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Friday, 1 November 2024

Book Review: Django Wexler: How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying (2024)

Django Wexler; How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying

 "Davi has done this all before. She's tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she's rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she's killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she's been defeated every time.


This time? She's done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that's who she needs to be. It's Davi's turn to play on the winning side."

  I picked this one up purely because of the title, The author happily admits that it is inspired by the current wave of Isekai manga.

  To explain Isekai for those who have no bloody idea - ordinary dude from our world gets dumped into a fantasy world where he ends up being the hero needed to stop the Big Bad. It's nearly always a dude too. 

Well in this case, our "hero" is a heroine with a good line in snarky inner monologue, a tendency to throw footnotes about with cheerful abandon and a healthy libido.

  Davi is also really, really sick of  her efforts to save the realm ending in a messy death and yet another rebirth/reset. Hence the whole "Fuck this hero shit, let's go down the Sith route instead."

 Despite this, Davi is actually very easy to like and less of a jerkass than most heroes these days.  Big plus point, believe me. 

  I can't honestly describe this as the sort of book that makes you go "Wow." Not quite on that plateau but not far underneath. 

What you do get is  a story that moves along with a nice mix of action, flashes of humour and some interesting takes on what it really means to lead people. I was entertained the whole way through and will be keeping an eye out for book #2.