[Blogtour] "The Dark Lord Clementine" di Sarah Jean Horwitz | Review

In questo lunedì che segna l'inizio di una nuova settimana, sul mio blog vi aspettano la bellezza di due post: questo che state leggendo sarà in inglese perché si tratta della mia tappa per il blogtour e oggi pomeriggio potrete leggere la recensione di questo stesso libro in italiano. Non mancate! 

What follows is my English review for The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz - the Italian one will be posted later this afternoon. 
Many thanks to Kristen from Algonquin Books for involving me in this. 

Title: The Dark Lord Clementine
Author: Sarah Jean Horwitz
Published: October 1st 2019
Pages: 336 (Kindle Edition)
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Link Amazon: https://amzn.to/2n1vlHT

Plot: The new face of big evil is a little . . . small.

Dastardly deeds aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind when one hears the name “Clementine,” but as the sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor, twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be. But everything changes the day the Dark Lord Elithor is cursed by a mysterious rival.

Now, Clementine must not only search for a way to break the curse, but also take on the full responsibilities of the Dark Lord. As Clementine forms her first friendships, discovers more about her own magic than she ever dared to explore, and is called upon to break her father’s code of good and evil, she starts to question the very life she’s been fighting for. What if the Dark Lord Clementine doesn’t want to be dark after all?

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Clementine Morcerous is twelve-year-old and a future Dark Lord in training, living in a castle and a farm silenced by a spell casted by her father - Dark Lord Elithor Morcerous. She's the descendant of many Dark Lords Morcerous that ruled the Seven Sisters before her father, terrorizing villagers and concocting potions. She's the heir that one day will rule those lands and those people. 

She tries so hard to be evil like it's required by the job, but she can't deny she finds comfort in her secret garden where she's able to grow beautiful flowers. That's not so dark or evil, after all and she's feeling guilty about it. 

Another thing she can't deny is the fact that her father has clearly been cursed, more likely than not by a witch. This curse isn't only putting her father's life at risk, but it's weakening the strenght of his spells - so now the castle and the farm aren't so silent anymore. The animating scarecrows aren't working properly on the land, the breathing-fire chickens burn more often than not the fence separating them from the normal chickens and harvesting the poisoned apples would soon be a problem because they don't look so much different from normal apples - and everyone knows poisoned apples have to be perfect to do their job. 

Let's not talk about the black sheep that now talks to her and the Gricken - the family Grimoire she accidentally turned into a chicken many years ago - that refuses to lay an egg for her with a spell she can use.

As her father locks himself in his tower searching for a cure, it's up to Clementine to absolve all of the duties that should be expected from a Dark Lord - and this includes performing at least a Dastardly Deed like requested by the Evil Overlord Council if they don't want to lose the Dark Lord status and their home. 

She promised her father not to trust anyone and not ti go outside searching for the Whittle Witch, but can she really do that? 

Soon Clementine meets and has to rely on Sebastien, a kid from the village who dreams to be a knight and Darka, a huntress with a dark past to surving attacks from the Witch and rebuilding the farm. She experiments friendship for the first time in her life and that light magic that made her feel guilty at first because it doesn't suit a future Dark Lord, now makes her think she can be anything she wants - no matter what is her legacy. 

Clementine's development is amazing: she goes from a shy and evil wannabe to a much more confident kid, taking matter in her hands when it comes to be brave, forgiving, selfless, open to the others and doing what is right. And soon Clementine understands she can be who she is meant to be and not what others expect her to be. 

The friendships she forms are complex - especially the one with Darka due to differents points of view on so many things - but they are also so cute and heartwarming.

I loved Clementine from the start, just as I loved the author's humor all spread out through the book. It's the kind of subtle and ironic humor that I like so much - I often laughed out loud and I enjoyed the chapters' subtitles: they were brilliant. 

And seriously, reading Clementine begging the Gricken for an egg was one of the best and funniest thing ever. 

I'm thirty, but I enjoyed this middle grade so much because it's funny and it's full of everything a kid should learn - and those lessons are something even adults can learn from or discover again in case they have forgotten. 

Also, it's impossible not cheering on these characters on their quest.