Characters: I really enjoyed this cast. Davi is our strongest character, but everyone was fun and I enjoyed seeing them react to the madness that follows Davi.
Setting: Loved the world, I am excited to see more of it in the upcoming books.
Magic: The detail on the magic is light, but intriguing all the same. I would be throwing back those magic stones like candy.
Characters: I really enjoyed this cast. Davi is our strongest character, but everyone was fun and I enjoyed seeing them react to the madness that follows Davi.
Setting: Loved the world, I am excited to see more of it in the upcoming books.
Magic: The detail on the magic is light, but intriguing all the same. I would be throwing back those magic stones like candy.
Thoughts:
How to Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying is going to go down as the funniest book I read in the first half of 2024. I can’t say something else is going to come along later, but I highly doubt that.
This is the story of Davi who was isekai’d (transported) to another world. She woke up in a pool of water, and told ‘You’re the Chosen One’ and taken to train and save the Kingdom. The problem is that that was about 1000 years or so ago and Davi has died and been reset to that beginning more times than she can count. She’s gotten almost to saving the kingdom, died horribly and reset. She’s only gotten down the road a ways, died horribly and reset. The biggest problem being, the world resets and behaves almost exactly the same each time. Can you imagine your mental state after this? Because though she only remembers a handful of things of her life on Earth - she definitely remembers all the lives and deaths and torture she’s gone through as the Chosen One. This time she decides, she’s done. She’s going to become the Dark Lord this time and say screw it. Thus begins our absolutely bonkers adventure.
This is the story of Davi who was isekai’d (transported) to another world. She woke up in a pool of water, and told ‘You’re the Chosen One’ and taken to train and save the Kingdom. The problem is that that was about 1000 years or so ago and Davi has died and been reset to that beginning more times than she can count. She’s gotten almost to saving the kingdom, died horribly and reset. She’s only gotten down the road a ways, died horribly and reset. The biggest problem being, the world resets and behaves almost exactly the same each time. Can you imagine your mental state after this? Because though she only remembers a handful of things of her life on Earth - she definitely remembers all the lives and deaths and torture she’s gone through as the Chosen One. This time she decides, she’s done. She’s going to become the Dark Lord this time and say screw it. Thus begins our absolutely bonkers adventure.
Davi is crude, rude, and a bit ruthless if I’m going to be honest. I loved her of course - don’t get me wrong. Unfortunately, I can see her not working well for a lot of readers. She’s been through hell and back more times than she can actually count so as far as I’m concerned she’s probably allowed more than a few passes. She meets and makes friends with a lot of unexpected characters, my favorites of course being Tsav, Mari, and Droff. The story is told entirely in her PoV so we’re along for every pop culture reference she remembers, each time she dies and resets, and the moment when she finally realizes her life is actually changing course for a change.
The book, in the last third really starts to change things up, and for me it left me even more excited for the next book. I cannot wait to get my hands on the physical of this and to read that next volume. This was irreverent, hilarious, gross, and all around a blast of a time. If you enjoy pop culture references (I know it’s not one everyone does), and comedy in your fantasy you have to give this a try.
5 out of 5 Stone Eaters because I want so many more of those guys, they were the best.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Murder, and Mental illness
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