Shadow of the Conqueror is an uncomfortable power fantasy.

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[@GeahkBurchill]

I think Shad thought in his head, “sure, I think I could forgive Hitler…”, and because he doesn’t have enough ability to understand other people’s perspectives, goes on to think, “…therefore everyone should be able to forgive Hitler.”

[@stingerjohnny9951]

Mormons in a nutshell. 🤷‍♂️

[@emptyptr9401]

Not gonna lie I think stories that dissect how "evil" people think and explore themes of how there are no fundamentally "good" or "bad" people and show why/how people who do very bad shit do that very bad shit and how even very "bad" people have good end genuine sides (But also how those good and genuine sides do not make the bad they did any better and how those 2 can coexist) ect. can be very interesting, compelling and complex. And as I am sure is obvious by now, I personally really love those kinds of stories. Bojack Horseman did this really well for example I think. However, of course topics like this have to be treated very carefully and tastefully, and if it takes the form of a power fantasy like this seems to be from what I heard, I don't think its its very likely to be tasteful. Especially since the character in this example did such extremely bad things... Properly dissecting and humanising a character like that takes a shit ton of skill and care when to be done tastefully.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@emptyptr9401 And it’s a challenge you should probably NOT attempt to take on as a fledgeling writer with the main protagonist of your first fucking book. Just a thought.

[@emptyptr9401]

@@stingerjohnny9951 Fair enough

[@GeahkBurchill]

@@emptyptr9401 My point is more about the in-universe people. In reality, there are plenty of people-maybe Shad included-who might forgive Hitler if he survived and redeemed himself… but they would be the minority. _Most_ people would not. That should also be true in fiction.

[@calebjohnson7592]

"I'm evil, it turns out! I had never considered this before!" --every career politician

[@kredonystus7768]

Don't be silly. Career politicians don't have self awareness.

[@dard1515]

I wanted them to execute Daylen and watch him involuntarily resurrect himself. Then they keep trying, eventually granting those with grievances (read: everyone) to kill him once themselves. Like a raffle off Rasputin story

[@LogistiQbunnik]

Ooh, a bit dark but that would add another dimension yeah. Now we would have to think about the people who do or don't go along with the executing in revenge and their motivations!

[@citricdemon]

there's an orson Scott card short story about that. It's called "a thousand deaths".

[@ceinwenchandler4716]

That might get pretty time-consuming, though. I'd assume that "everyone" includes several million people.

[@paulsmart4672]

@@ceinwenchandler4716 The world of rebuilding and recovery after such tragedies is long and arduous.

[@jordanjoestar-turniptruck]

@ceinwenchandler4716 if the whole first book was written better, it would be an interesting sequel to focus on a character who waited their turn for decades and they're conflicted in the healing journey because facing up to him even for vengeance might become an emptional setback after moving on and trying to live normally for so long. I mean as long as Shad is so deadset on the theme of "forgiveness."

[@amberprice9003]

To paraphrase another comment i've seen, "evil tyrant seeking redemption" is the plot of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest recorded story. And yet Shad couldn't learn a single thing from it

[@diro5910]

“It’s this guy, he likes swords” Yes that is the best description of Shad.

[@AthEE_One]

Likes swords and hates women who wear pants.

[@saucerr3691]

Hard fantasy is in fact not at all related to pornography? Didn't see that coming.

[@ashertheprophet9601]

Madness

[@FringeSpectre]

@@ashertheprophet9601 Madness? No.. THIS. IS. SPARTA!

[@4Mr.Crowley2]

I’d call this Flaccid Fantasy in terms of genre.

[@jaceladag]

HOLY HECK, THAT'S WHAT SHAD'S BOOK IS ABOUT?!

[@great-wall-of-nowhere9377]

An interpretation

[@Seetor]

@@great-wall-of-nowhere9377 no, it's pretty explicitly about this.

[@snapslav]

@@RisefromyourGRAVE I think the Hitler comparisons were pretty off-base, because Daylen is MUCH more comparable to Stalin. And yes, I realize that's not really any improvement! XD

[@chronotrigger3919]

@@alexmag342 and killed millions of jews because he needed a scapegoat to fuel his regime by bullying a subsect of people for political gain, no no i think he wasn't that much better than the "big noses" he was "protecting" his people from

[@stephengrant4841]

@@chronotrigger3919 dudes a literal neo-nazi with the argument he just made. He wont understand that whatsoever.

[@AHEM1313]

To be fair, the 28 million figure is the total death figure for all of the wars that Daylen and his empire ever participated in, not just the people he killed in genocides and purges. If you included every soldier who died in Europe during World War II as personally killed by Hitler, he'd easily go into the 40-50 million range.

[@OmegaF77]

Stalin: "Gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers in this racket."

[@jackmakila3776]

@@OmegaF77 fr thats light work only like 2.9 stallingrads

[@AvengerAtIlipa]

​@@OmegaF77Mao: 闭嘴 业余的

[@oliverhendrix8176]

@@OmegaF77 Mao: “Checkmate, Pringlesman.”

[@shadiversity]

Is it strange that I really loved this review, didn't make me uncomfortable one ^_^ Cheers mate, thanks also for the shout-out.

[@floridamancode_e2673]

burger discovered this comment live on stream and freaked out lol.

