“Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me” by Django Wexler

This book was every bit as silly and ridiculous as How to Rule the World and Die Trying. If you found that one to be unbearably annoying (which I completely understand) you won’t like this either. But if you enjoyed HTRTWADT, I am happy to say that Wexler wrapped the duology up perfectly. Every bit as silly, but also with a lot of heart.

The books starts out with Davi working to prevent a war between the wilders and the Kingdom. She is, given the events of the first book, able to play both sides, using both her friends and allies among the wilders and her deep knowledge of the Kingdom. This involves both convincing the people on both sides who would welcome peace that peace is possible, while also overcoming resistance from those (again on both sides) who actively oppose any sort of peace. Much maneuvering happens. Along the way we finally get to meet the oft-mentioned Prince Johann the Himbo Boyfriend. Happy to report that he fits all three requirements of the classical Himbo: he is beefy; he is kind; he is dumb as a bag of hammers. He’s an utterly delightful cinnamon roll.

We also get answers about why, exactly, Davi has been stuck in this time loop for hundreds and hundreds of iterations.

Mostly what we get is a spectacular story of character growth. Centuries of fighting the same utterly futile battle, ending painful death after painful death, has understandably left Davi a tab bit fucked up. Not a bad person, but very definitely damaged. The real heart of this book is her personal arc. She has to grapple with the absolute trauma of what happened at the end of HTRTWADT (which was profound in ways I hadn’t appreciated at the time, but make perfect sense). She has to deal with the kind of person she has become, both the realization of it and growing beyond it. And she does. It’s not easy for her, and the path isn’t smooth, but it was very well done and everything felt appropriately earned.

My one complaint: we never did learn how Artaxes poops. Django, if you read this, the people (and Davi) need answers.