Salaset Review - SHADOW OF THE CONQUEROR – Shad M Brooks
I first learned about Shad Brooks (Shad) when researching swords for my own novel. Having seen his videos as well as his involvement in the writing community, It seemed inevitable that I would come across one of his videos before being sucked down the rabbit hole of information that he provided.
Shad is the creator of Shadiversity, his YouTube channel, and on there he gives informed and educating videos about medieval culture, swords, castles, and fighting techniques. He prides himself on doing his best to give accurate information on the subjects, and always updates whenever he learns something new or is corrected.
It should be stated that Shad is not a medieval expert, but a medieval enthusiast. I only make that distinction because he himself makes sure to make it as well. Personally, I see this as a mark of honesty in his research that he is willing to change his opinion on different matters, as well as make it a point not to misrepresent himself. Regardless, Shad is proud of learning new things and revels in the idea of helping others with similar interests learn more as well.
Fast forward to 2019, and Shad posts a video announcing that he has a debut novel coming out very soon with an audio book closely followed thereafter. I was ecstatic to learn about this, seeing as he also was willing to branch out into storytelling and writing on his channel. Due to the nature of my job and limited free time, I’m normally unable to sit down and read a physical book, often having to rely on audiobooks to keep me sane at work. When his book was released, I waited impatiently for the audiobook, and the day it launched, I started it.
Here is the back-of-the-book blurb for all to see. My thoughts are below.
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.
So what did I like about the book? A lot, actually, primarily the sheer uniqueness of the world and magic system that Shad created. In a nutshell, world is a flat plane of floating islands and continents, held up in an endless sky by a substance known as darkstone. Skyships are seen throughout the clouds, and when you look up, you see the underside of the very continent you stand on, as well as an endless sun. If you were to jump off the edge, you would fall until eventually passing through the barrier and reentering the world form the top to fall all over again.
Darkness, though, can be deadly. In the history of the world, there have only been a few nights, and when night falls, it is an apocalyptic event. Because of this, mankind bound together and fought off the terrible monsters that accompanied it, aided by the divine magic of the Light.
The book opens up with an old man, Daylen, who is nearing the end of his life. As he plans his own death, fate decides otherwise, and curses him with youth.
This gives a unique story thread that I’ve rarely seen done well; a character that knows what they’re doing most of the time. As an 82-year-old man, Daylen has seen a lot of things, but also picked up on terrible habits from his time as a tyrant. The story explores his ability to change and find redemption for his past deeds with this new curse.
The execution of Daylen’s character development is done amazingly well and in a believable way. However, this did leave one noticeable problem; Daylen didn’t really struggle in any of the major events in the story. Not physically, anyway. As a young man with 82 years of experience, it does make sense that he would be very well off in understanding the world, but the book just seems to make Daylen good at… everything… this does detract from the relatability of Daylen, and as our main it makes it very difficult to relate to him.
Oh, ya. The relating to the protagonist part…
I’m not going to pull any punches here. I found it beyond difficult to relate to Daylen in any way, primarily because of the actions he had done in the book. While trying to avoid spoilers, the best way I can describe his actions is that they would make Hitler and Stalin flinch. He had done beyond despicable things in the past and I cannot, as a reader, feel like he should succeed at anything, no matter what he is trying to do.
The premise of this book is that anyone can be redeemed, and as much of a noble message as that is, I cannot agree on a fundamental level. Enjoyable book? Absolutely. Believable characters? Yes. Relatable characters? No. Not in the slightest. The main character’s actions were far too despicable to make it so that I could truly be on his side, even as a reader.
In conclusion, I think that this book series has a lot of potential, but Shad is going to have an uphill battle. I believe that it was his intention, however, and I look forward to seeing him try to convince me of his premise in future books.
This is Shad’s first book, and though it needs some polishing here and there, I am eager to continue the story.
Overall, I give the book 3.9 Stars. A good read, a good introduction, but a lot of extra work is needed to get it up to par.
And Shad, if you read this, good luck. Your content in amazing, and be it Writing or YouTube, DON’T STOP! You are doing an amazing job. I’m a long-time subscriber and plan on staying that way.
-Jayde Salaset