[@TheBurgerkrieg]

Damn I didn't expect this to reach the big man himself. I like your content mate, I really do, thanks for taking a look

[@tcdahn7]

If it was a big Hollywood production I would cast Jesse Plemons as young Daylen and Harvey Keitel to play old Daylen. Considering the Ballardian(J.G. Ballard) world you created, you would need to use deep fake technology to emote the actors.... ever since I read Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, I wanted to see a scene of someone falling at terminal velocity actually figuring out how they will survive. It's like Point Break meets Life of Pi.

[@amaas211]

How was r@p3 forgiven!?

[@dr.stronk9857]

@@amaas211 he isn’t forgiven, he’s a slave for the avengers now

[@jjhh320]

Daylen cut a deal with the government, while the remnants of his regime are erased and everyone else who partook in it reaped the consequences of what he created. They couldn't be redeemed, of course. But conveniently, the former dictator could. Same old story, really. Just wish that had been the angle -- that redemption conveniently happens for people who are of use to those with power. The religious, philosophical intent keeps it from being any deeper than it is, ironically.

[@garful]

I couldn't help but laugh when you said he knew what he was talking about. He's infamous as a larper who skews the truth

[@boxofmadness2511]

i dont think its a bad book...i dont think its a good book either, i mean its definitely a book thats for sure, its papery, has words in it, it looks like a book to me

[@stephengrant4841]

It's definitely one of the books ever made

[@hz.kemalpasa2997]

Did you check if it was a dossier? If it’s not then it’s definitely a book. Written by someone… who wrote words.

[@serpentsembrace782]

Man, I miss when Shad was just that guy who really likes swords, instead of an AI image apologist who regularly allows ableist slurs on his channel.

[@kiwwat4139]

Don’t forget the RAMPANT homophobia.

[@Needler13]

Yeah, he kinda got retarded

[@SeanMendicino-n3d]

@@kiwwat4139 Homophobia? Ablest slurs? Examples?

[@kiwwat4139]

@@SeanMendicino-n3d For homophobia, there is a lot to find on his "Knight's Watch" channel. His line of reasoning seems to be: He claims not to have anything against the gays, but he does not want to need to see them in public and in media. Nor does he think that they are relationships of "equal value" to hetero ones. And he made like a reaction video on that channel to a documentary on homosexuality in nature and that was... quite bad. That video made some indirect allusions at the whole 'gay = predator' stereotype and... that video on the whole was quite bad.

[@straightjacket308]

Boohooohooo! Cry me a river.

[@hz.kemalpasa2997]

What is more disturbing is not the fact Epstalin was forgiven. It was how the book handled women and abuse. A girl who was raped for a long time doesn’t offer herself as damaged goods to the first man she sees the moment she is freed. The women who got raped when they were children in disgusting ways and had to go into labor don’t look at their rapist and say “this guy gave me a child and made me happy so he’s okay” meanwhile the rape victims who had no children stayed silent. People don’t spend years with child abuse and genocide as their main hobbies and at one point just become good people. Book felt too much like a libertarian’s rape/murder apology at some points. Hope Shad keeps his sick fantasies to himself from now on and never authors anything remotely like that again.

[@damarcuscolfer1485]

Boo hoo hoo. Grow up

[@hz.kemalpasa2997]

@@damarcuscolfer1485 👍

[@jordanjoestar-turniptruck]

One one hand, some girls do that either out of habit or as a forom of self harm because prolonged trauma does weird things to the brain, but on the other hand, Shad shouldn't clearly shouldn't be writing them anyway seeing as he completely glosses over and even normalized it

[@El_Dissident]

Ep-Stalin - that's the word I was looking for to describe this character, thank you!

[@ObjectiveZoomer]

His main flaw is that he used be Joseph Stalin

[@saheliumd7182]

I think he starts out as Che Guvera, then Hitler, then Stalin and ends as Mao.

[@personman8734]

Honestly his combat , strategical and diplomatic skill is what I would expect from the guy who at one point was a violent dictator.

[@laughingseagull000]

Stalin mixed with Jimmy Savile

[@sunking5939]

nah, he hitler. does this bother you?

[@edwinsuijkerbuijk5106]

yes it might be more like Stalin. Also because when talking about his book has referred to the empire the main character used to rule as a communist utopia.

[@Kid.B-Kid.B]

It very much seems like Shad's narcissism was a play when creating the perfect at everything main character. His arrogance probably shrouded him from seeing that he put his enter self image into the character.

[@jasonh8592]

God. I cannot believe the wheezy, chronic fatigue guy was an AMERICAN styled conservative.

[@vicenteignacioromero-corsa6162]

Redemption for a guy like him? Yeah, nah...not even as a joke.

[@ExplorerElderStar]

Bro I didnt realize Burger got ahead of this whole thing 4 years ago

[@evo_is_confused]

Something I like about it is that "Shadow of the Conqueror" in the terms of the culture means something more like "Sinfulness of the Conqueror". Which works very well.

[@inoroth2001]

That's actually pretty cool -- a real shout out to the worldbuilding influencing the rest of the work!

[@mahtimonni97]

The algorithm randomly showed me this video. And clean shaven Burgerkrieg was a legit jumpscare. Not trying to shame the past you! But a beard does suit you much better

[@evo_is_confused]

You're missing out the point when Ahrek tried to extremely violently kill Daylen before the forgiveness.

