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theaceofpages's review against another edition
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.
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Gore, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Suicide, Blood, and Self harm
jcreads85's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Torture, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Self harm, Death, and Suicide
kayceeisbookish's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Confinement
bookishvice's review
It's a female heroine written by a man, who delights to narrate her story with a filthy-mouth and an insufferable douche-bro attitude. There is gratuitous violence, casual wishes to die (in graphic detail), hypersexualized thoughts every other paragraph, and no emotional depth whatsoever.
If you are ready to deal with that bs attitude for 432 pages, then by all means enjoy the book. But I can't even begin to explain how far off the mark this book ended up being for me.
[Netgalley ARC]
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide attempt, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Violence
bloggingwithdragons's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
As a fan of author Django Wexler’s Burningblade and Silvereye trilogy, I was really excited to dig into How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, which even had a spot on My Most Anticipated Books of 2024 list. It sounded like an absolute ride and a subversion of the tried-and-true trope of a character getting Isekai-ed into a new world and finding themselves designated as the Chosen One who will save the world. Though I was right and How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying was definitely both of those things, with main character Davi deciding to quit trying to fulfill the prophecy of being the savior of the realm and to turn her sights onto something more manageable, i.e., becoming the Dark Lord, I found it just didn’t work for me.
“I need to stop fucking people before I betray them.”*
‘‘If I’d known they were going to take you, I would never—’
‘It’s all right. I’m all right. Really. Everything was very consensual.’
‘You’re—’ she leans back a few inches to stare at me. ‘what do you mean?’
‘Quiet.’ I pull her close. ‘We have friends among the enemy. Well. More than friends, I guess. We have fuck buddies among the enemy’
‘I’m so fucking lost,’ Tsav says.”
“Great. Can’t a Dark Lord get a night of fornication with a minion without him getting all clingy? The worst of it is there’s not really anywhere else I can go to get my rocks off.”
“There’s Dark and there’s Dark, right, this isn’t HBO. And I am not going to be celibate for as long as this project takes, don’t fucking start.”
“Q: How does a girl with tusks go down on you?
A: Very carefully, and with commendable attention to detail.”
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Graphic: Self harm, Violence, and Murder
shanajeanh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Graphic: Self harm and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
While the main character discusses death, self-harm, and suicide frequently and casually, there is an extenuating circumstance that she's in a time loop and will wake up again if she dies, so it's not the same as the real world equivalent.heather1023's review against another edition
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.
Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Suicide, Torture, and Rape