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ninjamuse's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Classism
amyrthaios's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Did I have a good time reading it? Yes...
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Torture
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
devynreadsnovels's review
- 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
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
sebrittainclark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I thought this was a very fun read with a strong narrative voice, but it still created a interesting world that left me full of questions and anxiously anticipating the next book in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Minor: Rape and Torture
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
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
carlack7's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The footnotes in each chapter are fun additions and I am definitely invested enough that I will be looking for the next book.
Give it a read if you enjoy lots of nerd culture references and a slightly ridiculous main character!
Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
lastblossom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Snappy and fast-paced meta-commentary, with a surprising amount of heart. There's also a heavy dose of Adult stuff.
Thoughts
"Irreverent" might be the word here. At least, it certainly starts that way. The blurb says Groundhog Day, but the whole time I read it I kept thinking Re:Zero (an assumption that is confirmed by the author's notes in the back). For those of you not into anime, think Live Die Repeat with Tom Cruise. The hero Davi dies violently and often, until the only thing she has left is cynicism and anger. Her foray into becoming the Dark Lord starts as a lark born from frustration and a desire for novelty, but it quickly turns into more as she gets closer to her goals, and further from her old lives. Most reviews will probably say this book is very funny, very crude, or both. (It's both.) But for something as snappy and flippant as this, it also has a surprising amount of heart, with Davi's hurt melting into care the further she gets on her journey. Is becoming the Dark Lord also a journey of healing? The characters she gathers for her horde are a motley crew with their own interests, and it's incredibly easy to care about them as well. The cliffhanger ending is telegraphed well, but still comes as a real punch to the gut, and I'm very curious to see what happens next. Content-wise, there's a good deal of swearing, front-loaded at the start of the book, but present throughout. People die, often horribly. Sex is had with great enthusiasm, although the descriptions tend to be brief. There's also a load of meta commentary including tons of pop culture references and D&D talk, which will probably resonate with genre-savvy readers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advance copy. All thoughts in this review are my own!
Graphic: Death, Torture, Cursing, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: War, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault and Confinement