When the Gods Give You Lemons, Fight and Dethrone the Gods

Error: Hero Not Found #2

by Andrew Rowe

For fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the epic sequel to the LitRPG adventure novel How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps.

Yui has leveled up and become the Hero the world needed, but there’s always another boss to battle...

On the wedding day of Dirk Lord (the Demon King) and Princess Fitzgerald, the world all but comes to an end as the very solution that ended the 44th Demon War at the end of book one is what will now destroy it in three days, unless Yui and her companions go off on another quest to retrieve the artifact that will stop the moon from crashing into the world. But as the quest across worlds for the artifact turns into something else, maybe the grind is no longer the solution, and it’s time to fight in hardcore mode.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor

288 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 12, 2027

Reviews

[Mikey ಠ◡ಠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to see a sequel for How to Defeat the Demon King in Ten Easy Steps and while the author absolutely excelled at maintaining the same fun, tongue in cheek humor tone from the first book, for whatever reason, the sequel lacked the same charm for me.

In When the Gods Give You Lemons, Fight and Dethrone the Gods we follow Yui, Dirk Lord, and Ken as they piss off the silver goddesses and then have to stop the moon from crashing into their world. There's temple arenas, time travel, and...love? What I will say is the author does a really excellent job of packing a lot of action and humor into not a lot of pages. We were always bipping, bopping, and booping around in the story, which is awesome.

As I mentioned, I don't know why, but I wasn't as into this book as much as the first one. It might be because this book does lean a little more into the Zelda parody and, having literally never played any of the games, the deeper the parody went, the more the book lost me. I think the last book was the perfect balance for someone like me who, of course, knows OF Zelda, whereas this book feels more FOR Zelda fans. Which is fine!

I will say it seem seem like where we left off the author was gearing up for another book in this series and even if I had less fun this time around, I still might check out the next one. These books are definitely fun and do a good job of scratching the near constant litRPG itch I seem to have developed.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advance DRC and provide an honest review, all opinions are my own.

[Ander Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

~Thank you to Saga Press for the complimentary ARC of this book!~

This book, like How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps, is a goofy love letter to early adventure video games (most especially Legend of Zelda). The experience for both is enhanced the more knowledge you have, though not a prerequisite! There are a lot of easter eggs to uncover.

The premise from the first book and this one continues to amuse me: a non-hero intent on cheesing their way through the world on a clumsy quest to save it. It's so similar to how it feels to play a Legend of Zelda game (how do I solve this puzzle... but NOT in the way the developers intended!). Though in addition to the constant cheating, in this one we get moments where Ken and Yui have to solve things as they were intended to be... at least a little bit.

This book also calls into question the goddesses' role in the reincarnation cycle and its morality. A fair inquiry, I think. But the immortals don't seem to like when their methods and intentions are challenged!

I love the queer representation in this book! While it's very light on the romance, it's there and a nice cherry atop this silly sundae. I always love a queer-normative fantasy world.

There's also a new character that accompanies Yui, Ken, and Dirk Lord on this quest, and she's my favorite. She brings a mysterious backstory and fun banter to the table.

If you enjoyed the first book, you're going to enjoy this one even more. It's the same brand of humor and nods to video game lore along with Yui's mix of lazy problem-solving but willing to grind mentality.

For me personally, the humor wore itself out, and I found the tactics to be repetitive. They are applied in new ways, but I think the water solutions are washed out. I also tend to prefer stories that focus on character growth, and this just isn't that kind of story. If you're looking for a continuation of the fun adventures of book one, you know what you're in for, so just because it isn't for me doesn't mean it's not for you. I'm glad this exists in any case because I love seeing video game nerds nerd out.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR: An incredibly fun adventure in a new ‘world’.
Source: NetGalley, so many thanks to the publisher!

Plot: Yui and Ken have to stop the Goddesses from destroying the world, and a lot more happens than you’d think.
Characters: We get a ton more backstory Ken and see some new fun faces.
Setting: We leave our Not-Hyrule world and get to see a new take on a very familiar Fantasy.
Fantasy: It’s definitely a satire of a world we know, but it’s cute and clever and I enjoyed it.

Thoughts:

If you enjoyed the first book in this series, How to Defeat A Demon King in 10 Easy Steps, you’re going to like this one. I will just go ahead and throw that out there. Where Demon King was a homage and gentle satire of a certain triangular power wielding blonde’s game, this one takes it farther. We get a capital F – Fantasy world with giant cluck-clucks as mounts. You know.

This one picks up right before the wedding of two of our characters in the previous book (no spoilers here just in case). The party gets crashed by the consequences of Yui and the party’s actions and our Bag Hero has to figure out a way to save the world. There, as mentioned, is a new world. The Great Fairy gets used and abused, and we get some super interesting new hooks dropped.

