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Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me: A Review

BEWARE! HERE THERE BE SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE!

SERIOUSLY. GO READ BOOK ONE.

Did you do it? Okay.

Cool. Here we go.

Hail Dark Lord Davi!

Last time we checked in with Davi, she’d successfully manipulated the time loops that she’d been experiencing since she first woke up in The Kingdom, roughly 1,000 years ago (by her own personal reckoning). Since that day, when the wizard Tserigern first told her that she was the Chosen One, fated to save The Kingdom from the Dark Lord, she’s lived and died thousands of times. Each time, beginning a new time loop has allowed Davi to take advantage of her own memories and predict the actions of others around her. Each time, she’s failed to save The Kingdom. So, back at the beginning of Django Wexler’s absolutely brilliant How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, she started a new tactic—killing Tserigern and setting off on a path to become the Dark Lord (surprise! Bet you didn’t see that coming).

Finally arriving on the far side of the continent and triumphing over her rivals, Davi now stood at the head of a massive horde of wilders with her second in command, the orc woman, Tsav, at her side (as well as frequently in her bed). With Artaxes, the arbiter of the challenges, having officially crowned her as Dark Lord Davi, all that remained was… wait… what happens now?

See, during the challenges, Davi died. Again. Only this time, she didn’t reset back to the beginning with Tserigern. She only went back one day. The rules changed, and suddenly consequences meant something again. Now, Davi faces a new problem. If she doesn’t want to lose all of the progress that she’s finally made in her march to power (and her relationship with Tsav), she’s going to have to stop treating the other people around her as tools and stepping stones. So, new list of tasks: 1.) Convince the wilders that they don’t have to kill all the humans. 2.) Convince the humans that they don’t have to kill the wilders. 3.) Not die.

No big deal, right? Davi sets off from the wilderness back to The Kingdom to uncover the mysteries of how humans ended up in this world in the first place, what changed about the time loops, and, if she’s The Chosen One, who did The Choosing.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is another brilliant, darkly hilarious fantasy adventure from Django Wexler, and is a perfect ending to Davi’s long, long, long life. The footnotes throughout continue to annotate Davi’s incredibly ADHD approach to things (supplementing many of her thoughts with her own intrusive thoughts based on her fading memories of our world). Wexler’s humor ensures that Davi’s journey isn’t too fraught, but there’s definitely more consequences for her actions this time around.

It’s out in the world today, May 27th. Get yourself a copy, and dive in!

My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. I’m pretty glad I didn’t need a time loop to get it.

OR DID I?!

His Mortal Demise: A Review

It’s The Last Bloodcarver sequel time! Vanessa Le’s duology comes to a spectacular end.

Beware, as unmarked spoilers for book #1 will follow!

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Okay, y’all. At the end of The Last Bloodcarver, Nhika died. Using the last of her strength, she healed Kochin and saved his life, passing along the bone ring that had belonged to her heartsooth ancestors in the process. Now, Nhika has woken up in one of the Congmi family’s other manors on the other side of the country. Kochin is nowhere to be found, and Theumas is now at war. Her entire world has turned upside down, and she’s desperate to find answers, but Mimi and Andao are hesitant to tell her the truth.

Six months ago, Ven Kochin almost died, but he was rescued by Nhika. Using technology developed by Dr. Sando during Sando’s attempt to resurrect his dead son, Kochin keeps Nhika in a comatose but stable state. With Theumas on the brink of war, he ventures home to see his estranged family and make amends before setting off on a fool’s quest to find a way to revive her. His own resources dwindling, he knows that he must make his way to the island of Yarong, from whence the heartsooths originally came. Who can he trust to keep Nhika safe while he searches for answers?

Vanessa Le’s writing is just as solid in His Mortal Demise as it was in The Last Bloodcarver. Nhika and Kochin’s split narrative is clever and well-managed, keeping the tension tight as his timeline ticks down and hers continues on into wartime. I’m thrilled to have gotten a chance to read this one. My utmost thanks as always to MacMillan and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. His Mortal Demise dropped on Tuesday, 3/18/25. Go check it out!

The West Passage: A Review

There is a great evil approaching. The last Guardian of the West Passage is dead, and rather than officially naming her apprentice as her successor, she used her last words to give him a single command. “Tell Black it’s coming.”

Kew should have been named as the next Hawthorn of Grey, the new Guardian, the most recent of a long line of people to hold the name and the title designating him for duties not fully understood in living memory. Now he must make the journey from the Grey Tower to the Black Tower in order to pass along his teacher’s message. If he can accomplish this, then he might prove himself worthy of recognition as a Hawthorn, taking the place he has been training for all his life.

Pell is an apprentice to the Women in Grey, an ancient order who exist to provide funerary care to the other people of the city. When Hawthorn is brought to the women for her funeral, Pell briefly crosses paths with Kew and sneaks away with a book that Hawthorn had in her possession.

The first indicator that something is wrong occurs during Hawthorn’s services, when her funerary mask is accidentally broken. Between that and the theft of the book, Pell begins to fear that her actions are bringing time itself out of alignment, with snow beginning to fall in what should be the middle of summer. Rats are pouring out of statues, and none of the women can be bothered to guess if something is truly amiss.

Jared Pechaček has created a somehow vibrant ruined world, reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s Book of New Sun, blending things both magical and technological and decades or centuries past their prime. Frankly, I love worldbuilding that deliberately hides or doesn’t worry about how everything works, leaving plenty of mysteries in place. A massive palace ruled over by the Ladies (mysterious and powerful giant beings) serves as the setting for the entire novel, and it’s filled with ominous creatures as well as new allies for Kew and Pell as they go their separate ways to set things right.

The West Passage came out on Tuesday, 7/16, and it’s an absolute joy of a novel. It’s weird and truly fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what Pechaček does next. My utmost thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

Unexploded Remnants: A Review

Alice is the last surviving human in the universe, and she’s on the run. When she was exploring the Alta Sidoie market, she found something in a scrap collector’s booth that was far more than met the eye. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t the only one who recognized it. Now she’s being chased throughout an intergalactic portal network by a warmongering alien race that wants to use the weapon-controlling AI she found to attack anyone who has ever wronged them.

Alice fell into the portal network by chance, an accidental bit of access from a world that wasn’t supposed to be able to connect. She was observed by the Archive, one of the unifying forces for good in the universe, and sent back to report on humanity as a whole. Eventually Earth’s conflicts grew to the point where the Archive opted to quarantine the world instead of attempting to keep helping, leaving humans to their own slow self-destruction. Alice, however, was allowed to keep performing work for them. Now alongside her virtual assistant, Bugs, she’s employed as a blend of archaeologist and grave robber for the Archive, trading in favors and information as well as artifacts.

Alice has her hands on the key to one of the most powerful remaining weapons in the galaxy, and the enemy is closing in. The AI is a threat to everyone, but Alice is determined to save Gunn, the being trapped in the heart of the artifact. She doesn’t know who she can fully trust, but she’s going to do whatever it takes to free him.

Elaine Gallagher has packed a tremendous amount of detail into a very small package with Unexploded Remnants. This novella is fast-paced and a hell of a lot of fun. World hopping action and clever characters reminiscent of Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, and Evelyn O’Connor make for a quick, entertaining read that still manages to provide commentary on weapons of war and how we treat soldiers.

My utmost thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair review. Unexploded Remnants is out today, 6/25/24. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying: A Review

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.

The Last Bloodcarver: A Review

Once in a while, a book will come along that just surprises the hell out of me in the best way. The Last Bloodcarver is one of those books. The city of Theumas is heavily industrialized, pushing the limits of technology and science. Nhika is struggling to get by, peddling oils and herbs and generally posing as a healer. Thing is? She actually can heal people, reading someone’s body with a single touch to diagnose them. Nhika is a heartsooth, in the tongue of her people. The citizens of Theumas, however, fear the abilities she wields, and call her a bloodcarver. The power to manipulate a a body requires only energy and knowledge, and when Nhika has both, she can be deadly. However, she would far rather honor the memories of her lineage, her deceased parents and grandparents, and all the other heartsooths from the island of Yarong that have gone before her. Nhika is the last surviving member of her family, and to the best of her knowledge, the last heartsooth.

When a scam job goes wrong, Nhika ends up in the clutches of The Butchers, a gang of thieves who deal in rare animals. As far as they’re concerned, a proven bloodcarver is just that, and they plan to sell her to the highest bidder. That bidder turns out to be a 15-year old girl named Mimi. Nhika is whisked away from Butcher’s Row to an elaborate estate and introduced to Mimi’s brother Andao, the and informed that they are the children and heirs of one of Theumas’ leading tech magnates. Their father has died, and they suspect foul play. Only one man was witness to what happened to Mr. Congmi on the night he died, and that witness is now in a coma. It is with the desperate hope that he might have memories of the death that Mimi and Andao sought out Nhika and her abilities. If Nhika can heal him, he might be able to tell the siblings what actually happened to their father.

Nhika must soon begin to navigate the upper echelons of a society that would kill her for her talents, learning more about medicine and politics in order to blend in at the Congmi estate. How long she can keep her secret when the grounds are buzzing with people? Was Mr. Congmi’s death really just an accident? Is that doctor’s young aide flirting with her? Will she be able to find peace in her family’s traditions when everyone she loved is dead?