[@rainick]

That is an important bit, true.

[@jamesconlon8429]

Wrong right out the gate.... Shad is not a trained sword fighter

[@OntarioBearHunter]

Thank you for saying that.. was about to say the same.. he took a couple HEMA classes..lol.. his excuse is whatever his health problem of the month is, which varies in severity depending on how crappy his channel is doing.

[@sebastianb.3978]

And he sure as muck is not an expert of anything he ever rambles about, be that writing, medieval weaponry and warfare, or modern media. Just another grifter😂

[@ObjectHistory]

Fact check- Shad is in no way whatsoever a, "trained sword fighter." He larps in his backyard with his employees sometimes but he's never studied for any real length of time with any teacher or school, in any weapon. Yet he relentlessly promotes himself as trained, and an expert, which is why basically the entire HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) community, who should be his people, will have nothing to do with him.

[@ahumblemerchant241]

IMO, I liked it. But I wouldn't recommend it to most people. And I completely agree with the it being extremely "Uncomfortable." And I didn't feel the whole 'Power Fantasy" thing. But that's because I uh... *really* didn't want to insert myself into Daylan. I *reallyyy* didn't want to. All in all, I agree with the assessment of it being mediocre. But it was an interesting read.

[@dr.stronk9857]

Yeah I agree I felt no power fantasy from this and found it interesting but dang I had no idea it was gonna be so dark, like I’m currently 14 and picked this up because I’m a fan of shad and fantasy, shad didn’t necessarily traumatize me, but it was not what I expected, overall I enjoyed it and I’m gonna hope my mom forgets she bought it for me and never asks to read it lol

[@rickardspaghetti]

10:48 Now, now, he's got one good quality over Hitler. He's not a racist supremacist and none of his genocides were racially motivated.

[@heikkipalola6760]

Racism in itself isnt bad. No matter the reason genicides are all equally bad. I don't get why people think racism is the evil thing in america as well, it was slavery, and because the slaves were from africa, they ended up being black, and then because slaves were black, racism increased.

[@turtleboy1188]

That changes nothing

[@personman8734]

I don’t think it’s a very debatable to say racism is inherently a terrible thing and should not be treated as okay.

[@None38389]

@@heikkipalola6760 While I would tend to agree that racism doesn't always come from evil intentions, it should still be considered universally "bad" because it ensues factually incorrect delusions regardless of the intention.

[@heikkipalola6760]

@@None38389 yes i meant more in the context of genocides. All genocides no matter what they are based on are bad. Don’t remember what slaves had to do with it.

[@CanisMythson]

I wouldn't say he's good at everything. Daylen is clearly quite bad at talking to people.

[@InnerAtanih]

But everyone does what he wants and tolerates him anyway

[@OscarGomez-hg8cb]

I’m not sure the book would agree though… he’s objectively bad at talking to people but a lot of people seem to think he’s charismatic and charming

[@ethanrumley746]

*Prepares the ritual of sommoning The Long-Man, and his Heil Hound* "We gather here today, my Ewoks... Praise Be the Don"

[@Battfro]

It's funny how this review has aged. Because all the other sword youtubers have pointed out he's a hack since this video aired. I am not an expert to discuss it enough, but, essentially, my understanding from the drama is they don't know how to do the things they say they do.

[@meclaran5377]

Based on what I have heard, I would say that "The King David" series gives an realistic outcome on what happens when a ruler takes everything from someone, an guaranteed betrayal/ revenge.

[@AudraT]

Pretty good review. I agree with everything except him not being a Mary Sue. First, you said there are people that could kick his butt, but that never happened, least none that I could remember. And believe me, I wanted someone to beat that guy so bad, and I was actually angry when it didn't happen. Anywho, Daylen always managed to beat the person he was fighting, usually by figuring out how to use his magic in a way that no one had ever thought of before. He usually figured it out on the fly, within a few minutes of merely thinking about it. He even used his magic abilities to enhance his intelligence, something no one had ever thought of doing before, so he could figure out a way to use his magic, in yet another way no one had ever thought of doing before, to beat the person he was dueling against. See the theme here. Also, you are right, there is no way Ahrek/Churchill would have ever been able to forgive. However, do not forget the supernatural element in the book. The reason why Ahrek forgave was because of the Light that Ahrek accepted into his life. Only the Light could have made it possible- at least, I think that's what the author meant. The influences of the Light was handled kind of clunky sometime in the book. With that being said, do watch the Shadiversity channel. It is one of my favorite channels and I've been following him for several years :-)

[@therizinosaurus214]

Shad goes out of his was to showcase Daylan's intelligence in the world's physics, engineering, battle strategies, and history. His knew practically nothing about light binding, and system of testing and figuring out is not unusual leaning basics. Though it did not always work in his favor, he blew off his feet in one instance and died and revived in another. One thing that sets Daylen apart from Hitler and Stalin, is he came to realization he is not the hero he thought he was while in hiding. He came to the understanding just how much of a monster he was.

[@andrewfriday2521]

Not going to lie bud, ur making me want to read this lol. I don't even like hard fantasy

[@kingxkai1179]

I’m hope you’ve had the opportunity to read it by now because it is worth a read. And I’m more into sci-fi than fantasy so perhaps that says something about it quality.

