Publishers Weekly
★ 03/18/2024
By turning the themes of chosen-one fantasy on their head, this sardonic romp from Wexler (the Burningblade & Silvereye series) brings out the smiles. Davi, an exile from the human world, has been reborn 238 times over the 10 centuries she’s spent trapped in the fantasy land known as the Kingdom. She’s tired of trying and failing to stop the Dark Lord from conquering the land—so this time around, she switches teams. (“We have an expression back home concerning what course of action to take if you find yourself under no circumstances able to beat ’em. I intend to follow its advice.”) Using her past-lives’ knowledge, she convinces her former foes that she is destined to be the next Dark Lord. Events snowball, and soon Davi has her own horde of orcs, stone monsters, and shark-toothed dwarves marching off to the Convocation that anoints the next Dark Lord. (“I don’t know exactly how they pick the Dark Lord, but a major factor is personal charisma as measured in armed henchpersons.”) Wexler balances the snarky asides with the angst of Davi’s repeating existence and evolving awareness that her actions have consequences. Under the flippancy, a truly touching grimdark story lurks, complete with hilarious footnotes. Readers will be wowed. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Co. (May)
From the Publisher
"Tremendous fun."—Kirkus
"Takes the old saying 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,' to the next level. A sarcastic, action-packed, intrigue-filled (mis)adventure. One of the funniest books I've read in a long time."—Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl
“All hail Dark Lord Davi! How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is outrageously fun, filled with campy humor, action and unexpected warm-heartedness. I grinned from the first page to the last.” —Fonda Lee, author of Jade City
"Funny as hell, multi-layered, and affecting. Wexler's irreverent demolition of the fantasy genre doubles as a reverent exploration of where the magic comes from."—Scott Lynch, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora
"All-afterburners Isekai adventure—twisty, pacey, and full of reverent irreverence for fantasy. I can't get enough."—Max Gladstone, New York Times Bestselling Author
"Wickedly sharp, funny, and raunchy. Wexler delights in punching holes in the beloved cliches of fantasy, and I adore this. If you ever thought: if I was the villain, I'd actually be smart about things, then this is the book for you."—Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings
"Fast-paced, brilliantly raunchy, unforgettable. The Pratchett-esque American isekai you didn't know you wanted. My favorite read of the year."—Seanan McGuire, author of Middlegame
"A howlingly funny romp about a lone woman's quest to become the dark lord and her surprisingly endearing minions."—Aliette de Bodard, author of The Red Scholar's Wake
"Django Wexler takes the concept of progression fantasy to a whole new level in this darkly comic delight of a novel. Finding comedic, and sometimes tragic, potential in the absurdities and contradictions offered by well worn fantasy tropes, How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying works wonderfully as both satire and tribute."—Anthony Ryan, author of The Pariah
“Witty and clever but stuffed with heart to boot, a wonderful twist on familiar tropes presented with skill and polish and Wexler’s trademark pacing. I can hardly wait to read the next one!”—Howard Andrew Jones, author of The Desert of Souls
"Awesome! This book is all kinds of fun. It’s dark, irreverent, and funny as hell. I tore through this thing in a day. It’s that good. All Hail Dark Lord Davi!"—Sylvain Neuvel, the author of The Themis Files
"This book cold-cocked me out of the worst reading slump of my life, and I'm not just saying that to stay on Dark Lord Davi's dark side. Join the horde and read it!"—Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit
"High-brow fantasy? Low-brow hilarity? Maybe the other way around? Whatever, it's awesome. If only I was trapped in a time loop, then I could enjoy this gem fresh every day. Wexler's done it again!"—Jason M. Hough, New York Times bestselling author
"Highly recommended for anyone who loved watching the 'hero' die in Edge of Tomorrow, readers who enjoy Christopher Buehlman’s, K.J. Parker’s and T. Kingfisher’s snarky, sarcastic, and ultimately pragmatic protagonists with hearts of gold, and especially readers looking for stories where the stock villains finally get a fair shake ... a wild ride of fake it ’til you make it, full of high adventure and low chuckles every step of the way."
