Tag: How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me by Django Wexler: A Kingdom, A Horde, and a Davi (whatever that actually is)

DETAILS:
Series: Dark Lord Davi, #2
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: May 27, 2025
Format: Paperback
Length: 324 pg.
Read Date: August 28-31, 2026

This Is Book Two of a Duology, So…

I cannot talk about this without talking about Book One, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. I probably won’t say much more than what you can assume from the title, but still.

Also, I’m going to lift sections and ideas from the post that I just linked to—because why reinvent the wheel in what I write about these books? The two books could easily be packaged together in one volume to read straight through, so it makes sense that I’m going to think a lot of the same things about them. Wexler’s consistent through the duology; I’ll be consistent in my writing about it. But I’m just saying that now to head off any self-plagiarism claims.

And, now…on with the post…

First and most urgently, I need to prevent the horde from destroying the Kingdom. This is harder than it sounds. But, Davi, you might say, you’re the Dark Lord now! Surely you can order the horde to just, I don’t know, start planting daisies. Which sounds great but this is real life (kind of) and not WarArtisan IV, I’m an actual person and not a disembodied hand in the sky clicking on stuff. The wilders follow the Dark Lord because they think it’ll get them what they want, which is apparently DEATH TO THE HUMANS; if I don’t play along, maybe they’ll decide that Hufferth or Sibarae has the Mandate of Heaven after all.

What’s Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me About?

That quotation basically sums it up. This book takes up shortly after the last one, with Davi having to do some quick thinking and exceptional lying to come up with a way to keep her new horde from wiping out humanity. Or at least trying to (but based on her past lives, she’s pretty sure of the outcome).

Davi and Tsav head to the kingdom’s capital to try to work something out, but the situation in the capital is different this lifetime. Requiring more quick thinking and exceptional lying.

Actually, that pretty much sums up the next…um…rest of the book. Davi and her friends/allies do what they can to come up with plans to keep everyone from attempting to wipe out the other side and maybe come up with a more constructive and long-lasting solution.

A Pretty Big Caveat

Davi feels like she was trained in the use of “blue language” by Zoey Ashe and Teagan Frost*, and truly the student has surpassed the masters. And I really don’t know how to describe her sexual appetites. Thankfully, it’s all behind closed doors (or tent flaps)—but she doesn’t mind talking about it in the narration.

Go into it knowing that, and you’ll be okay. If that’s a red flag for you, (and I honestly feel like it maybe should be one for me), pay attention to it. Maybe instead of a flag, think of it as a red metal octagon.

* From Jason Pargin’s Zoey Ashe series and Jackson Ford’s Frost Files, respectively.

The Missing Fantasy Element

I’ve always wondered where all the dragons were at. It seems like there should be dragons, dragons go with the whole post-Tolkien/Arthuriana/D&D fantasy zeitgeist like orca and Dark Lords and knights in shining armor. The Kingdom has legends about dragons, but they always take place in Olden Times, and in the modern days, giant flying reptiles are nowhere to be found. In the thousand years I’ve been kicking around, I’ve never seen a dragon. I might have even, from time to time, expressed the sentiment that I wanted to see one, or that getting eaten by a dragon would be a good death to add to my extensive catalog.

Right about now, I profoundly wish I could take those thoughts back.

I wanted to keep going with this quotation, but it was in danger of taking over the post (which might not have been a horrible idea), but

In short, it looks like the offspring of an ill-conceived one-night stand between Smaug and Cthulhu.

So, what did I think about Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me?

“I know what I’m doing.”

Tsav rolls her eyes. “What in the course of our relationship could possibly give me that impression?”

I snort. “You know what, fair.”

First, there is so much more heart to this book than you might think. Scrape away the jaded nature of living hundreds of lives and dying in all but one of those (sometimes horribly), and Davi has a large heart and cares a lot for her “minions.” She’s also capable of more personal growth and emotional maturation than one might give her credit for. Not so much that she stops being the sarcastic emotional train-wreck covering up her anxieties and fears with jokes and innuendo, because coping mechanisms just don’t go away. Yet….

Secondly, the action is really well-delivered again. The battle scenes are well-done (but not overly detailed so as to slow down the action), the individual fight scenes are as good as you’re going to find out there. And the plot makes complete sense for what it is. The magic system isn’t one I’ve seen before—and it works well in this world.

This will almost certainly be in the Top 5 funniest books I’ll read this year (and that’s saying something). Davi is full of sass, sarcasm, and obscure pop culture references (and she doesn’t mind making them to people who cannot understand them—she reminds me of Francis Xavier Flynn that way). Her observations and narration made me want to stretch out the reading so I could keep enjoying it (while I had no patience to find out what happens at the end).

Also, I’ve made my position concerning comedic footnotes very clear in the past—huge fan—and Wexler is great at them.

