In How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, we meet one Davi Morrigan; Ms. Skulltaker, if you’re nasty. Davi is stuck in a time loop in a land with no name, where she appears to have been teleported (maybe?) from America (probably). Davi has lived two hundred and eighty-some lives over a thousand years, trying (and failing) to defeat The Dark Lord and his army of wilders. And she is tired of it.
Tired of getting killed in all the possible ways someone can get killed in an unnamed medieval fantasy land. Tired of waking up in a pool of chilly water having to start all over again. Tired of being the prophesied hero, sent (? By whom?) to save the humans from the wilder horde. And extra tired of never, ever defeating The Dark Lord.
So our girl Davi decides to try the only thing she hasn’t tried in all her lives. She decides to try to become The Dark Lord and lead the wilders against the humans. In order to do this, Davi has to find a wilder horde to lead, travel across the unnamed land, join The Convocation, and hopefully win the title of Dark Lord. This is, of course, easier said than done. But don’t worry, Davi has a plan. She also has unlimited lives, a duplicitous nature, some magic stones, and a real willingness to sacrifice others to reach her goal.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is funny, irreverent, and surprisingly sweet in places. It’s also a little gross, absolutely chock full of cursing and inter-species sex, and very smart. I enjoyed it, but didn’t love-it-love-it, so I’d say three stars. Maybe even 3.5, certainly closer to three than four. But I’m definitely going to read the next book of the series.
CBR18 Bingo Circle: “Success” because (spoiler) Davi succeeds both at becoming The Dark Lord and dying repeatedly.
