“Books told from the villain’s perspective” seem to be having something of a Moment. I read one recently, have an ARC of another, and then there’s this one. This is not a complaint; these are fun.
The protagonist of this book wakes up in the ruins of a magical laboratory in the aftermath of some kind of spell gone disastrously wrong, missing both his memories of who he is and his eyebrows. He pretty quickly pieces together that there isn’t an evil wizard about to come and kill him; he is, in fact, the Dread Lord Gavrax. And he’s the corniest, most over-the-top villain since Ming the Merciless.
The goblin guards? Horribly incompetent. The wardrobe, featuring black robes with a stiff collar going up past his head, and flame embroidery better suited for a Dodge Charger purchased by a newly recruited Army private at 30% APR? So cheesy. The torches? Give crappy light, and smoke everywhere. The less said about the wanton carvings on his throne, the better. And, ah, hell, there’s a princess in the dungeon who is very angry over being kidnapped.
Gav - he can’t bear to think of himself as Dread Lord Gavrax - has a dilemma. He doesn’t particularly want to be evil. But he can’t just walk away. Because he has to help a much more competent and powerful dark wizard in a ritual in one week, that involves the sacrifice of the aforementioned princess. So he wants to keep himself safe from this wizard, keep the princess from being sacrificed, keep his village and staff from being horribly murdered (as they surely would be) if he just disappeared, and also keep from being killed (or killing) all the would-be Heroes who want to rescue the princess from him.
It’s an absolute farce, and it’s great. I would love to see it made into a movie. It had me laughing out loud on several occasions as things rise to ever greater heights of absurdity.
Looking forward to seeing reactions from others as they read this. They’ll see. They’ll all see. Hahaha. HAHAHAHA. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
<ahem>
Comes out on May 28.