Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me is the hilarious second and final book in the dark comedic fantasy duology Dark Lord Davi, written by Django Wexler and published by Orbit Books. After more than a thousand years spent in the timeloop, Davi decided to try a different path, becoming the Dark Lord instead of fighting it; but now, in charge of a horde that wants her to lead them to a victory over the humans she spent centuries to protect, she's in doubt, trying to find a new plan that allows her to save her people and the humans, while breaking the time loop in a sequel that reveals more about this world where the story happens.

Honestly, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this sequel except from a fair amount of humour and more subversion of the classic fantasy tropes, but there's a bit more; not only this second book expands on the human side of the conflict, how the duke has taken the power over Davi's past lives' himbo boyfriend prince, Johann, and even the origins of the time loop that has trapped Davi, which incidentally will take us into an investigation about the kingdom's origins. 

Davi herself returns to be one of my favourite characters, but while in the first book I was more in awe of how smartly she used the concept of timeloops, I kinda enjoyed more how she has grown a conscience, and starts to really care about the others around her; in certain sense, she's more vulnerable, but also it makes the reader to empathize much more with our main character. Some of the returnees gain a bit of narrative weight, such as Tsav, but definitely the newcomer Johann steals the show many times; he's practically the opposite of what we could have expected from a prince, and that's really refreshing.

In terms of pacing, it is true that the story takes a bit to pick up, especially as we are being introduced to the totally different part of the world of those that we roamed with the horde; mostly comparing through Davi's memories of what she thought the kingdom would be. Once all is in motion, you can expect the same amount of jokes, subversions and, in general, fun, that were present in the first part of the duology, but with a bit of a deeper plot.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World Except Me puts a great ending to a really fun duology, perfect if you want a humorous take on the classics of fantasy, full of pop-culture references and a sassy main character. All Hail Davi, Dark Lord!