Great magic, average writing.

The author's writing ability is compensated for by his imagination. Worth a listen. The magic system alone is impressive

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Decent but flawed

Shadow of the Conqueror knows what kind of story it's trying to tell - a story about redemption and forgiveness - and in the broader scheme of things, I think it succeeds. Where it fails is in the execution and details.

The main character, Daylan, has a past that is not entirely believable. He's written to be too over the top in how evil he became. It's not just that he found himself being put in situations where a good ruler had to do "evil things for the good of empire", it's that his judgment was seriously impaired at times. For example, because he wanted to end slavery, he decides to abolish ownership of any kind in his empire. What logic led him to believe communism was the answer? It almost seems like this was shoved into the book to make a political statement rather than a conclusion that would follow naturally. Now, I'm not a big fan of communism at all - it's a gross, irrational political system - but that doesn't mean you need to attack it for the sake of attacking it. This type of forced writing is the equivalent of modern Hollywood writers writing despicable and sexist male characters to further feminist propaganda - it's the same thing, but from the other side.

All the raping of 14-year-old girls while Daylan was emperor also seems out of character - it's difficult to imagine someone in this situation becoming that depraved and immoral, almost like he was written that way just to make him incredibly evil.

On top of this, the book goes out of its many times to ascertain how wise and mature Daylan is, but he acts like a child in many scenes throughout the book, starting fights and treating people very poorly. You can't have it both ways. You can certainly acknowledge his experience in war, sword fighting, engineering, and politics while still maintaining how poor he is at interacting with people, but the book doesn't quite do that. The author makes him wise and mature when he needs to be, and an insulant welp when he needs to be. It doesn't feel natural at all.

Beyond these things, I enjoyed the book. The rest of the characters are written well. The performances of the readers are excellent. If you're willing to forgive the things I outlined, I think you will enjoy it. I can't give it 5 stars - these aspects of the book needed to be addressed.

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Amazing listen

One of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to, and certainly the best in this genre. Great story and characters as well as narration. Can’t wait for Shad’s next book.

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A Fun Yet Serious Tale

This is an engaging story with an interesting protagonist that carries a complex past. The magic system is concrete to the level of a role playing game, and the world has many fantastic and intriguing elements. Character development is solid and the development arcs examine mature themes with a thorough look at guilt, justice and redemption. There are moments worthy of open laughter and heartache, as well as vivid action sequences that are well described and fit any super hero or anime film. The fact that the protagonist can leave the reader feeling conflicted about what they hope will happen demonstrates that the author had a strong grasp on the depth of the character's emotions and motivations when combined with his past. I was able to pick out the ending before reaching it, but did not find this prediction to be at all disappointing. There is ample room for a sequel, which I hope is in the works.

Michael Kramer and Kate Reading did a fantastic job in performing the reading.

I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy video games and books or anime, with high levels of action. Also, anyone interested in a good villain redemption story, or paladin/Jedi-like characters will likely appreciate this story.

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Amazing first book Shad!!!

Watching your videos about the book did some to prepare me for how ingenious this story would be but HOLY CROW I did not expect to be this enthralled!!! The magic system is amazing, the descriptions of the swordplay are just awesome and the characters are deep, well written and incredibly funny!! I’m shaking waiting for the next one and hope you have as much fun and enjoyment writing it as all of your fans will have when they read it. Thank you so much!!!!

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2 people found this helpful

instant thought grabber!

I didnt expect a lot initially, but it was phonomenal. wisdom, action, adventure, life.

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An incredible adventure to be remembered dearly

i was trully amazed by this story. the only thing that was disapointing was the fact that I reached the end of it. Excellent characters and developement, everything is coherent and very well explained, the universe if immersive and complete. I can't give this enough praise. The narrators are also very good and clear they make you feel the emotions the character is going trough. thank you for making this Shad.

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Highly recommended

A meticulously crafted world, magic system and even physics. Everything made sense and every single bit and glimpse of info all wrapped up in a nice finale. Even the 82 years old bastard was relatable. The narrators voices were on point as well. Cant wait for the next issue!

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Inspiring

Shad has written a compelling and engaging story. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. The world of Everfall is unlike any other I have read or listened to. The clear systems of magic and reality felt natural and logical to the world. I look forward to what may be in store for Everfall in the future.

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decent read, not perfect, but good

There are 2 narrators for this book. Like many books that use multiple narrators, it alternates entire chapters between narrators. This makes the entire thing worse than having a single narrator as the voices don't match when the different narrators speak as the same character. Having multiple narrators can improve the book if each one consistently voices a different character. That was not done here. Both narrators were good, but the way they were combined made it worse.

The story was good, and the reasoning each character had for what they did and how to world reacted to their decisions mostly made sense. I did feel it was slightly preachy and reaffirming the author's point of view as everything went to plan though.

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