Vanessa Le has created an enthralling world in The Last Bloodcarver. Using her own Vietnamese heritage as a background, she’s wound magic and history together in an immediately engaging story. This book starts off fast and doesn’t let up. This is planned as book one of a duology, too, and I’m already looking forward to the follow-up work.

The Last Bloodcarver is out from MacMillan today. My utmost thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Trials of Empire: A Review

Richard Swan’s Empire of the Wolf series caught my attention almost immediately when I first saw the cover of The Justice of Kings. It’s hard to miss a cover like that when you’re 1.) a fantasy fan and 2.) a library employee. I picked up the audio books via Libby last summer, when I realized that a second book was out, and now I’ve had the immense privilege of returning once again to the Sovan Empire with book #3.

The Empire of the Wolf is told from the perspective of Helena Sedanka, an orphan who was been taken in and trained by Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor’s Justice. In that position, he serves as travelling judge, jury, and when needed, executioner, carrying out the will of the courts wherever he may be. Helena acts as his legal clerk and apprentice, producing documentation of their efforts and learning the intricacies of the Sovan legal system along the way. For some time, they were both content to travel the northern reaches of the empire, but an encounter with a zealous church official, Patria Bartholomew Claver, changed everything.

Claver sought a return to the days when the Church of Nema controlled the powers now held by the Order of Justices: ancient magics that could be used to compel action, the ability to confer with the dead, command over wildlife. All of these and more had once officially been the exclusive realm of the church, but they had been taught to the Justices to aid their work. Frustrated by the lack of action from the majority of the Church, Claver found his way to darker places, making bargains with powers that he didn’t truly understand in order to bring about the change he desired. Now, he seems to have set his sights on control of the Empire itself, no matter what demon or deity he has to bargain with to make it happen. He sits at the head of an army of Templars poised to strike down the Emperor, ostensibly in Nema’s name.

Now, Vonvalt’s own unshakable faith in the Common Law is beginning to break. In his attempts to thwart Claver, he has become persona non grata, believed to be responsible for the death of the Emperor’s grandson. A rebellion against the Magistratum has reached its zenith, and the justices are by and large disbanded or dead. Vonvalt will find no safe haven in the capital. What he and Helena need most are more allies who can withstand Claver’s burgeoning Templar army. A journey far beyond the borders of Sova might be able to accomplish just that, but acquiring the aid they need may prove deadly. Such travels will need to be made not only on the material plane but in the various realms accessible only through the ancient magics. Helena and Vonvalt will place their lives and their souls on the line in order to defeat Claver, but it might not be enough to save the empire. Loyalties will be questioned, near-death experiences will be had, and trickster gods will play their hands at last. It’s going to be messy.

Richard Swan brings his fantasy trilogy to a powerful conclusion in The Trials of Empire. His strength in blending traditional elements of western fantasy with jurisprudence makes for compelling reading, especially for someone raised on Lord of the Rings and John Grisham like me. The Empire of the Wolf hews far closer to A Song of Ice and Fire than to LOTR, but the comparison stands. I have enjoyed this series more with each book, and I’m thrilled to say that The Trials of Empire is out on shelves today. You should check it out.

My utmost thanks to Orbit Books and NetGalley for an eARC of The Trials of Empire in exchange for a fair review.

Bookshops & Bonedust: A Review

Travis Baldree is a master of cozy fantasy novels. Prior to reading Legends & Lattes last year, I never would’ve guessed that was a genre of fiction I needed. Now, though, I don’t know how I can carry on without more. Thankfully, Bookshops & Bonedust, a brilliantly crafted prequel, is out today.

Viv the orc is back, and this time around we get to see her in her more wild, young adventurer years. She’s in the employ of a mercenary band called Rackham’s Ravens, hunting down the dreaded necromancer, Varine. When her recklessness gets her injured during a battle, she wakes up in the town of Murk. As its name might suggest, there’s not a lot to see about town, and her room at the local inn is claustrophobic at best. Her arrival quickly puts her at odds with the local surgeon and the head of the gate wardens, and all early encounters promise a less than engaging stay. With at least a few weeks of recovery time ahead of her, Viv reluctantly sets out to occupy her time until her fellow mercenaries come back through.

Viv quickly finds a local bookstore and makes the acquaintance of Fern, a foulmouthed ratkin who runs the shop. Not normally the reading type, Viv is hesitant to take up the recommended titles that Fern offers. After a few chapters, she’s hooked. Soon, she’s devouring the books that Fern provides just as quickly as she’s going through the local baker, Maylee’s, wares. Despite a rough start in town, Viv starts to build friendships (and maybe something more, as far as Maylee is concerned). Fern’s struggling business benefits from Viv’s new perspectives, and Viv gets the opportunity to learn more about herself than she’d previously thought possible.

