Shadow of the Conqueror (Part 1)
STATS
Title: Shadow of the Conqueror
Series: The Chronicles of Everfall (Book 1)
Author(s): Shad M. Brooks
Genre: Fantasy (Epic)
First Printing: July 2019
Publisher: Independently published via Shadiversity Pty Ltd and Honorguard Productions LLC
PREMISE
Daylen Namaran – better known as Dayless the Conqueror, deposed tyrant of the Dawn Empire – has finally reached the end of his life after twenty years in exile. Years of introspection and regret over his atrocities have driven him to suicide. However, the Light has other plans for him. Miraculously restored to his youth and blessed with the supernatural powers of the legendary Archknights, Daylen sets out on a quest to eradicate the evils of the world. His adventures will offer chances for redemption … but with these chances come a deeper awareness of the evil that still dwells within him.
APPROACH
Breakdown
This format for this review is going to be slightly different from the previous ones. Part of this is due to the duality of its elements. Nearly every positive thing I can say about this book is paired with a criticism, and I think this review will be easier to follow if I break it down into those aspects. I’ll also need to break the review into multiple parts, as I have a lot to say about each aspect.
Part 1 (this part) lays groundwork and provides my rating.
Part 2 will cover the content warning and the characters.
Part 3 will assess the power fantasy and worldbuilding / exposition.
Part 4 will analyze action scenes dialogue, and plot.
Part 5 will examine the themes and provide my final thoughts.
Part 2 will be posted at the same time as this part. Parts 3 through 5 will be posted daily after that.
About the Author
For those unaware, Shad M. Brooks (whom, for this review, I will call “Shad” instead of using his surname) is a YouTuber based in Australia. What started as Shadiversity, a channel exploring medieval topics and examining fantasy through the lens of medieval realism, spun off into Knights Watch (a general pop culture commentary channel) and the Shadlands (chronicling Shad’s effort to build what I can best describe as a medieval castle theme park). Shadow of the Conqueror was self-published through the company that Shad founded to organize his business ventures and heavily marketed through his channels.
I purchased and read the book back when it first released. The decision to reread and review it was motivated by Shad’s recently concluded Indiegogo campaign to release both a second edition of the book and a graphic novel for part of the story (illustrated by Mike S Miller).
The reason I bring this up because I do have a bias with this book. I like Shad. I respect what he’s accomplished and his desire to continue working towards his dreams. Like most people, I don’t want to antagonize someone that I respect.
With that said, I want this review series help us all to improve the objective quality of our writing. I will be as brutal as I must with this analysis. Praise will be given where it is due, as will blunt force trauma.
Shad, if you read this, please understand that I’m trying to be fair. I have the utmost confidence in your correct the issues I identify in your future books. Keep on working towards your dreams.
Previous Review
I posted a review of this book to the Shadiversity Discord server back in 2020. For posterity and comparison, I’ve decided to copy it here before we dive into this analysis.
I would personally give Shadow of the Conqueror a 7 out of 10. (When B&N still stocked the book, I gave it a 4 out of 5 in my reader review.)
The characters have depth, there are some fun twists, and the worldbuilding is so thorough that I can remember most of the rules despite having read the book just once, 14 months ago. The main character also manages to be ridiculously overpowered without breaking the narrative, which I personally think is impressive.
Where it falls short is editing. There are ideas that are brought up and never explored (feeling like Author Tract at points), there is exposition in earlier parts of the book that is repeated later in an almost identical form without a good in-story reason, and there are some disorienting typos.
Overall, if you're into the genre, it's worth a read. I just hope the sequel is given a more critical eye so that the story can reach its full potential.
All right. With all that preamble established, let’s dive right into the review proper.
RATING: 6/10
This was a really weird book to rate. I’ve talked to people who gave this book a 2/10 or an 8/10. I can see the merits of both positions.
My decision to go with 6/10 isn’t my way of saying that the writing in this book is consistently average. It’s the balance of the book’s objectively great writing with its objectively terrible writing. What’s more, it’s not even like the bad writing and good writing are isolated to specific aspects (hence the duality issue I mentioned above).
That’s why this review is going to be so incredibly long. It would be dishonest of me to simply say, “This is bad, this is good.” We really need to walk through things step by step to understand what works, what doesn’t, and what we are writers can take away from this book.
For now, I’ll leave off Part 1 by saying that my 6/10 is a recommendation to pick up this book and read it for yourself. It’s not a great book; depending on your priorities, it may not even be a good book. I do feel, however, that this book has more to offer than just examples of what not to do. There are good things here that made me grateful that I took time to read it, both the first and second times. Flaws should not overshadow merits, just as merits shouldn’t overshadow flaws.
DEEP DIVE
In Part 2 (posted later today), we’ll start to properly dig into this story, beginning with the more difficult aspects of the content and an exploration of the characters. I hope to see you all then.
