you say you wouldn't be able to pick shad out from anyone else on the street, but i feel like you would -- he'd be the one wearing a hoodie that's made to look like chainmail.
@@anothercub6958 the actual bark of laughter that I just let out after reading that, holy moly. it just occurred to me that he's almost definitely wearing magic Mormon underwear underneath his cosplay armor, too. you know, the white cotton t-shirt/clamdigger combo with masonic symbols embroidered over the nipples. what a _weird_ religion, man.
1:06:02 omg imagine the light bringer finds him and leads him on a “quest”that ends with him getting pushed in a volcano as an act of vengeance by the light cuz he’d turned into a shade in sheep’s clothing long ago
This whole thing feels like a D&D campaign Shad kept trying to run, but his players kept bailing because the whole thing revolved entirely around his one overpowered NPC.
I wouldn't bet like... a life changing amount of money on you being right, but I could see myself putting down $20 depending on how big the payout was.
I WAS IN A DND CAMPAIGN THAT WAS EXACTLY LIKE THIS BOOK. our dm sucked so bad that his influence ended multiple years long real life friendships. aside from being a manipulative self centered dickbag he was really weird about sa in the same way that shad is . go fucking figure
A lot of it sounds really "gamey", like the magic that lets you buff your stats, and the other characters' morality just contorting to accept what the main character is doing. Reminds me of many amateur webnovels where it's really obvious the writer spends 90% of his free time playing RPGs.
You wont see this but something few people know is that long before Shad wrote this book he ran a TTRPG stream as the DM and made one of his characters a fully developed alien 9 year old girl who's entire goal was to breed with the player characters. He tried to push it on his brother who was obviously not comfortable at all so Shad ended up making it sleep with one of his own OC characters instead. This book really should have been expected.
i'm so glad i didn't subject myself to actually reading this, but the comedic timing of me showing up to the livestream more than two hours late with a lukewarm cup of coffee like, "oh hey guys, you're still going?" only to be IMMEDIATELY hit with the soul-rendering pie-to-the face discussion surrounding Shad's rancid takes on motherhood, consent, and babies SURE WAS SOMETHING
Shad fundamentally doesn't understand redemption. If he wanted to write a story about a person with an unforgivable past finding redemption, he should have had Daylen change his name, fly off to some obscure little poverty-stricken planet, and spend the rest of his days as a monk doing penance for his sins, helping women and the poor and enduring hardship himself in order to offer his own sufferings as justice. Not "give him a bunch of super powers and make him young and hot."
My friend told me about this show called Banshee. I guess one of the characters in it was an ex neo nazi and he turned his life around and became a cop.
@@DarksideGmss0513 jackbooted thug puts in great effort to achieve massive personal improvement and growth and become a government-sanctioned jackbooted thug.
He's from a religion which doesn't understand redemption, atonement, and forgiveness. So, it's pretty hard to expect the same from a person who is uncritical of their religion, right?
The very first recorded fantasy story, the Epic of Gilgamesh is about a bloody tyrant on a journey to become a better person by experiencing pain and loss. Here we are, 4000 years later, and people still somehow manage to botch this very basic narrative arc.
The one thing people “know” about modern writing is you have to be “creative” and push untouched boundaries. It doesn’t occur to anyone why tropes seen in stories older than writing have survived this long.
Not to absolve Shad’s views in this book. You can be bad at writing and understand you may not be the most qualified person to talk about trauma or sexual violence.
Oh, I remember this one. The book where a guy asks him if he wants to go for a walk and he refuses because he thinks ‘going for a walk with another man is gay’.
Shadiversity had the biggest fall-off I’ve ever seen, it’s insane. His videos on medieval weaponry are genuinely really good and informative but the reactionary grift got him.
And the weirdest thing is he did for the longest time to keep his politics out of it, he said so on a sargon podcast And he was doing it. Dunno why he couldnt shut up about reactionary takes?! Skallagrimm is wholesome, and tries to not get into drama and, it takes a lot to get into drama with him, its his fault, he could have just shut up
So he doesn't really know much about medieval topics at least only slightly more than the adverage sword nerd but he presents himself as an authority on the topic and he's arrogant enough that can come across as confident that people end up believing him until they learn more about the topic he's talking about than you learn how little he actually knows
He’s far from an expert in medieval weaponry. He has zero formal training in any weapons. He can only prattle off Wikipedia articles or his on ill-informed conjecture. Anyone with formal weapons training says he’s basically a joke.
Politically and philosophically I disagree with him on most points. He is fairly uneducated and most of the times when it comes to politics he is just parroting low grade youtube personas. BUT Im 100% against of canceling him because of his ideas. His normal channel content remains clear of politics, so if you cant enjoy it anymore the way you did, then the problem is on you, not on him. Separate the art from the artist. Or the content from the creator.
I am an ex-mormon myself, and this book really made me think "wow. he really drank the kool-aid" because there are so many little details that only someone who attaches to the most toxic aspects of Mormonism would genuinely believe. There's something to be said about the death of the author but when the author's most negative attributes permeate their books it's hard to separate them. If nothing else, I suppose this book and Shad himself are at least a reminder of what I could have been if I hadn't "joined the woke mob" (read: started to empathize with other people and accept myself)
Well, death of the author doesnt mean you have to take a piece of media separate from its creator. It just means that you can find certain things that could imply certain themes or ideas in media regardless of if the original creator meant it like that. If the creator is immersed in certain ideas, that can be a very important part of context when analyzing a book for its themes. If you recognize some weird toxic mormon stuff in his book, then whether or not thats explicitly why he put it in there, its entirely fair to assume theres at least a link.
I know exactly who this book was written for: Shad. Shad and every other jerk who wants to interrupt your night of DND fun by interjecting long-winded angry breakdowns of why your human lady ranger shouldn't be able to use her bow due to real world physics or whatever.
Ugh I remember that. "Women are often depicted as archers or wielding rapiers, and that makes sense visually but you need a LOT of upper body strength to draw a hood warbow and rapiers are heavier than they look, okay? So I'll spend another 10 minutes rambling this point over and over and explain they should be wielding daggers or whatever!" Okay. So. No. I'll make the character I want, not the one you want.
@@wizardtim8573thats part of bigger discussion that bows are often seen as weapons of the weak. The point isnt that women are not able to use them, the point is that bows are wrongly depicted in most media
@@wizardtim8573 To be fair, his rant would probably grant that it is fine for a female warrior to wield a Zweihänder or a glaive as two handed weapons aren't much heavier, their extra weight can be divided among both hands and not held at arms length where they would tire out the wielder a lot faster. For ranged weapons he'd recommend a crossbow or primitive firearm, and might just point out how the boobs would get in the way when using a longbow unless the character cuts one off like an Amazon from Greek myth. .
I can't believe Shad's still pushing this book. You mean you guys didn't like Daylen the SA Emperor? Honestly I have to thank Shad. His insistence on pushing this book and in ability to take criticism has done wonders for my channel and entertainment.
@@HelghastEnigma He already made the graphic novel, which from what I can understand changed a lot of stuff. Mostly to make Daylen look more forgivable.
@@Dylan_Devine I watch a lot of other people who review books. It helps me keep an eye out for books to review and what's going on. I'm glad you enjoyed my videos!
@@talexratcliffe I'm almost morbidly tempted to see if I can find a high seas option to check it out and see how much was changed, but interesting to know it was made.
Thank you guys for calling out how this book prioritizes the view of the perpetrator instead of the victims. The way people like this author pat themselves on the back for „acknowledging rape is bad“ while absolutely missing the point of whose suffering is of actual consequence in those situations is so demoralizing. On this note, just want to shout out Chanel Miller‘s memoir „Know My Name“ about her own case, because the way victims of rape are regularly badmouthed and sidelined in their own traumatic experiences by large parts of society is disgusting. She has also published a children’s book (written + illustrated by her!) this year which is what she went to college for at the time of her assault. I doubt many people wrote letters to the judge on her behalf though since poor Brock Turner had such a bright future ahead of him.😒
Ive not read the book but isnt Daylenn still the villain and how on earth is this any different than a show like RIngs of Power turning Sauron into the hero (and yes it does ).Or a far better story like breaking bad which turns walter white into a cold blooded massacering gangster by the end .
@@joshuascott3428, Dayless was born, entered university as an engineer. Graduated at the top of his class. Then, the Night Fell (Shades turning off the perpetual light of the sun). Turning a great many people into Shades too, his parents who he was forced to kill. During the struggle he met a women, fell in love, and sired a son with her. The nations of the world gathered an army of 100,000 strong, so they could turn on the sun's light. After much fighting a dying, they succeeded 14 years after the night arrived. The arduous task of returning to the surface began, after another year in the caves, only 100 people returned to the surface. On the surface, the nobles were hoarding food, famine was everywhere. So, he met with other veterans to discuss their options. The nobles sensing this was a good time to strike, attacked. Killing his wife, his son, and new-born daughter... as he and 9 others were able to escape. Angry at the nobles, he incited a peasant rebellion. It was successful. At the end he stood, the leader of the rebellion, in throne room as the king's only child was brought to him. Although she 7 or so, she demanded everyone around her to be executed and demanded where the executioner was. Dayless, kills her where she stood, as she represented everything he fought against. Then, he sets out to create a "perfect" society in which everyone's needs can be met... but the three nations around him attacked. After much fighting he conquered them, thus the Empire of Light began. As he was reorganizing his new nation, he met a woman. She loved him, he didn't. Realizing that she was talking about marriage, he ended the relationship and picked up a new mistress. She returned, tried to kill his new mistress, so he had her executed. Over the course of 30 years, Dayless became cruel. He went from barely legal age girl to barely legal age girl, forcing them to parade themselves in the nude, forcing himself on them, as he hurt them for his pleasure. He waged wars with his neighbours, betrayed his allies and conquered everything in his path. With only a handful of nations remaining... the rebellions began... He quickly crushed them... and ordered his siege weapon to _level_ an entire city of 1,000,000 people and ordered his army to kill all those who try to escape. The Magic Knights had enough... so they declared war on him. Within months his armies were shattered, many of his conquests were in open rebellion... so he fled under an assumed name to tiny village and became a tinker. He was there for 20 years... until his 82nd birthday. He felt old, so old. He wrote a journal admitting all of his crimes (and also used it to pass on lies about people he didn't care for... thinking will believe the lies because of all the other things he admitted to). Then, he took his life by jumping off the edge of the world... ... only to ask for a do-over as he passed through the bottom of the world. At the top of the world, he reappeared as a young man with more powers than _any_ magic knight. Realizing his journal could be found at any point... he runs "home" for his sword (an artifact of great power crafted by him, for his personal use, and is _infamous_ enough to be recognized as _his)_ and for his little badge which indicates he's one of the top 100 swordmasters in the world (despite not practicing with the sword in 20 years). On the way home he goes about being a little arrogant vigilante, using sexual violence on those he catches in the act of committing grape, and slaughtering homeless people who attempt to use violence to force him out of their preferred sections of alleys. Once he's home, he meets a priest... the priest convinces him the priest must travel with him... despite wanting to go to the capital to forge a new set of ID for himself. So, no. Dayless is the anti-hero of the story. Not the villain. There are several villains.. but they are all killed by Dayless. *Sigh* Dayless should have been executed for his crimes... not spared for "his abilities". It's like sparing Mr. A. Hitler because he shows up in the 1960's with magical powers which he can use to save people with. What he _might_ do in the future doesn't negate what he did in the past. That's something Shad failed to consider.
@@joshuascott3428 Rings of Power doesn't turn Sauron into a hero. And why are you defending the guy? He starts off a bad guy, pretends to have changed but didn't really. And breaking bad isn't comparable here. Walter wasn't good to begin with. He literally admits to the fact that he started doing it because he liked it and wanted to do it.
My parents moved back to their hometown around an hour away from where I live and I try and visit them on weekends when I'm not working. Listening to this podcast has become part of the driving ritual and I am so glad I've got you guys to keep me company
So, a fun fact: y'all mentioned Shad's kickstarted comic based on this book. Only the first part of it is out and while Shad has done nothing but fellate his book every chance he gets and scoffs at all criticism, in his comic he's made some Very noticeable changes. The biggest and most obvious change is that Daylen was NEVER a pdf or even a grapist. In the comic he randomly thinks about Lyra (she hasn't even been introduced yet) and how much he cares about her, and regrets how he cast her out of his bed and his life because he was starting to care So Much about her that his enemies would surely use her against him! (Firmly establishing that yes indeed, if he were to write a sequel novel to his book he was absolutely planning to make her Daylen's love interest!) The other big change in the narrative seems to be that "Sure, Dayless committed atrocities, genocide, war crimes, and was a horrid despot, but really the worst crime against humanity he ever committed was COMMUNISM!! Not once, but Twice in this very thin comic book are Dayless' crimes brought up, laid out, and mostly dismissed in favor of ranting about how incredibly terrible it was that he infringed on people's personal freedom. It's definitely an attempt at rewriting history to make Daylen less disgusting and creepy, but still strangely drips with Shad's political beliefs. And again, this comes with him still publicly denouncing all criticism of his book.
That is an absolutely massive change. It's hilarious in ways, that he won't back off from defending a book he himself seems to realize he shouldn't have written the way he did. --Will
Heh, I love it when people tell on themselves by being like: “Sure, I guess murder, rape, mass slaughter and dictatorship are all bad, but the true destructive evil is the redistribution of wealth, so that no one is no longer poor.”
@@haggisa And those people absolutely misrepresent what wealth redistribution would look like if done properly. It's not "take all the money from the rich guy's bank account and cold turkey transfer it all equally in a bunch of poor people's bank accounts", it would be more like "tax the rich a lot, like a lot lot, like a LOOOOT, and use that money to create infrastructure, job opportunities, good education so that everybody has a chance to contribute to society and nobody has to live in poverty". And, honestly, if we took away 99% of Elon Musk's money he would still be able to live in luxury for the rest of his life without having to work a single day, he would still be orders of magnitude richer than the average person. I don't believe anyone needs that amount of wealth and, consequently, that anyone should ever be ALLOWED to get that rich in the first place. Yes, that includes myself, if I ever got the luck of my lifetime and became ludicrously wealthy I think I SHOULD be taxed out of the "ludicrous" part of my wealth
The important thing to understand about communism, is that it's good, and we should do it.
3 місяці тому+367
So it sounds like Shad just ported a D&D character from a campaign into a novel. And this particular character would be what us D&D nerds would call a "Munchkin", where no matter what happens there is something available to them that instantly makes them OP, able to do the impossible. Every D&D group has that player who has to have a munchkin character and the rest of the group just roles their eyes and tolerates it. It's so ubiquitous that there is a parody game called Munchkin making fun of this fact. Shad apparently wrote a book about his munchkin character.
His protagonist is a classic DMPC aka "dungeon master player character" which is the DM's character (who normally doesn't play their own character; the DM's job is to set the scene and narrate action and roleplay), so as a result, the DMPC can basically do anything because it's the DM's avatar in the world. Such characters are (almost) always a bad idea. So many stories on "r/RPG Horror Stories" revolve around bad DMs and their own DMPCs.
@@charleshartley9597I was gonna say that no DM with a shred of experience would let a character like that in their game, I'd forgotten about DMPCs. . .
@@charleshartley9597those stories are hilarious to listen to....I subscribe to a channel of a guy who is an avid player (he has a vtube avatar of a tiefling, I just can't remember his name) who reads these stories exclusively on his channel.....seriously if anyone remembers his name please tell me I don't wanna scroll through like 200 channels I sub to
Ive already said this in the comments of another review, but its wild to me that the dictator is the actual main character after his suicide attempt, I feel like in any other book the old dictator killing himself because he felt bad after committing atrocities would be like the prologue signaling to the audience that this story is taking place directly after a major historical event, but here its just like "yeah, he becomes young and hot somehow and now hes the protagonist"
The book would be 100x better if it was actually the dictators son who did everything else. (Like the false identity he claimed was his actual identity and the emperor left the son with the sword and shit and now the kid is stuck with the horrible legacy from a worthless bastard of a father) Hell the kid could have found out who his father was and attempted to kill himself out of disgust and hatred only to find out he survived the same way the MC did and then choose to be better then his father and do good in the world instead. See already 100x better cause the perpetrator isn't playing a victim.
That would also make the title make sense. People living within “The Shadow of the Conquerer”. That even after the emperor is deposed, there are still remnants of them.
I like the idea of him being reincarnated as a subject in his own horrible tyrannical nation. Sort of like an Isekai, but in this case, the "other world" he's been reborn into is the lowest rungs of the society he himself created. It'd be an interesting take on the genre if nothing else, and far better of a setup than the powerwank garbage Shad came up with
37:00 Shad tried HEMA, but he's too much of a narcissist to accept that he's a beginner at it and so when he gets corrected on improper form that could lead to injuries, he will argue if he can land a light touch on someone and "win", thinking that if he can "win" then it's a proper form. He made a whole video about that (upon which people in HEMA clubs of Australia commented for a better perspective), and later made a video calling HEMA "elitist" around 2020. He has then been in a beef with EVERY major HEMA content creator (Matt Easton, Skallagrim, Sellswords Arts, etc.) and is seen mostly as a joke in the field. So this is not surprising that, through his Gary Stu character, he would LARP as an expert swordsman that can beat everyone without any practice. This is clearly what he seems to think about himself.