This one continues the love for these iconic games but also pokes holes at them. Why are we stuck in these cycles? How can we break them? It very lightly touches on identity in this and how to break the game your way. The adventure is goofy, funny, and will keep you turning the page.

I loved the first book and genuinely enjoyed this follow up. I’ll say it again, if you liked Demon King – read this one. You’ll have a lot of fun.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All your favorite characters are back to save the wedding of Demon King and Princess! And of course, the whole world too.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. So much so I reread it in preparation for this reading. I believe it was my first LITRPG which has helped in my drive to find another series I like. Apparently, I have a fine line for something being cozy vs straight up boring. Andrew Rowe's series hits the sweet spot on fun and low stakes (if you could say saving the world or defeating a demon king are low stakes). The first book was also well written, had great dialog and was easy to follow for newbies. It was great.

This book was still great but a bit more challenging to follow along with. A lot of new stuff was introduced that weren't fully explained or resolved which makes it feel like either a plot issue or there is a third book in the works (hopefully the latter). There were a lot of vague references. When this was done in the first book, it was like cheeky vague. The audience still knew what or who was being alluded to. This one I just had a bunch of question marks above my head for a maybe a half a dozen references. It might be a me thing. I fully can consider that, but I feel like that is too many unresolved mysteries if it's on purpose. Yui also did fun cheat the system again a bit in this book which is one of my favorite things about these books. The cheating was less thought out and more blasting things with water. I like the unique solutions to problems and that was somewhat lacking.

Overall, a great book. We reread this one to make sure I didn't miss stuff and definitely read the next one.

[Katie May · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5
As a lover of all things Zelda I am unhealthily obsessed with this series. So happy there is another entry!

Yui and Ken are back for another adventure, this time with 72 hours to stop themselves from being crushed by the moon! I really like how in this one we get some more of Ken’s back story. We also see Yui struggle with being a hero which I think is a subject a lot of books are afraid to tackle.

The aloof, dry humor is just my style. It has a similar structure to the first book where they must travel through dungeons jn order to gather items for the Big Bad fight. Also, Timey Wimey Hero kinda took me out lol.

These are great starting points if you are just getting into LitRPG; they’re pretty short and the writing is great. Definitely wouldn’t start with this one; this is a direct sequel.

I just wish this one was a bit longer. The resolution is a little too neat but the rest of the book is just so damn enjoyable. All is forgiven if there will be more entries…nudge nudge. If you’ll write it, I’ll read it.

The authors note at the end was great too; to see how Zelda and other early 80s games shaped other peoples lives too is really special (and kind of pointed out a few references that I missed!)

Thank you to Netgalley and Saga Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Adventure. Same Tricks. Same Tongue-in-Cheek humor. But also there's a weird moon now?

Welcome back to the Zelda-esque parody series! We still have the same trickery (or is it cheating?) our protagonist Yui Shaw employs to get out of many tough spots. She saved the world from the Demon King, Dirk Lord, who is about to be married to Nameless Kage, the princess Fitzgerald. But, uh, looks like by saving the world out of the normal rhythm of time, the goddesses decide to throw a moon at the world, literally.

Cue more temple dungeon crawling, but throw in some spice from time travel shenanigans and other worlds! Despite its small runtime (page count), there are plenty of hijinks, bopping about, and just good old-fashioned "why not do this instead" logic that keeps the pace at a steady clip.

Even if you aren't fully familiar with The Legend of Zelda lore, there's some general RPG tropes to make this story a delight to read and laugh with.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author Andrew Rowe, and the publisher Saga Press for giving me an eARC to read and review!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fast paced sequel follows a group of adventurers in a Legend of Zeldaesque world as they try to save the planet, level up their abilities and get a Dark Lord to his wedding.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3⭐️.

While I do think this series is very fun especially for Zelda and RPG fans this book didn’t have the same spark of excitement that the first book had in abundance. The introduction of a new world and characters helped, but the villains in this story were lackluster and this didn’t capture me like book one.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to love about these books. Once again, we find ourselves in an all too familiar world with our hero Yui. The adventure is a little more complicated this time around and while it still has plenty of charm and humor, some of the initial nostalgia gets lost.

[Ross Bauer]

The first book was such an unexpected surprise, I have to read this ASAP!

[Will Rainier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent! I loved how to defeat a demon king in 10 easy steps, it was lighthearted, funny, didn't take itself too seriously and just a fun book to read. This sequel was all that and more. It was fun to read more of Yuis story and see more of the RPG world and it was a perfect escape book. The ending was tidy but left room for more if theres a sequel, I hope there will be. 10/10, if you loved the first one you'll love this.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC ebook. I pre-ordered the audiobook as well and look forward to listening again once its released.