Only Villains Do That: An Isekai Adventure

Only Villains Do That, Book 1

By: D. D. Webb

Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn

From the author of the Gods Are Bastards series comes a new isekai adventure, in which a man is granted sinister powers he doesn't even want.

On a typical day, on an average train platform, two warring sister goddesses found their avatars. One avatar, the young Yoshi, was swept away to the world of Ephemera to be a great hero of honor, courage, and light. The other, the not-so-young Seiji, was swept away to become a dark lord out to kill or conquer all in his path.

But Seiji is in absolutely no mood for that nonsense. It's bad enough that on Earth he was a closed-off, misanthropic grouch with zero patience for other people. Now he's supposed to muster enough of a give-a-damn to lead vile hordes, crush Yoshi, and take all of Ephemera as his own? No thanks. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a choice.

Seiji's patron goddess wants results, and if he doesn't deliver, she's going to take a serious interest in discovering his pain, suffering, and overall misery threshold. But just because he doesn't care about people, doesn't mean he doesn't care whether they suffer by his own hand. After all, just because you're the embodiment of ultimate evil doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it.

The first volume of the hit fantasy adventure series—with more than five million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 D. D. Webb (P)2024 Podium Audio

much better than I thought it would be

First the bad

a tendency towards repetitiveness and kinda cringy at times. a little preachy too at times with his rants about society.

now the good

surprising excellent world building that didn't feel bogged down. Interesting and developed side characters.

lastly

narrator did a descent job, a little too much emotion at times and a few parts where he lost track of the accents he was trying to do but overall good.

A Pleasant Surprise

Between the narrator whose voice was perfect for these characters, the wonderfully detailed world-building, and the satisfying story that stays true to the plot premise while also giving the sense of steady (but not break-neck) progression, I have nothing to complain about whatsoever.

I had concerns because I read reviews mentioning the MC getting preachy about society and what it, but the Dark Lord is expected to monologue, and I honestly thought it was all acceptably on-brand and justified.

10/10, would listen again. Already purchased books 2 & 3.

There be no White Knights here

A book with a more practical and bloodthirsty kinda of MC than your typical super self righteous MC. It was pretty amusing as well. Narrator did a great job

Fun

There were only hints of it and some minor outbursts but I fear that the authors politics are going to spill into the story. Which is always cringe as hell when an author can't help but do that garbage. Here's hoping I'm wrong, I doubt it though. I have a feeling we are going to get cringe dark lord authors self insert politics once Mc starts running things. Authors like this can rarely contain themselves or maybe it's a complete lack of self awareness that stops such people from being unable to write a character they disagree with as anything than a strawman villain.

As for this book, it was pretty good. Hopefully it stays that way and it keeps being a morally Grey fun series nstead of a platform for venting political butthurt like I fear.

no idea why there are so few reviews

Aood book, would recommend.
the author has amazing attention to detail and the world building is great.
Protagonist sounds like the classic edge lord bs but subverys expectationd (most of the time).
Author inserts so many realistic bits and pieces of information that usually get overshadowed in world building by other authors and i really appreciate that.
Normally i dont leave written review for books i like, but its crazy that this book had so few reviews considering how good the writing is.

if you like good writing, compelling characters and a world you can immerse yourself in give it a try

Exactly what I was looking for.

Probably my new favorite take on a villainous protagonist. Seiji (probably misspelled that) feels very relatable and mostly reasonable but is dumped in a very unreasonable situation. He feels competent but outclassed, powerful but constantly the underdog, funny but with room for serious moments and real emotions. Similarly the magic is a balance of flexible but limited and overall sticks to doing its job. The job being to provide the characters with the tools they need and then getting out of their way. I also appreciate that so far every single powerup has felt like a powerup and stayed feeling like one. There's no gaining 6 new powers and still being the same helpless ant. There's also no 6 new powers every other day.
Then there's the narration. This story was already outstanding. The narration takes it to excellent. Seiji's voice was a specific standout. Even I can notice the thought and effort that went into the performance of a professional performer.
This book had just the right proportions of everything I enjoy. I won't claim it's flawless or that it'll work for everyone. But it certainly worked for me.

Unusual and thoroughly entertaining

What a performance and story. Very enjoyable. Definitely not for the squeamish as in there was slimes and gore. Morally gray as well. But overall good natured and somewhat hopeful. Great Isekai story.

Another world story without stats

A great story I didn't even know I needed. The lack of stats or harems really go a long way in making this great

chapter 34

Chapter 34 is what brought me from amused and interested to fully invested in this story and book. The while story is about a performer doing his best, I don't think it would have landed as well without the narrator.

The Dark Lord... is a Healer?

This story has a couple of tropes that, if advertised, I think could bring in a lot more readers. First, the Dark Lord is a Healer! People love Healer Isekai stories; there aren't enough of them. Second, the main character is the Dark Lord, which you can figure out from the summary of the story.

That aside, I love this story, and the voice actor totally had me glued. It's nice having someone actually act out the story and not just read it to me—the difference between a voice actor and a narrator, I suppose.

As for the story, it kind of reminds me more of an isekai mafia-like trope, even though it has elements of everything you'd expect. Mostly mafia, though. To overturn the world, his great plan is to introduce Earth social concepts—feminism. Yeah, I rolled my eyes and laughed at that one a bit too much. Still, this entire story takes place outside a single city within a magical realm, unraveling the city’s (or kingdom’s) social structure from the very bottom to topple the top—through the power of healing and prostitutes. Albeit, he may sometimes imbue the most powerful healing spell with a fire spell, acting like an absolute sadist to those he’s healing, eliciting agonizing screams. However, we do get references about how horrible that makes him feel, and eventually how horrible he feels for no longer feeling horrible about it. lol

As for the main character, well, he's a sarcastic smartass, which I personally got a kick out of, but may not vibe with everyone.

In any regard, I loved it, and it feels like a fresh take on a repetitive trope that seems overused. Can't wait for the sequel!