Shad doesn’t name many people who criticise him in his responses anymore, because some, like Jack Saint, bit back and made him look even more stupid, and he can’t handle it. Funny how conservatives think they’re tough guys, but they have a backbone of paper straws.
Lol I just found this video and my first thought was "I can't wait for Shad to make a 30 hour video response on how these three are trying to 'strawman him and remove all nuance from the discussion' because their cowards or some shit". Unfortunately I think you're right, he's starting to realize just how ratioed he's getting by society
He's such a Mormon extremist that he even got mad at STARSHIP TROOPERS for having Mormons be the ones who steal buy territory, by arguing that Mormons didn't steal land, which they did.
I used to love his content as a fellow castle and medieval enthusiast. I even joined Conan because of him. This book was the canary in the coal mine for me. I forget when his second channel came out but shortly after it was blindingly obvious to me that maybe I shouldn't tell anyone I watch Shadiversity. From the creepy beliefs to the fragile narcissism. He's a disappointment.
I think one of the biggest issues is that Shad's writing seems to be based in the moral standpoint of "There are no bad actions, only bad targets." The protagonist of the story doesn't actually change himself in any way, he just changes who he targets with his horrific actions. It doesn't matter that he's still doing most of the same terrible things with the same narcissistic and self-righteous attitude, because now he's doing them to the "bad guys" (and of course, he conveniently receives the power to judge who is objectively a bad person and it just so happens to be anyone who does anything that Sha-I mean "Daylen" doesn't like). It can be hard to redeem a character in the eyes of the audience if literally nothing that made them immoral has changed save for where they direct their immoral behavior. Whenever the Joker fights another villain, people don't suddenly think he's a good guy just because his enemy is a bad person. This story COULD have worked if his character arc was him actually coming to realize that the problem ultimately comes from within himself rather than from the external judgements of others. Y'know, he gets reborn, wants to change himself and become a better person, but fundamentally doesn't understand what makes people "good" and just thinks that it's about vanquishing those that society calls "bad" because that's how HE was stopped. So he finds a way to tag along with the person that overthrew him in the hopes of finding another grand evil to vanquish so he can be "good," but along the way begins to realize that while people are grateful to his usurper for overthrowing a tyrant, they love him because of the kindness and compassion he has for the people around him even when they've wronged him. And by the end of the story Daylen comes to realize that he can never find redemption in seeking the adoration of those around him, but instead by actually devoting himself to trying to help others regardless of how it benefits him personally and developing empathy for those around him. But nah, that's too hard and not enough of a power fantasy. Just have him continue being the same scumbag, but now he gets praised for it because he aims his violence at people who make decisions that the author doesn't like or agree with (and also the occasional person who does in fact actually do terrible things).
It would have been a cool plot twist - his "ability" to see the light in people to be actually just a delusion of Daylen, to justify his own action. And, throughout the story, we start seeing two viewpoints - Daylen's and those around him. It would have been much more interesting, but it won't be a redemption story (not that this one is).
Who also thinks he is brothers equal in art, even before AI. The video where they are naming themselves in an RPG with Shad arguing he should have the same Art skill score as Jaz is painful to watch. You clearly see Jaz going “brother, I love you, but…”
@@snimmo Shad has a lot of shame. He seems to be super hypersensitive to criticism. That’s why he snapped at Jazza and could not handle any comments around his art. I think him growing up Mormon has filled him with a lot of shame and fears that are reflected in his attitude towards AI art, his book, and anti woke grift.
Yeah, if only that's what Shad had given us. I don't trust him with children but that's what you would do. Make Daylen weak and vulnerable with his "do over" as a child and learn how to become an empathic human being again. Okay, his advisors "insulated" him from the consequences of his institutional tyranny. Strip away that insulation and stick him on the pointy business end of that machine and see how Daylen feels about being his own victim. He has to grow up oppressed and disempowered and can't tell anyone who he is because they would instantly pin him to the ground and disembowel him with a rusty spoon. Then organize a plucky resistance to overthrow the problem that he caused in his other life. At the end it's revealed who he is and then we get to grapple with the question of "is there redemption for Daylen? Is he responsible for the sins and crimes of his past life?" with a trial of his peers. We get to bring in character references and examine all the good he did in fixing the ills of the world that he caused. But no. We get Medieval superman and he's vewy, vewy sowwy you guys. I could write a better redemption story in a weekend.
What always blows my mind is when Shad keeps vomiting that it's unrealistic for women to be good fighters (the biological differences found in nature etc) while he's completely out of breath from swinging a wooden sword around his backyard for 30 seconds.
@@pawekoodziejczyk6781 To be fair, maybe he should shut the fuck up about his idiotic convictions,being such a poor example of a 'man' (according to him)
Where were you guys all my life before this podcast, I love you even though this podcast made me read Shadow of the Conqueror. This analysis and breakdown of why things are bad and don't work, and what the metanarrative is saying even when the characters are pretending something else is happening, is fantastic. C'est magnifique!
Shad did not understand the assignment of redemption. He is a mormon, which I want to be clear, im SPECULATING, but it is a VERY strong pattern in mormonism that NOT forgiving a criminal or villain is actually more disruptive to the community than the original crime, leading to victim shaming. And this is what we see in the novel: that society cant just get over it and let Daylen just do good stuff now, theyre actually preventing him from helping people by holding him account for all his crimes.
That’s such a destructive philosophy, that puts on the onus of acting “moral” on the victims, rather than expecting the perpetrator to actually change. Gross.
@@haggisa precisely. But it is the logical and inevitable outcome of putting forgiveness in the sole hands of God (the Light, in the story) which is actually just human church leaders in reality. Think of it like they do: a doctor or policeman, a family man, is caught doing something horrible. But God forgave him. It's done. Let him continue his good work (the main theme in Shad's book, let him be good.) Now, you're the one causing a ruckus trying to tear this guy down and prevent him from saving lives?? How dare you! Obviously this is sick and insane, but when you accept the first premises, it's inevitable.
As an ex-mormon I can confirm this. There have been countless cases where church leaders have known about sexual assault and other crimes, but did not report it because they wanted to "bring them to repentance" even the crime was still ongoing (particularly when it came to them continually molesting children. Yes this happened) There are even more cases where bishops have gone to court as character witnesses to try to get the perpetrators off. I have never heard of one case where they got up on the side of the victim to argue that the person belongs in prison. Not on.
@@SnakeWasRight Oh, believe me, I get it. I live in Poland, where we have had plenty of catholic priests and bishops being exposed for sexually assaulting, grooming and molesting children (it still happens of course - priests getting girls pregnant and then being moved to a different town is not surprising to anyone anymore) and the Catholic Church has always hushed it up, and when they couldn’t, they would publicly advocate for the perpetrator to be forgiven/treated with sympathy, because “he is a good, valued person”, even when the criminal in question had sexually groomed multiple children for years. It doesn’t matter how harmful, disgusting, immoral the behavior is, what matters is if the perpetrator is part of a group the church considers “respectful” and him being exposed upsets the social hierarchy. Meanwhile pregnant teenage girls are regularly harassed in hospitals by priests, who threaten them with eternal damnation, if they’ve considering an abortion. That’s fine and acceptable, because women are (socially and morally, on their view) inferior and sinful. It’s all the same morality based on feudal, bigoted ideology, where the powerful in group must be protected and the powerless in the out group doesn’t matter and should get in line, forgive their abusers and be the meek little sheep they’re supposed to be. In summation - organised religion is a disease. 😊
See that’s wild bc both the biblical AND dictionary meaning of repentance is to MAKE UP FOR and PAY FOR the crime that you have committed, both in the eyes of the Lord AND in the eyes of the law. Your repentance is either incomplete or insincere if you are not willing to face the legal and moral repercussions of your wrongdoing. So where the f*k is their “repentance” if they’re constantly shielded from having to feel too guilty for what they’ve done, NEVER MIND answer for it.
Shad's decisions make a lot of sense when you factor in the mormonism. eg I remember seeing someone say that, coming from a similar background, they absolutely understood why he 1) included the weird sex stuff and 2) made it that extreme. Because those kinds of mormons are absolutely fixated on the matter and see ALL levels of "deviance" as the same, hence the extreme guilt around what we'd call a non-issue like "pornography addiction" (which to them, could just be... simply liking porn). So you get all these these people who are horrified at what we'd consider natural and normal urges, who place it on the same level as the WORST thing they can imagine, who think that means there's a possibility that THEY are capable of the worst thing they can imagine, and, in Shad's case, want to imagine a scenario where it does happen, but they can still "redeem" themselves.
But the point is any redemption, doesnt have forgiveness guaranteed, and should be tried regardless. With introspection. You can have done the worst and that happen. Like ras al ghul in the superman story where he lived long alone and regrets destroying the world He helped superman because, ok company, but he really regrets and tries to atone. See possible😅
Mormons see “consensual sex without a ring” on THE SAME level as “you brutally unalived someone while they begged for mercy” and NO IM NOT KIDDING -source: was born and raised as a Mormon, broke out as a teenager
@@marocat4749 except that his character didn’t really redeem himself. He just used the depraved violence against his own ex-subordinates and then everyone suddenly forgave him for what he did.
@@marocat4749 Shame that, as someone who wrote the book, he absolutely bungled that. Compounded by the main character saying at the end that he is, in fact, a better person. The one who has committed the heinous acts does not get to make the judgement call on whether they have become better or not.
The irony of the book is that power fantasies, litrpg, and haremlit are super popular subgenres and if you approach them with care and respect, you can have a solid audience. Shad has done none of those things. The glaring problem, in my opinion, is he makes a promise to his audience by posing the philosophical question: "Can an evil person find redemption?" Shad answers that question very poorly. At the end, I feel nothing towards Daylen. Not in the negative sense but the literal. I just don't care about him. To come to that conclusion, at the end of a book that could've been easily 30% shorter, made me feel like I wasted my time.
Another thing I want to point out about how this book's worldbuilding is fucked? Because of the specific details about how the Light works vis-a-vis "people think it's how good you are but it's more how certain you are in your beliefs"? Someone who was utterly self-assured in their own righteousness but is now filled with guilt & self-doubt, and is thinking "what have I done, how could I have been so blind"... *is going to have less Light in them.* So they're going to look *MORE* evil to anyone who can see that.
Its actually a core tenet of mormonism. People can "know that mormonism is true by the conviction the holy ghost brings." When asked about why other people in other religions have the exact same experience and conviction its because "The light of christ is showing that individual things in their religion are good, but not that the entire thing is true, like it does for ours, despite literally being identical". Its crazy how fallacious it is and he put it into his book.
37:19 I regularly practice sword fighting. I am 37 years old. When I return to our club after missing training sessions for two weeks, I get destroyed by everybody. Nobody beats a trained fighter if they haven't been practising consistently. Also, repeating forms is not sufficient. You have to spar or pressure test.
Shad doesn’t know this, cos Shads never actually fought. He got his ass handed to him by HEMA and has had a vendetta against them ever since. Write what you know. Well Shad knows nothing.
@@Werewolf.with.Internet.Access If every author obeyed "Write what you know", most literature wouldn't exist. I'm not defending Shad here, I didn't read his book and I don't intend to.
@@steffenpanning2776, "Write what you know, research the stuff you don't know" is what _good_ writers do, lol. Writing what you know is good for new authors... as they are less likely to eff up. Too bad Shad thinks he knows so much more than he actually does. On the other hand... he refuses to accept correction.
@@aralornwolf3140 the problem with shad isnt that hes writing what he knows, hes writing what he dosent know but thinking he is a de facto master of it.
Likewise to will, i found about this shad guy through an interesting series he did measuring how well castles are built and situated in fantasy media but then later on i checked out his reaction to arcane or something and realized the vibes were off. Strapping down for this roast (honestly wasn't interested in a review for a book of his until i read the title lol). Thank you for the treat you three! EDIT: it's so disgusting how a woman who was sa-ed by this MC is being possibly set up as a love interest without her knowing the full picture.
Would this book have been more intriguing if it was written from a different characters perspective and opened with us believing that teenage Daylan was the tyrant's son, and we don't get the reveal until later that he is really the Conqueror and then we're wondering is he trying to take over the world again 🤔 1:03:20 I really like the idea Maria had
I think there’s an interesting conflict in the idea of a character developing a friendship/relationship with this kid who seems to be trying to do good, and then revealing that he was actually this tyrant who did horrible things in the past, and grappling with questions like, “was it all an act? can i stand by a person who did horrible things in the past if i genuinely believe they have changed? is it even possible to atone for certain acts? if you can’t be granted forgiveness by those you’ve wronged, but genuinely want to do better, where do you go from there?” but you’d need a much better writer and an understanding of restorative justice that is just clearly lacking here. The amnesiac idea reminded me a lot of the BG3 Dark Urge origin- your character wakes up with no memory but have these intense compulsions to violence, and as the story progresses and you learn more about your past, you can either give in to the “urge” or decide to fight them and choose to be a better person. I would argue it’s a much more interesting take on “truly evil villain gets a second chance at redemption” than… whatever this was lmao
Funny you should say that, because, Brandon Sanderson, being part of the same Mormon circles, supports and has endorsed Shad's work claiming he oftentimes reaches out to Shad as a "consultant" on medieval fantasy topics, despite Shad's reputation in HEMA and medieval history circles being treated as a joke at best. This hilariously out of shape man who gets winded ranting about "wokeism" in Star Wars, or whatever, literally molded two swords together in an abomination that looks like it's going to fall apart as he's holding it, and claimed he's some kind of master swordsman with that sword-staff thing and makes fun of HEMA and medieval history UA-camrs criticizing his form and advising him to stop further digging his reputation down under with his cringe rants against the world videos. There's no world in which Brandon comes out looking good in this. Either he seeks consultation from a ridiculously incompetent LARPer who fails to condemn PDFilia and SA in his boring 5-star "magnum opus", or he hasn't done his due diligence about the guy, which, given his status, he absolutely should have. That's as if Steven King said in an interview that he oftentimes contacts his good personal friend Alex Jones for consultations about political climate in his newest upcoming novels.
@@dahakaguardianofthetimelin4780 Oh damn, knew he was Mormon himself, but hadn't seen Sanderson mention Shad before. Tragic. Fuckin Mormons. (Or more accurately, fucking Christian sects of any kind)
@@dahakaguardianofthetimelin4780I guarantee it's because both BranSan and Shad are Mormons. If Shad was Catholic or Hindu or an atheist, BranSan wouldn't've given him the time of day.
@AgniAfrastos eh, legendary is a strong word. He's made some good stuff, and he does so at an incredibly consistent and rapid pace but I wouldn't call it legendary. After you read a couple of his books, you've read all of them. I like his stuff but I'm not gonna pretend like he's on the level of Tolkien.
YES. I never thought this day would come. I hate this book so much and I was dying to see it get the treatment it deserves from you guys, but I didn't think this book was even on your guys' radar. Thank you for enduring this piece of work for my enjoyment.
He can't write a redemption arc because he's a Mormon. In his worldview, redemption isn't something you do, or earn, or deserve. In fact, humans are incapable of deserving redemption. (There is none righteous, no not one.) Redemption is something that God does to you *despite the fact that you don't deserve it.* From a Mormom (or evangelical christian) theological perspective it makes total sense that Daylen just gets handed redemption for no reason. That's how they think redemption *always* works.
Yeah, I am guilty of having liked him and his book myself but the critizism is more than fair. I don't like him any longer because he has said on record that "Trump is great for the world." I though he was on the verge of reasonable conservative. So I gave him some slack.
@@finncullenthis is an extreme of different tastes, it's a book where someone keeps being violent and evil but is framed as a hero. It is not just a person into metal being shocked a friend likes Taylor Swift, it's like finding the friend is into NSBM.
@@dorianleakey it's just a book, ain't that drastic. Equating something like being an active participant in a neonazi group to giving 5 stars to a weird shitty book is like saying having a mild headache on a Friday morning two weeks in a row is a clear sign of a brain tumor. Maybe the guy just liked the swordfight scenes; maybe he liked Shadiversity's sword videos on YT but hasn't actually read it; maybe he has a side gig inflating Goodreads ratings for groceries money; maybe he found out his ex, who he blocked everywhere else, still stalks him in Goodreads and wanted to troll them. My point is, a book it's not enough to pair the guy with literal nazis. However, if he started to make weird comments about or towards women, or express views in accordance with those in the weird shitty book then ye... distance is a decent response.
So the reason that it wasn't the son. Is because this book was written to win arguments that Shad had. He wanted the book to show that anyone, even H--ler and S--lin could be redeemed after all their atrocities. And he thinks he was wildly successful in proving that point. He thinks that the MC was fully redeemed by the end.