[@aralornwolf3140]

It's only "hard fantasy" because the author makes that claim. It's not. It's a "pull whatever I want out of my ass" type of magic system. This includes giving the BBEG a sword which violates all the rules presented... but don't worry, it's not violating the laws of magic, it was forged from a very special forge! It also made the BBEG more powerful than the Magic Knights, 4 strands of "power" over he knights 3 because BBEG really, really wanted a do over. Unfortunately, his worldbuilding is also bad as it requires _magic_ to function. Too bad it is also self-contradictory. So, if you violate the rules of your hard fantasy setting to make your BBEG a Gary Stu... did you really write a Hard Fantasy setting?

[@fredranzalot4849]

Unfortunately, this book was just the first sign of something worse.

[@maxstone3779]

**Spoiler Warning** The archknights might know about the intelligence thing, but it sounds like there is a risk of injury in doing it. Also I think the Archknight did not discover everything because they wanted to specialize their skills. Which makes them twice as strong. That would keep people from experimenting due to losing that advantage.

[@maxstone3779]

I had mixed feelings about the ending. The more I thought about, the more it made sense. I believe the leaders dont trust Dayless, but to kill him would discredit the archknights. And the archknights keep the world from chaos. So it ends up being a would you rather. It is possible the leaders will try to kill Dayless later to resolve this issue.

[@rainick]

Yeah I got that sense from the intelligence thing too, including other attributes that have to do with the mind. I think there is some foreshadowing there that will come back to bite him in the ass. Although honestly I feel like, Skill with the sword, should fall in the same category.

[@sirzorg5728]

Had to stop at the spoilers part because I actually plan on reading this one when I get some time.

[@TheUnchosenOne]

Its worth reading, the twist is ballsy as hell. 0% bitchmade author, if nothing else.

[@lynararosewater923]

I've been considering checking it out, and still might (with very curved expectations). This is a case where spoilers are a good thing. If I hadn't known all this and had read it I would not be pleased. At least now I can prepare myself. Thank you Burger.

[@Jeff55369]

Do you think Hitler thought he was evil? It seems to me, most people who have power and do crappy things to people, believe they have the right to do those things. The masses are just possessions to these people so it doesn't really matter what happens to them. The divinity of the individual (the thing that allows us to understand other people have the right to be treated well) is a very christian concept and without that cultural influence, self reflection about one's actions toward others becomes much more difficult.

[@BrOkEnLiBeRtYbElL]

Hitler was a known antisocial, probably leaning toward being a psychopath. He probably felt no remorse for his actions until they came back to bite him.

[@sebastianb.3978]

While it may have originally been a christian concept (and I do have my reservations about that, looking st some acts of the past commited in the name of Christ) , it is certainly innacurate to insinuate all non-christians struggle with it. Ironically, the people in my life who tend to treat those around them like crap are in large part religious (the type who tells everyone you're going to die painfully and be tortured in hell for not agreeing with their every opinion).

[@Archone666]

​@@BrOkEnLiBeRtYbElL Hitler felt no remorse for the killing of Jews or other "undesirables." But he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing. That's what makes him so awful, and so compelling. He's a cautionary tale, a warning of the dangers of doing evil while telling yourself you're justified because your cause is just. Hitler thought he was the good guy up until the very end. By contrast, Daylen is just an awful... thing. Even his motivations for his evil actions make no sense. "I buried my grief by having lots of sex. Then I got kinky, so I got into rape and abuse. I told myself it was okay because the whores were clearly into it. Then I told myself that nobody could live with themselves after what I'd done to them, so I had them killed." Seriously, WTF!? Hitler married a woman and was by all accounts very loving towards her. He filled mass graves and ovens with victims of ethnic cleansing, not the victims of his deranged fetishes. (yes, Shad managed to make a protagonist who was, quite literally, worse than Hitler)

[@666FallenShadow]

lmao the brain rot is insane. i'm sure humans naturally evolving empathy since we're fucking social animals has nothing to do with anything, no it was Christianity that invented that concept. good thing nature also invented christian wolves and lions so they don't just brutally murder each other constantly. gtfo

[@DoctorM42]

I think Archnknights knew about channeling power into their intelligence. They don't do it because it probably does lasting irreversible damage - each dime Daelyn does it he gets killer headaches that get worse every time.

[@danthiel8623]

He died once due to that I think unsure.

[@AudraT]

@@danthiel8623 I think he died of guilt though and not from some physical damage.

[@gwynbleidd1917]

This book sounds so utterly stupid. I don't think I've ever heard of a dumber concept/plot for a book. It blows my mind that this book gets so many positive reviews.

[@AudraT]

Yeah, it blows my mind too. I think apart of the reason for so many positive reviews is a lot of his KZbin fan base is rating the book. Err, please don't take me for insulting his fan base as I'm apart of that base. I just think there is a bias there that really helped put the blinders on for a lot of his readers. Now, this book genuinely has some really powerful concepts in it. I was almost moved to tears even by something that happened in the end. This book is just a diamond in the rough.

[@DoctorM42]

Also Ahrek is not a normal person. He's basically a saint if you go by Christian metrics. The kind of superpowers he have go away the moment he stops being a saint.

[@Neo2266.]

