Django Wexler’s latest novel has a mouthful of a title, but it’s an absolute blast.
Davi is tired. She’s been living in a time loop for hundreds of years since she first found herself in The Kingdom, restarting in the same place, the same state of existence, every time she dies. Sometimes, that’s only a few hours (or minutes) into a loop. Sometimes it’s been years. Every time she wakes up in a new loop, she’s greeted by the same old wizard who tells her that it’s her destiny to save The Kingdom. She has tried hundreds of times, and so far, has always ended up the same way: failing to defeat the newly arisen Dark Lord and their horde of villains. What’s the phrase? If you can’t beat them, join them.
This time around, Davi decides, things are going to be different. She’s done fighting the Dark Lord, and is going to use her ability (curse?) of respawning to take the title for herself. It’s going to be hard, though. Subverting your destiny isn’t easy, even when you can take a few hundred tries to get it right. Step one. Kill the old wizard for starters. Step two. Find the nearest band of orcs and gain their trust. Step three. Use that orc band and her own knowledge of the local Guild patrols and fighting tactics to take out a crew and get their gear. Step four. Turn that little orc gang to start building up a proper army, and fast.
Oh, did she mention that she’s only got two months or so to get to the Convocation where the new Dark Lord will be selected? Davi needs to get moving if she’s going to get her tenure as Dark Lord on track, but she has no guarantees that things will end any differently than every time she tried to be a hero. After all, the Convocation is held beyond the edge of the map, as far as the Guild is concerned. She has no experience breaking the standard loop of time, and each day she moves beyond her previous routine is one day further that she’ll have to go if she screws up. She’s headed into unknown territory now, and the fate of her adopted world is at stake.
Wexler’s newest novel is perfect for fans of roguelike games like Hades. It’s an absolutely hilarious and unrepentantly horny book, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Wexler’s writing traces a line between homage and irreverent humor, particularly where Davi’s footnotes are concerned (after a few hundred lives, she’s lost track of some of the details of her own background, and her memories from Earth are slightly scrambled). Even better? This is book one of a series. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is available next Tuesday, May 21st.
My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.
National Library Workers Day
Today is National Library Workers Day.
Today is a reminder that not everyone
Who works in a library is a librarian,
But the library doesn’t work without
All of them.
To keep a library running, you need people.
People who care about other people;
People who know how to find answers;
People who know how to fix things;
People who know how to clean things;
People who want to help;
People who want to learn and grow;
People who aren’t afraid of change;
People who are courageous in the
Face of people who would sow fear;
People who are good with money;
People who are good with kids;
People who are good with teens;
People who are good with adults;
People who are good with seniors;
People who are artistic;
People who are young and old;
People who are there to build others
Up, not merely themselves;
People who long to tear down
Hatred, not stoke its flames;
People who want to share in their
Community;
People who have seen the struggles
Faced by libraries in the past who can
Guide them into the future;
Skeptics and believers;
Leaders and followers;
People who exist within and without
All of the categories that so many strive
To create to enforce a rigid order;
Night owls and early birds;
People who want to use the library’s
Services and expand them;
Shushing people, laughing people;
The people whose eyes grow wide
With sheer wonder when they see
Everything that a library can be;
People who want to make the library
A place that is truly welcoming and
Safe.
Because without all of these people doing
What they do, a library
Isn’t a library. It’s just a building full of books.