I really enjoyed reading about Clementine Morcerous, who feels resigned to someday become the next Dark Lord (after her father, Elithor), and embrace evil instead of a secret flower garden and the other things that mark her as different than other generations of Dark Lords. When Elithor is cursed by a Whittling Witch, Clementine struggles to find a way to obey his orders (most notably, to never let anyone know that anything is amiss with their evil overlord) and keep the castle and grounds afloat.

Her journey allows her to cross paths with interesting folks, including a boy who wants to be a knight, a black sheep that used to be a boy, and Darka, a huntress with a dark past. There are hedgewitches, an unicorn (!!), and the promise of a future where Clementine can be true to herself.

I definitely recommend picking up a copy for The Dark Lord Clementine. I love Clementine and her magical world, and think it would be make perfect fall reading!

When I got an invitation to read and review The Dark Lord Clementine I was pretty happy because it sounded like a funny, paranormal middle grade book.
This turned out to be a perfect novel to open Halloween season with, because it has magical and spooky elements, but it is still pretty light and funny. A perfect middle grade in that genre, if you ask me!

The Dark Lord Clementine follows the story of a cursed Dark Lord’s daughter who would do anything to cure her father.
Clementine is only 12 years old, but in my opinion she is representation of a strong female, and could be a great role model to girls all over the world.
Even though her fate is to be The Dark Lord one day and to scare people from her village, she learned to think critically and question events around her, and she cares about people who are close to her and would risk her own life if it matters to save them.
I also like how her hair changed color while she was sleeping.

The moral of the story was on top, and with all the side characters who gave the light to this dark and spooky tale, this book talked about friendship that is more important than roles that society expects from us.

The writing style is similar to the one fairy tales were written in. There are lots of descriptions, equal dose of shows and tells, but very little dialogue.
In all honesty, it is the part of the book I couldn’t click with.
I just wasn’t a fan of this type of storytelling, and even though the more I read the more I got used to it, it still never settled with me.

Overall, I think The Dark Lord Clementine is a great book for the younger audience, and it would be a perfect pick to read during Halloween season.
It has good moral of the story, amazing heroine and I highly recommend it to middle graders.

If I could read epic fantasy, whether MG, YA/NA, or Adult, as enthralling as this utterly delightful MG DARK LORD CLEMENTINE, I would delightfully engage in reading Fantasy every day. What a joy is the irrepressible, grandly determined, feisty "Empress of Snark" (my phrase) Clementine, only child and sole heir of the current Dark Lord of Castle Brack. Even in childhood, she is strong in character and impetus, creative, imaginative, and forward-thinking. I so adored devouring her story!

Book: The Dark Lord Clementine
Author: Sarah Jean Horwitz
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquin Young Readers, for providing me with this ARC.

This is a middle grade fantasy book. The summary sounded really interesting to me and I knew I had to read this. To me, this sounded like a very dark book full of twists and turns. Sadly, though that isn’t what we got. I get that it is supposed to be sweet and whatnot, but I felt like the whole thing was kind of poorly done. Middle grade came be dark and things can go wrong. Here that didn’t happen. There was no element of things may not work out in the end.

The first bit of the book is really dark and well done. I love the idea of a society being ruled by a Dark Lord. I love that sense of fear and how the humans are trying to be normal, but really can’t. I also love the idea that no humans are found at the Dark Lord’s castle. It adds this sense of mystery and unknown. Plus, I like that even the Dark Lord isn’t safe for foes. Plus, have all of these magical elements tossed in and hunters. Plus, add some witches. Yes, this sounds like such a nice mix.

Then, there’s Clementine. If you can’t tell from her name, she is a sweet character. She is the current Dark Lord’s character and is struggling with this. She wants to be more than just a Dark Lord. Plus, she wants to reach out to the outside world. She doesn’t understand what is so bad about it. I love seeing this struggle between good and evil. I just wish that it had gone a little bit darker. I know, I know this is middle grade, but middle grade can get dark. I just know that with my own students, Clementine would had been a problem for them. I really do think that they would have been turned off by her character.

The writing was pretty good. It was very easy to follow and had a lot of good details in some places. The other parts, not so much. Sarah’s writing started out strong, but as the book went on, it just kind of fell apart. I guess what I’m getting at is that the back half of the book was very weak. Normally it’s the other way around. The battles and everything just didn’t seem urgent. It was like we knew everything was going to be okay and so did the characters. I just wish that that sense of doom that we had in the beginning of the book had carried out throughout the whole story.

