The Dark Lord

Mysterium #1

by Jack Heckel

In this hilarious parody of epic fantasy, a young man travels into a dark and magical world, where dwarves, elves, and sorcerers dwell, to restore the balance between good and evil After spending years as an undercover, evil wizard in the enchanted world of Trelari, Avery hangs up the cloak he wore as the Dark Lord and returns to his studies at Mysterium University. On the day of his homecoming, Avery drunkenly confides in a beautiful stranger, telling her everything about his travels. When Avery awakens, hungover and confused, he discovers that his worst nightmare has come true: the mysterious girl has gone to Trelari to rule as a Dark Queen. Avery must travel back to the bewitched land and liberate the magical creatures . . . but in order to do so, he has to join forces with the very people who fought him as the Dark Lord.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Magic

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Jack Heckel's life is an open book, actually, the book you are in all hope holding right now (and if you are not holding it, he would like to tell you it can be purchased from any of your finest purveyors of the written word). Beyond that, Jack aspires to be either a witty, urbane, world-traveller who lives on his vintage yacht, The Clever Double Entendre, or a geographically illiterate professor of literature who spends his non-writing time restoring an 18th century lighthouse off a remote part of the Vermont coastline. Whatever you want to believe of him, he is without doubt the author of the premier volume of the Charming novels, Once Upon a Rhyme. So, no matter what rumors you might hear about Jack, particularly those spread by either litigious dwarves or litigious dwarfs, ignore them, because he is currently working on a sequel. Because more than anything, Jack lives for his readers.

Despite whatever Jack may claim, in reality, Jack Heckel is the pen name for John Peck and Harry Heckel.

Reviews

[William Bentrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark Lord by Jack Heckel

This is a very creative fantasy. The author and I have read many of the same books and seen many of the same movies and it appears we share a quirky sense of humor. I know this due to his frequent references to obscure events in other books. The protagonist is a graduate student working on his dissertation through a practicum where he is the "Dark Lord" an evil ruler. Avery, the Dark Lord graduate student's premise is that the forces of good need to be united by their opposition to great evil. Once the great evil is conquered there will be eons of peace and prosperity.

This all takes place on a subworld which might be identified as a parallel but not equal world. The center of the subworld universe is Mysterium where Avery is studying magic. Subworlds are more ephemeral than inner worlds such as Earth. Avery hopes by stabilizing Trelari, he can keep it from devolving into chaos and destruction.

Murphy's law leads Avery down the proverbial primrose path where his plans go off the tracks. He is forced to return to Trelari and start a quest with the heroes that opposed him as the Dark Lord. The quest is arduous and Avery discovers that without immense magic he isn't much of a hero.

This is an entertaining story with a complex plot and loads of humor.

Web: https://jackheckel.wordpress.com/

[Bentgaidin · Rating 2 out of 5]

'The Dark Lord' is a fantasy parody; in a world where the great magi reflect through the multiverse as popular fantasy authors, a graduate student meddling with a distant world gets trapped in his own schemes. Unfortunately, this was published in 2016, but seems to have completely missed anything that happened after the 90s. No disrespect to Tolkien, Le Guin, and Pratchett, but when your canon is missing Martin, Gaiman, and Rothfuss, it's hard to take you seriously as any sort of contemporary commentary. (To say nothing of Hobb, Lackey, and Jones, who were all active even earlier, but somehow missed notice...) Similarly, the world that the main character gets stuck in has its metaphysics based on the jank of 1st and 2nd editions of D&D, which is vaguely interesting, but also extremely dated -- there's a lot of improvements and updates in RPGs since then, which could provide similar amusements without feeling like the authors had been stuck in a time bubble for twenty years. The plot itself is serviceable; if you like isekai / overpowered-in-another-world hijinks, this is a decent take with some actual stakes for the character. There's some loose ends that just seem to get forgotten, though -- a wargame simulation that feels like it should have been useful instead of just dropped half-way through, mysterious identities completely unresolved, and the roommate who seems constantly on the verge of declaring his love and breaking the compulsory heterosexuality but never acts on it. This would have been an okay book in the 90s and early 2000s; now it feels like a book for people who went to college with the authors, or nerds just like them, and are seeking to relive past glories. If you've been reading anything more recent since then, I unfortunately can't recommend this.

[S.B. (Beauty in Ruins) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark Lord by Jack Heckel is what I would call conceptual humor. There's some very funny turns-of-phrase and some laugh-out-loud dialogue throughout, but the humor here is more in the idea of it all than in the telling itself. What Heckel has constructed here is actually a very clever premise that's surprisingly complicated and deep for such a humorous novel.

Basically, the story is set in a world where both magic and science are real, and where it is possible to shape the very reality of other worlds or dimensions. Avery, a student at Mysterium University, has just returned from playing The Dark Lord in the world of Trelari, having allowed the heroes to defeat him as part of his experiment in proving that these other worlds can be self-sustaining. Unfortunately, one bad choice, one cute girl, and one evening of boasting threatens to see all his work undone, and he must return to Trelari, gather his heroes, and defeat the new Dark Queen.

