It’s been a while since I read a comedic fantasy, so when I was offered a copy of the audiobook for Mid-Lich Crisis I happily accepted.
So, thanks to the author for the review copy. Opinions are my own. 😀
Is trying to sacrifice your estranged wife to a bloodthirsty demon an irredeemable act of evil? This is the sort of question the Dread Wizard Darruk Darkbringer struggles with. After being called evil one too many times, Darruk sets off to find a new purpose in his life and become a beloved celebrity. Can a dark wizard come to terms with himself and prove to the world that a few atrocities don’t define who he is? You’ll feel guilty for laughing at his twisted tale of self-discovery.
Mid-Lich Crisis is the story of Derruk Darkbringer, a dread wizard, and also a lich. A lich, for those unfamiliar, is a wizard or sorcerer who has stored their soul in a vessel known as a phylactery and thus reanimates whenever they die. Darruk has died… um, a few times. It might be the fact that he repeatedly tries to sacrifice his wife to appease a bloodthirsty demon that keeps making people intent on killing him… or it might just be that he’s kind of a dick. It’s kind of up in the air.
Darruk hates being called ‘The E Word’ and repeatedly claims that he isn’t evil because what he really is trying to do is to stop the end of the world. When he is betrayed and killed for real, then resurrected a few decades later, the end of the world is closer than ever, and Darruk decides that he needs to be a beloved celebrity to be able to achieve his goal. And many shenanigans are had along the way to achieving that goal.
This was a really fun audiobook that made me giggle a few times. It’s a really quick listen, despite being over 8 hours long, and I started it one day at work and before I knew it, I was done. Darruk isn’t necessarily a super charming character, but I did enjoy his story, and so it was easy to stay invested in it.
It manages to make reference to things like the current political climate here and deflate-gate while still being chuckle-out-loud funny. It gave me a similar vibe at times to the Discworld books.
C.J. McAllister did a great job with the narration. I would imagine that it’s difficult to narrate a book that occasionally uses footnotes, but he managed them just fine. He brought Darruk’s story to life and made it far too easy to just start a project and lose yourself in the story.
So, all told, Mid-Lich Crisis is a satirical and often laugh-out-loud funny story of a lich’s unintentionally evil-ish mission to save the world. Go into this book with an open mind, and I promise you, you’ll come out of it knowing a thing or two more about goats.
As this is a current contender in the SPFBO, I’m going to hold off on rating it, as I am not actually in the group judging it and I want no confusion on that point. Let’s just leave it at ‘I liked it’ for now. ^_^
superstardrifter 
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