I Swear I'm Not A Dark Lord!

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Another death, another world, another chance to live a peaceful life. All he wants to do is practice his magic and go fishing. A peaceful, pleasant existence nobody should complain about. As if! His family abandoned him; His new body is cursed; The gods meddle with his life; The local mayor shoves responsibilities at him; A weird kid keeps popping up and challenging him to duels; People keep asking him if he wants to be a dark lord. Who has time for all of that when there are books to read and a lunker of a trout hiding away in the river? Join an isekai hero in his not-quiet-enough life. Writeathon Winner, Spring 2025 Vol 1,A Cursed Child, is available in ebook and paperback. Vol 2,The Legate of Mourne, is available in ebook and paperback. Updates on Wednesday and Friday.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: CJ Holmes

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 2,754
Views: 1,059,317

What readers say about I Swear I'm Not A Dark Lord!

“This is a brilliant execution of a slightly uncommon concept. While not necessary for comprehension, I highly recommend its prequel series Isakai Veteran, also known by The Tenobre Cycle --- the first 5 books are available on Amazon under the latter, while…”
IstyaturRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The MC is an old soul looking to live life on his own terms. Saddled in this life with a truly awful curse and abandonedby his family, he shrugs and moves on. I would think it would take the patience of a true saint to live like the MC, but he makes it look…”
Bruce cRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

IstyaturRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a brilliant execution of a slightly uncommon concept. While not necessary for comprehension, I highly recommend its prequel series Isakai Veteran, also known by The Tenobre Cycle --- the first 5 books are available on Amazon under the latter, while the 4th and 5th also on Royal Road under the former -- as it provides a lot of background and is almost as good.
The setting is well designed from uni/multi?versal scale, a world scale, and even the local scale, and its presented deftly, avoiding info-dumping without leaving you feeling lost, and the world building is some of the best I've read. Characters are well designed, consistent, and even have different voices.
Grammatically the writing is nearly perfect, and the prose is smooth and easy to read. Even the dialogue is well done, neither suffering from the fillers or awkwardness of truly natural speech or feeling overly prepared and edited.
The main plot is slow, not because of filler, but because there are a lot of subplots and side plots. But every plot feel relevant and important to the narrative. Every chapter has something important, and my one complaint is Holmes seems to be relying on cliffhangers more – if that keeps up I might have to adjust down half a star.
Bruce cRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The MC is an old soul looking to live life on his own terms. Saddled in this life with a truly awful curse and abandonedby his family, he shrugs and moves on.
I would think it would take the patience of a true saint to live like the MC, but he makes it look easy. An absolute admirable character. I hope sometime in the near future we get a bit more explanation of his curse and his family's reaction, maybe even learn about the midwife.
Most of the other characters are nicely nuanced with reasonable growth and responses. His acknowledgement of an early crush is adorable. His responses to challenges are fascinating as to his restraints and occasional lack thereof.
The world-building is deep and slowly spun out. Through his past lives, the MC has seem the commonalities and differences between worlds that gives him an interesting advantage. Likewise, he has an interesting take on religion and the associated gods.
My only complaint about the story style is the excessive use of passive voice, which leaves me slightly disconnected to the story. There are very few misspellings or noticeable grammatical issues otherwise. The story is a fine slice of life with enough adventure to keep things interesting.
CatgurlRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
One of the best isekai ever. Everything about the MC's character, thoughts and actions fits and makes sense; other authors should read this story to learn how it should be done.
Perfect blend of action and story, great characters, gradual hints of various mysteries, great world details. I love the details, like the god statues, love of fishing and MC's care and concern in interacting with others. Also love the MC is intelligent - so far he has never acted like an idiot to advance the plot - that alone put this book over into the 5 stars I rarely give. Also love the MC takes no guff from anyone!
The story has a harmonious balance between serious, heart-rending moments and joyful light-hearted ones. So many authors are all doom and gloom, others are too rah-rah cartoony. This one is just right - now that takes skill.
Also almost no typos or grammer errors. I can see the attention to detail and hard work the author put in on this book.
I have zero criticism. Snaps to the author - your story is outstanding. Thank you for sharing your hard work.
P.S. Bought all 5 of author's earlier Taylor books on Amazon and Book 1 of this current ISINADL arc. Prior Taylor arc is very, very good (starting book 3 now) and I recommend it. Still loving ISINADL arc the best and confess to rereading all of it to date - twice, lol. Yes, it is that awesome.
Big Wizard GamingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the best story I have read on Royal Road. The world is well thought out and the caricatures make realistic decisions. The MC is competent and intelligent but not so overwhelmingly powerful that it removes all stakes. The fights are amazing and the spellcraft is mind captivating.
I can't really write out any substantial criticisms. Maybe the cast is a bit small and the hand of the author is occasionally visible but bolth have clear in world explanations (if you read the story it is obvious what in world justifications I'm talking about).
All in all I love this series and hope to see more in the future.
GeneralsmallRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Original for the platform, not xianxia, d&d, or over-systemized, it is a repeat isekai that is well done with a likable and somehow relatable protagonist. Better than 99.9% of the books on RR. But the best compliment I can give is that it reads like a real book written by a good author.
GingermanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Another budding gmasterpiece from CJ Holms. The character development keeps you well vested in their interests and development.The pacing is great, none of the needless dwelling on descriptions etc. to bulk out chapters, the story captures everything you need to know allowing your imagination to take part.Could still do with a bit longer ones, but I am also greedy.L!
GwalmeichRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I really enjoyed this story! First, the grammar is nearly perfect; the verb tenses are consistent and they are very few vocabulary mistakes, which makes the reading enjoyable.Second, the narrative pace is enjoyable; the author is neither rushing ahead or slowing down the story to an uncomfortable crawl. They are at just the right pace to keep things perfectly interesting, which is relatively uncommon nowadays.Finally, I enjoy the world and characters that the author is bringing to life in this story. If you like realistically competent protagonist living their most interesting life in a vibrant world and don't mind the blend of slice of life and action, then this is the story for you!
Happy AppleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
So far, it is a really good read. The MC has a very down to earth feel and the story line is progressing well. The only thing that I kind of dislike is the fact that MC is a little too op. But besides that, the book does a good job in every category,
Hephaestus0Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I am reviewing this story at chapter 19.
So far the author has been setting up the stage for a fun story, but I am not yet sure where it is going. This is a good thing as far as I am concerned :). If you like an intelligent protagonist, fantasy, world-building, and reincarnation, then I would definitely recommend you stop reading this review and start reading the first chapter.
The grammar and spelling are great.
I enjoy the style, keeping in mind that the chosen style is commonly used in (light) novels.
LarapRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm enjoying this one. I like the main character as he is well rounded and it's working against sone interesting difficulties. The other characters are growing on me, especially one of the newer ones. I look forward to seeing how the characters grow, and what the main character is dragged into (despite just wanting to go fishing!!!). I'm happy to add another good book to my follow list 😀