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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
2.8 Listened on audio. I really wanted to like this book!! The premise was so interesting. Yet, it was boring. The main character was so annoying. The sexual aspect gave me the ick.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you had failed your mission 237 times, would you switch goals?
That is the question Davi faces as she goes about her very "Groundhog Day" existence. Davi has been tasked with being the savior who will defeat the Dark Lord - although she's not sure how or why - and despite her best efforts, has not been able to. Each attempt lands her a (sometimes painful) death, followed by an awakening back to the day she was told she would be the savior. After being fed up with losing for hundreds of years, she has an idea - to become the Dark Lord herself.
I really liked this at first - I found it funny, and very Deadpool coded in the pacing and with breaking the 4th wall. The premise of the book in itself is an interesting concept - a very if you can't beat them, join them, type of thing- but I found parts dragging on for longer than necessary.
While I enjoyed Davi's inner thoughts on things, some of the humor was repetitive. I honestly thought Davi was a man until some type of pronoun or title was used - to which I thought "Okay, so she's definitely written by a man." There's just something about how she's written - it's not because she uses profanity that would make a sailor blush, or how she's graphic in her desires, but 5 the phrasing of everything. The way she describes things just reads as if it were through a man's eyes. While you could argue that perhaps Davi was a man in their first life who was reborn as this woman, I don't know if that was truly the intent.
The chapters are long. There's sometimes so much going on and other times very little. It just seemed to drag after the first 30% to me, but I really did love the start of it.
Also, the ending really kind of frustrated me. While we have some resolution, it ends on a cliffhanger, clearly to make you purchase the planned sequel, but I wish this had a solid ending to have it stand on its own.
Overall, I did like it, but it did fall flat a bit for me. If you're planning on looking into this one, keep in mind there's graphic violence, casual mentions of suicide and rape, and implied spicy scenes.
That is the question Davi faces as she goes about her very "Groundhog Day" existence. Davi has been tasked with being the savior who will defeat the Dark Lord - although she's not sure how or why - and despite her best efforts, has not been able to. Each attempt lands her a (sometimes painful) death, followed by an awakening back to the day she was told she would be the savior. After being fed up with losing for hundreds of years, she has an idea - to become the Dark Lord herself.
I really liked this at first - I found it funny, and very Deadpool coded in the pacing and with breaking the 4th wall. The premise of the book in itself is an interesting concept - a very if you can't beat them, join them, type of thing- but I found parts dragging on for longer than necessary.
While I enjoyed Davi's inner thoughts on things, some of the humor was repetitive. I honestly thought Davi was a man until some type of pronoun or title was used - to which I thought "Okay, so she's definitely written by a man." There's just something about how she's written - it's not because she uses profanity that would make a sailor blush, or how she's graphic in her desires, but 5 the phrasing of everything. The way she describes things just reads as if it were through a man's eyes. While you could argue that perhaps Davi was a man in their first life who was reborn as this woman, I don't know if that was truly the intent.
The chapters are long. There's sometimes so much going on and other times very little. It just seemed to drag after the first 30% to me, but I really did love the start of it.
Also, the ending really kind of frustrated me. While we have some resolution, it ends on a cliffhanger, clearly to make you purchase the planned sequel, but I wish this had a solid ending to have it stand on its own.
Overall, I did like it, but it did fall flat a bit for me. If you're planning on looking into this one, keep in mind there's graphic violence, casual mentions of suicide and rape, and implied spicy scenes.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
funny
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:
Complicated
I thought the worldbuilding and magic system were interesting, plus the general tropes and beats of the novel were absolutely up my alley. The constant pop culture references (especially for someone 1000+ years old) wore thin fairly quickly, as did the inundation of sexual references.
Half of the issue was that it was repeatedly made clear that it was a woman written by a man. The other half was that even/especially if it was a male protagonist, it would wear thin very quickly. The gratuitous sexual references only worked as much as they did BECAUSE it was a woman, but the woman in question was not written well enough to carry it
Half of the issue was that it was repeatedly made clear that it was a woman written by a man. The other half was that even/especially if it was a male protagonist, it would wear thin very quickly. The gratuitous sexual references only worked as much as they did BECAUSE it was a woman, but the woman in question was not written well enough to carry it
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a good concept for a book! But there’s a lot keeping me from really enjoying this. The footnotes could have been cut in half, the tone could have a bit more polishing, and the references to 80s/90s gamer nerd culture needs to be fuzzed out. A lot. First of all, I don’t feel that’s what Davi would have been interested in when alive, but second of all, after 1000 years of torment, I doubt she’d remember anything as clear as specific characters and plot points from anything, really. There’s a foot note early on that tacitly explores this, but then she spends the rest of the book wholesale quoting movies.
Some people say the voice feels inauthentic, and I kinda agree. She thinks with her loins way more than any woman I know, her references are glaringly coded, and (insert witty third thing, don’t forget to edit this part out). But i have friends who are a lot like Davi. They’re butches and transmascs, which is real as hell. So these people do exist, and I appreciated reading a character far removed from other books I’ve read before.
I enjoyed this. There’s a lot keeping me from loving it, but it was a stupidly quick read and did have some genuinely very good emotional moments. If you like the concept but don’t think this book is right for you, check out In Other Lands if you’re queer or A Practical Guide to Conquering the World if you like the cocky underdog general side. Or check this out at your library and read all three. I’m not your mom.
Some people say the voice feels inauthentic, and I kinda agree. She thinks with her loins way more than any woman I know, her references are glaringly coded, and (insert witty third thing, don’t forget to edit this part out). But i have friends who are a lot like Davi. They’re butches and transmascs, which is real as hell. So these people do exist, and I appreciated reading a character far removed from other books I’ve read before.
I enjoyed this. There’s a lot keeping me from loving it, but it was a stupidly quick read and did have some genuinely very good emotional moments. If you like the concept but don’t think this book is right for you, check out In Other Lands if you’re queer or A Practical Guide to Conquering the World if you like the cocky underdog general side. Or check this out at your library and read all three. I’m not your mom.
So different from everything I’ve read before! Filled with humour, satire and a sprinkle of dungeons and dragons. I loved it and I’m excited for the second!