I think it’s because Shad subconsciously knows he is a terrible person. So he wrote this thinking if magical Hitler can be redeemed then I am a good person by proxy. He failed horribly and can’t fathom how disgusting his character is.
Yes. He has no understanding of how what a person _might_ do in the future has no bearing on the consequences of their past actions. He even has Dayless telling himself he's a "better person"... because "for once his intent to do good matched his actions." What good _intentions_ did Dayless have towards all the barely legal age girls he ended the lives of? What good _intentions_ did Dayless have towards Lyrah from him to treat her the way he treated her? None. I've only seen that sentence be used in one other publication. The man, Benjamin Shaw, most certainly should have went to prison for being an accomplice to the r--e of 16 women and the murder of the man who did the r----g. The man he killed was Bubba. You know, the one loan sharks send to people to break their legs when they don't pay up. In Bubba's case, he also added r--e on top of the broken legs if you were pretty enough. Which is why Ben was tasked in preventing Bubba from getting caught and from getting carried away... hard to bribe the police when there are bodies involved, eh? Fortunately, the loan shark was killed and the person who arranged for his death sent Ben to another country to be "rehabilitated". Now... the other thing about Ben is, he was preyed upon by a person when he was a child. He _is_ angry at his mother (who he loves) for not protecting him. This anger has been redirected towards all women. He doesn't see them as people worthy of protection. That was, until this point when he was confused by his actions; protecting a new secretary from some VP who... is a prolific r----t (have s-x with me or you're fired). After his "parole officers" informed him of what he was doing and why, he went home and cooked a meal to celebrate his "better self". That's the big difference between Benjamin Shaw and Dayless... Dayless' redemption is forced and is only believable if you ignore the lie/self-deception (and all the plot contrivances which allowed Dayless to get to the point he _could_ do his one "selfless" action), whereas Benjamin Shaw's redemption is still ongoing. Yes, he no longer sees all women as legitimate objects of violence who deserve whatever harm befalls upon them. But... he still has long ways to go to be healed. To be redeemed. Ben put _his_ job on the line to protect the secretary... what did Dayless have to lose? Nothing. He wanted to do good because he felt so much guilt for what he did... but he _still_ managed to downplay how horrific his actions actually _were._ And Ahrek was right beside joining in with his condemnation of the women he abused when they were children. "They would be better if only they had the moral fortitude to forgive me." *Vomits* Edits: Additions and spelling/grammar.
I remember back then when that anime came out that there was a subreddit for it and people defended and praised it like crazy. How "satisfying" the "revenge" was and crap. The protagonist literally just maliciously did whatever he wanted and killed people and it was portrayed if he "deserves" it because someone tortured him in episode 1. Redo of Healer is horrible, and the funny thing is that there's a visual novel series that has similar themes that sound horrible on paper, but it's insanely well-written and fun. The Rance series. Rance is literally a rap***, obnoxious, noisy, annoying, a mean bully, delinquent, slave owner, does whatever he wants, chases girls. But it's written in a weirdly comedic way with mature growth moments here and there, cool villains and deuteragonists, nice world building and he effectively ends up as a good father and hero. Would recommend that over Redo of Garbage a thousand times, iirc Rance X was even the visual novel with the highest rating of all time. For anyone who's interested in a story with a straight up evil-ish, self-centred delinquent protagonist who still has his good moments.
@@paulgibbon5991 basically it's just entertainment trying to virtual signal by shoehorning queer characters But the problem is that it's obvious or obnoxious, I'd rather have an interesting straight white male character then a bland black trans gay character Sure have queer characters but don't make that their whole personality or the reason for their existence, like I said I'm gay and even I find this to be patronising
@@jaimecardona92 have you ever eaten something that you didn't like and criticised it? If so are you a chef? Because going by your logic you can't criticise anything if you are not an expert of it and this goes for anything
This sounds like an even worse version of Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" books. What's extra hilarious about this tragically awful book is that Shad is one of those guys who starts calling a female character a "mary sue" the instant they display any level of competence at anything, yet the author-wish-fulfillment main character of this is the Gary Stu-est Gary Stu who ever Gary Stu'd. Couple this with his delusions of adequacy regarding AI "art" and you have someone who is probably absolutely exhausting to be in the same room with.
Watching him argue about his artistic prowess with his brother, an actual artist, was exhausting enough. If I had to share a physical space with this asshole weirdo, I'd probably grind my teeth to dust.
I used to follow every Shadiversity vid when he covered arms, armor, medieval history etc. Then he came out as an Injustice Culture Warrior and kept getting so bad and so dumb it led me to question every datum in his old vids. So now his channel is blocked instead of subbed. Not surprised he wrote a big weirdo pedobook.
I never before I thought I’d listen to a 3hr book review and be so entertained lol I cannot get over how exasperated these three sound 😂 So glad I found this channel
I am speaking as an exmormon. Shad has admitted in his videos that he is Mormon. Listening to this podcast has been interesting as I can see several correlations between Shad's artistic expression and things I was taught in church both from leaders as well as common members trying to make sense of those beliefs. For example, Shad speaks about lots of sa and the obsession with sexuality. In my generation of Mormonism sex outside of marriage was seen as being next to murder in terms of sin severity. There is also a belief that in the next life we will be resurrected in the prime of youth. So for me this correlates well with his ideas in the book. I've tried my hand at amateur writing back when I was practicing Mormonism and it was difficult to not interject Mormon philosophy in my fantasy. A lot of traditional conservative society stereotypes seem to be represented too.
Also an exmormon. Yeah, Mormonism infects everything. Especially if you're a creative person (not in Shad's case). It warps how you see reality and what you create.
I can third this. It feels strange that the character seems to justify himself sleeping with 14 year old girls. Is it a coincidence that Joseph Smith took a 14 year old child bride in secret and any mormon who learns about this has to figure out some kind of moral justification???
It's so funny when Shad tries to say "you just don't like my book because of my politcal views" because like oh, honey, no, you just suck at writing. There's PLENTY of authors out there that many of us know are despicable people but can still appreciate their work. For me it's Lovecraft; I adore the worlds he's created and his obnoxious af writing, but damn I don't agree with his views at all. Edit: Another of my fave authors who are awful dudes; ian fleming.
@@happytofu5it's true. It's why they have some of the best genealogy records in the world. They also baptized all the victims of the Holocaust into Mormon Christianity several times.
@@CD-zd6zr Despite people of the Jewish community specifically asking them not to. One other funny story - One of the "prophets" of the mormon church claimed to have a vision where the founding father requested to be baptized, so he went ahead and did that with his counselors. But as it later turned out, the founding fathers had already been baptized for the dead, several times....
I will never not love people roasting Shad for being such a weirdo with his fetishization of SA and "um, akshually" about age of consent. But another thing I love almost as much is that there's an entire sub-genre that genuinely does just use video game logic and stats and such: LitRPG. He could've just written for that sub-genre and outright been like, "I've infused my Perception stat with light so it's increased by 50% now and I can see further!" or whatever instead of hiding behind these really bad abstractions. This wouldn't have fixed any of the critical issues with the book, but it would've at least made this part of it thematically consistent.
When it first came out, all his loyal fans were leaving absolutely glowing reviews, praising it, etc...... When I read it for myself, I literally could not believe how attrocious it was. Like, did we (I and his fans) read the same book?! You guys (his fans) really thought that was good?! Am I going insane?! I was trying to express to them how it was a piece of shit and they be like "nah it's good bro what're you talking about?" So it's really vindicating to find other people over the years coming out with proper reviews of that book and coming to the same conclusions as myself (i.e. it's rubbish).
@@katamattyon Agreed. That being said, there are subjective appreciation (liking it) and objective appreciation (story structure). That,s where we can also evaluate criticism as well as the work itself.
And this is why I know I can rely on you guys. I have _zero_ intrest in reading this one, but it pops up in my Sci-fi/Fantasy feed on occation. A break down like this was exactly what I was looking for. I like Daniel Green's "Fantasy News" show, but I've come to the conclusion that I should NOT take his recomendations seriously.
@whiteraven562 to be completely fair Daniel was basically being overly optimistic in believing that a lot of the issues would be addressed in the next book and he made the review before Shad went off the deep end. Also he's stated that he has changed his opinions from that period of time. I agree he should have been harsher anyway.
as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes to a close, Edmund’s scrimmage with evil has led him to wisdom he did not have before. it's thanks to Edmund, and his knowledge of the White Witch, that Aslan’s army is able to overcome her army before Aslan’s arrival and rescue. Edmund is even willing to risk his life to do so, following the example of Aslan. a child's redemption arc, completed in a ubiquitous children's book, itself based on (arguably) the fundamental founding myth of Western society. all these examples and still, he fumbles it. in blue hair.
Wait, any Stormlight Archives readers in the comments? Because listening to the summary feels like the author read Dalinar’s arc in the Stormlight Archives and said “okay, but what if I made it way worse, turned him into a s*x predator, and then remove any character growth to instead magically turned him young for weird wish fulfillment.” Not to mention the world some of the world building elements (an order of knights absorbing specific light magic to utilize powers that are contingent on them making and keeping specific vows, bonded weapons and armor that can be summoned to the owner, the entire scene with the main character debating whether to kill a kid in a royal line because the cycle of violence with surely continued) seem straight up ripped from that series, especially when looked at as a whole. I think Shad might be the Evil Brandon Sanderson???
It might because both are mormons. And drew from a same weird mormonisms in different ways? Or maybe its shads fanfic. Ok shad might did stormlight archives fanfic
Oh, I 100% got "Dalinar but written by an author who doesn't understand how redemption arcs work" vibes from this character. Lol Fun fact: Shad has an acknowledgement in Rhythm of War for being a "primary historical martial arts consultant."
The thing about Stormlight is that at the very least a huge part of the redemption was a) the character taking full and total responsibility for his actions, actively denying any attempt at deflecting blame, b) Brandon does the exact thing Maria suggests by having the character lose his memories, thereby keeping him more sympathetic and having him discover the truth alongside the audience, and c) fully laying down his arms and (as far as I can remember) never physically fighting his opponents after the first book. There are valid critiques to make of the character, but at the very least it commits to the bit of making him terrible and then actively changing himself to a more diplomatic role, whereas Shad seems to have missed that entire point and just. has him keep doing the exact same things he'd been doing all along.
From watching the video, I've come to the conclusion that two things are necessary for a satisfactory redemption arc or story: the character has to at least try to act better, and their past actions cannot be forgotten, ignored, or justified. Extra points if your character has a backstory that explains but does not excuse their behavior and if it is acknowledged that the character doesn't automatically deserve forgiveness just because they are better now or because they could have been worse before. For a good example, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. For a bad example, read this book (or don't).
I'll even add something that I learned from video essayist @PrincessWeekes. And it's that willingly sacrificing themselves to save people does not in and of itself redeem a character for their wrongs. We have to see them do the work.
See, my problem comes in with things like Daylen still being a smirking jackass at his trial about those noblemen he claimed having sex with goats, making that mental observation about "wowie, these women who didn't get kids from rape hate me more than the ones who did", and him self-proclaiming himself to be a better man after his trial. This is not the signs to me of a repentant person. He's still a jackass.
1:53:00 that’s actually a reference to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion who had a wife of that age, at least one of his half a dozen, and in their minds the “greatest man in history” can do no wrong. So that part is actually meant as a good thing for his character in his redemption arc. By directly comparing him to the “great founder “
Shad saw the bad reviews his book was getting and made a full on cope video where he just cherry picked every positive comment people left on Goodreads to try and prove that actually people love his book.
This story may have worked better, even with the technical robotic descriptions, if Daylen was an engineer or artificer in his life ala The Wind Rises and comes to terms with how his inventions and discoveries about their world had facilitated leaders to commit these atrocities. Perhaps the suicide scene could be when he loses his ability to create through some means and he obtains a young body and wants to go back to work but through the book, realises the work he had done was harmful. And now he has the question of how to use his abilities to repair and help the people he hurt. Because technical descriptions of fights and magic can work if the protagonist is someone who would view them in this light and had this as a specialty rather than simply being special
Wait a second... A world of basically eternal day? The enemies are called Shades and they can only survive in the darkness?? Did Shad just rip that right from Nier: Replicant??? Because thats literally just the setting of the game wtf
I dont know what eternal day is, but I did notice a couple similarities with Name of the Wind, like calling hell the Outer Darkness, usung "blackened" as an insult, but I thought these similaities were more cosmetic. Seems like there's other stuff he also picked from better books
@@carydorse705both shad and Patrick Rothfuss are Mormons and Mormons in their afterlife theology call the place the worst people go "outer darkness" to contrast it with where the holiest people go to be with God, the Celestial(sun) place So they both copied from the same source Blackened is also a curse in the Mormon and also many other Christian understanding of "the curse of Ham" Ham was the son of Noah and "saw his nakedness" while he was drunk, it's not clear exactly what happened but it shouldn't be understood to be just seeing Noah naked, anyway, Ham is then cursed and this curse is thought to be the reason that the people in Africa have dark skin this was a common excuse for why it was okay to enslave black people and other colonial atrocities, they had been marked by God as cursed people
There is a book called The Conquerors Shadow that does the this exact kind of story, but we'll and is much older than Shad's work. I think you guys should read it and compare the two as an example of how redeeming a warlord can actually be done well.
This book kind of reminds me of a married couple I used to play D&D with who would make these really edgy as fuck characters to play as and then would go out of their way to justify their actions so that they aren't "evil". This dude's character used to kill anyone who would have sex with his mother, he killed 300 people during a spy mission and his relationship with one character made her go literally insane. He was rewarded by the end of the campaign by becoming the God of death and moving from "chaotic Evil" to "chaotic good" and any attempt to point out how this character was a literal homicidal, borderline genocidal maniac would be shot down because as long as someone has a reason for their actions, they aren't a bad person. These were the some type of people who say how mature and edgy they were but they couldn't deal with their characters being seen as pieces of shit.
Back in high school my friends and I tried to make a “D&D club” but it went horribly wrong after one session. It’s largely irrelevant what happened, my point being that some people will just use it as a vessel to live out their weirdness, to the detriment of everyone else at the table.
The whole weird rebirth de-aging thing makes a whole lot more sense when you know that he's a mormon, and that mormon doctrine is that when you get to heaven you get put in your ideal (young) body so that you can breed eternally and fill heaven with spiritual children
@@TheFran2555 Ex Mormon here, born and raised till teen years Yeahhh they believe they can become literal sex gods. Make sense, seeing as they also teach “consensual shenanigans before marriage” = “cold bloody m*rd*r” and no, I’m not kidding or exaggerating at all.
Something I've not seen people mention, but Shad also 100% just ripped off a TON of Destiny's lore and magic at least at a surface level. The idea of "a large celestial body floating around the world that grants people known as lightbearers a form of magic known as The Light within their body and said celestial body takes on a pseudoreligious role in the society and culture it affects such as mentions of 'the light's will'" is 1000% just the basic lore of Destiny with absolutely 0 changes to make the comparison stronger. If this was coincidental, it is one hell of a coincidence
“I changed!” Daylen continues to do what he always done for the last hundred years or so. Shad should have wrote the book as an unapologetic villain novel. But dude is so deluded he doesn’t even realize that was what he’s writing because of his own warped beliefs.
It just hit me, when you described how the light is strong in people who 'believe that what they are doing is the right thing' ... That's just "The Light" from Warcraft. Like, literally. It is called "The Light", and it only does what you want if you believe yourself to be doing the right thing. Man I hate this guy.
Some do. Some mormons are more like normal people, and then alot of them leave the mormon church because they realize it is untenable and immoral. Like I did.
Shad makes a lot of emphasis on having a hard magic system in his novel. It's arguably his most prominent selling point. Yet, it is inconsistent, ill-defined (despite the massive info dumps), illogical, badly explained, superficially integrated in the worldbuilding, and worst of all, an obvious cope-out/deus-ex-machina plot device like the worst of them. I guess Shad was so engrossed in his power fantasy that he forgot the cardinal rule of his mentor Brian Sanderson: just like flaws for a character, what makes magic great and compelling are its _limitations._
Worst of all... His Gary Stu violates the magic system... thus... it's not hard. It's Shad who misunderstands what "Hard" means. It doesn't mean "having rules to follow" it means, "can be studied like every natural phenomenon"... Like physics.
@@aralornwolf3140 Indeed. A hard magic system is like gravity; with established principles, defined mechanics, specified conditions and influencing factors to both enhance or hamper it. But most of all, _both story and characters stick to it_. like if pushed, they fall. It's meaningless to have 1000 rules and then change, alter or ignore them at the author's convenience. The author doesn't necessarily have to explain it all in-story; as long as he/she knows, understand and follows them consistently, readers will understand it makes sense. Failing to do so, readers will find it and call it out. This is where Shad completely missed the mark.
