Well, that was a lark! I was drawn to this book as it was recommended for readers of T. Kingfisher, and while DREADFUL leaned quite hard into the ridiculous and farcical, the humour still appealed to me: cheesy, comical, and bizarre without ever being crass or gross. (I burst into out-loud laughter at one point during the big-bad-boss-battle build-up!) It lacked the depth of a Kingfisher story but was fun anyway.
The side characters were delightful, from the dread lord's evil sidekick to the captured princess to the goblin servants. They veered toward caricatures, but the book didn't suffer for it. As a main character though, Gav was figuring himself out right along with the rest of us. We don't learn why he was evil or why he doesn't want to be anymore, just that he doesn't. I guess it's difficult to explain why someone is the way they are with zero backstory, but I wish we'd known his "why". I enjoyed Gav and his point of view, and maybe - like with the side characters - deep characterization wasn't the point of this book.
The story itself was a decent journey, especially for readers who like a redemption arc. While some of the "lessons" the not-so-dreadful Dread Lord learned were unsurprising and a bit surficial, there were a few good ones too, and the adventure Gav went on to realize these truths was entertaining enough. I appreciate the story's self-awareness and the way that he (and the author!) recognized that good acts don't cancel out bad ones.

I think this book will appeal to some readers very much, while others will find it a bit too cute or twee. It's not a deep story, but entertaining nonetheless. (3.5 stars rounded up to 4.)

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Titan Books for the gifted e-book ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

This had promise, but a bit hard for me to keep up with. I think I could reread it and understand it better. The style was tough. The story itself was very interesting. I like that the narrative was the bad guy. It just needed some work.

I love a good amnesia trope, so was thrilled to see this main character not only suffered from amnesia but turned out to be an evil wizard. There's a princess locked in a cell, goblins, a killer moat squid, and a garlic festival. I thought the prose fit perfectly with the tone of the book, and thought the amount of humor was perfect for my tastes. I can struggle with humor in books, and I think the book was a smidge long, but overall I thought this was a really solid debut and look forward to seeing what else Rozakis writes.

I think this is a perfect read for fans of T. Kingfisher's brand of humorous fantasy. And like with Kingfisher's prose, I think you'll know within the first chapter if this is the book for you or not, as the prose is very voicey.

Firstly I want to thank NetGalley and Titan Books for the arc!

Gav wakes up with no idea who he is or why he’s in a wizards workshop that is half on fire. He quickly realizes that he is the wizard whom this workshop belongs to, and not only that, but he’s also holding a princess hostage for reasons unknown to him.

This book follows Gav as he tries to navigate the situation he has found himself in, with no prior memories of his life or who he is.

I had a good time with this story, it was fun and unique and had a great cast of characters. There was humor and heart, and dare I say a few solid lessons on what it means to be good. Like perhaps being good simply for the sake of goodness is reason enough! And also, that it’s never too late to try and be better.

I’ve seen some people call this a cozy fantasy, and I suppose that fits, if not cozy fantasy then cozy fantasy adjacent. Either way it’s an enjoyable read, and I had a good time with it!

I thought the pacing was good, and the plot solid. The writing was engaging and the characters were likeable!
I rated this 4/5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a lot of fun. From page 1, there were things that were making me laugh. The author knew what kind of book they wanted to write from the beginning and you can tell. I never had any doubt what this book was going to be like, a fantasy satire with all the familiar fantasy tropes I love from the genre.

"If people don't see what they expect to see...they're disappointed, and then they won't take you seriously."

I really have been enjoying this new trend of books told from the villain's perspective and Dreadful is just another great book that follows that trend. It was whimsically yet handled serious topics like women living under the patriarchy and the balance between power and relationships.

Overall, it was a good book and I had a wonderful time reading it.

This was adorable and cozy and hilarious! It was filled with so many creatures and characters, it was adventurous and filled with magic. The main character’s growth was fulfilling and the stuff he had to deal with was pretty intense at times, but in an enjoyable way. I had a wonderful time reading it.

Amnesia’s never fun but it’s even worse when you come to in the lab of a Dread Lord sans eyebrows and there’s someone at the door. Imagine your horror when you discover that the Big Bad is you!

“It’s a pleasure to watch you work, my lord. The way you have of targeting someone’s deepest insecurities and just … eviscerating them. Verbally. Before you eviscerate them. It’s masterful.”

