Review: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me

The Fussy Stuff

Title: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi #2)

Author: Django Wexler

Format: eBook

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

Quick Take: A fun, surprisingly cozy sequel that trades a little of the first book’s shock factor for a good mystery, some satisfying twists, and a heroine who keeps proving that brains beat brute force every single time.

My Take

Here is the thing about sequels: they are almost never going to hit the way the first book did. The first book gets to surprise you. The sequel has to work harder for it. Knowing that going in, I think Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me does a genuinely solid job.

I liked this one. I did not love it quite as much as I loved the first, but I think that is just the nature of the beast and not really a knock against it.

One thing I want to talk about that I do not think I gave enough credit to when I reviewed the first book: this series is surprisingly cozy. And I mean that as a real compliment, not a soft one. There is a lot of death and war and destruction and general chaos in these books. And yet somehow the overall feeling is warm and comfortable in a way that is hard to pin down but very easy to sink into. I think the best comparison is a cozy mystery, and not just in vibe. Davi is not a character who wins through strength or magic or force of will in the traditional fantasy sense. She wins because she is smart. She thinks her way through problems. And watching someone use their brain to outmanoeuvre a world that keeps trying to crush them (literally) is, it turns out, extremely satisfying.

I will also say: I am famously terrible at predicting twists. I never see them coming. This book still managed to surprise me in ways that felt earned rather than cheap, which I always appreciate. A twist that makes you go “oh, obviously” in the best possible way rather than “wait, that came from nowhere” is a genuinely hard thing to pull off.

The ending lands well. I wanted to see Davi get to be happy, and I got that. Sometimes that is all you need from a book.

SPOILERS (skip if you want to go in fresh)

I cannot stop thinking about Davi’s rage over the Groundhog Day situation. And I mean rage, not frustration, not sadness. Rage.

When I first encountered it, I found myself pushing back a little in my own head. What about the freedom? The adventures? The ability to just do whatever you want with zero lasting consequences? People fantasize about exactly this kind of setup. Surely there is something fun in there.

But I think the key detail is the dying. Not just the looping, the actually dying, repeatedly, in ways that hurt. That is not a quirky time loop. That is a trauma loop. And I think the “but think of the fun parts” argument is almost exactly what would make it worse. The loss of control is the real wound. You did not choose the adventure. You did not choose the second chance. And you cannot keep any of it. Every version of yourself you built, every connection that meant something, it all resets. The fun is almost an insult on top of the helplessness.

Still. I think about it. If it were me, I honestly do not know. Some loops I would probably lean all the way in, order the dessert first, take every risk. Other loops the grief of it would be completely crushing. I think I would oscillate, and that oscillation itself would eventually become its own kind of exhaustion.

Davi’s rage makes sense. I just find myself very glad that kind of clarity was available to her, because I am not sure I would have it.

End of spoilers.

Unfussed Verdict

A satisfying follow-up that earns its place in the series. If you loved the first Dark Lord Davi book, this one is worth your time. Just go in knowing it is building on something great rather than trying to replace it, and you will have a good time.

Unfussed Homework (Optional, Obviously)

If you were stuck in a loop and could do absolutely anything with zero permanent consequences, what is your honest first instinct: pure freedom and fun, or the kind of rage that comes from knowing none of it will stick? And does your answer say something about you that you were not expecting?