So, The Dark Lord Clementine comes out on October 1, 2019.

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/gyPMIR5zvIo

This will be a great addition to my library. So many of my kids love the fantasy genre and I know they will love Clementine!

"The new face of big evil is a little...small.

Dastardly deeds aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind when one hears the name “Clementine,” but as the sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor, twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be. But everything changes the day her father is cursed by a mysterious rival.

Now, Clementine must not only search for a way to break the curse, but also take on the full responsibilities of the Dark Lord. But when it’s time for her to perform dastardly deeds against the townspeople - including her brand-new friends - she begins to question her father’s code of good and evil. What if the Dark Lord Clementine doesn’t want to be a dark lord after all?"

Clementine, the BEST name for a Dark Lord EVER! I will fight you on this!

I don't read a lot of middle grade books, but when I do it seems to be of the fantasy variety. The Dark Lord Clementine just had this amazing cover that captured me, so I wanted to know about this little goth girl's adventure. I have to admit, Clementine's story starts out really sad and lonely, so I was unsure about it at first, but it got way better towards the end.

Clementine is the daughter of the current Dark Lord, but he's been cursed and is really stubborn and doesn't want her to help him. He spends most of the novel literally whittling away, while she tries to figure out how to help him. Clementine has no one to trust in her life and it's really sad! So I was really glad when the young boys in the town start to befriend her after she befriends the monster hunter Darka. The boys even become her knights! I really loved the bond she has with Sebastian. He seemed like such a kind boy.



The book also has some great fantasy tropes that it flips on its head, like The Lady of the Lake. You might know her from Arthurian Myth, but in this book she is a bad singer and throws swords at literally anyone who passes by her lake. That kind of made me laugh. She also is constantly mixing metaphors, so she's not exactly the brightest.

In the book, Clementine starts to depend on people, but she is betrayed in the end and something really bad happens towards the end that I couldn't believe happened. It works out in the end though. (no spoilers here) and I was really satisfied with how this story ended.

I feel like this book is almost like a kid-friendly version of The Tales of Pell or the podcast Hello From The Magic Tavern. It's got the fantasy stuff, but it's done it a way that is just enough parody that it's enjoyable. I definitely recommend if you love fantasy that doesn't take itself that seriously.

*I received an advanced reader copy by the publisher via Netgalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Clementine has been groomed to become the next Dark Lord since her birth, but she’s always felt lonely and not exactly what her father imagined his heir would be like. One day, her father is cursed by a powerful rival and starts wasting away. As soon as he’s not strong enough to run his own lands, Clementine takes over as the temporary Evil Overlord. She quickly discovers that she can’t do things by herself and very stubbornly makes new friends and discovers that these friendships have considerably brightened her life. The more she’s left to her own devices, the more she discovers about herself and her family, and she begins to wonder if she’s a good person and not evil at all.

This is such a wonderful and heartwarming book following a lonely pre-teen who has been learning how to be the best Dark Lord she can ever be for her whole life. Never having been truly evil, she doesn’t have a single happy memory and has always been fascinated by the townsfolk who are absolutely terrified of her and her father. She may not be evil, but she’s still not perfect, and that’s okay because she wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love that this story brings up that being good doesn’t necessarily mean being perfect. Being bad is not straight forward like she’s been led to believe, and this is a good topic for middle schoolers who are at that weird age where they’re trying to figure out who they are and how they fit in with their peers. At this age, it’s easy to think that one mistake means you’re not a good person and stories like this show them that life is more complex than that.

In this case, Clementine believes she’s evil and she’s been raised to be the next Dark Lord, but she discovers that she possesses light magic and doesn’t like to hurt people. She wonders if she’s secretly been good this whole time, but then thinks that she can’t be because she also likes to do some bad things. There’s a town full of people who are terrified of Clementine and her father, but then she makes friends with a group of kids and they discover that Clementine isn’t so bad just as Clementine discovers that friends are a wonderful thing to have.

This book is just full of so many wonderful and complex characters that each bring a lesson with them. I love how cute, charming, and full of character the story is and I highly recommend it.