@@odojang, You mention gravity... did you know Shad redefined gravity in his novel (to explain why people fall to the bottom of the world and stick to the top of the continents)... and then he contradicted the definition within a couple of chapters? If Shad can't even keep his own world consistent, do we expect him to get his _magic_ system correct?
@@aralornwolf3140 Quite right. It's not the redefining that is a problem; that's what fantasy is. It's being inconsistent and worse, altered gratuitously to solve (or actually make!) bad plotting. It's the hallmark of bad writers and is the main reason some people dislike or even despise fantasy. Good fantasy is not a question of hard or soft magic systems but of coherence with setting, plot, characters and most of all itself. Shad fails utterly in this and, as you point out, not just with his magic.
I always say the question to ask in world building isn't "how does the magic work?" But "what does the magic mean?" What kind of metaphor is the magic expressing? In star wars it's about learning your true self. In lord of the rings it's primarily about connection to nature, as the world is inherently magical. In earthsea its about understanding, as the main conflict in the first book is resolve by careful study and speaking to the threat. In My Hero Academia it's just a metaphor for growing up. Shad could have done something really clever with a story about contrasting light and dark impulses with people and a magic system and world entirely based in light, but apparently he just wanted to write non-con fetish porn.
Hey, so I'm one of those people who listened to the book very close to its release date, waaay before Knights Watch became a thing, before all the drama surrounding Shad. At that time I was still fan of his channel and I often found his videos to be very interesting, especially those regarding fantasy warfare. Even with my shit taste and (at the time) some respect for the man, two issues jumped out to me. Firstly his understanding of communism isn't just shallow, but just stereotypical. Like, if you read the book, you can see he hasn't read a single publication on the history of the Soviet Union or how the damn thing worked. As a leftist I would love a fantasy book which aims to depict the failings of communist states in an interesting manner, not this "sharing and equality bad" bollock. However, this is more of left-leaning, scholarly nitpick. My biggest issue is with forgiveness and redemption. Because throuhgout the book, we're shown that Daylen was Stalin (viewed through a narrow, conservative lense) with the sex drive of Lavrentiy Beria. Shad asks the reader and the characters to forgive him. This is awful writing on its own but also begs a more pressing, personal question. If the author thinks this is something you can forgive a character a fictional person for doing, what does Shad think you can forgive someone? I dread to know the answer
A thought occurs because of how much the book can’t fucking let go of Daylen’s appearance. He was a horrible despot, a true tyrant, and the book is uninterested in exploring that at all, but - why *wouldnt* he have built statues and monuments to and of himself everywhere he went? People like him *love* that shit. So maybe it’s been decades upon decades, and the world thought him dead, and freed or liberated people smashed and tore down as much of his legacy as they could, but I have a feeling that even if *one* character recognized him because they spent most of their life walking past a mural of his older face celebrating his death or walking past a ruined statue of him, that would be good-ass shit. Consequences and legacy and more. …I’m also only halfway through the video or so, but I won’t even be disappointed if the book doesn’t have one of his bastards show up after having him masquerade as his son the entire time. No confrontation with the actual legacy of his abuse that hates him, no people recognizing his facial features because he left *that many* bastards behind… Edit: oh lmao it’s even worse than I was expecting.
The main evil protagonist trying to kill himself by jumping off a cliff is clearly inspired by God of War 1, making the character a fusion of Batman and Kratos-basically the edgiest character a 16-year-old could come up with.
I used to watch Shadiversity's what weapon this fantasy creature use series before he spiraled into whatever it is hes doing now, and i remember he used to always bring up the manga Berserk. I can see the Berserk influnces for sure, but it's like he didn't understand what made Berserk work. Dayless/Daylen is like a weird Griffith/Guts hybrid and i think thats why he comes off as contradictory. Griffith is this brutal, ambitious, charismatic conquerer. Guts is traumatized from childhood and only aspires to protect the people he loves. When Guts uses violence it's almost always either self defense or defense of innocent people, whereas Griffith uses violence to achieve his goals without any thought to who will suffer. They do mirror each other in some ways, but they have lots of conflicting character traits so it would be very weird to mix them up like that. Also, I want to clarify that I don't think it's bad to take inspiration from something you like, the writing here is just bad and that's what I have a problem with.
@@MostBronzeChunner, Nope! "Mary Sues are like by everyone they meet. Dayless can't be a Mary Sue because he's disliked by everyone for all these grapes!"
@@aralornwolf3140 and thats not even true, every Mary Sue character that I have seen has a bunch of enemies who are jealous and are punished by the story (so the Mary Sue can stay innocent).
This is really disturbing. I watched shads vids about castles when i was in school and liked them. I remember when he started talking about this book and i am so happy I didnt buy it. I am a survivour of CSA and I think teen me reading stuff like that might have been horrible. He truly is disgusting and the more i learn about him the more disgusted i get.
Perhaps you address it later, but the "women wear clothes so men aren't constantly aroused" verges on "men can't control themselves when women aren't covered". So yeah, Shad trying to argue both sides is weird. Like saying, obviously men are horny when women show skin, but if women walked around nude all the time men would be less horny. He's literally saying its cultural and men can control themselves but also defending men who don't at the same time. Men aren't accountable for their actions, its the clothing's fault SA happens. Women are walking around in wrapping paper and I'm just supposed to not unwrap it. And if women weren't covered, then i wouldn't be horny. So it's not really our fault if you think about it
Let me get the marshmallows for this roast! 😈🔥Right now this book holds the title for the worst thing I've ever read (though TSS put up a tough fight and didn't want to let go of the champion's belt). It manages to be full of itself, thinking it's some deep introspection into human nature and redemption, while actually wearing horse-blinders. Everything in it is surface-level, lacks empathy and is often times contradictory within its own lore.
i think a book like this would only be interesting in one setting: the original boy in the body he took over trying to break free of his overtaking. he thinks he can be free in this new skin but he slowly starts to lose time, he can’t remember what day it is, he doesn’t know why people start to actually like him more every time he returns. (bc the boy who’s body it is tried so hard to explain what happened, being a good soul who gets others endeared to him) daylen doesn’t think about it tho bc he’s a narcissistic piece of shit, until he walks into a trap they set for him to expel him from the body and realizing that these people didn’t actually like him, they liked the boy that he kept locked under his own wants and needs. it would be what he deserves: being told how much people don’t like him.
OK, I haven't yet listened to the roast, just wanted to write something and then see if you've said something similar. I didn't read the whole book - only the free chapters. I was terribly bored and really disappointed. The most boring part was near the end of those free chapters, and that was him learning about his powers while in freefall. It read as a weekly report from a science lab - and not on a week when they made a groundbreaking discovery. He thinks of some aspect of his powers that he is not yet clear on, makes an experiment, files away the result. Bor-ring. Compare this to the book “Off to be a wizard”, which also features a protagonist experimenting with his new powers. He starts off by accidentally making himself a little bit taller, without even noticing. Then he goes to the bathroom, and while doing his business he notices that the top of a small drawer there is dusty. He does clean his apartment regularly; but he doesn't always clean that particular surface, because he can't see it. He then spends a few moments trying to process that contradiction, until noticing that he's peeing on the floor. Later he figures he can teleport. He tries to do so, moving just a few meters (he's not unreasonable). It works, but he was sitting when he started; now he is in a sitting position without any support. So, he falls and hurts his ass. Later yet he tries to teleport a meter above. It also works, but gravity works too; he falls a meter down, fails to keep his balance, falls and hurts his ass again. This goes for a while; but it's always attempt-setback, attempt-setback. Shad's protagonist, on the contrary, goes attempt-success, attempt-success. He doesn't understand that what makes things interesting is failure. Nobody cares about a superhero walking home from a party, stumbling into a couple of robbers, and beating them up; what's interesting is a superhero walking home very intoxicated, stumbling into a couple of robbers, and getting his ass profoundly kicked. Or, alternatively, it's also interesting to read about a couple of robbers who made a smooth escape, but then randomly stumbled into a superhero who wasted no time beating them up. Prior to that, there was this duel scene, with the main guy, who is still near death, challenging a younger dude to a duel to teach him a lesson. This is especially frustrating, since Shad actually knows a lot about swordfights - or appears to know. Even I could think of a couple of ways how this guy could compensate for his age. He could, for example, choose a location creatively, so that he stands on a smooth rock, while his opponent is constantly tripping on an uneven terrain. Or he could fight so that sun blinds his opponent - well, I understand that in this world there is no sun, and light just comes from everywhere, but still he could, for example, fight near the edge of a forest, and stand facing the forest, which would be naturally darker. Anyway, by being creative he could do something interesting. Instead, the guy just soldiers up and pushes through it. I am willing to believe that an old, frail guy can win a duel with a young, strong, but inexperienced opponent; but I can't believe something when there is nothing to believe in. As a smart woman once said, “Don't give me songs, give me something to sing about”. Anyway, that's my rant. Watching now. Update: oh, there is a sun? I might be misremembering it. Sorry, it's been a while.
Yep, him having to resort to trickery and getting lucky , could really be interesting. To show how old he is, and in duels only winning really counts, but him barely lucks winning could be fun. And like thats usually the other dead
That's because Jazza and Shad experienced religious Trauma... Shad retreated to narcissistic traits to feel adequate...whereas Jazza just retreats to his room and cries about how inadequate of a person he is for asking people to donate money to him... so he could have this really cool studio where he could produce these really cool art concepts and create YT videos in. Jazza is self-aware. Shad refuses to be.
I also gotta shout out for my favorite podcast, if you think they're suddenly not going to be as entertaining or analytical when they review a good book you're majorly wrong. Their videos reviewing the Witcher books, House of the Scorpion, and Legends and Lattes have all been hits for me and it's so fun to just listen to them talk about a book I haven't read myself and I'm just as able to keep up on the conversation that's happening. Also if you're, since yeah the Mormon topic is talked about and how it impacts the work, they practice what they preach as they show in their stellar Hyperion Cantos 6 part review. Yeah the author did a fantastic job writing those and they praised it while also acknowledging that the author was his own weird views that they don't agree with. So yeah Shad, it's not because of your (weird) beliefs, it's 100 percent a skill issue here.
I'm so disappointed, I had no idea what his views were or even what this book was really about. I just knew Shad from his videos about weapons and armour etc, and I really like them and always found them super informative. Not sure I'll be able to watch them now.
Worst part is, you can’t even watch those videos for truly accurate information. Shad has had conflict with HEMA ever since he found out he’s not THAT good compared to actually trained sword fighters.
Let’s not compare the two though. By all accounts, Brandon is absolutely nothing like Shad in terms of personality or values. Or if he is, he hides it extraordinarily well. For a Mormon, Sanderson seems remarkably liberal.
We understand...your tribalism ("as a gay guy") is good, Shad's (Mormonism) is bad. Way to take the higher ground there bud. lmao. Also way to show how not be an example.
@@therealcirclea762 Yeah, nice false equivalency One is a member of a group that wants to live, love and be largely left alone The other has called the first group abominations, freaks of nature and god, and has convinced them that they are wrong simply by existing. -source, was a Mormon for the first 15 years of life And you really want to say they’re the same thing. Clack your brain cells together and *try again*
Shad's brother is a well-known artist on UA-cam. This was all for him to prove to himself that he's creative too. You know, in addition to the book being a CRAZY power fantasy.
I used to be a fan of Shadiversity, before his turn to (or reveal as) a chud. When he first announced this I was interested in reading it, but was rapidly turned off it by what Shad himself and his fans said about it. Not the gross SA appologia (because none of them mentioned anything about that). But they all talked in glowing terms about "how well-designed the magic system was", and how detailed the combat was. In a way that made me suspect (and as you confirm) that it's more like RPG mechanics than an actual readable story. One big irony: one of Shad's early turns to culture-warriordom was his very critical review of the _Captain Marvel_ movie. And it seems that a lot of his complaints about that _also apply to this novel_. Notably that the protagonist was vastly overpowered and never faced any serious challenges. And that they were arrogant, and brutally killed people they thought were bad-guys. And then they changed sides, but didn't fundamental change or grow in personality: no realisation that their behaviour or attitude had been wrong, just a switch in who they thought were the bad-guys that they meeded to kill.
![[FULL] RETROSPECTIVE : Final Fantasy Tactics](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RUBmYqs1jZ0/mqdefault.jpg)
you say you wouldn't be able to pick shad out from anyone else on the street, but i feel like you would -- he'd be the one wearing a hoodie that's made to look like chainmail.
And one whom police need to drag out of every castle after he pretends to be tourist guide.
I am in no way defending him, but he is a mormen. It is a brainwashing cult, and it explains a lot.
The gambeson STAYS ON.
@@anothercub6958 the actual bark of laughter that I just let out after reading that, holy moly.
it just occurred to me that he's almost definitely wearing magic Mormon underwear underneath his cosplay armor, too. you know, the white cotton t-shirt/clamdigger combo with masonic symbols embroidered over the nipples. what a _weird_ religion, man.
1:06:02 omg imagine the light bringer finds him and leads him on a “quest”that ends with him getting pushed in a volcano as an act of vengeance by the light cuz he’d turned into a shade in sheep’s clothing long ago
This whole thing feels like a D&D campaign Shad kept trying to run, but his players kept bailing because the whole thing revolved entirely around his one overpowered NPC.
Yeah this smacks of the DM's insert character
I wouldn't bet like... a life changing amount of money on you being right, but I could see myself putting down $20 depending on how big the payout was.
@@lazyhammerwieldingpenguin2247 a a XXX a😊😊p
I WAS IN A DND CAMPAIGN THAT WAS EXACTLY LIKE THIS BOOK. our dm sucked so bad that his influence ended multiple years long real life friendships. aside from being a manipulative self centered dickbag he was really weird about sa in the same way that shad is . go fucking figure
A lot of it sounds really "gamey", like the magic that lets you buff your stats, and the other characters' morality just contorting to accept what the main character is doing. Reminds me of many amateur webnovels where it's really obvious the writer spends 90% of his free time playing RPGs.
Fun fact: shad openly admits to not having an editor for his books. It's just him.
And he is making another book that will be written by AI, with AI art.
Oh no...
You wont see this but something few people know is that long before Shad wrote this book he ran a TTRPG stream as the DM and made one of his characters a fully developed alien 9 year old girl who's entire goal was to breed with the player characters. He tried to push it on his brother who was obviously not comfortable at all so Shad ended up making it sleep with one of his own OC characters instead. This book really should have been expected.
WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY.
-what I would scream at Shad if I could
Somehow, I am 0% surprised
A horrible day to be able to read
His brother Jazza, or another brother?
what in the world
i'm so glad i didn't subject myself to actually reading this, but the comedic timing of me showing up to the livestream more than two hours late with a lukewarm cup of coffee like, "oh hey guys, you're still going?" only to be IMMEDIATELY hit with the soul-rendering pie-to-the face discussion surrounding Shad's rancid takes on motherhood, consent, and babies SURE WAS SOMETHING
That was opportune timing
You had lukewarm coffee? You were not prepared.
Shad fundamentally doesn't understand redemption.
If he wanted to write a story about a person with an unforgivable past finding redemption, he should have had Daylen change his name, fly off to some obscure little poverty-stricken planet, and spend the rest of his days as a monk doing penance for his sins, helping women and the poor and enduring hardship himself in order to offer his own sufferings as justice.
Not "give him a bunch of super powers and make him young and hot."
And also not, as the very last lines of the book is, our horrid main character going "I am definitely a better person now".
My friend told me about this show called Banshee. I guess one of the characters in it was an ex neo nazi and he turned his life around and became a cop.
@@DarksideGmss0513 jackbooted thug puts in great effort to achieve massive personal improvement and growth and become a government-sanctioned jackbooted thug.
He's from a religion which doesn't understand redemption, atonement, and forgiveness. So, it's pretty hard to expect the same from a person who is uncritical of their religion, right?
Pretty much what Joe Abercrombie did in 'Red Country' (redemption done right I mean)
The very first recorded fantasy story, the Epic of Gilgamesh is about a bloody tyrant on a journey to become a better person by experiencing pain and loss. Here we are, 4000 years later, and people still somehow manage to botch this very basic narrative arc.
The one thing people “know” about modern writing is you have to be “creative” and push untouched boundaries. It doesn’t occur to anyone why tropes seen in stories older than writing have survived this long.
Not to absolve Shad’s views in this book. You can be bad at writing and understand you may not be the most qualified person to talk about trauma or sexual violence.
i love it, like who is the Enkidu in this story?
@@weylinwebber4180lmao
You say "first recorded fantasy story", but I prefer "alpha-test bible v1.0".
For someone who hates Mary Sues, he sure made a huge Mary Sue
Kind of a theme for conservative authors.
Probably because the Mary Sue is usually a deeply authoritarian character.
He only hates them when they're gurls
If it was called a Michael Steven, he'd be all over it
Mary Sue is when girl.
@@Mercenary0712 It's a Marty Stu
Oh, I remember this one. The book where a guy asks him if he wants to go for a walk and he refuses because he thinks ‘going for a walk with another man is gay’.
