Synopsis:
Dark Lord Davi rules the kingdom, but she must now break the time loop that binds her in this hilariously bloody conclusion to the Dark Lord Davi duology.
Davi has left the horde behind her, hoping to find a peaceful solution to keep the Kingdom from being destroyed this time. But her plan to guide the Kingdom to peaceful prosperity is thwarted when she finds her usual love interest, Prince Johann, already married and the bloodthirsty Duke Aster running the government. Johann’s new husband is everything Davi is not, but he holds a key to the one mystery she can’t solve – the origins of the time loop that has entrapped her.
With restless armies at her doorstep, Duke Aster reaching for power, and an ancient magician hounding her every turn, Davi must scheme her way to peace and uncover the truth behind her curse if she is to break the spell that binds her once and for all.
Review:
Django Wexler’s first book in the Dark Lord Davi series, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (abbreviated HTBTDLADT from here on) was a phenomenally fun time loop fantasy. I read it right at the tailend of 2024 and put it on my Top Ten list for the year. The follow-up, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (EWTRTW ) is still loads of fun, but misses the mark at times for me. The ending works really well and the humor definitely puts the two books on a “Re-read in the Future” list for me.
In my previous review of HTBTDLADT, (found here), I noted my love of time loop stories from Star Trek to Groundhog Day. Here, the “Time Loopiness” of the story is a key part, but kinda disappears for a while. In the first part of the book, it’s definitely hanging over Davi and her closest friends, but Wexler subverts Chekhov’s Gun a bit with how it plays out. In the final third of the book, Davi’s unique gifts come roaring back to the forefront of the story as the circumstances of her place in this world become clear. Sometimes in time loop stories, such as Groundhog Day, we don’t ever find out the nature of the loop and what forces are in control of it, but Wexler crafts the origins of the loop and its creator into the overall story.
Overall, a good amount of what worked for me in the first book was either absent or positioned differently in the sequel, so for the first two-thirds of the book I found it a little harder to buy-in and engage with the story. In HTBTDLADT, the concept of found family sprung up organically as the book progressed. Soon after EWTRTW starts, Davi and Tsav leave their Wilder Army and infiltrate the human kingdom. It’s necessary for the story and where it eventually goes, but something just felt missing. Throughout the books we’re reminded that Davi has lived hundreds of years and countless lives among these people. She tells the audience over and over about her relationship with Prince Johann in previous iterations, but there’s still a little bit of “show, not tell” that hampers the story at times.
For a little over the first half of the book, I was definitely enjoying it, but had some troubling vibing with it. But I’ll give Wexler a lot of credit — about two-thirds of the way through, EWTRTW turned it on. I could not put the book down, anxiously going from one page to the next to see what was happening and where Davi’s fate was taking her and her friends next. In the end, the final arc of the book paid off big time. I really enjoyed Davi’s humor, but also totally understood why the villain was annoyed to death (literally) by her throughout it all.
If you enjoy humor with your fantasy and a little bit of time loop shenanigans, I recommend reading both books in Django Wexler’s Dark Lord Davi Duology.
Thank you to Orbit for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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