Gavrax has interesting taste in decor, questionable fashion choices and a princess locked in the dungeon. Every Dread Lord’s castle needs a dungeon, after all.

Gav has questions. Like, why is there a princess locked in the dungeon? Who chose these horrendous clothes? What happened to his eyebrows? And who is he if he doesn’t have his memories?

This is one of those books I knew I’d love. I was so convinced that I preordered a signed special edition when I’d only read a chapter.

The struggle of trying to figure out who you are when you’re weighed down by other people’s expectations has a whole other layer when you’re the villain.

“Do you think there’s a point where someone is just … irredeemably evil?”

I loved watching Gav navigate this for himself while encountering huggable squid, goblins that would prefer not to be BBQ’ed -

‘How did he possibly keep the castle running if he kept executing the staff?’

- and the ever present threat of garlic breath.

Gav may have had a complexity I wasn’t expecting (and loved - I loved this about him) but it was the princess who stole the show for me. I’m not usually one for damsels in distress but it turns out I absolutely adore damsels who aren’t quite as distressed as advertised.

Which reminds me. Not that I ever planned on being all ‘yay, false advertising!’ but yay, false advertising! This book is not Dreadful after all. There are characters of the mwa-ha-ha variety planning deeds most dastardly. There are some ‘did you choose that outfit with your eyes closed?’ moments. The dreadfulness, though? It’s fairly limited to the menu. Sorry, Orla. You know I love you.

Bonus content: If you sign up to the author’s newsletter, you’ll get a copy of Here Comes the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss, a story that’s a prequel to Dreadful. It contains some spoilery bits so it’s probably best if you read the book first.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you, Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me a free e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 stars for this incredibly funny and witty book. It reminded me of Despicable Me in some ways?
Definitely a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre. Love a good villain redemption arc, especially when the villain in question has no eyebrows and a lot of goblin sidekicks!

I went and found this book on NetGalley because I kept seeing bookish influencers talking about either getting an ARC of this and loving it or having it on their highly anticipated list. And you know what, I’m really glad I went ahead and requested it.

This book is cozy and fun and just a shenanigan filled and easy to read story. Much like main character Gav, we the reader are left a little confused and disoriented at the beginning, because the story literally starts right after a magical situation leaves Gav standing in the middle of a dark wizard’s workshop with absolutely no memory of who he is or how he got into this situation.

It doesn’t take long to piece together that Gav himself is the dark wizard who owns this keep, and it is delightful and just a bit awkward to watch Gav try to pretend to be the Dark Lord that everyone expects, when he continually finds himself thinking that this isn’t who he wants to be at all.

We meet quite a few other characters, some who are employed by the Dark Lord, some who are imprisoned by him, and some who just live in the village nearby and are under the Dark Lord’s rule/protection…and so many of them are in similar situations to Gav….putting on a show to be what everyone expects someone like them to be, whether that’s a bumbling assistant, a beautiful damsel, a dumb servant, or whatever.

While this story is fun and funny, and it comes off as light and cozy, it really does examine who people perceive us to be versus who we would wish to be.

And seriously, watching as Gav tries to juggle the needs of the village by throwing an impromptu garlic festival, while also dealing with other dread lords coming for some dark wizard ritual, while also trying to figure out who he was and who he wants to be and who other people are instead of who they’re pretending to be….this book has a lot of balls in the air (to continue the juggling metaphor) and I think it was definitely just a book to make you really think about things.

I definitely think this is an easy read, something I would definitely recommend for a weekend of relaxation and fun.

There have been a lot of books nowadays from the point of view of the likeable villain (usually they aren't a villain anymore or they are just misunderstood) that I'm just not clicking with and this is one of them. I didn't like the humor at all. I didn't care about any character, especially not about Gav. Not even the mistery surrounding him intrigued me enough. Amnesia plots and the main character trying to figure out who he is or what's happening can be well done but that was not the case here.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once.

This was really good! Very funny and quirky and cozy. I loved it!

My review: ⭐⭐⭐ .5

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan books for the advanced reading copy.

Dreadful has a lot of things going for it. It's a book full of heart, charming humor, and silly good fun. It was enchanting to be along with Gav for the journey while he pieced together who he was, and made the choice of who he wanted to be, which is ultimately the biggest theme throughout this book and all of it's characters.