Shadiversity had the biggest fall-off I’ve ever seen, it’s insane. His videos on medieval weaponry are genuinely really good and informative but the reactionary grift got him.
And the weirdest thing is he did for the longest time to keep his politics out of it, he said so on a sargon podcast
And he was doing it. Dunno why he couldnt shut up about reactionary takes?!
Skallagrimm is wholesome, and tries to not get into drama and, it takes a lot to get into drama with him, its his fault, he could have just shut up
I hate to paint with a broad brush, but I’m never really surprised when a Mormon (especially outside the US) turns out to be a loon.
So he doesn't really know much about medieval topics at least only slightly more than the adverage sword nerd but he presents himself as an authority on the topic and he's arrogant enough that can come across as confident that people end up believing him until they learn more about the topic he's talking about than you learn how little he actually knows
He’s far from an expert in medieval weaponry. He has zero formal training in any weapons. He can only prattle off Wikipedia articles or his on ill-informed conjecture. Anyone with formal weapons training says he’s basically a joke.
Politically and philosophically I disagree with him on most points. He is fairly uneducated and most of the times when it comes to politics he is just parroting low grade youtube personas. BUT Im 100% against of canceling him because of his ideas. His normal channel content remains clear of politics, so if you cant enjoy it anymore the way you did, then the problem is on you, not on him. Separate the art from the artist. Or the content from the creator.
I am an ex-mormon myself, and this book really made me think "wow. he really drank the kool-aid" because there are so many little details that only someone who attaches to the most toxic aspects of Mormonism would genuinely believe. There's something to be said about the death of the author but when the author's most negative attributes permeate their books it's hard to separate them.
If nothing else, I suppose this book and Shad himself are at least a reminder of what I could have been if I hadn't "joined the woke mob" (read: started to empathize with other people and accept myself)
Well, death of the author doesnt mean you have to take a piece of media separate from its creator. It just means that you can find certain things that could imply certain themes or ideas in media regardless of if the original creator meant it like that.
If the creator is immersed in certain ideas, that can be a very important part of context when analyzing a book for its themes.
If you recognize some weird toxic mormon stuff in his book, then whether or not thats explicitly why he put it in there, its entirely fair to assume theres at least a link.
this should be a video on it's own.
I know exactly who this book was written for: Shad. Shad and every other jerk who wants to interrupt your night of DND fun by interjecting long-winded angry breakdowns of why your human lady ranger shouldn't be able to use her bow due to real world physics or whatever.
So, the EFAP, then.
"that is not how a castle works!!!" - shad. probably more than once.
Ugh I remember that.
"Women are often depicted as archers or wielding rapiers, and that makes sense visually but you need a LOT of upper body strength to draw a hood warbow and rapiers are heavier than they look, okay? So I'll spend another 10 minutes rambling this point over and over and explain they should be wielding daggers or whatever!"
Okay. So. No. I'll make the character I want, not the one you want.
@@wizardtim8573thats part of bigger discussion that bows are often seen as weapons of the weak. The point isnt that women are not able to use them, the point is that bows are wrongly depicted in most media
@@wizardtim8573 To be fair, his rant would probably grant that it is fine for a female warrior to wield a Zweihänder or a glaive as two handed weapons aren't much heavier, their extra weight can be divided among both hands and not held at arms length where they would tire out the wielder a lot faster.
For ranged weapons he'd recommend a crossbow or primitive firearm, and might just point out how the boobs would get in the way when using a longbow unless the character cuts one off like an Amazon from Greek myth. .
I can't believe Shad's still pushing this book. You mean you guys didn't like Daylen the SA Emperor? Honestly I have to thank Shad. His insistence on pushing this book and in ability to take criticism has done wonders for my channel and entertainment.
You were a UA-camr I was not expecting to see in this comment section. I enjoyed your Shad videos as well--kudos.
Isn't he still working on making it into a graphic novel and film?
@@HelghastEnigma He already made the graphic novel, which from what I can understand changed a lot of stuff.
Mostly to make Daylen look more forgivable.
@@Dylan_Devine I watch a lot of other people who review books. It helps me keep an eye out for books to review and what's going on.
I'm glad you enjoyed my videos!
@@talexratcliffe I'm almost morbidly tempted to see if I can find a high seas option to check it out and see how much was changed, but interesting to know it was made.
Thank you guys for calling out how this book prioritizes the view of the perpetrator instead of the victims. The way people like this author pat themselves on the back for „acknowledging rape is bad“ while absolutely missing the point of whose suffering is of actual consequence in those situations is so demoralizing.
On this note, just want to shout out Chanel Miller‘s memoir „Know My Name“ about her own case, because the way victims of rape are regularly badmouthed and sidelined in their own traumatic experiences by large parts of society is disgusting. She has also published a children’s book (written + illustrated by her!) this year which is what she went to college for at the time of her assault. I doubt many people wrote letters to the judge on her behalf though since poor Brock Turner had such a bright future ahead of him.😒
Ive not read the book but isnt Daylenn still the villain and how on earth is this any different than a show like RIngs of Power turning Sauron into the hero (and yes it does ).Or a far better story like breaking bad which turns walter white into a cold blooded massacering gangster by the end .
@@joshuascott3428,
Dayless was born, entered university as an engineer. Graduated at the top of his class. Then, the Night Fell (Shades turning off the perpetual light of the sun). Turning a great many people into Shades too, his parents who he was forced to kill. During the struggle he met a women, fell in love, and sired a son with her. The nations of the world gathered an army of 100,000 strong, so they could turn on the sun's light. After much fighting a dying, they succeeded 14 years after the night arrived. The arduous task of returning to the surface began, after another year in the caves, only 100 people returned to the surface.
On the surface, the nobles were hoarding food, famine was everywhere. So, he met with other veterans to discuss their options. The nobles sensing this was a good time to strike, attacked. Killing his wife, his son, and new-born daughter... as he and 9 others were able to escape. Angry at the nobles, he incited a peasant rebellion. It was successful. At the end he stood, the leader of the rebellion, in throne room as the king's only child was brought to him. Although she 7 or so, she demanded everyone around her to be executed and demanded where the executioner was. Dayless, kills her where she stood, as she represented everything he fought against.
Then, he sets out to create a "perfect" society in which everyone's needs can be met... but the three nations around him attacked. After much fighting he conquered them, thus the Empire of Light began. As he was reorganizing his new nation, he met a woman. She loved him, he didn't. Realizing that she was talking about marriage, he ended the relationship and picked up a new mistress. She returned, tried to kill his new mistress, so he had her executed.
Over the course of 30 years, Dayless became cruel. He went from barely legal age girl to barely legal age girl, forcing them to parade themselves in the nude, forcing himself on them, as he hurt them for his pleasure. He waged wars with his neighbours, betrayed his allies and conquered everything in his path. With only a handful of nations remaining... the rebellions began... He quickly crushed them... and ordered his siege weapon to _level_ an entire city of 1,000,000 people and ordered his army to kill all those who try to escape.
The Magic Knights had enough... so they declared war on him. Within months his armies were shattered, many of his conquests were in open rebellion... so he fled under an assumed name to tiny village and became a tinker. He was there for 20 years... until his 82nd birthday. He felt old, so old. He wrote a journal admitting all of his crimes (and also used it to pass on lies about people he didn't care for... thinking will believe the lies because of all the other things he admitted to). Then, he took his life by jumping off the edge of the world...
... only to ask for a do-over as he passed through the bottom of the world. At the top of the world, he reappeared as a young man with more powers than _any_ magic knight. Realizing his journal could be found at any point... he runs "home" for his sword (an artifact of great power crafted by him, for his personal use, and is _infamous_ enough to be recognized as _his)_ and for his little badge which indicates he's one of the top 100 swordmasters in the world (despite not practicing with the sword in 20 years). On the way home he goes about being a little arrogant vigilante, using sexual violence on those he catches in the act of committing grape, and slaughtering homeless people who attempt to use violence to force him out of their preferred sections of alleys.
Once he's home, he meets a priest... the priest convinces him the priest must travel with him... despite wanting to go to the capital to forge a new set of ID for himself.
So, no. Dayless is the anti-hero of the story. Not the villain. There are several villains.. but they are all killed by Dayless. *Sigh*
Dayless should have been executed for his crimes... not spared for "his abilities". It's like sparing Mr. A. Hitler because he shows up in the 1960's with magical powers which he can use to save people with. What he _might_ do in the future doesn't negate what he did in the past. That's something Shad failed to consider.
@@aralornwolf3140 Sorry bro you described a sympathetic villain not a antihero
@@joshuascott3428 Rings of Power doesn't turn Sauron into a hero. And why are you defending the guy? He starts off a bad guy, pretends to have changed but didn't really. And breaking bad isn't comparable here. Walter wasn't good to begin with. He literally admits to the fact that he started doing it because he liked it and wanted to do it.
@@joshuascott3428,
Sympathetic villain... *Shakes Head*
More like a whiny teenager with anger-management problems with a god complex.
It's wild to me that Maria doesn't know anything about Shad, but is able to do a near pitch perfect Shad impression.
My parents moved back to their hometown around an hour away from where I live and I try and visit them on weekends when I'm not working. Listening to this podcast has become part of the driving ritual and I am so glad I've got you guys to keep me company
So, a fun fact: y'all mentioned Shad's kickstarted comic based on this book. Only the first part of it is out and while Shad has done nothing but fellate his book every chance he gets and scoffs at all criticism, in his comic he's made some Very noticeable changes. The biggest and most obvious change is that Daylen was NEVER a pdf or even a grapist. In the comic he randomly thinks about Lyra (she hasn't even been introduced yet) and how much he cares about her, and regrets how he cast her out of his bed and his life because he was starting to care So Much about her that his enemies would surely use her against him! (Firmly establishing that yes indeed, if he were to write a sequel novel to his book he was absolutely planning to make her Daylen's love interest!) The other big change in the narrative seems to be that "Sure, Dayless committed atrocities, genocide, war crimes, and was a horrid despot, but really the worst crime against humanity he ever committed was COMMUNISM!! Not once, but Twice in this very thin comic book are Dayless' crimes brought up, laid out, and mostly dismissed in favor of ranting about how incredibly terrible it was that he infringed on people's personal freedom.
It's definitely an attempt at rewriting history to make Daylen less disgusting and creepy, but still strangely drips with Shad's political beliefs. And again, this comes with him still publicly denouncing all criticism of his book.
That is an absolutely massive change. It's hilarious in ways, that he won't back off from defending a book he himself seems to realize he shouldn't have written the way he did.
--Will
That’s fascinating and unsurprising-Kt
Heh, I love it when people tell on themselves by being like: “Sure, I guess murder, rape, mass slaughter and dictatorship are all bad, but the true destructive evil is the redistribution of wealth, so that no one is no longer poor.”
@@haggisa And those people absolutely misrepresent what wealth redistribution would look like if done properly. It's not "take all the money from the rich guy's bank account and cold turkey transfer it all equally in a bunch of poor people's bank accounts", it would be more like "tax the rich a lot, like a lot lot, like a LOOOOT, and use that money to create infrastructure, job opportunities, good education so that everybody has a chance to contribute to society and nobody has to live in poverty".
And, honestly, if we took away 99% of Elon Musk's money he would still be able to live in luxury for the rest of his life without having to work a single day, he would still be orders of magnitude richer than the average person. I don't believe anyone needs that amount of wealth and, consequently, that anyone should ever be ALLOWED to get that rich in the first place. Yes, that includes myself, if I ever got the luck of my lifetime and became ludicrously wealthy I think I SHOULD be taxed out of the "ludicrous" part of my wealth
The important thing to understand about communism, is that it's good, and we should do it.
So it sounds like Shad just ported a D&D character from a campaign into a novel. And this particular character would be what us D&D nerds would call a "Munchkin", where no matter what happens there is something available to them that instantly makes them OP, able to do the impossible. Every D&D group has that player who has to have a munchkin character and the rest of the group just roles their eyes and tolerates it. It's so ubiquitous that there is a parody game called Munchkin making fun of this fact. Shad apparently wrote a book about his munchkin character.
oh god what if they released a custom _shadow of the conqueror_ expansion for munchkin 😩
@@elen5871that would be hilarious
His protagonist is a classic DMPC aka "dungeon master player character" which is the DM's character (who normally doesn't play their own character; the DM's job is to set the scene and narrate action and roleplay), so as a result, the DMPC can basically do anything because it's the DM's avatar in the world. Such characters are (almost) always a bad idea. So many stories on "r/RPG Horror Stories" revolve around bad DMs and their own DMPCs.
@@charleshartley9597I was gonna say that no DM with a shred of experience would let a character like that in their game, I'd forgotten about DMPCs. . .
@@charleshartley9597those stories are hilarious to listen to....I subscribe to a channel of a guy who is an avid player (he has a vtube avatar of a tiefling, I just can't remember his name) who reads these stories exclusively on his channel.....seriously if anyone remembers his name please tell me I don't wanna scroll through like 200 channels I sub to
Shad put four bonds into mormonism and videogames before writing this book.
Burn!
Ive already said this in the comments of another review, but its wild to me that the dictator is the actual main character after his suicide attempt, I feel like in any other book the old dictator killing himself because he felt bad after committing atrocities would be like the prologue signaling to the audience that this story is taking place directly after a major historical event, but here its just like "yeah, he becomes young and hot somehow and now hes the protagonist"
The book would be 100x better if it was actually the dictators son who did everything else. (Like the false identity he claimed was his actual identity and the emperor left the son with the sword and shit and now the kid is stuck with the horrible legacy from a worthless bastard of a father)
Hell the kid could have found out who his father was and attempted to kill himself out of disgust and hatred only to find out he survived the same way the MC did and then choose to be better then his father and do good in the world instead. See already 100x better cause the perpetrator isn't playing a victim.
That would also make the title make sense. People living within “The Shadow of the Conquerer”. That even after the emperor is deposed, there are still remnants of them.
I like the idea of him being reincarnated as a subject in his own horrible tyrannical nation. Sort of like an Isekai, but in this case, the "other world" he's been reborn into is the lowest rungs of the society he himself created. It'd be an interesting take on the genre if nothing else, and far better of a setup than the powerwank garbage Shad came up with
37:00 Shad tried HEMA, but he's too much of a narcissist to accept that he's a beginner at it and so when he gets corrected on improper form that could lead to injuries, he will argue if he can land a light touch on someone and "win", thinking that if he can "win" then it's a proper form. He made a whole video about that (upon which people in HEMA clubs of Australia commented for a better perspective), and later made a video calling HEMA "elitist" around 2020. He has then been in a beef with EVERY major HEMA content creator (Matt Easton, Skallagrim, Sellswords Arts, etc.) and is seen mostly as a joke in the field.
So this is not surprising that, through his Gary Stu character, he would LARP as an expert swordsman that can beat everyone without any practice. This is clearly what he seems to think about himself.
I thought he AI:ed his sword fighting. I mean, he is a good artist, AI is just a great tool for helping.
@@fornamnefternamn1532 lol
Shad doesn’t name many people who criticise him in his responses anymore, because some, like Jack Saint, bit back and made him look even more stupid, and he can’t handle it. Funny how conservatives think they’re tough guys, but they have a backbone of paper straws.
Lol I just found this video and my first thought was "I can't wait for Shad to make a 30 hour video response on how these three are trying to 'strawman him and remove all nuance from the discussion' because their cowards or some shit". Unfortunately I think you're right, he's starting to realize just how ratioed he's getting by society
Conservatives don't spend all their time playing knight. Shad's just a loser.
The restraint that it took to get to minute 40 before calling Daylen a Mary Sue proves that the Light dwells within ya'll
OMFG DEAD -kt
*Gary Stu
I stopped watching Shad a few years ago because he's a religious extremist. Makes sense that he moved to the alt-right grift
He's such a Mormon extremist that he even got mad at STARSHIP TROOPERS for having Mormons be the ones who steal buy territory, by arguing that Mormons didn't steal land, which they did.
i fell off watching shad when his politics started outright poisoning his content
I used to love his content as a fellow castle and medieval enthusiast. I even joined Conan because of him. This book was the canary in the coal mine for me. I forget when his second channel came out but shortly after it was blindingly obvious to me that maybe I shouldn't tell anyone I watch Shadiversity. From the creepy beliefs to the fragile narcissism. He's a disappointment.
Let's be honest Shad, and the Drinker by the way, wrote fanfiction abou themselves.
I mean his books title is:
Shad(ow of) the Conqueror 😂
I think one of the biggest issues is that Shad's writing seems to be based in the moral standpoint of "There are no bad actions, only bad targets." The protagonist of the story doesn't actually change himself in any way, he just changes who he targets with his horrific actions. It doesn't matter that he's still doing most of the same terrible things with the same narcissistic and self-righteous attitude, because now he's doing them to the "bad guys" (and of course, he conveniently receives the power to judge who is objectively a bad person and it just so happens to be anyone who does anything that Sha-I mean "Daylen" doesn't like). It can be hard to redeem a character in the eyes of the audience if literally nothing that made them immoral has changed save for where they direct their immoral behavior. Whenever the Joker fights another villain, people don't suddenly think he's a good guy just because his enemy is a bad person.
