Today’s review is about HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING by Django Wexler. It’s the first book in the Dark Lord Davi duology. Davi is in a never-ending time loop. Each time she dies trying to do the right thing she has to do it all over again from the beginning. Sick of failing, she decides in her next life to become the Dark Lord. This, of course, requires minions and a trial to prove her worthiness.

Author: Django Wexler
Series: Dark Lord Davi #1
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Orbit
Publish Date: May 21, 2024
Print Length: 432

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Official Synopsis

Groundhog Day meets Deadpool in Django Wexler’s raunchy, hilarious, blood-splattered fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.

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.

A humorous western isekai featuring the reincarnation of an antihero female lead.

My Review

I received a free finished copy of this book from the publisher. My review is my own and reflects my honest opinion about this book.

HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING sticks Davi in a time loop that she can’t seem to get out of. When we meet Davi, life #237 is about over and she’s ready for life #238. Sick of constant failure playing the role of the hero, Davi rebels, figuratively throws some birdies to the universe, and decides to start her new life (lives?) as the Dark Lord. First, though, she has to figure out how to become said Dark Lord. And that involves amassing minions and a convocation of trials.

The humor of this book is certainly on another level. To have an appreciation for it, it would probably be a good idea to already have a predilection for dark, dry humor. Otherwise, Davi’s twisted and random thoughts and jokes might grate on the reader after a while. It’s hard not to have a perverse view of the world, though, when one keeps dying and coming back to life. Davi is also comfortable with her sexuality and is not afraid to express her desire in what appears to be a queer-normative world. I found this entertaining, but it might annoyed some at constantly reading about Davi wanting to satiate her appetite.

There is also a lot of pop culture references. While this isn’t something that took me out of the story, others might feel differently. However, I found all of the footnotes littered throughout the story rather distracting. They serve as a pause in the immediate story to provide an extension of Davi’s thoughts or jokes. After a while I stopped reading them because I found it annoying to constantly stop the plot progression.

And, speaking of plot, HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING has a rather simple one. It is heavy on the journey trope during which Davi meets orcs and various other peoples and tries to persuade them to join her cause. I have a neutral stance with this trope. Even so, I started to struggle to stay interested and wanted more from the story than a political campaign journey. Objectively, it is important for Davi to gather minions. But it took up so much of the storyline that I felt relieved when the plot finally focused on Davi’s trials toward Dark Lord-dom. I thought the last 75 pages or so more interesting than the bulk of Davi’s journey to get to the Convocation.

The reveal at the end piqued my interest enough to want to continue with the next book in this duology. (I must admit I thought and hoped this was a standalone, though.) However, I hope the reveal wasn’t a red herring and actually means something. Overall, HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING has a unique dark sense of humor that is refreshing in the fantasy genre. Though the plot is a little too simple for my tastes, the characters are certainly entertaining, so it’s easy to root for Davi’s success.

Rating: 3.75
Content warnings: death, blood, torture, gore, violence
Reading format: Paperback