Clementine has a problem: her father, the Dark Lord Morcerous, is under a terrible curse that is making him literally fall apart, so it's up to his heir Clementine to carry out a Dastardly Deed soon, otherwise the Morcerouses will lose their land and their title as Dark Lords! The trouble is, Clementine only seems able to perform GOOD magic...and on her way to break her father's curse (with the help of a talking animal or two), she starts to wonder if her heart is even in this whole business of being evil.

The Dark Lord Clementine is a laugh-out-loud romp through the delightfully evil halls of Castle Brack, where the gardens grow poisonous flowers and the family grimoire has been transformed into a high-minded chicken (look, it was Clementine's first spell, all right?) The story also offers a surprisingly touching look at the meaning of family, friendship, and doing one's duty. A great pick for fans of quirky fantasy titles like Kelly Barnhill's The Girl Who Drank the Moon or Garth Nix's Frogkisser!.

This review is based on an ARC of The Dark Lord Clementine which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher (Algonquin Young Readers).

4.5 stars

If Holly Back and Neil Gaiman raised a child to be an author this is the kind of novel you'd expect from them. There be unicorns, witches, Dark Lords (of varying gender), nightmares, a girl with magical hair, a Lady of a Lake, a cursed sheep, and a martyr! And that's just to name a few of my favorites! This isn't just your average Middle Grade fantasy (if the martyrdom didn't tell you as much). This is a new age of story for a new age of kids, with quests lingering more in the realm of morality and personal plight than flesh and bone creatures. (There are creatures too, though! Don't fret, there's plenty of creatures!) Also, it's just the right amount of macabre to sate that creepy quotient without passing into a Stephen King level.

The only flaw I kind find with this story is the few instances where the language doesn't match the time period (in the sense of idioms etc.), but that's it. Otherwise, this novel is funny, fantastic, engrossing, and really just an all-around great story no matter what your age.

The Dark Lord Clementine is well and truly unputdownable. I was cringing with regret even as I finished it because I didn't want it to be over. I'm ecstatic thinking of all the kids who are going to be reading this book soon. (I imagine it in all its glory displayed on a Scholastic's Book Fair rack in the school libraries of America. Ahh, sweet Scholastics.)

Excuse me while I check out Sarah Jean Horwitz's bibliography.

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. There are lessons on finding your place in your family, standing up for others, the ups and downs of putting yourself out there to others, making difficult choices, being selfless, and being the person you are meant to be rather than the one others expect you to be.

This was a great book! It's a nice twist to imagine a young girl trying to live up to her family's evil reputation. There were a lot of interesting characters with depth. The story itself was very well done. The idea of a dark lord's daughter trying to do evil deeds so that they could keep their dark lord status was a very original idea, and it caught my attention right away.. It was also very engrossing to have the father (the dark lord) dying and the daughter having to figure out how to save him (and to be a dark lord). There were some typos, but I'm sure they'll catch them in the editing process.

Perfect for those who loved "The Girl who Drank the Moon", "The Dark Lord Clementine" is a delightfully devious tale of the realm's smallest Dark Lord-to-be (maybe).

Clementine Morcerous has been training her whole twelve years of life to succeed her father as the Dark Lord of the Valley of Seven Sisters. This includes: learning how to properly poison, scowling practice, and ensuring that she does enough dastardly deeds to appease the high council. What she doesn't expect is for her father to suddenly fall ill at the hands of the Whittle Witch, and for his spells to begin to fade away. Determined to keep her home running, the Morcerous Dark Lord title, and the village fearful, Clementine sets off into the woods to find something to solve her problems. But what she finds is much more, and could cost her greatly: friends.

"The Dark Lord Clementine" is reminiscent of a Ghibli film, complete with Clementine's color-changing hair, a Gricken (a family grimoire turned into a chicken), a talking black sheep named David, and boys who dream of becoming knights... even when the nearest castle belongs to the Dark Lord and the only noble lady to save just happens to be the next Dark Lord. A fantastic novel certain to delight readers young and old!