I will say I did find the pacing to lull at points, and that's personally what lowered the rating for me a bit. I liked the characters, and I liked the events that were happening, but it felt like we needed a bit more action throughout to help carry us along. The humor was good, but also there could've been more of it. I feel like a lot of the humor in this came from the quirky/silly nature of the story, but some more witty humor would've been the cherry on top for me.

Ultimately, I think this book has a lot to give, and I know it will find its audience.

This book had me very hooked in the beginning, great banter. However towards the end it fell very flat and it was disappointing in comparison to the beginning.

3.75 stars

This was a fun spin on a good vs evil fantasy, where the main character is a villain who doesn't remember anything about himself. Watching Gav unravel who he is and why he turned to this life of being bad was interesting and I liked the side characters in the castle around him.

I thought the pacing was a bit slow at times and it could have used more action or romance to spice things up. There were periods where it felt like not much was happening and things could have sped up to get to the plot points.

Definitely a good story and a nice debut by Rozakis.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Gav wakes up in an evil wizard's workshop with little fires burning, a jar full of eyebrows and no memory of how he got there. In a case of fake it til you make it, he's got a goblin crew, a princess prisoner and starving village all expecting him to continue his Dread lord ways... Now he just has to survive long enough to discover his own forgotten evil plans.

Why I started this book: Requested this title from Netgalley, because of the moat squid... but it took me awhile to pick up the book.

Why I finished it: I love that cozy fantasy is a genre now. Gav is struggling with knowing who he is. Not because of a mid-life crisis, but because of an explosion. He woke up without memories and is role-playing being an dread lord because that's what's expected. This is a humourous look at living up to (or down to) people's expectations.

Read alike: [book:The Dark Lord's Daughter|25648170].

This was an absolute delight to read! The description calls this 'a hilarious, sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once' and it absolutely delivers.

I’ll be honest, the mini blurb sold me on this book immediately: “A sharp-witted, debut high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree.”

And I think it delightfully lived up to its premise. Dreadful is so funny and sweet and toes the line of being heartfelt without tipping over into saccharine. The Goblins 100% stole the show for me though. I loved them so much and if I ever inherit a Dark Wizards castle, I hope it also comes with a hoard of goblins (though I draw the line at eating roasted hedgehog).

Title- Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

Publication Date- 5/28/24

Publisher- Titan Books

Overall Rating- 4.5 out of 5 stars

Review- Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

This was an unexpected hit for me. I really enjoyed this darkly funny, adult high-fantasy book about wizards, princesses and a garlic festival. Dread Lord Gavrax has lost his memory, his eyebrows and maybe his motivation for evil. He has a hostage princess in his castle, seems to be involved in some form of plot with other dark wizards and is feared by all. As Dread Lord Gavrax (Gav) attempts to figure out who he is without anyone finding out, he learns that maybe this is not the lifestyle for him. Gav quickly became one of my favourite characters, I believed his character development and was rooting for him to overcome his evil tendencies and become the person he really wanted to be. The other characters in this story (both main and side) were loveable and fully realised. The skill of the author at creating personalities for even the most minor character is something to be admired.

This book is such a lot of fun but it also has heart and a message, the writing and tone is fantastic and it is well paced and exciting. The humor is self-aware and satirical while also being whimsical and cozy.

"Dreadful" was the second "reluctant dark lord" book that I read in May, interestingly enough. This book was a fun, stand-alone fantasy, but I wish that there was a little bit more to the world it occupied.

I liked Gav and appreciated his story arc. I know that many of the themes of the book revolved around the concept of creating one's self anew without previous baggage, turning a new leaf, and finding one's self. However, I would have liked a little more of Gav's backstory. I think the story would have been more powerful overall if he had chosen to continue on his new path despite the baggage of his past.

I also liked the other characters in the book, even if they were a little under developed. I loved Eliasha and wish we saw a little more from her. So many details of the world itself were left unknown due to the amnesia plot, and I found myself wishing there was more to flesh out the world and its stories. Most people's objectives and motives were vague and sometimes the book felt like the world ceased to exist outside the confines of what was specifically happening to the main character.

Overall, this was a really creative concept and a fun and humorous read overall, but there were some elements that just didn't click for me.

3 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Titan for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I had such a good time with this book! I'd call this cozy-adjacent, and it was such a delightful read. Gav was both a character that I enjoyed spending time with and someone that found himself involved in rather absurd situations, which was quite amusing to read about. This isn't listed as a series, but I would absolutely read more about these characters. Very much recommend if you're looking for a fun book with characters who will make you laugh and feel connected to.