Dark Lord of Derkholm
core novel 1998 The Derkholm Series
Record
| First published | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.10 (18,276 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780688160043 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Dark Lord of Derkholm, published in 1998, is set in a fantasy world whose economy has been reshaped by an interdimensional tourism company that organizes annual guided tours through staged versions of classic fantasy adventures, tours that leave environmental damage and casualties among the local population in their wake. When the world's oracles compel its rulers to name a new Dark Lord and Wizard Guide to host that year's tour, the choice falls on the mild-mannered wizard Derk, a breeder of magical hybrid animals who would rather be left alone, and his fourteen-year-old son Blade. The head of Wizards' University has her own hidden plan for using this year's tour to finally end the tourism scheme for good.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Derkholm Series
- Series: The Derkholm Series core; position 1 of 2 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Notes
- From the series record (The Derkholm Series): A completed two-book secondary-world fantasy duology satirizing package-tour fantasy fiction (a direct companion piece to Jones's own nonfiction The Tough Guide to Fantasyland), distinct from her other admitted universes (Chrestomanci, the Dalemark Quartet, Howl's Moving Castle, the Magids duology, Fire and Hemlock).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Derkholm Series: position 1 of 2: next Year of the Griffin (2000)
Sources
← The Derkholm Series dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.