About the Hitler comparison: while Dayless is worse than Hitler on a personal level (As far as we know, Hitler wasn't a rapist nor did he have anger issues that would have him mutilate a man out of anger), in terms of his influence in the world, Dayless is not as bad as Hitler. You're comparing the Holocaust, a systemic killing of jews lasting for about 6 years, to the entire rule of Terror of Dayless the conqueror. If you were to actually compare it to Hitler's rule and what that caused, Dayless doesn't even compare. Hitler, through WW2 indireclty killed around 50 000 000 soldiers of all nations partaking in the war + around 20 to 35 Million civillians. Around 3% of the World's population at the time. Not to mention the absolute destruction of several cities and countless villages, and all manner of infrastructure. Dayless actually managed to win his war and ensure order for a couple of years too, whilst Hitler totally failed in all of his goals, and only caused a major setback for Germany and his allies. Dayless is not as bad as Hitler, he's closer to a short-lived Genghis Khan if anything

[@AudraT]

I was wondering how the murder-death-kill rate of Daylen compared with an actual tyrant. I could have looked up the numbers, but I never cared enough to actually do it. Daylen's kill count being half of what Hitler's was does make sense as the world in Tellos is about half the size of Earth.

[@teutonicknight23]

Maybe Kinda like Timur?

[@Adrolesien]

Dayless is more comparable to Stalin

[@ervvmuller6020]

Executing Daylen wouldn't to the question justice, can an evil like that be forgiven? Also, the death penalty wouldn't do justice to the crime. Death is clearly not enough. But if death won't do what will? Torture? How long? What will an endless agonizing torture do? What good would it achieve? Will any of his victims feel better then? Won't the procedure of torturing him as long as physically possible mentally scare anyone to perform or watch it? If we demanded it wouldn't it turn us into monsters? What else is there then? I am on board with the critique of him being unnecessarily powerful. Stronger Lightbindig than anyone and on top Master at anything. It would have been relatively easy to change the story to him not being an over-the-top master Sunsmith (Which could have been some guy in his staff long dead now) him not being a Master pilot (The crazy stunt with the ship could have been performed by basically anyone else) him not be a master engineer (just like the Sunsmith thing) it is necessary thou that he can engineer to some extent of expertise but not the this ridicules level of him 20 years after not doing anything of actual meaning knowing more than anyone else in the world about engineering (We are talking about weapon engineering, aircraft engineering, defense network engineering. All fields were there is plenty of motivation to come up with innovation with in 20 years or even more). Master tactician is also not necessary for the story. Just tame it a bit and you are fine. Master swordsman is basically the only trope really necessary for telling the story. Shad has brought his unbelievably cool story unnecessarily into Mery-Sue territory and endangered the real point of the whole plot due to his need to satisfy his power fantasy. That actually hurts.

[@AudraT]

Agree 100%. Also, I really liked your explanation of why the death penalty, or any penalty, wouldn't have brought peace to any of the victims. This was an element from the book that I thought was done brilliantly. This is why, even though I only scored the book a 2 out of 5, I still think it would have made a good novel for book club. If no penalty was enough to bring peace, then what would have? Err, this last question is rhetorical.

[@ervvmuller6020]

@@AudraT thx

[@ervvmuller6020]

@@AudraT, I believe (and I know that Shad believes this too) that nothing apart from forgiveness will bring peace. But you can't demand to be forgiven. It can only be granted. But that's not what the book tells you. It leaves you to make up your own mind after a rollercoaster ride of emotions in all directions. Because of it, I would give it a 4,5 out of 5 despite all the critiques I have about it.

[@AudraT]

@@ervvmuller6020 4.5 is very generous!

[@ervvmuller6020]

@@AudraT, I know you gave it only a 2 out of 5, and I understand why. And you are fully justified. Ist just that I think a powerful message about forgiveness is a lot more important than a good novel. But I understand entirely if not everyone prioritizes this way. This book leaves quite a bit to be criticized.

[@BrexerBlue]

I personally enjoy the First-Person perspective, smartass characters, a logical plot in a noval. Genres: Grimdark, Hard Sci-fi Book Suggestions: 1. Challenge Unbound Deathlord by Edward Castle; 2. Columbus Day Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson;

[@theGrabix]

For some "smartass characters" and "logical plot" (of course to a degree) i recommend "Harry Potter and Methods of Rationality" (even if you don't know the original HP)... Also the book is available for free (obviously, because the author doesn't have right to the characters :) )

[@BrexerBlue]

@@theGrabix - I'll give it a try, thank you

[@zeldagonzalez2851]

Welp this aged poorly

[@devourlordasmodeus]

I really like that sticky bread joke too

[@mr.vercotti9509]

“He likes swords.”

[@UltraTtrpger]

Came here from your WoD videos and was shocked at the vast difference in your looks.

[@androgenius_alisa]

Your praise of Shad sounds so... modest You are like a super cool artist and shad defends his cringe AI pictures in endless arguments

[@nahuelmat]

Shad isn't a trained sword fighter nor has studied historical martial arts. He's an informed enthusiast at best and most definitely doesn't know what he's talking about a lot of the times. For trained (and teacher of) historical martial arts you have channels like Scholagladiatoria. Matt Easton not only has (I believe it's decades by now) of swordfighting experience AND is educated in archeology.

[@JohnBluemon]

I'd like to see you review the other books from him.

[@llywyllngryffyn8053]

A very entertaining and accurate assessment of the book. My opinions about the story might differ a bit but I definitely enjoyed the video.

