How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

De: Django Wexler

Narrado por: Jeanette Illidge

Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy in Django Wexler’s laugh-out-loud 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.

Burningblade & Silvereye
Ashes of the Sun
Blood of the Chosen
Emperor of Ruin

Reseñas de la Crítica

“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

"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

"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

"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 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

"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

"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

"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

"Lord of the Rings crossed with Groundhog Day, narrated by a gender-flipped Deadpool."—Mike Brooks, author of The Black Coast

"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

Manic Pixie Meme Girl goes places.

The Good: An excellent premise for a litrpg/prog-fantasy story. Despite the cheapened consequences of death, the stakes stay high. There is an endearing cast of supporting characters, and they are handled well IMO, save for one notable exception. The narrator is absolutely amazing. Bi representation is nice.

The Bad: The book makes use of cutaways, similar to the annotations in Pratchett's Discworld series, but they are used poorly, and far too often. Half the time they're used to argue with a hypothetically cynical reader. This continues outside of these cuts as well, becoming tedious and breaking the flow of the story to no real benefit. Maybe because of this, there's an unreality throughout the story that stretches the suspension of disbelief to breaking, with minimal payout. In other words, it's not as funny as Deadpool.

The Iffy: Much of the humor references memes and pop culture, from Rick Astley to World of Warcraft. Maybe a bit too much Warcraft, honestly. The rest of the humor is either poop jokes, sex jokes, or gore jokes. This is at its worst at the very beginning, where the protagonist is in full "Tumblr Meme Compilation" mode, with very little else to hold on to. She's also frighteningly horny, and while I appreciate a sex-positive protag, the way her relationships are handled gets frustrating at times, with few consequences on her end.

Overall: An entertaining read if you can get to chapter 3. Despite the darker subjects, the theme is more about new experiences, which makes the book feel almost like a cozy litrpg. Pick it up if you're chronically online or if you like unhinged nerdy girls.

Quick, Modern, Engaging, and Creative

It's everything I wanted a time loop fantasy villain arc to be. there's something about natural language and orcs dropping f bombs that's weirdly charming

DARK LORD DAVI!

I wish I could give this book four and a half Stars. my only real complaint was the beginning of the book the main character was very jarring, but once you get into the story that calms down a bit. not to say she ever stops being horny. overall fantastic book I'll definitely be picking up the second one

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Wonderful!
Funny, sexy, sarcastic. Improbable but believable.
All Hail Dark Lord Davi! I need more. Lots more!

Meh

Okay, full honesty: I didn’t finish the book. I made it about three hours in before tapping out. The amount of sex? Just... too much. I guess I’m a prude, or at least not the target audience for that level of detail.

But what really drove me up the wall was the narration. The reader started off fine—fun, a little quirky, engaging—but every time the main character had an internal thought, the tone would completely shift. Suddenly it was flat, or monotone,. I actually thought my headset was glitching... turns out, nope. It was just recorded that way.

I was enjoying the story underneath all that, but between the endless sex scenes and the bizarre voice performance, I had to call it. Not for me.

Just my two cents!