The wonderful people at Algonquin Publicity allowed me to participate in their Book Tour for the Paperback edition of The Dark Lord Clementine. So this review will be a little different I’ll give a small summary, then share my thoughts.

The Dark Lord Clementine Summary

Twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous never expected to fill her father’s shoes, even though she has been trained since birth to be a Dark Lord. But after her father falls ill from the mysterious Whittle Witch’s spell, Clementine finds herself in charge of her father’s evil empire.

Running Castle Brack and terrorizing the village looks surprisingly like running a farm. She realizes has her hands full after she has a little adventure outside the castle. When, Sebastian, the village boy who keeps following her won’t let up. She does what any evil villain would do, she makes him a Brack Knight. After all, it turns out her knight can help build a chicken fence and Clementine needs all the help she can get.

Clementine has her hands full: feeding the nightmares (evil horses), tending the fire-breathing chickens, picking the poison apples at the precise time they ripen, making sure the snake pit is cleaned out and the castle is defended. Oh and making sure the family grimoire Clementine accidentally turned into a chicken doesn’t run off. It is all a lot to handle.

Clementine realizes she’s going to need more than just the two people to help around the castle,luckily that’s just when more of the village boys show up wanting to be knights . The mysterious hunter Darka soon joins life at the castle and trains the boys in weapons to be knights.

Clementine is enjoying this life with Darka and her knights but she knows she’s walking a thin line; she still needs to find a cure for her father while keeping him unaware of the life she’s bulit

But when the price to pay for a cure goes against her beliefs, will she stand up for what her heart believes or for what she’s always been taught.

The Dark Lord Clementine Review

This book is hilarious and important at the same time. Clementine is a perfect example of how your past or your family doesn’t have to define who you are. The book has examples of facing your fears, finding what love is, and mending broken hearts. I definitely read it again this book is a total 5/5.

I can’t wait to read more books from Sarah Jean Horwitz.

Author

Sarah Jean Horwitz is also the author of THE WINGSNATCHERS, the first book in the Carmer and Grit series. THE WINGSNATCHERS was a Kids Indie Next List pick and a Junior Library Guild Selection. The second book in the series, THE CROOKED CASTLE, was released in April 2018. Sarah’s most recent novel is the standalone middle grade fantasy THE DARK LORD CLEMENTINE, which was an Amazon.com September 2019 Best Book of the Month and received favorable reviews from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and more

Sarah’s other passions and interests include: ruining that movie or TV show you love with feminist critique, practicing hard (and yet still being awful) at handstands, curly and long hair care, improvisational movement, tattoos, and sheepishly guessing answers out loud while watching Jeopardy. She currently works as an administrative assistant and lives with her spouse near Cambridge, MA.