[@raptorskilltor4554]

By god the main character is an isekai protagonist

[@berilsevvalbekret772]

No my dude. CLOSURE is how you get rid of the heaviness not through forgiveness.

[@donaghb7307]

What reputation do KZbinrs who have published books have?

[@nicolopez2181]

all of it

[@donaghb7307]

@@nicolopez2181 oh dear

[@donaghb7307]

@stockart whiteman ah I see. Is it accurate?👀

[@veemie8148]

@stockart whiteman I feel like it's a bit disingenuous to soley associate crappily ghost-written autobiographies with youtubers since it's a common practice among anyone with enough media presence and an easily pleased audience.

[@whosaidthat84]

I bought Jenna Moreci's Eve the Awakening and Terrible Writing Advice's Aeon Legion. I DNF'd both. Eve was awfully written and Aeon Legion had cool ideas but extremely amateurish writing.

[@evo_is_confused]

I'm still sad about Cueseg

[@destinytroll1374]

😥

[@Pererro4ever]

So the protagonist is basically the most OP version of Batman with the most powerful super powers in the world but hes *almost* a Mary Sue?

[@craykard8325]

That was a fair and balanced review.

[@Don-Scrima]

To be fair, Ahrec didn’t “just forgive him,” he chased him down and tried to kill him for several hours until he succeeded. At that point, Ahrec realized he was at the same starting point that Dayless was on and forgave him to avoid going down the same path.

[@nekomaru856]

How does killing hitler put you on the same path as hitler?

[@AngelCakes1997]

@@nekomaru856Antisemitism is contagious, maybe? Maybe it’s, like, an inherited curse? The Curse of Jew Hating!

[@Archone666]

​@@nekomaru856 Because Dayless was the only one who could save the world at that point, but nobody wanted to listen to him because he was Epstein Hitler. Which doesn't make the book any less awful, I'm just explaining why Ahrec decided to forgive him (as opposed to saying, "okay, I'll listen to what you're saying, an Enemy Mine situation... AFTERWARDS I can kill you.").

[@QuantumTap]

the paragraph where Daylen is sitting in a field minmaxxing his powers was great

[@iangrau-fay3604]

As Richard Morgan fan "uncomfortable subject matter" has become standard.

[@stellar7933]

I don't get the bread joke

[@rikhenry9701]

I don't respect Shad and this main character sounds legit sounds like how he comes across.

[@captainbirch2.079]

I feel like a better way to do the whole "he used to be hitler" thing would be to have the main character show up without remembering who he was, becomes a good person, THEN finds out he used to be evil.

[@666FallenShadow]

that's already been done before in a certain star wars game and yes it worked significantly better. it probably also helped that the character wasn't as extremely evil as a child rapist so there's also that 🤷‍♀🤷‍♀

[@thefantasyreview8709]

Great review. I did a review on it, partly because I was perplexed after seeing good comments and some seriously bad ones, and wanted to make up my mind. Overall, I think your review is pretty damn accurate...and honest. Shadow of the Conqueror has good bits, but overall its flawed. The MCs are seriously overpowered, the plot is not great...and yeah, I think the book gets a lot of criticism for Daylen being *the master of everything* The writing didn't bother me so much, but yeat, its OK but not inspiring. The huge technodumps could have been pulled out of the book and put in an appendix :-) The biggest thing going for it is the concept of having Adolf hitler as your main character, which was a great idea.

[@versebuchanan512]

Isn't Shad currently the one whining about youtube being mean to him despite his patreon income and merch sales?

[@Guille2033]

Beardless Burger is so uncanny I love it

[@BlacklistUniverse]

Would you like to review the first volume of the Graphic Novel for Shadow of the Conqueror? I'm the artist, FYI. But you could just ask Shad for the PDF too. :)

[@andrewcamden]

All that is needed for true evil to triumph is for good people to let it out of prison after it pinkie-swears that it won't rape and murder anymore. (Note this does not apply to the vast majority of prisoners who are NOT mass-murdering serial rapists.) A mass-murdering rapist is by definition the kind of incredibly selfish person who would NOT attempt to fix his mistakes. If he were to claim as much, that would simply be a self-serving attempt to regain his power and influence. Anyone who cooperated with such a person would be as morally compromised as the judge in Bolivia who allowed a serial killer to go free (and begin killing again) because he was such a good boy in prison. Actually this kind of thing happens a lot. No less than Norman Mailer once got a pathologically selfish murderer out of prison (he murdered again) and the authorities in Austria once released that country's most famous serial killer with predictable results. Even Ted Bundy once escaped from prison and went back to murdering children because he convinced his jailers to let their guards down. After being placed on death row, he very nearly pulled the same trick again by convincing James Dobson and many others that he REALLY had become a good Christian now. The only ethical thing to do with a murderer short of killing him is to put him in a place where he can repent to but NEVER be in a position to harm an innocent person again if he doesn't. I understand the idea of forgoing the death penalty but allowing a rapist and mass murder to actually wield any kind of power would be wildly immoral. That being said, the awful character Shad created actually COULD have been a great character by the sound of things... but he would need to play Gandalf to a less Mary Sue Frodo and NOT be the main character. It certainly is believable that a very selfish and evil man could still feel some regret and might even support another person who was actually good. He could even nobly sacrifice himself in a situation where it was clear that the gig was up for him anyway, that allowing the CORRECT interpretation that he was still basically an awful person to be valid alongside the more naive ways of interpreting the same event. Alternatively, he could survive after helping the good guys and then be given a humane and even comfortable imprisonment either as a matter of honor (keeping up your side of a deal with a very bad person despite the fact that he doesn't deserve it) or even as a matter of mercy.

