How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

By: Django Wexler

Narrated by: 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

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Django Wexler (P)2024 Orbit

Critic reviews

“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

Well Written LitRPG

I'll admit I was a bit disappointed with the book. Overall, it's a better than average LitRPG-type story. The main character Davi can be rather annoying--and the one thing that didn't make sense to me is Davi estimates that she's 1000 years old after all the re-boots, but she continues to speak in modern colloquialisms/references even though she certainly knows no one will understand them.

Parts of it were a little slow, but the last third of the book redeems the story.

I was excited for this book based on reviews on Booktok, but it's not my favorite work by this author (Well of Sorcery holds that spot).

So Good

to be bad! This is a snark, action-packed adventure with an awesome female MC! She's dying to be the the Dark Lord and it's so much FUN! The reader was PERFECT and I hope this is only the first book about our "hero"! Will definitely re-read this new classic.

humor

It was ridiculously funny, the writing, the delivery, *chef's kiss*If you like dark sarcastic humor then this is for you.

Great story and hilarous

Absolutely fantastic. You really get a feel for a sense of madness and lack of real consequences that the main character goes through after being trapped a cycle of failure.

Ridiculous in the best possible way!

First this book was not as gory as I feared it would be. yes there is a lot of blood and death but it didn't feel gratuitous. and there is a lot of discussion about sex but all of the sex scenes fade to black before anything beyond kissing happens. mostly it's funny and about how ridiculous life can be. there are still a lot of questions that haven't been answered but it ends in a satisfying place. can't wait for the next book!

This was so fun

If you’ve been looking for a disaster bi girl trying to humorously take on the world and fate this book is for you. It’s absolutely laughable out loud funny and the narration is so well done.

Funny, twisted, pure fun

Every bite a tasty morsel. If you enjoy your book meals twisted, dark, and funny.

Not for me

This is a well written story that was not to my taste. I initially disliked the main character. The narrator is fine but either they or an editor made the choice to “distinguish” internal dialogue by making it sound different, this difference was jarring and disruptive to listening. I appreciate that the main character grew but it wasn’t enough for me to truly like the book, in addition the cliffhanger ending and the significant amount of world background that are hinted at but not revealed put me off.
If you like somewhat off kilter protagonists who swear and talk about sex a lot, and you enjoy the idea of someone making a drastic change in their life you may enjoy this.

Very fun and exciting

The narrator performance was one of the best I’ve ever heard. She brings a new level of life to both the characters and story that is rarely seen. The story itself is a magnificent blend of an interesting new world, fun and full characters, humor, dark trauma, and interesting hooks and plot twists. One of my new favorite books.

Great story, fun characters, entertaining narration

Great narrator. Very entertaining and funny, while still having great world building, plot, characters, and dialogue.