This story COULD have worked if his character arc was him actually coming to realize that the problem ultimately comes from within himself rather than from the external judgements of others. Y'know, he gets reborn, wants to change himself and become a better person, but fundamentally doesn't understand what makes people "good" and just thinks that it's about vanquishing those that society calls "bad" because that's how HE was stopped. So he finds a way to tag along with the person that overthrew him in the hopes of finding another grand evil to vanquish so he can be "good," but along the way begins to realize that while people are grateful to his usurper for overthrowing a tyrant, they love him because of the kindness and compassion he has for the people around him even when they've wronged him. And by the end of the story Daylen comes to realize that he can never find redemption in seeking the adoration of those around him, but instead by actually devoting himself to trying to help others regardless of how it benefits him personally and developing empathy for those around him.
But nah, that's too hard and not enough of a power fantasy. Just have him continue being the same scumbag, but now he gets praised for it because he aims his violence at people who make decisions that the author doesn't like or agree with (and also the occasional person who does in fact actually do terrible things).
It would have been a cool plot twist - his "ability" to see the light in people to be actually just a delusion of Daylen, to justify his own action. And, throughout the story, we start seeing two viewpoints - Daylen's and those around him. It would have been much more interesting, but it won't be a redemption story (not that this one is).
The weirdest thing about Shad to me is that he's art UA-camr Jazza's brother...
And a big fan of AI, if I recall correctly?
@@elenabarbieri1286yeah, Shad calls himself an “AI artist” or something cringe like that
@@samfann1768 wow now I'm even more disgusted
Who also thinks he is brothers equal in art, even before AI. The video where they are naming themselves in an RPG with Shad arguing he should have the same Art skill score as Jaz is painful to watch. You clearly see Jaz going “brother, I love you, but…”
@@snimmo Shad has a lot of shame. He seems to be super hypersensitive to criticism. That’s why he snapped at Jazza and could not handle any comments around his art. I think him growing up Mormon has filled him with a lot of shame and fears that are reflected in his attitude towards AI art, his book, and anti woke grift.
Man, a story where a tyrant has to live life under the unjust rules he’s created sounds neat
Yeah, if only that's what Shad had given us. I don't trust him with children but that's what you would do. Make Daylen weak and vulnerable with his "do over" as a child and learn how to become an empathic human being again. Okay, his advisors "insulated" him from the consequences of his institutional tyranny. Strip away that insulation and stick him on the pointy business end of that machine and see how Daylen feels about being his own victim. He has to grow up oppressed and disempowered and can't tell anyone who he is because they would instantly pin him to the ground and disembowel him with a rusty spoon. Then organize a plucky resistance to overthrow the problem that he caused in his other life. At the end it's revealed who he is and then we get to grapple with the question of "is there redemption for Daylen? Is he responsible for the sins and crimes of his past life?" with a trial of his peers. We get to bring in character references and examine all the good he did in fixing the ills of the world that he caused. But no. We get Medieval superman and he's vewy, vewy sowwy you guys. I could write a better redemption story in a weekend.
What always blows my mind is when Shad keeps vomiting that it's unrealistic for women to be good fighters (the biological differences found in nature etc) while he's completely out of breath from swinging a wooden sword around his backyard for 30 seconds.
Yeah. I noticed that too.
He's such a fucking man child dude. Just the most pathetic example of a right wing white guy. Weak arms, but strong views on masculinity.
To be fair, he has medical condition that trashed his stamina
@@pawekoodziejczyk6781 To be fair, maybe he should shut the fuck up about his idiotic convictions,being such a poor example of a 'man' (according to him)
@@pawekoodziejczyk6781 also, I don't remember if he call himself a good fighter.
Where were you guys all my life before this podcast, I love you even though this podcast made me read Shadow of the Conqueror. This analysis and breakdown of why things are bad and don't work, and what the metanarrative is saying even when the characters are pretending something else is happening, is fantastic. C'est magnifique!
Where were you guys when the Westfield fell?
Shad did not understand the assignment of redemption. He is a mormon, which I want to be clear, im SPECULATING, but it is a VERY strong pattern in mormonism that NOT forgiving a criminal or villain is actually more disruptive to the community than the original crime, leading to victim shaming. And this is what we see in the novel: that society cant just get over it and let Daylen just do good stuff now, theyre actually preventing him from helping people by holding him account for all his crimes.
That’s such a destructive philosophy, that puts on the onus of acting “moral” on the victims, rather than expecting the perpetrator to actually change. Gross.
@@haggisa precisely. But it is the logical and inevitable outcome of putting forgiveness in the sole hands of God (the Light, in the story) which is actually just human church leaders in reality.
Think of it like they do: a doctor or policeman, a family man, is caught doing something horrible. But God forgave him. It's done. Let him continue his good work (the main theme in Shad's book, let him be good.) Now, you're the one causing a ruckus trying to tear this guy down and prevent him from saving lives?? How dare you!
Obviously this is sick and insane, but when you accept the first premises, it's inevitable.
As an ex-mormon I can confirm this. There have been countless cases where church leaders have known about sexual assault and other crimes, but did not report it because they wanted to "bring them to repentance" even the crime was still ongoing (particularly when it came to them continually molesting children. Yes this happened) There are even more cases where bishops have gone to court as character witnesses to try to get the perpetrators off. I have never heard of one case where they got up on the side of the victim to argue that the person belongs in prison. Not on.
@@SnakeWasRight Oh, believe me, I get it.
I live in Poland, where we have had plenty of catholic priests and bishops being exposed for sexually assaulting, grooming and molesting children (it still happens of course - priests getting girls pregnant and then being moved to a different town is not surprising to anyone anymore) and the Catholic Church has always hushed it up, and when they couldn’t, they would publicly advocate for the perpetrator to be forgiven/treated with sympathy, because “he is a good, valued person”, even when the criminal in question had sexually groomed multiple children for years. It doesn’t matter how harmful, disgusting, immoral the behavior is, what matters is if the perpetrator is part of a group the church considers “respectful” and him being exposed upsets the social hierarchy.
Meanwhile pregnant teenage girls are regularly harassed in hospitals by priests, who threaten them with eternal damnation, if they’ve considering an abortion. That’s fine and acceptable, because women are (socially and morally, on their view) inferior and sinful.
It’s all the same morality based on feudal, bigoted ideology, where the powerful in group must be protected and the powerless in the out group doesn’t matter and should get in line, forgive their abusers and be the meek little sheep they’re supposed to be. In summation - organised religion is a disease. 😊
See that’s wild bc both the biblical AND dictionary meaning of repentance is to MAKE UP FOR and PAY FOR the crime that you have committed, both in the eyes of the Lord AND in the eyes of the law. Your repentance is either incomplete or insincere if you are not willing to face the legal and moral repercussions of your wrongdoing. So where the f*k is their “repentance” if they’re constantly shielded from having to feel too guilty for what they’ve done, NEVER MIND answer for it.
Shad's decisions make a lot of sense when you factor in the mormonism. eg I remember seeing someone say that, coming from a similar background, they absolutely understood why he 1) included the weird sex stuff and 2) made it that extreme. Because those kinds of mormons are absolutely fixated on the matter and see ALL levels of "deviance" as the same, hence the extreme guilt around what we'd call a non-issue like "pornography addiction" (which to them, could just be... simply liking porn). So you get all these these people who are horrified at what we'd consider natural and normal urges, who place it on the same level as the WORST thing they can imagine, who think that means there's a possibility that THEY are capable of the worst thing they can imagine, and, in Shad's case, want to imagine a scenario where it does happen, but they can still "redeem" themselves.
This is such a great comment! 👌
But the point is any redemption, doesnt have forgiveness guaranteed, and should be tried regardless.
With introspection.
You can have done the worst and that happen.
Like ras al ghul in the superman story where he lived long alone and regrets destroying the world He helped superman because, ok company, but he really regrets and tries to atone. See possible😅
Mormons see “consensual sex without a ring” on THE SAME level as “you brutally unalived someone while they begged for mercy” and NO IM NOT KIDDING
-source: was born and raised as a Mormon, broke out as a teenager
@@marocat4749 except that his character didn’t really redeem himself. He just used the depraved violence against his own ex-subordinates and then everyone suddenly forgave him for what he did.
@@marocat4749 Shame that, as someone who wrote the book, he absolutely bungled that. Compounded by the main character saying at the end that he is, in fact, a better person. The one who has committed the heinous acts does not get to make the judgement call on whether they have become better or not.
The irony of the book is that power fantasies, litrpg, and haremlit are super popular subgenres and if you approach them with care and respect, you can have a solid audience.
Shad has done none of those things. The glaring problem, in my opinion, is he makes a promise to his audience by posing the philosophical question: "Can an evil person find redemption?"
Shad answers that question very poorly. At the end, I feel nothing towards Daylen. Not in the negative sense but the literal. I just don't care about him. To come to that conclusion, at the end of a book that could've been easily 30% shorter, made me feel like I wasted my time.
Another thing I want to point out about how this book's worldbuilding is fucked? Because of the specific details about how the Light works vis-a-vis "people think it's how good you are but it's more how certain you are in your beliefs"?
Someone who was utterly self-assured in their own righteousness but is now filled with guilt & self-doubt, and is thinking "what have I done, how could I have been so blind"... *is going to have less Light in them.* So they're going to look *MORE* evil to anyone who can see that.
Introspection is for evil losers, real good guys never self examine!
Its actually a core tenet of mormonism. People can "know that mormonism is true by the conviction the holy ghost brings." When asked about why other people in other religions have the exact same experience and conviction its because "The light of christ is showing that individual things in their religion are good, but not that the entire thing is true, like it does for ours, despite literally being identical". Its crazy how fallacious it is and he put it into his book.
If you're absolutely sure of your selfish and evil beliefs, will be an invincible champion of Light
So basically MC has a power of light...of gaslight.
if only he had the power of girlboss too 😔
@@vibethecat4194 and gatekeep to complete the trifecta
37:19 I regularly practice sword fighting. I am 37 years old. When I return to our club after missing training sessions for two weeks, I get destroyed by everybody. Nobody beats a trained fighter if they haven't been practising consistently. Also, repeating forms is not sufficient. You have to spar or pressure test.
Shad doesn’t know this, cos Shads never actually fought. He got his ass handed to him by HEMA and has had a vendetta against them ever since.
Write what you know. Well Shad knows nothing.
@@Werewolf.with.Internet.Access If every author obeyed "Write what you know", most literature wouldn't exist.
I'm not defending Shad here, I didn't read his book and I don't intend to.
@@steffenpanning2776,
"Write what you know, research the stuff you don't know" is what _good_ writers do, lol. Writing what you know is good for new authors... as they are less likely to eff up. Too bad Shad thinks he knows so much more than he actually does. On the other hand... he refuses to accept correction.
@@aralornwolf3140 the problem with shad isnt that hes writing what he knows, hes writing what he dosent know but thinking he is a de facto master of it.
Likewise to will, i found about this shad guy through an interesting series he did measuring how well castles are built and situated in fantasy media but then later on i checked out his reaction to arcane or something and realized the vibes were off. Strapping down for this roast (honestly wasn't interested in a review for a book of his until i read the title lol). Thank you for the treat you three!
EDIT: it's so disgusting how a woman who was sa-ed by this MC is being possibly set up as a love interest without her knowing the full picture.
"The Light is in everything"
Me: Having a migraine would be terrible in this world.
Would this book have been more intriguing if it was written from a different characters perspective and opened with us believing that teenage Daylan was the tyrant's son, and we don't get the reveal until later that he is really the Conqueror and then we're wondering is he trying to take over the world again 🤔
1:03:20 I really like the idea Maria had
I think there’s an interesting conflict in the idea of a character developing a friendship/relationship with this kid who seems to be trying to do good, and then revealing that he was actually this tyrant who did horrible things in the past, and grappling with questions like, “was it all an act? can i stand by a person who did horrible things in the past if i genuinely believe they have changed? is it even possible to atone for certain acts? if you can’t be granted forgiveness by those you’ve wronged, but genuinely want to do better, where do you go from there?” but you’d need a much better writer and an understanding of restorative justice that is just clearly lacking here.
The amnesiac idea reminded me a lot of the BG3 Dark Urge origin- your character wakes up with no memory but have these intense compulsions to violence, and as the story progresses and you learn more about your past, you can either give in to the “urge” or decide to fight them and choose to be a better person. I would argue it’s a much more interesting take on “truly evil villain gets a second chance at redemption” than… whatever this was lmao
@@raggedymanatee It also reminded me of BG 3, KOTOR too :).
"its unfair to judge based on the creators political views" -shad and his fans
"this movie is too woke"
-also shad
Man thinks he's Brandon Sanderson. Turns out he's actually Russell Brand.
At least he's funny to laugh at.
Funny you should say that, because, Brandon Sanderson, being part of the same Mormon circles, supports and has endorsed Shad's work claiming he oftentimes reaches out to Shad as a "consultant" on medieval fantasy topics, despite Shad's reputation in HEMA and medieval history circles being treated as a joke at best. This hilariously out of shape man who gets winded ranting about "wokeism" in Star Wars, or whatever, literally molded two swords together in an abomination that looks like it's going to fall apart as he's holding it, and claimed he's some kind of master swordsman with that sword-staff thing and makes fun of HEMA and medieval history UA-camrs criticizing his form and advising him to stop further digging his reputation down under with his cringe rants against the world videos.
There's no world in which Brandon comes out looking good in this. Either he seeks consultation from a ridiculously incompetent LARPer who fails to condemn PDFilia and SA in his boring 5-star "magnum opus", or he hasn't done his due diligence about the guy, which, given his status, he absolutely should have. That's as if Steven King said in an interview that he oftentimes contacts his good personal friend Alex Jones for consultations about political climate in his newest upcoming novels.
@@dahakaguardianofthetimelin4780 Oh damn, knew he was Mormon himself, but hadn't seen Sanderson mention Shad before. Tragic. Fuckin Mormons. (Or more accurately, fucking Christian sects of any kind)
@@dahakaguardianofthetimelin4780I guarantee it's because both BranSan and Shad are Mormons. If Shad was Catholic or Hindu or an atheist, BranSan wouldn't've given him the time of day.
The difference is when you separate the artist from the art, Brandons work is legendary. Shad is shitfire
@AgniAfrastos eh, legendary is a strong word. He's made some good stuff, and he does so at an incredibly consistent and rapid pace but I wouldn't call it legendary. After you read a couple of his books, you've read all of them. I like his stuff but I'm not gonna pretend like he's on the level of Tolkien.
YES. I never thought this day would come. I hate this book so much and I was dying to see it get the treatment it deserves from you guys, but I didn't think this book was even on your guys' radar. Thank you for enduring this piece of work for my enjoyment.
Shad can't write a redemption arc beecause he has such a massive victim complex.
He can't write a redemption arc because he's a Mormon.
In his worldview, redemption isn't something you do, or earn, or deserve. In fact, humans are incapable of deserving redemption. (There is none righteous, no not one.) Redemption is something that God does to you *despite the fact that you don't deserve it.*
From a Mormom (or evangelical christian) theological perspective it makes total sense that Daylen just gets handed redemption for no reason. That's how they think redemption *always* works.
This author has children. That's a scary thought. And as for it not being for "anyone"? It's obviously for folks like Shad.
Mormonism pretty much promises you a wife. I’m thinking if he wasn’t a Mormon, he’d be an incel
Yeah, I am guilty of having liked him and his book myself but the critizism is more than fair. I don't like him any longer because he has said on record that "Trump is great for the world." I though he was on the verge of reasonable conservative. So I gave him some slack.
I have just discovered that my long-time friend gave this 5 stars on Goodreads and I don't know what to do with it...
Talk to him? Distance yourself and warn any mutual friends who are women?
Accept that different people can have different tastes and don't worry about it?
Gotta throw the whole friend away m8 😂😂
@@finncullenthis is an extreme of different tastes, it's a book where someone keeps being violent and evil but is framed as a hero. It is not just a person into metal being shocked a friend likes Taylor Swift, it's like finding the friend is into NSBM.
@@dorianleakey it's just a book, ain't that drastic. Equating something like being an active participant in a neonazi group to giving 5 stars to a weird shitty book is like saying having a mild headache on a Friday morning two weeks in a row is a clear sign of a brain tumor. Maybe the guy just liked the swordfight scenes; maybe he liked Shadiversity's sword videos on YT but hasn't actually read it; maybe he has a side gig inflating Goodreads ratings for groceries money; maybe he found out his ex, who he blocked everywhere else, still stalks him in Goodreads and wanted to troll them. My point is, a book it's not enough to pair the guy with literal nazis. However, if he started to make weird comments about or towards women, or express views in accordance with those in the weird shitty book then ye... distance is a decent response.
