Review: The Dark Lord's Handbook

Paul Dale- Self Published

The details:  326 pages, 3 days to read

Summary: (From Goodreads)
To become a Dark Lord is no easy thing. The simple ambition to hold dominion over the world and bend all to your Will sounds straightforward but it's not. There are armies to raise, fortresses to build, heroes to defeat, battles to be fought, hours of endless soliloquy in front of the mirror – it's a never ending job.

After many spectacular failures, Evil decided to lend more than inspiration to these would be tyrants. He wrote an easy to follow Dark Lord's Handbook. And yet the next Dark Lord that came along screwed up like all the others.

It had been hundreds of years, and the Handbook was lost in the annals of time, along with all that was mythic and exciting in the world. Then one day a randy dragon had a chance encounter. Nine months later a Dark Lord was born.

In time, the Handbook found its way to this new contender, Morden. To become a Dark Lord is no easy thing.

Morden had better be a quick study.  

Review: The Dark Lord’s handbook is a comedic tale that won't disappoint fantasy lovers. This book pokes fun at many stereotypes, while still keeping up with an intriguing plot line of a boy trying to conquer what else-? The world. I found this book to be somewhat unique in it's mixture of story and handbook qualities.

Due to sporadic cursing, this might not be suitable for younger kids. However it would be a fun book for older teens to read if they are looking for a break from their normal reads or trying to get into the fantasy genre. The humor throughout the book kept the story moving, and dull moments were sparse.

Characters were well formed, descriptions were excellent, and the story-telling: interesting. Surprisingly this did not read like a self-published author's work. I will be keeping this author on my radar, and I highly recommend you do to. Even if fantasy or parodies are not your ‘thing’, his humor alone will make it worth your time! It is hard for me to explain to you what makes this book stand out, because it's nothing extraordinary. This book seems to stand out because it's just a well-written and interesting story. (Since when do we need flashy and shiny things in a book just to make it good?)

Rating: 4 stars
Bobby