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

I have some problem with the book, which does not mean its bad or I didnt like it, just ... far from perfect. Pretty good for a first time novel for sure, but some things rub me the wrong way. SPOILERS (also: anyone who wants to feel "uncomfortable": read the manga "Trash." ... yes that is its name. That ... I am not squeamish but damn ... brutal) 1.) I like anti-heroes and internal conflicts in characters as much as the next guy, but Daylens endless tirades about his dark past can get a bit word at times. I dont need pages and pages to understand he feels bad about what he did in the past. 2.) The book comes across as a bit heavy-handed in its anti-socialism message. It is fine to have a fantasy-Stalin. Actually its a very unique idea, but the "dawnists" feel like a caricature of "ze evil socialists". Like... I bet they have fair points: poverty, working conditions, wealth-inequality... those are great points to bring up. So why do they just want to commit random acts of terrorism ? Thats so weird. In an aristocratic society, I would be rooting for them, if they didnt try to flatten a city... (also: they need an interesting leader, maybe an illegitimate child of Daylen or something) 3.) Daylen is a bit Mary-Sue-ish. I like powerful characters, but it has to be handled with care and here it felt slightly of.

[@Troleandocreyentes]

I writing a book were my protagonist are esencialy a traitor monk and a drugdealer necromancer... and they aren’t as bad as this caracter, thanks now i feel better about my work.

[@-haclong2366]

17:50 * Suspension of belief, "suspension of disbelief" is either a tautology or you're viewing this piece of fiction realistically.

[@JBX07]

It sounds like this guy wrote an Elder Scrolls book and decided to rework some aspects.

[@ginge641]

Care to elaborate?

[@Oblong-Orange]

I found the author

[@ASmartNameForMe]

@@Oblong-Orange most of us have

[@Oblong-Orange]

a SmartName i was making fun of op

[@SkyTowerKurogane]

Shad's content is superb, do give him some views.

[@DarkPrject]

Was this before Shad came out as a right wing weirdo?

[@TheKodiakDJ]

Yeah... I mean, he was open about being a Mormon for years, but so is Brandon Sanderson, who is relatively progressive and who Shad admires and has worked for as a historical consultant.

[@MrGsking12]

Negan had a more realistic trial in walking dead

[@jcdenton1868]

"legitimately" at that point I know I watched too much shadiversity.

[@zoebrennan799]

The only human I can think of that’s more evil than this person the character in the book maybe Genghis Khan if you think he was evil, maybe he like did similar amounts of pain and suffering

[@goldenwizard6600]

I think that this is the best destription (most honest opinion) of a book that i have watched.

[@dystopia31]

This world would be a paradise for skydivers - Imagine you could fall as long as you feel like it and at some point just open the chute and land :) No need for windtunnels.

[@LordOfAllusion]

I really dug this review even though I enjoy the book greatly. I think your criticisms are very fair and you appropriately give credit where it’s due, but I think you could stand to take things into account like Lyra and Arek both don’t immediately forgive Dalen. In fact, they literally rip him limb from limb and in any other magic system they’d have killed the hell out of him. Arek forgives him after Dalen beats Arek and then almost kills himself saving the day. Lyra also goes on a vengeance spree after Dalen is revealed, so it’s not quite as cut and dry as presented.

[@manubishe]

'Shad is into swords' yeah, like, a lot.

[@ains2904]

1:18 the tangents are the best parts

[@senjiukanuba5569]

The characterization of the main Character reminds me of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationalities. Maybe I should read that book too, I liked HPMoR. At least the first part, about the Power Fantasy. :-)

[@BreathInSpaceFilmz]

I feel like burger's acting in front of the camera is getting better, but that just might be me.

[@snapslav]

