Shadow of the Conqueror
Chronicles of Everfall, Book 1
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Shadow of the Conqueror
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Narrated by:
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Michael Kramer
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Kate Reading
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By:
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Shad Brooks
Who better to fight back the darkness of the world than the one responsible for most of it?
Daylen, once known as the Great Bastard, the Scourge of Nations, Dayless the Conqueror, has lived in hiding since his presumed death. Burdened by age and tremendous guilt, he thinks his life is coming to an end. Unbeknownst to him he’s about to embark on a journey towards redemption where his ruthless abilities might save the world. Many battles await with friends to be made and a past filled with countless crimes to confront, all the while trying to keep his true identity a secret.
Indeed, it might be too much if not for the fabled power awaiting him.
Everfall is a world of perpetual day where the continents float in an endless sky. If one jumps from the continent they will fall for many hours before returning to the same place from which they fell. Skyships rule the air powered by shining sunstone and industrial darkstone. A legendary order of knights bears mystical powers which they use to hunt out the dreaded shade, monsters that regular people turn into if trapped in darkness for the length of a fall.
It is a world of enchanted swords, merciless monsters, mystical knights, and hard magic, filled with tales of wonder and adventure.
©2019 Shad Brooks (P)2019 Shad BrooksI've given the story "4 stars" even though my enjoyment of the book so far I would rate at 5. This is because by giving 5 stars I feel like it would have to be on as good as other books I conider 5 stars such as LOTR or or Got. So why don't I think its as good as those? Well I'd like to give some constructive criticism here but it's something I can't really describe. It's something about the actual writing that just feels a little more sort of clumsy, not quite as perfect. It's not badly written or anything though and still incredibly enjoyable.
Fantastic world building and coulorfull characters
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Left me longing for more
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It should be mentioned that the book contains very in-your-face moral messages founded in christendom, but at least to me personally they didn't feel preachy or sententious (even though I do not fully agree with all of them). Instead I think the story should be more seen as a long-form moral parable in a way, that handles such topics in an appropriate and thoughtful manner, for the most part at least.
There are several quite significant weaknesses in the story as well, though. For one there were some very stark contrasts in some of the characters that simply felt too strong, maybe even a bit thoughtless in how they were handled, to feel entirely appropriate and believable. This was a much bigger issue in the first one third of a book. I also will criticize that the book, in my opinion, treated the subject of murder much too casually in this book, given the moral bent of the story in general. Don't get me wrong, much thought was put into it by the author, it did affect the characters and how they evolved, and was made to make the reader reflect. It just wasn't done quite good enough in this particular respect. The world-building, although as I previously mentioned very interesting, might have been a bit too ambitious for a book of this length. Descriptions did at certain times (certainly not all the time) become too technical and stilted.
Personally I really enjoyed the story, and would give it a score of 8 out 10, heartily recommending it.
As for the performance, it was excellent. The voice actors not only did the reading out loud technically flawlessly, they also blew life and emotion into the characters and the words they spoke.
A mixed bag, both great and just OK
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Fantastic Work
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There are some very dark themes that threw me off at first but seeing how they tie inextricably with the protagonist's character development, I appreciate them.
Speaking of the protagonist, Shad does a frighteningly good job at getting me to feel empathy for Dalen - despite being an objectively deplorable human being, deserving of none.
In that lies the book's selling point for me. The inner conflict it can induce within the reader (reflecting that of many of it's supporting characters) by making me almost route for a protagonist whose résumé of evil deeds could be said to eclipse that of real world villains like Stalin, Hitler or even Genghis Khan. An 'anti-hero' done right.
The two narrators for this audioboook are also great.
Only bit of constructive criticism I'll add is that the writing at times could feel a bit clumsy, though I feel this is less apparent as the novel progress. And considering how this is Shad's first published book, I can only look forward with much optamism as YouTube's master at arms evolves and refines as a writer.
Awesome premise. Looking forward to more from Shad
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