So the reason that it wasn't the son. Is because this book was written to win arguments that Shad had. He wanted the book to show that anyone, even H--ler and S--lin could be redeemed after all their atrocities.
And he thinks he was wildly successful in proving that point. He thinks that the MC was fully redeemed by the end.
I think it’s because Shad subconsciously knows he is a terrible person. So he wrote this thinking if magical Hitler can be redeemed then I am a good person by proxy.
He failed horribly and can’t fathom how disgusting his character is.
Yes. He has no understanding of how what a person _might_ do in the future has no bearing on the consequences of their past actions. He even has Dayless telling himself he's a "better person"... because "for once his intent to do good matched his actions." What good _intentions_ did Dayless have towards all the barely legal age girls he ended the lives of? What good _intentions_ did Dayless have towards Lyrah from him to treat her the way he treated her? None.
I've only seen that sentence be used in one other publication. The man, Benjamin Shaw, most certainly should have went to prison for being an accomplice to the r--e of 16 women and the murder of the man who did the r----g. The man he killed was Bubba. You know, the one loan sharks send to people to break their legs when they don't pay up. In Bubba's case, he also added r--e on top of the broken legs if you were pretty enough. Which is why Ben was tasked in preventing Bubba from getting caught and from getting carried away... hard to bribe the police when there are bodies involved, eh?
Fortunately, the loan shark was killed and the person who arranged for his death sent Ben to another country to be "rehabilitated". Now... the other thing about Ben is, he was preyed upon by a person when he was a child. He _is_ angry at his mother (who he loves) for not protecting him. This anger has been redirected towards all women. He doesn't see them as people worthy of protection. That was, until this point when he was confused by his actions; protecting a new secretary from some VP who... is a prolific r----t (have s-x with me or you're fired). After his "parole officers" informed him of what he was doing and why, he went home and cooked a meal to celebrate his "better self".
That's the big difference between Benjamin Shaw and Dayless... Dayless' redemption is forced and is only believable if you ignore the lie/self-deception (and all the plot contrivances which allowed Dayless to get to the point he _could_ do his one "selfless" action), whereas Benjamin Shaw's redemption is still ongoing. Yes, he no longer sees all women as legitimate objects of violence who deserve whatever harm befalls upon them. But... he still has long ways to go to be healed. To be redeemed.
Ben put _his_ job on the line to protect the secretary... what did Dayless have to lose? Nothing. He wanted to do good because he felt so much guilt for what he did... but he _still_ managed to downplay how horrific his actions actually _were._ And Ahrek was right beside joining in with his condemnation of the women he abused when they were children. "They would be better if only they had the moral fortitude to forgive me." *Vomits*
Edits: Additions and spelling/grammar.
Shad’s the type of guy to watch redo a healer and think it’s a deep masterpiece
I have met people like that irl and they disgust me
I remember back then when that anime came out that there was a subreddit for it and people defended and praised it like crazy. How "satisfying" the "revenge" was and crap. The protagonist literally just maliciously did whatever he wanted and killed people and it was portrayed if he "deserves" it because someone tortured him in episode 1.
Redo of Healer is horrible, and the funny thing is that there's a visual novel series that has similar themes that sound horrible on paper, but it's insanely well-written and fun. The Rance series. Rance is literally a rap***, obnoxious, noisy, annoying, a mean bully, delinquent, slave owner, does whatever he wants, chases girls. But it's written in a weirdly comedic way with mature growth moments here and there, cool villains and deuteragonists, nice world building and he effectively ends up as a good father and hero. Would recommend that over Redo of Garbage a thousand times, iirc Rance X was even the visual novel with the highest rating of all time. For anyone who's interested in a story with a straight up evil-ish, self-centred delinquent protagonist who still has his good moments.
To be fair Redo of a Healer is a masterpiece.
I stumbled upon Redo of Healer without knowing what it was or how intense and insane it got right off the bat. It was an experience.
@@treeNash A masturbatory piece you mean.
It's surprising how a guy who judges media by whether it's "woke" or not is a terrible writer /s
And he actually has a 'mary sue' protagonist
Much of entertainment is trynna be woke now it's true and I say this as a gay man 😅
@@angryvaultguy Define "woke" without accidentally making it sound like a good thing.
@@paulgibbon5991 basically it's just entertainment trying to virtual signal by shoehorning queer characters
But the problem is that it's obvious or obnoxious, I'd rather have an interesting straight white male character then a bland black trans gay character
Sure have queer characters but don't make that their whole personality or the reason for their existence, like I said I'm gay and even I find this to be patronising
@@jaimecardona92 have you ever eaten something that you didn't like and criticised it?
If so are you a chef?
Because going by your logic you can't criticise anything if you are not an expert of it and this goes for anything
This sounds like an even worse version of Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" books.
What's extra hilarious about this tragically awful book is that Shad is one of those guys who starts calling a female character a "mary sue" the instant they display any level of competence at anything, yet the author-wish-fulfillment main character of this is the Gary Stu-est Gary Stu who ever Gary Stu'd.
Couple this with his delusions of adequacy regarding AI "art" and you have someone who is probably absolutely exhausting to be in the same room with.
Watching him argue about his artistic prowess with his brother, an actual artist, was exhausting enough. If I had to share a physical space with this asshole weirdo, I'd probably grind my teeth to dust.
Here the thing: he somehow believes that "my character become master of... cause years of training" is enough.
Scotch by definition is made in Scotland. So Scotland is in this world? If it isn't Scotish, it's CRAP!
lulz
I used to follow every Shadiversity vid when he covered arms, armor, medieval history etc. Then he came out as an Injustice Culture Warrior and kept getting so bad and so dumb it led me to question every datum in his old vids. So now his channel is blocked instead of subbed. Not surprised he wrote a big weirdo pedobook.
I never before I thought I’d listen to a 3hr book review and be so entertained lol I cannot get over how exasperated these three sound 😂 So glad I found this channel
I am speaking as an exmormon. Shad has admitted in his videos that he is Mormon. Listening to this podcast has been interesting as I can see several correlations between Shad's artistic expression and things I was taught in church both from leaders as well as common members trying to make sense of those beliefs. For example, Shad speaks about lots of sa and the obsession with sexuality. In my generation of Mormonism sex outside of marriage was seen as being next to murder in terms of sin severity. There is also a belief that in the next life we will be resurrected in the prime of youth. So for me this correlates well with his ideas in the book. I've tried my hand at amateur writing back when I was practicing Mormonism and it was difficult to not interject Mormon philosophy in my fantasy. A lot of traditional conservative society stereotypes seem to be represented too.
Also an exmormon. Yeah, Mormonism infects everything. Especially if you're a creative person (not in Shad's case). It warps how you see reality and what you create.
I can third this. It feels strange that the character seems to justify himself sleeping with 14 year old girls. Is it a coincidence that Joseph Smith took a 14 year old child bride in secret and any mormon who learns about this has to figure out some kind of moral justification???
@matthewjohnson3656 you have zero proof. Good god ex Mormons cope and seethe harder than the right wing grifters on UA-cam.
Press x to doubt.
@@harrisonpeterson3733another fake ex Mormon in the comments section.
It's so funny when Shad tries to say "you just don't like my book because of my politcal views" because like oh, honey, no, you just suck at writing. There's PLENTY of authors out there that many of us know are despicable people but can still appreciate their work. For me it's Lovecraft; I adore the worlds he's created and his obnoxious af writing, but damn I don't agree with his views at all. Edit: Another of my fave authors who are awful dudes; ian fleming.
The whole concept of this novel reminds me of how the LDS church (Mormons) would perform a postumous baptism ritual for dead people like Hitler.
They do WHAT
@@happytofu5it's true. It's why they have some of the best genealogy records in the world. They also baptized all the victims of the Holocaust into Mormon Christianity several times.
@@happytofu5yup.
@@CD-zd6zr Despite people of the Jewish community specifically asking them not to. One other funny story - One of the "prophets" of the mormon church claimed to have a vision where the founding father requested to be baptized, so he went ahead and did that with his counselors. But as it later turned out, the founding fathers had already been baptized for the dead, several times....
Lol I misread that as "LSD Church". ..
You know what, that would actually make perfect sense.
32:00 "That's incorrect but go ahead" fucking lost it because I had the same reaction
😂 A very measured reply to a ludicrous statement, lol
I will never not love people roasting Shad for being such a weirdo with his fetishization of SA and "um, akshually" about age of consent. But another thing I love almost as much is that there's an entire sub-genre that genuinely does just use video game logic and stats and such: LitRPG. He could've just written for that sub-genre and outright been like, "I've infused my Perception stat with light so it's increased by 50% now and I can see further!" or whatever instead of hiding behind these really bad abstractions.
This wouldn't have fixed any of the critical issues with the book, but it would've at least made this part of it thematically consistent.
When it first came out, all his loyal fans were leaving absolutely glowing reviews, praising it, etc...... When I read it for myself, I literally could not believe how attrocious it was. Like, did we (I and his fans) read the same book?! You guys (his fans) really thought that was good?! Am I going insane?! I was trying to express to them how it was a piece of shit and they be like "nah it's good bro what're you talking about?" So it's really vindicating to find other people over the years coming out with proper reviews of that book and coming to the same conclusions as myself (i.e. it's rubbish).
I had a discussion with such a fan and the guy was litterally rewriting the book to defend it and deny it's flaws.
Even youtubers like Daniel Greene seemed to have been pro the book until the public got their hands on it and realised what it was actually like
@@katamattyon He is entitled to like it. That doesn't make it good. That just makes it to his liking.
@@odojang Yeah people can disagree about the book but it felt more like he and a few other trusted book youtubers didn't do their due diligence
@@katamattyon Agreed. That being said, there are subjective appreciation (liking it) and objective appreciation (story structure). That,s where we can also evaluate criticism as well as the work itself.
And this is why I know I can rely on you guys. I have _zero_ intrest in reading this one, but it pops up in my Sci-fi/Fantasy feed on occation. A break down like this was exactly what I was looking for. I like Daniel Green's "Fantasy News" show, but I've come to the conclusion that I should NOT take his recomendations seriously.
I was so disappointed when I watched his review of this book
@whiteraven562 to be completely fair Daniel was basically being overly optimistic in believing that a lot of the issues would be addressed in the next book and he made the review before Shad went off the deep end. Also he's stated that he has changed his opinions from that period of time. I agree he should have been harsher anyway.
Dude revealed all the embarrassing parts of his psyche.
as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes to a close, Edmund’s scrimmage with evil has led him to wisdom he did not have before. it's thanks to Edmund, and his knowledge of the White Witch, that Aslan’s army is able to overcome her army before Aslan’s arrival and rescue. Edmund is even willing to risk his life to do so, following the example of Aslan. a child's redemption arc, completed in a ubiquitous children's book, itself based on (arguably) the fundamental founding myth of Western society. all these examples and still, he fumbles it. in blue hair.
Wait, any Stormlight Archives readers in the comments? Because listening to the summary feels like the author read Dalinar’s arc in the Stormlight Archives and said “okay, but what if I made it way worse, turned him into a s*x predator, and then remove any character growth to instead magically turned him young for weird wish fulfillment.” Not to mention the world some of the world building elements (an order of knights absorbing specific light magic to utilize powers that are contingent on them making and keeping specific vows, bonded weapons and armor that can be summoned to the owner, the entire scene with the main character debating whether to kill a kid in a royal line because the cycle of violence with surely continued) seem straight up ripped from that series, especially when looked at as a whole. I think Shad might be the Evil Brandon Sanderson???
It might because both are mormons. And drew from a same weird mormonisms in different ways?
Or maybe its shads fanfic. Ok shad might did stormlight archives fanfic
Oh, I 100% got "Dalinar but written by an author who doesn't understand how redemption arcs work" vibes from this character. Lol
Fun fact: Shad has an acknowledgement in Rhythm of War for being a "primary historical martial arts consultant."
This book reads like Diet Brandon Sanderson.
The thing about Stormlight is that at the very least a huge part of the redemption was a) the character taking full and total responsibility for his actions, actively denying any attempt at deflecting blame, b) Brandon does the exact thing Maria suggests by having the character lose his memories, thereby keeping him more sympathetic and having him discover the truth alongside the audience, and c) fully laying down his arms and (as far as I can remember) never physically fighting his opponents after the first book. There are valid critiques to make of the character, but at the very least it commits to the bit of making him terrible and then actively changing himself to a more diplomatic role, whereas Shad seems to have missed that entire point and just. has him keep doing the exact same things he'd been doing all along.
Isnt Shad friends with Brandon?
From watching the video, I've come to the conclusion that two things are necessary for a satisfactory redemption arc or story: the character has to at least try to act better, and their past actions cannot be forgotten, ignored, or justified. Extra points if your character has a backstory that explains but does not excuse their behavior and if it is acknowledged that the character doesn't automatically deserve forgiveness just because they are better now or because they could have been worse before.
For a good example, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. For a bad example, read this book (or don't).
I'll even add something that I learned from video essayist @PrincessWeekes. And it's that willingly sacrificing themselves to save people does not in and of itself redeem a character for their wrongs. We have to see them do the work.
See, my problem comes in with things like Daylen still being a smirking jackass at his trial about those noblemen he claimed having sex with goats, making that mental observation about "wowie, these women who didn't get kids from rape hate me more than the ones who did", and him self-proclaiming himself to be a better man after his trial. This is not the signs to me of a repentant person. He's still a jackass.
1:53:00 that’s actually a reference to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion who had a wife of that age, at least one of his half a dozen, and in their minds the “greatest man in history” can do no wrong. So that part is actually meant as a good thing for his character in his redemption arc. By directly comparing him to the “great founder “
Shad saw the bad reviews his book was getting and made a full on cope video where he just cherry picked every positive comment people left on Goodreads to try and prove that actually people love his book.
Oh, shit! You guys actually did it. I’ve been wanting you guys to review this book because there was no way I was gonna read it.
A feature length roast.
This story may have worked better, even with the technical robotic descriptions, if Daylen was an engineer or artificer in his life ala The Wind Rises and comes to terms with how his inventions and discoveries about their world had facilitated leaders to commit these atrocities.
Perhaps the suicide scene could be when he loses his ability to create through some means and he obtains a young body and wants to go back to work but through the book, realises the work he had done was harmful. And now he has the question of how to use his abilities to repair and help the people he hurt.
Because technical descriptions of fights and magic can work if the protagonist is someone who would view them in this light and had this as a specialty rather than simply being special
Wait a second...
A world of basically eternal day? The enemies are called Shades and they can only survive in the darkness??
Did Shad just rip that right from Nier: Replicant??? Because thats literally just the setting of the game wtf
"Good artists create, Great artists steal, bad authors get caught."
@@CillranchelloI love that quote.
I dont know what eternal day is, but I did notice a couple similarities with Name of the Wind, like calling hell the Outer Darkness, usung "blackened" as an insult, but I thought these similaities were more cosmetic. Seems like there's other stuff he also picked from better books
@@carydorse705both shad and Patrick Rothfuss are Mormons and Mormons in their afterlife theology call the place the worst people go "outer darkness" to contrast it with where the holiest people go to be with God, the Celestial(sun) place
So they both copied from the same source
Blackened is also a curse in the Mormon and also many other Christian understanding of "the curse of Ham" Ham was the son of Noah and "saw his nakedness" while he was drunk, it's not clear exactly what happened but it shouldn't be understood to be just seeing Noah naked, anyway, Ham is then cursed and this curse is thought to be the reason that the people in Africa have dark skin
this was a common excuse for why it was okay to enslave black people and other colonial atrocities, they had been marked by God as cursed people
Well we are talking about the guy who thinks AI art he generates is *his* art and on par with the original art his brother makes...
There is a book called The Conquerors Shadow that does the this exact kind of story, but we'll and is much older than Shad's work.
I think you guys should read it and compare the two as an example of how redeeming a warlord can actually be done well.
Wow, Shad is even more unoriginal with his generic book titles.
This book kind of reminds me of a married couple I used to play D&D with who would make these really edgy as fuck characters to play as and then would go out of their way to justify their actions so that they aren't "evil". This dude's character used to kill anyone who would have sex with his mother, he killed 300 people during a spy mission and his relationship with one character made her go literally insane. He was rewarded by the end of the campaign by becoming the God of death and moving from "chaotic Evil" to "chaotic good" and any attempt to point out how this character was a literal homicidal, borderline genocidal maniac would be shot down because as long as someone has a reason for their actions, they aren't a bad person. These were the some type of people who say how mature and edgy they were but they couldn't deal with their characters being seen as pieces of shit.
Back in high school my friends and I tried to make a “D&D club” but it went horribly wrong after one session. It’s largely irrelevant what happened, my point being that some people will just use it as a vessel to live out their weirdness, to the detriment of everyone else at the table.
The whole weird rebirth de-aging thing makes a whole lot more sense when you know that he's a mormon, and that mormon doctrine is that when you get to heaven you get put in your ideal (young) body so that you can breed eternally and fill heaven with spiritual children
They believe in what????