Heavy stuff, I know, and it gets even heavier. You really have to keep in mind how these worlds work, and just how much control Avery has over Trelari's reality, to appreciate the way the story develops. While he's built all the fantasy tropes and clichés into this world, the arrival of the Dark Queen challenges them all, while reality itself fights to 'right' itself according to the rules. That justifies characters acting entirely out of character, bizarre coincidences, and entirely silly developments. It's all very meta and self-aware, kind of like a drunken role playing session where the DM is so drunk on his own power, he really has become something of a god.

Like I said, this is conceptual humor, and very hard to convey in a review. It's less about silly quotes and funny moments, and more about how well the concept of the world, along with the roles of Dark Lord, Dark Queen, and Heroes, all combine to drive both the story and the amusement. If you're in the mood for a smart, self-aware sort of humorous fantasy, then The Dark Lord is a must-read.


Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for review consideration. This does not in any way affect the honesty or sincerity of my review.

[Spenser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummm, there’s going to be a sequel to this, right?! I will be SO mad if there’s not. Who is Rook? What’s wrong with Mysterium? What’s the key to?! So many unanswered questions! 😩 I loved the foundation of this book: Avery being a student at Mysterium and his role in Trelari, Vivian stealing the key, the idea of subworlds, and of course, all of the nods to different fantasy writers and creations. I also loved the satirical way the authors write all of their stories and was no exception in this one. However, I did feel like this book kind of just went through the motions. I didn’t feel invested in any part of the book except the beginning and the end. All of the rest of the book I was waiting for it to pick up a little. The main plot of this story is brilliant and I loved the overarching storyline. Hopefully in the sequel (because there HAS to be a sequel, right Peck and Heckel?!) the authors will really expand on the Mysterium problem and that Griswald will come into the story as a main character because I’d like to get to know him better. I’d definitely read that book. 😁

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have you ever read the blurb on a book and then when you've started reading the actual book, it's nothing like what the blurb said? I don't know if I just misunderstood or what, but the book isn't at all what I thought it would be. It's supposed to be a hilarious take on D&D, RPGs, and things like Harry Potter. The Harry Potter bit is quite clear at the beginning but I've not found the rest yet.

There are lots of references to other fantasy works. I'm not sure I liked the idea of well-known fantasy authors being mages. It got to the point where it seemed like author's names were crowbarred in, a bit clumsy and just too obvious. Provided you recognised the names, of course. It did include JK Rowling as being one of the greatest magi which is most unfortunate. The technobabble got to be too much, it became rather boring and repetitive. Disappointing really, I know there's other books in the series but I'm not sure I'm going to continue with it.

[Tinygreyhawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between references to fantasy authors of yore and early editions of D&D (plus a random reference to the Wizard of Oz or two), this book was clearly a love letter to works we've all grown up with and loved. The story is a fun romp, and the characters are both realistic and goofy; the main character, Avery, never really does come up with a fancy wizard name, but he grows throughout the story in an ultimately satisfying way that still leaves room for more--and more there is, for this is only the first book of a trilogy. All in all, would recommend!

[JoAnn Meaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful tale

For anyone who enjoys the magic of Harry Potter, with a bit of Dungeons and Dragons, the Wizard of Oz and other fantasy writer's tossed together, this is the tale for you. What a fun read. I love the humor and wit of the main character. The book evoked the memories of months sitting at a table with only sheets of paper and a handful of dice as we struggled through the imaginative world of Dungeons created my our DM.

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting story. Has mild to heavy references from many popular stories, partly because they were true in this story's reality. It was kind of a slow read with technical mumble jumble, and it did get boring, but over all it was good story.

[Lisa Mertens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny and a great premise behind the plot.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly fun read. It’s one long running in joke about rpg games and fantasy novels and well... I’m pretty much the target audience.
I’m definitely reading book two.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Not very engaging, a bit whiny

[J.P. Cane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original while also paying homage to the tropes of fantasy adventure role-playing games and hilarious throughout.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author (these authors). They are hysterically funny and tell a great story. My goal is to get this book into a great many of my friends hands.

Had to re-read before starting The Darker Lord. Loved it all over again b

[Ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun parody with a lot of references to other fantasy works and authors, but other than that it's nothing special.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book is excellent, and I loved the literary and pop culture references. It would have been a solid 4 stars, but it needed a good grammar/spell-check (at least the e-book version I read). With each incorrect word form or typo, I thought, ‘that’s it. I’m putting this down.’ Then I couldn’t because the story was so interesting and I wanted to know what would happen. I’m still torn about whether to read the sequel - excellent story and answers to questions balanced against more frustrating errors and possibly another ending full of unanswered questions (if it’s a trilogy).