I gotta say, while I appreciate the lengths to which you tried to extrapolate the contents of the book and explain it (and it was entertaining how you did so), I fully disagree with just about all of it, and I really loved the book! I felt that Daylen's motivations were very-thoroughly explored, and quite believable. I will agree that the forgiveness was a bit tough to swallow, but I think there was no other way for that arc to conclude. So if anything, it was a disappointment that the story had to push a conclusion for the sake of that conclusion, as opposed to the story naturally (or at least feeling so) arriving at that conclusion. As for the Daylen's many sins and personality flaws... I CANNOT grasp why people keep making the Mary Sue comparison! Granted, you at least acknowledged that he doesn't qualify, but I'd say you understated the degree to which he absolutely could NEVER qualify. Too many personality flaws, he's not good at too many things, his specialties take too much learning to get good at. He just can't be a Mary Sue even remotely. Powerful, sure, very intelligent, definitely, but far from unreasonably talented at too many things. I for one find him an absolutely wonderful character to follow along! He straddled that thin line between excessive self-pity and cavalier disregard, a very dangerous balancing act, but somehow pulled it off! The book even did a great job of making his terrible decisions understandable, even if they (I should hope) couldn't be relatable. First it started off with trying to build a strong enough force to combat the Shade. Then evolved into trying really bad ideas with the best of intentions (that's politics in the nutshell). Then it moved on to doing "whatever it takes" to stay in control of this rapidly-collapsing empire for the sake of his impossible ambitions, all while his strongest supporters are terrified of displeasing him due to his penchant for sudden and swift executions. At the end of the day, he's responsible for all of this, and he realizes this eventually, which is where all his guilt originates, but you can come to understand how he could have felt justified in the moment to start off the chain of events that led to such atrocities. Yes, even how he didn't realize what he was doing to those all those girls was evil made sense. The man wanted women for his bed, and he never specified how they were to get there, only what "his type" was like. He never forced them in his bed, himself, but his retainers/followers/supporters took the initiative (most likely because pleasing their Emperor was their best bet at keeping their heads) to threaten these girls into compliance, on his behalf. He comes to hate that he didn't realize the truth sooner, because the clues were always there, and he even recalls, several times over the course of the book, how he mistook their frightened expressions for timidity or inexperience, and not for what it truly was: fear for their lives or the lives of their families. Even though he never gave the order, he's ultimately responsible. Daylen's a helluva complex character, and considering he's essentially an absolute villain on a redemption journey, that can be a tough sell! I think Shad pulled it off very well. Far from perfectly, but hardly poorly.

[@TheLegendMaster]

I'm a massive fan of Shad and enjoyed the book, though if one is being totally objective, it needed more work to be considered a truly excellent book compared to others in the genre. Not loads of work, but some.

[@zoebrennan799]

The last people I watched made fun of it way too much. I really want to check it out. I mean, I don’t agree with his politics at all, but I’m a Manga reader fantasies are a thing. I’ll check it out if it’s I wanna see if you made a good book it’s sad if he’s let his politics get in the way of his good storytelling abilities.

[@JesusProtects]

Is this a finished story or is meant to be a series?

[@Niko-bb4bg]

How is this channel losing subs. I am just giving my humble opinion but this good sir has to be one of the most genuine youtubers who talks about such interestingly diverse subjects. If you see this Burger I wish you much success, you deserve it. From one normal human introvert to another.

[@BorchikYes]

My fav books are actually really marry-suey idk how

[@gandalfdumbledor3076]

unrelated but I love your vibes

[@tedarcher9120]

Well, Shad is a Mormon, so there is that...

[@hoseja]

Yeah, guy is super creepy, in that cheery cultish mormon way.

[@reecev2087]

Ahhhh that’s how he managed to get married. Cult assigned him a female

[@ginge641]

@@hoseja Yeah, I too find kind people uncomfortable and creepy.

[@ginge641]

So is Brandon Sanderson. Your point?

[@tedarcher9120]

@@ginge641 Mormons believe they are gods, so they like power fantasy

[@ajrobbins368]

Why did I laugh at that joke?

[@platinumnib4443]

Coming from a big fan of Shad's, the very fact that the book asks "can this hitler-scale dictator, murdered and mass rapist be redeemed?" and leaves the question open to either answer, kills the book. Because no. No he cannot. If you think he can, there's something seriously wrong with you.

[@lakkakka]

It's a lot less evil if you deny absolute morals and adopt a mentality that says that might makes right, give them some yesmen and others that would love to misbehave without punishment and it is human behavior when there are no constraints placed and no punishments dealt to convey this is bad. And being the emperor he was kind of stuck in his perception of himself I gues. There could be an explenation but I haven't read the book. I barely read tbh only books I really have are informative books or plain study books.

[@danielhuelsman76]

I didn't watch this video because of spoilers, can you at least tell me if the book is good or not.

[@tttITA10]

This made me decide not to read it, even though I'm totally inlove with this everfall floaty continents worldbuilding. But there's hope: when the following book in this world of Shad's comes out, should the reviews be good, I'll try and read them.

[@destinytroll1374]

Dude he really missed the point in this book. It's an excellent read

[@MrQdiddy85]

I would read that book about hitler and Churchill

[@crazymanmot]

I think you left out a huge point about Ahrek, he is basically Ghandi with super powers. It is believable for him to forgive Hitler by that fact alone. Maybe not probable, but believable. Saying its unbelievable would be like saying Goku forgiving Freeza at the end of the Namek arch was likewise unbelievable. Which it would be, but only if you don't know these characters.

[@AudraT]

Or, an even better comparison is Ahrek is a representation of Jesus. I'm not saying Ahrek is supposed to be Jesus, but the theme of the book was Christianity and there was a lot of Christian symbolism. The Sun being God, the Light being the Holy Spirit. Even Ahrek had the ability to give up his life to raise Daylen from the dead if he wanted. Ahrek wasn't perfect, as he wasn't supposed to be Jesus of course, but he sure was a pretty close to being perfect (without being insufferable). Also, the fact that Ahrek acted as Daylen's counsel and defended Daylen while he was at his trial is a classic scene from Christianity. So, yes, I agree with you that it's not impossible to believe Ahrek could forgive Daylen. There was a supernatural element that allowed him to do so. Otherwise, the Burgerkreig is right. Without a supernatural element, Ahrek/Churchill would have never been able to forgive.

[@kffire12]

So it's an episode of dragon ball (Note: I really like shad so I'm biased)