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jamieseemsamused 's review for:
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying
by Django Wexler
Genre: Comedic Fantasy
Series information: Book 1 in Dark Lord Davi duology. Completed duology.
Steam Level: 2 out of 5 (Closed door). But there is more crass sexual language than a typical non-romantic fantasy book.
Romance Level: 3 out of 5 (Fantasy story with romance subplot) - The protagonist is bisexual and has a both a MF and FF relationship in the story. The romance is similar to the one in Legends & Lattes but with a bit more romance. It's still very much a subplot, though.
How I Read It: E-book and audiobook borrowed from Libby
Audiobook performance: 5 out of 5 (Enhances the story) - The narrator had great comedic timing and the narrative choices for the pacing and character voices really elevated the story experience for me. I mostly listened to it than read it.
My Review: This book has my kind of humor and my kind of fantasy worldbuilding based on a self-aware satire of video game and D&D fantasy worlds. It has a very distinct feel of being a video game quest, complete with the respawning when you die mechanic. I liked the protagonist's devil-may-care attitude. And I loved all the unique side characters. The story itself was nothing super groundbreaking, but it was interesting enough to be an entertaining and fun time.
I noticed that a lot of the reviews criticize the main character as being too much "woman written by a man." Maybe I've just been reading too many shitty romantasies, but I actually really liked FMC's characterization. It's written in a way that the main character's gender doesn't really matter--there is nothing inherently male or female in the way she is portrayed. There is quite a bit of her sexually objectifying a lot of the side characters and a lot of crass language. But none of that bothered me. It seemed fitting for a character who had lived through hundreds of lifetimes.
This is a story with a lot of modern references, though, that makes the humor extremely meta. I liked that about it, but I can see why some people may not vibe with that either.
Series information: Book 1 in Dark Lord Davi duology. Completed duology.
Steam Level: 2 out of 5 (Closed door). But there is more crass sexual language than a typical non-romantic fantasy book.
Romance Level: 3 out of 5 (Fantasy story with romance subplot) - The protagonist is bisexual and has a both a MF and FF relationship in the story. The romance is similar to the one in Legends & Lattes but with a bit more romance. It's still very much a subplot, though.
How I Read It: E-book and audiobook borrowed from Libby
Audiobook performance: 5 out of 5 (Enhances the story) - The narrator had great comedic timing and the narrative choices for the pacing and character voices really elevated the story experience for me. I mostly listened to it than read it.
My Review: This book has my kind of humor and my kind of fantasy worldbuilding based on a self-aware satire of video game and D&D fantasy worlds. It has a very distinct feel of being a video game quest, complete with the respawning when you die mechanic. I liked the protagonist's devil-may-care attitude. And I loved all the unique side characters. The story itself was nothing super groundbreaking, but it was interesting enough to be an entertaining and fun time.
I noticed that a lot of the reviews criticize the main character as being too much "woman written by a man." Maybe I've just been reading too many shitty romantasies, but I actually really liked FMC's characterization. It's written in a way that the main character's gender doesn't really matter--there is nothing inherently male or female in the way she is portrayed. There is quite a bit of her sexually objectifying a lot of the side characters and a lot of crass language. But none of that bothered me. It seemed fitting for a character who had lived through hundreds of lifetimes.
This is a story with a lot of modern references, though, that makes the humor extremely meta. I liked that about it, but I can see why some people may not vibe with that either.