Finished How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. Overall, I thought it was good. Well-paced, funny, and good world-building.
Probably 4/5, I would definitely recommend it, but not my favorite read this year.
Two things I'll say vaguely to avoid spoilers:
There was something that I was annoyed at the handling of in the middle of the book, but it clears up towards the end in a way that improves on-balance.
There's a big reveal at the end I kinda doubt the sequel will stick the landing on.
I do really like how the timeloop plays into Davi's character. I've seen a lot of timeloop stories, and I appreciate the ones that play around with how the timeloop effects the protagonist and their relationships with other people.
Finally, I like the ecological world-building around wilders/beasts/thaumite.
"Orcs as obligate carnivores" is imo an under-explored take on orcs, and this is something that's basically that but with an added reason for conflict between widlers and humans.
Would be happy to see it explored more.
