The Dark Lord Clementine – Sarah Jean Horwitz

★★★★★

“Father,” Clementine said as she watched him spear a piece of melon on the tip of his pointy wooden finger. “I do believe you have been cursed.”

Twelve-year-old Clementine comes from a long line of Dark Lords.

She’s trained since birth to earn her birthright.

Her father, Elithor, was strict but fair. He taught her dark magic, how to speak to peasants and more.

There was no reason in the world to feel sorry for Clementine Morcerous. She had everything the townspeople could only dream of: money, power, a storybook-worthy position guaranteed since birth.

And despite having everything, Clementine has always felt lonely.

And when her father was cursed, for once in her life, things started changing alarmingly fast.

The scarecrows who performed all of the menial tasks are suddenly stopping, the fire-breathing chickens keep getting into the normal-chicken pens and the silencing magic that blanketed the estate suddenly disappeared.

“Believe me,” said the sheep, blinking his heavily lidded eyes at her, “I’m as surprised as you are.”
“I doubt that,” whispered Clementine breathlessly…

But the troubles are mounting – the farm soon is in shambles, there’s a mysterious huntress on the prowl and the dark lord society are insisting that Clementine needs to complete dastardly deeds.

And to top it all, Clementine comes to a stunning conclusion.

…the Whittle Witch did not just want to kill Elithor, she wanted to replace him as Dark Lord herself.

Danger is closing in on all sides – will Clementine survive? Or lose everything in the fight?

“One last piece of advice for you, dear: think happy thoughts…You’re going to need them.”

Man oh man, I loved this one. 

It was absolutely hilarious and wonderfully touching.

Clementine was a wonderfully “evil” main character – her growth and development throughout the book was incredibly heartwarming.

Watching her go from a timid young Dark Lord into the wonderfully confident young woman was so much fun.

I also loved the various quirks associated with this world – the author had a great sense of humor and that is shown in all of the little details and tidbits scattered throughout the book.

In particular, I adored the Gricken (Clementine tried turning a frog into a chicken…but accidentally cast the spell on the family’s grimoire instead) – it was hilarious to read Clementine begging for it to lay an egg so she can cast a spell.

All in all, this was a wonderful read from cover to cover!

I received a free digital copy from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a honest review

Interested in this one from Sarah Jean Horwitz? Buy it here:  Amazon