This was just a delight from start to finish. There were plenty of surprises—both in plot twists and character reveals. People into comedic fantasy should give it a try.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

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How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler: Betrayal, Assassination, General Evilness, and a Certain Amount of Discriminate Slaughter

By HCNewton

On December 10, 2025

In Fantasy, Fiction

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

by Django Wexler

DETAILS:
Series: Dark Lord Davi, #1
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: May 21, 2024
Format: Paperback
Length: 387 pg.
Read Date: December 3-6, 2025

I grin. “Fake it till you make it.”

I doubt whoever came up with that particular saying imagined it being applied by an aspiring Dark Lord, but it works. Half the job of being boss, after all, is acting like a boss, performing boss-ness, whether you’re gunning for the corner office or the big iron hat with spikes.

Unfortunately for me, a lot of that performance requires props I haven’t got, to wit: armies and weapons and piles of thaumite. But we’re going to do the best we can with what we ve got.

What’s How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying About?

This is going to be quick, because if you’re not intrigued by the premise, this isn’t going to be a book for you. Also, like The Martian, your appreciation for this book lives and dies with your appreciation of the protagonist and her narration. If you don’t like Davi almost instantly—or if you take an almost-instant dislike for her—save yourself the torture and find another book.

Davi woke up in a small pool/tub in a fantasy world after closing her eyes in ours. She remembers very little about her old life at the point we meet her, but that’s okay—what she does remember is her new life. A wizard approached her in the pool and told her it was the fulfillment of a prophecy—she goes with him to help the Kingdom against its enemies. Their efforts fail, and she dies. (not a spoiler, really)

She wakes up in the pool/tub and repeats the process—hundreds of times, dying in different ways and by the hands of various people and/or Dark Lords (higher than her official count, I’m not sure which lives go into her count and which don’t). Eventually—after a particularly prolonged death, Davi decides to stop trying to help the Kingdom and tries to become the Dark Lord instead. This is that story.

Also, now you understand the title.

A Pretty Big Caveat

* From Jason Pargin’s Zoey Ashe series and Jackson Ford’s Frost Files, respectively.

A Couple of Lines I Feel Compelled to Share

It’s the sort of plan where, were I to tell someone else about it, I’d say, “But you re not going to like it.” Since there’s no one here, I have to both propose the plan and be skeptical about it. You know you’re in a fix when you have to be your own straight man.

The problem with mountains—follow close here, this is complicated—is that they’re very tall.

Tall means hard to get over. Tall also means cold, and cold means snow and ice and all that awfulnes.

The beast is still coming, swinging easily across the cliff, ignoring the rain of fire arrows. It has apparently decided I am its one true prey, and that only rending me to pieces will make it feel complete. Which, honestly, kind of flattering in other circumstances, but not what I need right now.

The thing about people, in the main, is they don’t like getting stabbed. When presented with a stabby situation, they tend to say, “No, you know what, that’s all right. I’ll seek my entertainment elsewhere.” In a battle, this is balanced against the need to look tough in front of your buddies; people will tolerate a certain amount of stab risk to increase their chances of looking brave and possibly scoring with their gender of choice.

But, and this is important, there’s risking getting stabbed, and there’s definitely getting stabbed. Which is to say, when a disorderly mob of screaming wilders comes down a hill at you, it looks like they’re going to run headlong into your spears, but I promise you they won’t. People don’t run headlong into spears, it falls in the “definitely getting stabbed” category.

So, what did I think about How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying?

This is what being Dark Lord is all about. Betrayal, assassination, general evilness. I may try to keep the indiscriminate slaughter to a minimum, but there is going to be a certain amount of discriminate slaughter going on, it’s just part of the show.

First, there is so much more heart to this book than you might think. Really, it’s up there with a Hallmark movie. Scrape away the jaded nature of living hundreds of lives and dying in all but one of those (sometimes horribly), and Davi has a large heart and cares a lot for her “minions.”

Secondly, the action is really well-delivered. The battle scenes are well-done (but not overly detailed so as to slow down the action), the individual fight scenes are as good as you’re going to find out there. And the plot makes complete sense for what it is. The magic system isn’t one I’ve seen before—and it works well in this world.

This has got to be in the Top 5 funniest books I’ve read this year. Davi is full of sass, sarcasm, and obscure pop culture references (and she doesn’t mind making them to people who cannot understand them—she reminds me of Francis Xavier Flynn that way). Her observations and narration made me want to stretch out the reading so I could keep enjoying it (while I had no patience to find out what happens at the end).

Also, I’ve made my position concerning comedic footnotes very clear in the past—huge fan—and Wexler is great at them.

This was just a delight from start to finish. There were plenty of surprises—both in plot twists and character reveals. People into comedic fantasy should give it a try.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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