You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

47 reviews

rambles's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

 It's a fun ride The main character is like if a gender flipped Deadpool got isekaied into a fantasy world and instead of healing powers got stuck in a time loop. Looking forward to the next one. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kdonovan2005's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The plot is great -- time looped "The One" decides she's had enough and is going to become the bad guy instead. Unfortunately, the execution is not great.

The writing is ok -- not the worst, but the writer definitely thinks he's funnier than he is. There's way too many modern references and it's unlikely that Davi (the MC) would know all or remember of them. Also there's a lot of inconsistencies with what she does know/remember from Earth (one moment saying she remembers next to nothing, the next making a very niche reference -- definite continuity errors).

As other reviewers have said, Davi is also most definitely a female protagonist written by a man. She reads like a basement-dwellers' wet-dream. I really don't like to say "no woman would every act like that/say those things, etc." because woman are multi-faceted, can be anything, yada yada, but I think it warrants in this case. Davi is grating and over-sexualized and the little romance there is is really clumsy.

The plot is fairly predictable and it's very clear the writer is a big D&D fan, which is fine if you like that sort of thing. There are some good action/puzzle/etc scenes. The world building is also pretty good -- the parts I enjoyed the most were descriptions of the environment, cities, etc. 

Overall, it's a decent read if you remove/skip over the sex/romance, but I doubt I'll read the second one (or third? Who knows how long it will drag out). This definitely should have wrapped up in one book.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

beckahh_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny fast-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? Yes

4.0

This was hilarious. I sadly didn't love it as much as I thought I would, but I still had a great time reading it. I'd definitely recommend listening to the audiobook if possible, the narrator did a good job of converting the chaos of the characters. Definitely check your trigger warnings as well though. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

deangilbarry's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny tense fast-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? No

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

arcadegamer518's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

chelrump's review against another edition

Go to review page

Didn’t jive with me. I didn’t like the main character - kind of a Deadpool-lite that had a witty one liner for every dialogue. I didn’t enjoy the crossover of pop culture references, and even though the main character is a villain traveling with monstrous creatures, I didn’t feel like any of the monsters had much personality (especially for being totally different creatures, like orcs and snake people).

I’m interested to know how the main character is stuck in a time loop and why, but they almost immediately move away from being in the time loop - which loses its appeal, or purpose of the set up. Then it just turns into a isakai or LitRPG story, which I’ve never been too keen on.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

    I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it's definitely not for everyone! If you have a dark sense of humor and don't mind lots of talk of sex and a very sexually liberated female MC, then this book is for you. Especially if you're a geek! It has a lot of D&D and other geek cultural references. If any of those things are not your cup of tea, you'll probably not like this book! 
   The book made me laugh a lot, but also tear but at moments. It was a ride. I don't usually care for cliffhangers. But the ending was perfect! As was the big twist before that.
   I've seen some reviews that said because a man wrote it he made the female MC, for lack of a better word, horny, but honestly, that's just some women. It's also a way for people to process trauma, which Davi has plenty of despite her upbeat demeanor, which along with a dark sense of humor is another coping mechanism. 
  I think Davi was more complex than some others made her out to be. It just wasn't explicitly told to you, you had to read between the lines. Though yes, Davi could be kind of an asshole at times, which she fully admits.

Narrator Rating: 5.0 stars
  The narrator made the book for me! They did an amazing job!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jackbifrost's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

colorcrystals's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

woolerys's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Writing - 4/5 
Plot - 4/5 
Characters - 3/5 
World-building - 3/5 
Personal tastes - 4/5 
TOTAL: 3.6 
 
The main character bugged me almost from the beginning, but it took a while to articulate what was bothering me:  the end goal of feminism is not for women to be just like men, yet that seems to be Wexler’s impression. So, points for trying, but it irritated me. 

Also minus points for being the kind of book where being gay or bi is common and accepted (yay!) but there are zero trans or enby characters (boo). Always strikes me as a little weird in contemporary fiction.

Those criticisms aside, this is a fun romp through fantasy trope-land, just as advertised, and I will probably read the sequel whenever it comes out. If [you] love fantasy satire, there's a good chance you'll enjoy it, too!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings