“How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying”

Django Wexler

I don’t know how I feel about the realization that I’ve read enough isekais to think “this is the best isekai I’ve ever read” and have that be a somewhat meaningful distinction, but here I am.

This was an absolute delight of a book. The use of footnotes hit right in the “it’s been a while since I read any Terry Pratchett” part of my brain, while the first-person narrator was wonderfully chaotic.

The isekai part of the story had a fun twist: not only is she in this fantasy world, destined to save the kingdom or whatever, but she also can’t screw it up—because if she dies, she gets reset back to having just been summoned by the wizard. With her memories intact. The incitement for the story, then, is that she has been stuck in a variable-length time loop for over a thousand years of subjective time, she can play the plotline like a fiddle, she’s memorized everyone’s responses so well that her life is like watching a speed-runner compete. And she is bored, and decides to try something new: can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

Such a fun read, very well-targeted at my interests. I have a single quibble, and it’s the variable amount of memory of “vaguely 21st century culture” stuff she remembers—it was, I reiterate, a thousand years ago for her. On the other hand, I could probably chalk that up to “it’s been translated from Fantasy World Language, with cultural references added for flavor” and call it good. Definitely not worth avoiding the book; like I said, a delightful read, I heartily recommend it. Check it out!1

This is a Bookshop affiliate link – if you buy it from here, I get a little bit of commission. It won’t hurt my feelings if you buy it elsewhere; honestly, I’d rather you check it out from your local library, or go to a local book store. I use Bookshop affiliate links instead of Amazon because they distribute a significant chunk of their profits to small, local book stores. ↩