A review by jcreads85
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • 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

4.5/5 Stars 
 
First I'd like to thank Orbit Books for approving my request to read this eARC via NetGalley of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler. 
 
To be completely honest, I don’t think any review could do this book justice unless it was read slightly unhinged – perhaps by Jim Carrey? - with musical accompaniment by Jack Black, but in the style of Bowser. And that basically sets our stage...You will like this book if you grew up with, and loved, Redwall, Ready Player One, World of Warcraft, Groundhog Day, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Lord of the Rings. Basically, you will love this books if you like witty banter, found family, epic journeys, pop culture references, non-human characters, and a tale that plays out as a MMO...on repeat? 
 
To begin, if you started this book and stopped at the 15-20% mark, I encourage you to persist. Because I did the same. It was so very chaotic (my first note is "jumps right int with torture; tone is set"), without a clear plot established by that point that I could only read a bit at a time and moved on to other books that captured me earlier in their tale. But once you cross over (haha as if, right Davi?) I didn't want to put it down. Now, for those determining if you are going to pick this book up – don't let this scare you. It is not slow. It's strange. And up through the 20% mark you're getting a little backstory and world history, while watching Davi on repeat (think Groundhog Day trope). Davi has an objective, you just don't know when you'll be on the, uh, stable, storyline. 
 
Not going to lie, I loved the journey but was a bit exasperated to see that this wasn't a stand-alone. I really, really want more fantasy stand-alone novels in my life. I know MANY of my fellow readers love a series, but if you are also like me, you need fewer series on your TBR. And no one likes to jump into an unfinished series, am I right?! 
 
Now, for the meat of the tale. Davi, our resurrected, prophesized heroine is done with her fate. Our 1000 year old presenting 20 year old main character is done trying to save the world from the Dark Lord takeover and has decided, on her 278th life (the count it a general guestimate...) that she's switching sides. She's going to become the Dark Lord. The only problem, just a minor thing, is she's a resurrected nobody to the Wilder's (non-humans) and thus has to establish her legitimacy and gain a horde. 
 
The tale takes place over a two month span, on the way to the Convocation where Davi plans to throw her hat into the ring to become the Dark Lord. Along the way, we, the reader, are sharing the experience via a breaking the 4th wall.   
 
Davi herself is a tactical genius, but rather unhinged and lacks a filter. She comes off as winging it all the time, and may either have ADHD... or be generally psychologically broken (but yeah, 300+ resurrections later can do that to a person). I also found it odd that she had so many pop culture references (I'll leave those surprises for you to discover) yet couldn't remember much about her own life back on Earth.  
 
I truly loved the story. I loved the supporting characters, diverse creatures, and the Dark Lord trials. Thought the confrontations and battles with other tribes were done well (tho, still felt like it should have been longer than 2 months...). But Chapters 10 & 11 tried to break me. The betrayal! 
 
This book has footnotes every chapter. In general, they are unimportant. They are hilarious, however. And just feed into our understanding of Davi's character as they are an extension of her inner monologue. And I was okay with them from the start but only realized 57% of the way through that I only had to click on the number within the chapter to read the footnote and not wait until the end. Don't be me, learn and adapt sooner. 
 
Triggers: Suicide, Talk of Suicide, Torture, Murder, Sexual Innuendos, Talk of Masturbation, Swearing, Cross-species relations 
Nothing sexual is explicit – basically all implied, closed door 
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