—Library Journal
"A brash swords-and-satire romp that draws you into its rollicking adventure even as it pokes fun at the whole genre. Gamers in particular will appreciate the irreverent upending of classic roleplaying tropes."—James L. Sutter, co-creator of the Pathfinder and Starfinder Roleplaying Games
"Wexler smashes a dozen tropes and then glues them back together like a Japanese vase in what can only be called a page-turning manic pixie Dark Lord story. Part portal fantasy, part Groundhog Day, part R-rated D&D campaign gone off the rails, and just so much damned fun. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had this much sheer fun with a book. "—Peter Clines, NYT bestselling author of The Broken Room
"Lord of the Rings crossed with Groundhog Day, narrated by a gender-flipped Deadpool."—Mike Brooks, author of The Black Coast
"Wexler’s wise-cracking heroine grabs the reader in the first sentence and never (and I mean never) lets go. With expert pacing, the plot has rhythm and energy...An utter delight from start to finish. Both hilarious and wise at once, Wexler has created a brilliant comedic novel and one hell of a ride!"—Constance Sayers, author A Witch in Time
"A riotous fantasy-adventure series starter featuring Davi, a protagonist whose sarcasm and wit make her instantly endearing ... a rollicking ride readers won't want to miss."
—Booklist
Library Journal
★ 03/01/2024
Davi, a young woman from Earth, has a destiny on this fantasy world, and she keeps being resurrected to start over every time she fails to meet it. She's tired of being led down the primrose path of supposed good, so she decides, on her 278th resurrection, to choose evil. She'll be the Dark Lord Davi, and maybe, just this once, she'll win. Or at least not die in tortured dismemberment. All she has to do is figure out how to switch perspectives and become one of the villains, even if she has to die, repeatedly and frequently, until she finally figures things out—or at least thinks she has. Sometimes, it's good to be bad. Highly recommended for anyone who loved watching the "hero" die in Edge of Tomorrow, readers who enjoy Christopher Buehlman's, K.J. Parker's and T. Kingfisher's snarky, sarcastic, and ultimately pragmatic protagonists with hearts of gold, and especially readers looking for stories where the stock villains finally get a fair shake. VERDICT Wexler's (Emperor of Ruin) latest is a wild ride of fake it 'til you make it, full of high adventure and low chuckles every step of the way.—Marlene Harris
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-03-23
A woman trapped in a time loop decides she’s had enough of trying to win an unwinnable war in Wexler’s fantasy comedy.
Davi is stuck in a time loop. Though she’s from our world, her loop starts when the wizard Tserigern wakes her from a magical pool and tells her she’s been summoned to save the humans of the Kingdom from the wilders, magical creatures like orcs and other monsters. The wilders are led by the Dark Lord, and though the Dark Lord might be any number of figures, what matters is that the wilders destroy the humans over and over and over. Which means that Davi has died and woken back up in that pool so many times that she’s been alive for thousands of years and knows the fantasy world inside and out. After dying yet again in the Dark Lord’s dungeons, Davi decides she’s had enough. Clearly the war against the wilders is unwinnable. Instead, Davi decides she’ll change sides to become the Dark Lord herself, and maybe be on the winning side for a change. Though Davi doesn’t remember much of her life on Earth, she does remember plenty of pop culture references, and her frenetic sense of humor is both wonderfully sharp and probably an accurate depiction of how someone’s mind might crack a bit after reliving the same life hundreds of times. The fact that Davi’s life doesn’t reset until she has died adds dimension to the time-loop trope, making it more like a video game, where she might make it for a few years or a few hours depending on what she chooses to do. As Davi moves forward in the only version of her life that she hasn’t yet tried, fighting with the wilders, she forms new kinds of bonds and finds exciting new mysteries about the fantasy world where she’s spent multiple lifetimes.
Tremendous fun.
