"Dark Lord: The Headmaster of Doom" is the fourth book in Jamie Thomson's brilliantly hilarious series about an ordinary everyday boy who just happens to be an evil despotic megalomaniac (in secret, well mostly).
Dirk Lloyd is the titular Dark Lord. Hopelessly trapped in the boy of a weedy schoolboy, he returns in a darkly hilarious adventure set in the most ghoulish school you'll encounter this side of the Darklands.
As you can imagine, school isn't the easiest place for ordinary kids most of the time - but when you're Dirk Lloyd things just go from bad to worse.
We first met Dirk in Book 1, the earthly incarnation of a Dark Lord, supreme ruler of the Darklands and leader of great armies of orcs and warriors, intent on destruction and bloody devastation.
Following a colossal final battle between the forces of good and evil, the Dark Lord was defeated and hurled by his arch-foe's spells into the Pit of Uttermost Despair. At the bottom of the Pit lies...a supermarket car park in the municipal town of Whiteshields, somewhere in modern day England. And when he is found, and tries to explain that he is the Dark Lord, people think he means Dirk Lloyd.
The fact that he's trapped in the puny body of a schoolboy doesn't help.
Two more adventures saw Dirk overcome his initial shock and despair only to find Sooz, a 13 yr old girl from Surrey had become the Dark Mistress of Dirk's otherworldly kingdom, the Darklands.
Thanks to the Ring of Power given to her by Dirk, his minions recognized her as their ruler. Sooz immediately set about redecorating Dirk's Dark Tower to the taste of a young girl. EGAD!
Then in Book 3 School took a turn for the nasty as Dirk's sworn enemy, Hasdruban the White, infiltrated Whiteshields School seeking vengeance.
Then in Book 3 School took a turn for the nasty as Dirk's sworn enemy, Hasdruban the White, infiltrated Whiteshields School seeking vengeance.
So what can you look forward to in Book four? Once again the Darklands are under threat, this time from a demonic headmaster. If you thought eternal detention was bad, you haven't seen anything yet!
Darkly delicious comedy, absolutely bang on the nail for the sort of things Charlotte loves in a book.
Catch up with "The Headmaster of Doom" and you won't be disappointed!
"Dark Lord: The Headmaster of Doom" by Jamie Thomson with cover art and illustrations by Dan Boultwood is out now, published by Orchard Books (kindly supplied for review).