Small-town living isn’t necessarily all that it’s cracked up to be, though. Viv isn’t ready to settle down from her mercenary life just yet, and the threat of Varine and her necromancy is closer than anyone is expecting. We know, since this is a prequel, that Viv will survive the experiences ahead of her. What we don’t know is just how much she’s going to change over the course of her time in Murk. The fates of her new companions are on the line, as is the success or failure of Fern’s beloved indie bookstore. Viv is going to have to learn quickly that not all of her problems can be solved with a swing of a sword.

Baldree has landed another instant winner with his sophomore effort, with no sign of the dreaded slump. I’m happy to report that he’s managed to put the romance in necromancer, and I eagerly await Viv’s next adventure, whenever it may arrive. Bookshops & Bonedust is out today. Get to it.

My utmost thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

The Fragile Threads of Power: A Review

V.E. Schwab is back, and ready to take you on another rollicking ride.

It’s been seven years since the events of A Conjuring of Light. Seven years since King Maxim died, and Arnes’s capital of Red London was plunged into darkness. Seven years since Black London’s monstrous ruler, Osaron, tried to destroy everything that Kell, Lila, and Rhy held dear. In the wake of the battle to save the worlds, many things have changed. Rhy Maresh is now the king of Arnes, with Alucard Emery ever by his side as his lover and bodyguard. However, Rhy is seen as a target of ire for the people of Arnes as magic seems to be fading from their world. A group known as The Hand plots to kill him, hoping that removing the magicless king from the throne will restore their own dwindling power.

Meanwhile, Lila and Kell have begun a journey on board Lila’s ship. Sailing under no flag, they secretly aid King Rhy by observing and investigating things that might be of interest to him. Kell’s own access to magic is hampered by the lingering effects of the battle with Osaron years before. As such, he’s been forced to train his martial skills under Lila Bard’s watchful eye and serving as her lieutenant aboard the ship. Lila’s magic does not seem diminished, but with the shifts the world is undergoing, it may only be a matter of time. She’s had seven years to boost her own skills since then, and she’s only grown more comfortable with her Antari nature.

And then, in Red London, there is a young girl running a repair shop. She, like Alucard Emery, has the rare gift of seeing the lines of magic that swirl around and between things and people. She’s taken to using that skill to repair magic items, and she may be the unwitting key to The Hand’s plans for King Rhy.

V.E. Schwab promised us an eventual return to the world from the Shades of Magic trilogy, and that wait has paid off many times over. The Fragile Threads of Power skillfully introduces new players and reminds of why we loved the returning characters. The new threat to the Arnesian throne feels almost too believable in a kingdom already torn between people who can access magic and those who can’t. Prepare yourself for a journey as we launch into the first book of a sequel series that promises to be just as addictive of a read as its predecessor.

My utmost thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a fair review. The Fragile Threads of Power is available for purchase as of today, 9/26/23. As Travars.

Upright Women Wanted: A Review

Esther’s best friend is dead.

She’ll blame herself, no matter what. See, Esther’s best friend, a young woman named Beatriz, was engaged to be married. She didn’t love her fiance, Silas, though. She loved Esther. That was something that the world would not allow. Esther loved Beatriz too, of that, there was no question. When Beatriz was caught with unapproved materials, she refused to deny who she was, and so she hanged. Rather than be forced to marry Silas herself, Esther fled from her home and stowed away with the librarians.

Soon, her presence among the supplies is uncovered, and she tells her story to Bet, Leda, and Cye.

Much to Esther’s shock, the librarians are not what she expected them to be. Bet and Leda are a couple, a relationship that the government would definitively not approve. Additionally, Cye is non-binary, only presenting as female while in towns, to avoid trouble. Cye takes Esther under their wing, an apprentice to the apprentice. Esther soon learns that the librarians are more than she ever would’ve guessed. 

Ostensibly, their mission is to distribute Approved Materials across the West, but the Librarians carry much more than that. Bet, Leda, and Cye have a mission to transport three women safely to Utah, home of a large group of Insurrectionists who are revolting against the oppressive state rule. Now, it’s Esther’s mission too, and it’s not going to be an easy ride. 

Sarah Gailey’s writing is always a damn fun time, and their latest novella, Upright Women Wanted, is no exception. This novella is full of classic western action: horseback chases, gun fights, and more. It’s a fast-paced read, and left me wanting to know so much more about Esther’s world.