@@TheFran2555
Ex Mormon here, born and raised till teen years
Yeahhh they believe they can become literal sex gods. Make sense, seeing as they also teach “consensual shenanigans before marriage” = “cold bloody m*rd*r” and no, I’m not kidding or exaggerating at all.
Something I've not seen people mention, but Shad also 100% just ripped off a TON of Destiny's lore and magic at least at a surface level. The idea of "a large celestial body floating around the world that grants people known as lightbearers a form of magic known as The Light within their body and said celestial body takes on a pseudoreligious role in the society and culture it affects such as mentions of 'the light's will'" is 1000% just the basic lore of Destiny with absolutely 0 changes to make the comparison stronger. If this was coincidental, it is one hell of a coincidence
“I changed!” Daylen continues to do what he always done for the last hundred years or so.
Shad should have wrote the book as an unapologetic villain novel. But dude is so deluded he doesn’t even realize that was what he’s writing because of his own warped beliefs.
It just hit me, when you described how the light is strong in people who 'believe that what they are doing is the right thing'
...
That's just "The Light" from Warcraft.
Like, literally. It is called "The Light", and it only does what you want if you believe yourself to be doing the right thing.
Man I hate this guy.
1:50:09 What do you mean that's weird? A Mormon wrote this, and Mormons view wives and children as personal property. Very Mormon-normal.
Some do. Some mormons are more like normal people, and then alot of them leave the mormon church because they realize it is untenable and immoral. Like I did.
Practcing mormons do. Ex-mormons, by definition, are not mormons anymore.
As an ex-Mormon, I can tell there is a ton of Mormon theology and concepts woven into this world building.
Fellow ex Mormon here! Good on ya for leaving. 😊
Always here for a good Shad roast, no matter what subject.
Is it just me or does 'sunickles' sound a bunch like testicles, so in essence Shad is obsessed with dudes testies???
Shad makes a lot of emphasis on having a hard magic system in his novel. It's arguably his most prominent selling point. Yet, it is inconsistent, ill-defined (despite the massive info dumps), illogical, badly explained, superficially integrated in the worldbuilding, and worst of all, an obvious cope-out/deus-ex-machina plot device like the worst of them. I guess Shad was so engrossed in his power fantasy that he forgot the cardinal rule of his mentor Brian Sanderson: just like flaws for a character, what makes magic great and compelling are its _limitations._
Worst of all... His Gary Stu violates the magic system... thus... it's not hard. It's Shad who misunderstands what "Hard" means. It doesn't mean "having rules to follow" it means, "can be studied like every natural phenomenon"... Like physics.
@@aralornwolf3140 Indeed. A hard magic system is like gravity; with established principles, defined mechanics, specified conditions and influencing factors to both enhance or hamper it. But most of all, _both story and characters stick to it_. like if pushed, they fall. It's meaningless to have 1000 rules and then change, alter or ignore them at the author's convenience. The author doesn't necessarily have to explain it all in-story; as long as he/she knows, understand and follows them consistently, readers will understand it makes sense. Failing to do so, readers will find it and call it out. This is where Shad completely missed the mark.
@@odojang,
You mention gravity... did you know Shad redefined gravity in his novel (to explain why people fall to the bottom of the world and stick to the top of the continents)... and then he contradicted the definition within a couple of chapters?
If Shad can't even keep his own world consistent, do we expect him to get his _magic_ system correct?
@@aralornwolf3140 Quite right. It's not the redefining that is a problem; that's what fantasy is. It's being inconsistent and worse, altered gratuitously to solve (or actually make!) bad plotting. It's the hallmark of bad writers and is the main reason some people dislike or even despise fantasy. Good fantasy is not a question of hard or soft magic systems but of coherence with setting, plot, characters and most of all itself. Shad fails utterly in this and, as you point out, not just with his magic.
I always say the question to ask in world building isn't "how does the magic work?" But "what does the magic mean?" What kind of metaphor is the magic expressing? In star wars it's about learning your true self. In lord of the rings it's primarily about connection to nature, as the world is inherently magical. In earthsea its about understanding, as the main conflict in the first book is resolve by careful study and speaking to the threat. In My Hero Academia it's just a metaphor for growing up. Shad could have done something really clever with a story about contrasting light and dark impulses with people and a magic system and world entirely based in light, but apparently he just wanted to write non-con fetish porn.
Boosting his abilities sounds like he’s just in the DnD world and casts Guidance on himself *cough cough* sorry… uses the power of the Light
I would like to assign 1d4 bonds to my strength
Hey, so I'm one of those people who listened to the book very close to its release date, waaay before Knights Watch became a thing, before all the drama surrounding Shad. At that time I was still fan of his channel and I often found his videos to be very interesting, especially those regarding fantasy warfare.
Even with my shit taste and (at the time) some respect for the man, two issues jumped out to me.
Firstly his understanding of communism isn't just shallow, but just stereotypical. Like, if you read the book, you can see he hasn't read a single publication on the history of the Soviet Union or how the damn thing worked. As a leftist I would love a fantasy book which aims to depict the failings of communist states in an interesting manner, not this "sharing and equality bad" bollock. However, this is more of left-leaning, scholarly nitpick.
My biggest issue is with forgiveness and redemption. Because throuhgout the book, we're shown that Daylen was Stalin (viewed through a narrow, conservative lense) with the sex drive of Lavrentiy Beria. Shad asks the reader and the characters to forgive him. This is awful writing on its own but also begs a more pressing, personal question. If the author thinks this is something you can forgive a character a fictional person for doing, what does Shad think you can forgive someone? I dread to know the answer
A thought occurs because of how much the book can’t fucking let go of Daylen’s appearance. He was a horrible despot, a true tyrant, and the book is uninterested in exploring that at all, but - why *wouldnt* he have built statues and monuments to and of himself everywhere he went? People like him *love* that shit.
So maybe it’s been decades upon decades, and the world thought him dead, and freed or liberated people smashed and tore down as much of his legacy as they could, but I have a feeling that even if *one* character recognized him because they spent most of their life walking past a mural of his older face celebrating his death or walking past a ruined statue of him, that would be good-ass shit. Consequences and legacy and more.
…I’m also only halfway through the video or so, but I won’t even be disappointed if the book doesn’t have one of his bastards show up after having him masquerade as his son the entire time. No confrontation with the actual legacy of his abuse that hates him, no people recognizing his facial features because he left *that many* bastards behind…
Edit: oh lmao it’s even worse than I was expecting.
Hey... he only SA'ed his son that one time...
Instead of "Batman but without the no kill rule" you might wanna switch over to The Punisher for a simile^^
The main evil protagonist trying to kill himself by jumping off a cliff is clearly inspired by God of War 1, making the character a fusion of Batman and Kratos-basically the edgiest character a 16-year-old could come up with.
I used to watch Shadiversity's what weapon this fantasy creature use series before he spiraled into whatever it is hes doing now, and i remember he used to always bring up the manga Berserk. I can see the Berserk influnces for sure, but it's like he didn't understand what made Berserk work.
Dayless/Daylen is like a weird Griffith/Guts hybrid and i think thats why he comes off as contradictory. Griffith is this brutal, ambitious, charismatic conquerer. Guts is traumatized from childhood and only aspires to protect the people he loves. When Guts uses violence it's almost always either self defense or defense of innocent people, whereas Griffith uses violence to achieve his goals without any thought to who will suffer. They do mirror each other in some ways, but they have lots of conflicting character traits so it would be very weird to mix them up like that.
Also, I want to clarify that I don't think it's bad to take inspiration from something you like, the writing here is just bad and that's what I have a problem with.
What's worst is that (I think) he has a video breaking down why his character ISN'T a Mary Sue
Let me guess, he says something like; "fer stahtah's ee's ah MAN!" Then he laughs.
@@MostBronzeChunner,
Nope!
"Mary Sues are like by everyone they meet. Dayless can't be a Mary Sue because he's disliked by everyone for all these grapes!"
Seams something that someone who wrote a Mary Sue/Gary Sue would do.
@@aralornwolf3140 and thats not even true, every Mary Sue character that I have seen has a bunch of enemies who are jealous and are punished by the story (so the Mary Sue can stay innocent).
@@aralornwolf3140 By that logic, Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way isn't a Mary Sue, because she's hated by Snap and Dumblydore.
This is really disturbing. I watched shads vids about castles when i was in school and liked them. I remember when he started talking about this book and i am so happy I didnt buy it.
I am a survivour of CSA and I think teen me reading stuff like that might have been horrible.
He truly is disgusting and the more i learn about him the more disgusted i get.
Perhaps you address it later, but the "women wear clothes so men aren't constantly aroused" verges on "men can't control themselves when women aren't covered". So yeah, Shad trying to argue both sides is weird.
Like saying, obviously men are horny when women show skin, but if women walked around nude all the time men would be less horny.
He's literally saying its cultural and men can control themselves but also defending men who don't at the same time.
Men aren't accountable for their actions, its the clothing's fault SA happens. Women are walking around in wrapping paper and I'm just supposed to not unwrap it. And if women weren't covered, then i wouldn't be horny. So it's not really our fault if you think about it
Except they are horny when the woman is covered, too
Let me get the marshmallows for this roast! 😈🔥Right now this book holds the title for the worst thing I've ever read (though TSS put up a tough fight and didn't want to let go of the champion's belt). It manages to be full of itself, thinking it's some deep introspection into human nature and redemption, while actually wearing horse-blinders. Everything in it is surface-level, lacks empathy and is often times contradictory within its own lore.
i think a book like this would only be interesting in one setting: the original boy in the body he took over trying to break free of his overtaking. he thinks he can be free in this new skin but he slowly starts to lose time, he can’t remember what day it is, he doesn’t know why people start to actually like him more every time he returns. (bc the boy who’s body it is tried so hard to explain what happened, being a good soul who gets others endeared to him) daylen doesn’t think about it tho bc he’s a narcissistic piece of shit, until he walks into a trap they set for him to expel him from the body and realizing that these people didn’t actually like him, they liked the boy that he kept locked under his own wants and needs. it would be what he deserves: being told how much people don’t like him.
OK, I haven't yet listened to the roast, just wanted to write something and then see if you've said something similar.
I didn't read the whole book - only the free chapters. I was terribly bored and really disappointed.
The most boring part was near the end of those free chapters, and that was him learning about his powers while in freefall. It read as a weekly report from a science lab - and not on a week when they made a groundbreaking discovery. He thinks of some aspect of his powers that he is not yet clear on, makes an experiment, files away the result. Bor-ring.
Compare this to the book “Off to be a wizard”, which also features a protagonist experimenting with his new powers. He starts off by accidentally making himself a little bit taller, without even noticing. Then he goes to the bathroom, and while doing his business he notices that the top of a small drawer there is dusty. He does clean his apartment regularly; but he doesn't always clean that particular surface, because he can't see it. He then spends a few moments trying to process that contradiction, until noticing that he's peeing on the floor.
Later he figures he can teleport. He tries to do so, moving just a few meters (he's not unreasonable). It works, but he was sitting when he started; now he is in a sitting position without any support. So, he falls and hurts his ass.
Later yet he tries to teleport a meter above. It also works, but gravity works too; he falls a meter down, fails to keep his balance, falls and hurts his ass again.
This goes for a while; but it's always attempt-setback, attempt-setback. Shad's protagonist, on the contrary, goes attempt-success, attempt-success. He doesn't understand that what makes things interesting is failure. Nobody cares about a superhero walking home from a party, stumbling into a couple of robbers, and beating them up; what's interesting is a superhero walking home very intoxicated, stumbling into a couple of robbers, and getting his ass profoundly kicked. Or, alternatively, it's also interesting to read about a couple of robbers who made a smooth escape, but then randomly stumbled into a superhero who wasted no time beating them up.
Prior to that, there was this duel scene, with the main guy, who is still near death, challenging a younger dude to a duel to teach him a lesson. This is especially frustrating, since Shad actually knows a lot about swordfights - or appears to know. Even I could think of a couple of ways how this guy could compensate for his age. He could, for example, choose a location creatively, so that he stands on a smooth rock, while his opponent is constantly tripping on an uneven terrain. Or he could fight so that sun blinds his opponent - well, I understand that in this world there is no sun, and light just comes from everywhere, but still he could, for example, fight near the edge of a forest, and stand facing the forest, which would be naturally darker. Anyway, by being creative he could do something interesting. Instead, the guy just soldiers up and pushes through it. I am willing to believe that an old, frail guy can win a duel with a young, strong, but inexperienced opponent; but I can't believe something when there is nothing to believe in. As a smart woman once said, “Don't give me songs, give me something to sing about”.
Anyway, that's my rant. Watching now.
Update: oh, there is a sun? I might be misremembering it. Sorry, it's been a while.
Yep, him having to resort to trickery and getting lucky , could really be interesting.
To show how old he is, and in duels only winning really counts, but him barely lucks winning could be fun.
And like thats usually the other dead
Shad is the older brother of Jazza, but they seem to be exact opposites.
Apparently Jazza got all the talent and Shad got the...
That's because Jazza and Shad experienced religious Trauma... Shad retreated to narcissistic traits to feel adequate...whereas Jazza just retreats to his room and cries about how inadequate of a person he is for asking people to donate money to him... so he could have this really cool studio where he could produce these really cool art concepts and create YT videos in.
Jazza is self-aware. Shad refuses to be.
I also gotta shout out for my favorite podcast, if you think they're suddenly not going to be as entertaining or analytical when they review a good book you're majorly wrong. Their videos reviewing the Witcher books, House of the Scorpion, and Legends and Lattes have all been hits for me and it's so fun to just listen to them talk about a book I haven't read myself and I'm just as able to keep up on the conversation that's happening.
Also if you're, since yeah the Mormon topic is talked about and how it impacts the work, they practice what they preach as they show in their stellar Hyperion Cantos 6 part review. Yeah the author did a fantastic job writing those and they praised it while also acknowledging that the author was his own weird views that they don't agree with. So yeah Shad, it's not because of your (weird) beliefs, it's 100 percent a skill issue here.
I'm so disappointed, I had no idea what his views were or even what this book was really about. I just knew Shad from his videos about weapons and armour etc, and I really like them and always found them super informative. Not sure I'll be able to watch them now.
Worst part is, you can’t even watch those videos for truly accurate information. Shad has had conflict with HEMA ever since he found out he’s not THAT good compared to actually trained sword fighters.
Reading this book killed all my enthusiasm for his channel and content.
I heard a rumor. Shhhhh. Shad provides the other mormon fantasy author--not Joseph Smith, with weapons expertise in his writing.
I looked into that and it seems to have been confirmed by Brando himself.
This explains so much...
@@spiderlegspinch9001 hard gag..
Not a rumor. As I told another commenter, he has an acknowledgement in Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive #4) for his historical expertise lol
Let’s not compare the two though. By all accounts, Brandon is absolutely nothing like Shad in terms of personality or values. Or if he is, he hides it extraordinarily well. For a Mormon, Sanderson seems remarkably liberal.
It's funny how perfectly the fact that Shad is a mormon explains this book
I saw Shad in the thumbnail and as a gay guy, I immediately clicked. Watching his book get torn apart was a true joy and pleasure to listen to.
We understand...your tribalism ("as a gay guy") is good, Shad's (Mormonism) is bad. Way to take the higher ground there bud.
lmao.
Also way to show how not be an example.
@@therealcirclea762
Yeah, nice false equivalency
One is a member of a group that wants to live, love and be largely left alone
The other has called the first group abominations, freaks of nature and god, and has convinced them that they are wrong simply by existing. -source, was a Mormon for the first 15 years of life
And you really want to say they’re the same thing. Clack your brain cells together and *try again*
Always roast Shad. Roasted Shad is my favorite flavor of Shad.
@therealcirclea762 You spelled "I'm a bigot and a troll" wrong, sorry mate.
@@therealcirclea762 weird. The Mormon wasn't mentioned. Weird thing to jump on
I haven't read this book, but it sounds like "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic"'s plot lifted and cranked to 11.
Shad's brother is a well-known artist on UA-cam. This was all for him to prove to himself that he's creative too. You know, in addition to the book being a CRAZY power fantasy.
I used to be a fan of Shadiversity, before his turn to (or reveal as) a chud.
When he first announced this I was interested in reading it, but was rapidly turned off it by what Shad himself and his fans said about it.
Not the gross SA appologia (because none of them mentioned anything about that). But they all talked in glowing terms about "how well-designed the magic system was", and how detailed the combat was. In a way that made me suspect (and as you confirm) that it's more like RPG mechanics than an actual readable story.
One big irony: one of Shad's early turns to culture-warriordom was his very critical review of the _Captain Marvel_ movie. And it seems that a lot of his complaints about that _also apply to this novel_. Notably that the protagonist was vastly overpowered and never faced any serious challenges. And that they were arrogant, and brutally killed people they thought were bad-guys. And then they changed sides, but didn't fundamental change or grow in personality: no realisation that their behaviour or attitude had been wrong, just a switch in who they thought were the bad-guys that they meeded to kill.