Clementine's life is almost completely silent, thanks to her father's aversion to noise. The castle is staffed by automatons who take care of the poison apple orchard and the nightmares (among other things). Her father is Dark Lord Elithor, feared by the villagers and the hedgewitches who live nearby. That doesn't help when Elithor is cursed and Clementine has to figure out how to save and protect her home and her father, though. We meet the Lady in the Lake, unicorns, witches and even some knights in training - the humor is wonderfully inserted into the story. Plus, those letters! For those looking for a more serious side, the questions of revenge and loyalty are raised in ways that don't hit readers over the head but linger after the story is done. It would be great to meet Clementine again.

eARC provided by publisher.

A cute and powerful story for young people! I am such a fan of children's magical fantasy so I particularly liked this.

The sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor Morcerous is a bit on the small side. Twelve-year-old Clementine has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be, terrorizing townfolk and committing Dastardly Deeds. But Clementine seems to be cut of a different cloth from the earlier Morcerous generations.

For one thing, she enjoys keeping a small flower garden in the midst of their forbidding castle. And for another, deep down she can’t help feeling that the Dastardly Deeds are a bit, well, mean.

Everything changes the day her father, Dark Lord Elithor, is cursed by a mysterious rival, the Whittling Witch, and his body parts begin whittling away. The castle and its farm are falling apart as he struggles to break the curse, and Clementine must step in to hold things together.

When she ventures into the woods to pick herbs for a helpful spell, the Whittling Witch sends the trees and an enchanted thunderstorm to attack her. Sebastien, a village boy who dreams of being a knight, and Darka, a mysterious hunter, try to help Clementine. The girl’s grimoire of spells (which has been accidentally turned into a chicken) offers her a protection spell for sunlight — something no self-respecting Dark Lord would have anything to do with.

Having to use the White Magic spell causes Clementine some mental distress at the thought that it might make her a Good Witch:

“Clementine had to fight the bile rising in her throat at the mere thought: Clementine Morcerous, Good Witch of the Seven Sisters, prancing about in gowns made out of flower petals and whistling along with songbirds and aiding plucky heroes on quests? She’d rather have her head mounted on the library wall.”

Horwitz has great fun in playing with the fantasy tropes, mixing wry, modern language and attitudes with fairytale archetypes. There are talking sheep, unicorns, hedge witches, and even a Lady of the Lake, who hurls swords from her lake willy-nilly, hoping to aid a questing hero:

“’Who dares to seek what the future may bring? What hero of ages will wield this mighty sword?’

Sebastien edged forward.

‘Um, do you mean this one?’ Sebastien asked, holding up the sword he had caught. He couldn’t be sure. There were a lot of other available options.”

As Clementine gains more experience of the lands outside her gloomy castle and begins to actually make some friends, she questions her own magic and her place in the world. What if, she wonders, the Dark Lord Clementine doesn’t want to be dark after all? Throughout the tale, Horwitz maintains an easy balance of humor and heart, resulting in a middle-grade read that fantasy lovers are sure to gobble up.

Clementine is a wonderful character, as is Darka and even Lord Elithor. The book explores how much we can change our destiny and become a different person, plus it's full of magic and fun! I really enjoyed the book, and I think middle grade readers will enjoy it as well.

Clementine, future Dark Lord, gets a taste for what her life will be like when she discovers her father has been incapacitated by a curse and she has to take care of the castle. As future Dark Lord, Clementine has been trained to detest witches, yet she ends up taking one into her company to help her run the castle and the grounds. Darka has her own reason for wanting to help Clementine, though, and may live up to the reputation of the other witches. When Clementine can find no cure for her father's curse, she does something her father has forbidden her to do: seek out the Whittle Witch. It's during this search that Clementine discovers who she truly is and what she's willing to sacrifice.

I loved this book from the very first page. The characters are brilliantly written and even the secondary characters felt important to me. The mood and tone were well balanced between humor, suspense, action, and mystery. The sensory details made this book come alive, especially the part with the unicorns rushing down the mountain. I cannot wait for this book to become available to so I can put it in the hands of my readers!

A smart, sharp, and funny addition to any bookshelf. THE DARK LORD CLEMENTINE is a clever story - full of magic, evil, and the perfect amount of heart. Horwitz goes deep with her characters and fills a plot that would be fun on its own with great insights on the difficulties of choosing your own path, the importance of friendship, and the complexities of love and sacrifice. A fun read.

"The Dark Lord Clementine" is a fun junior level book. I think some of our younger patrons will really enjoy this title.