At the beginning of 2024, I was scrolling online bored out of my mind, I had found a web novel named Shadow Slave. I’m an avid reader, and I personally enjoy reading quite a lot as it’s always been an important part of my life. When I had found Shadow Slave I had already long finished reading some of my other long novels, like Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, another favorite of mine which you should read.
When I first began reading Shadow Slave I thought it was just going to be like other webnovels, full of tropes it doesn’t understand or utilize, and overall just a trashy novel which I’d forget after three seconds of reading it. I was wrong and I’m so glad I was wrong.
Do you enjoy rich world building? An intricate power system? A main character who uses shadow powers with an actual character and character development instead of a vague assortment of edgy character traits? Do you want a character that still struggles despite being strong? You should read Shadow Slave.
In the novels I read, there are a lot of tropes which can make the story suffer. For example, it’s common in certain modern or future fantasy stories to include a “System” of sorts, like a video game system, which gives the main character powerful advantages, like telling them exactly what powers they have, giving them powerful items and abilities, and basically making the entire story pointless because the main character can just kill a bunch of things, get powerful items, kill the next big bad evil guy, get a new skill, and rinse and repeat until they kill whatever “stronger” enemy appears. Shadow Slave also has a system, but the way they do it is interesting.
The way they view the system, called the Nightmare Spell, and the way they describe it is closer to a disease than a traditional system. In fact many people who read Shadow Slave do not realize that the Nightmare Spell was a system because it’s so unique. When people begin to develop the Nightmare Spell they grow drowsy over the course of several days to weeks, and when they fall asleep they must go through a trial. Many view it as a curse because it’s quite deadly to become infected with the Nightmare Spell. The reason the system is so unique is because practically everyone in the story has a system. Sunny, the main character, isn’t special because he was randomly chosen by a system.
Typically in this type of story the main character is an edgy mess of vague character traits. Don’t get me wrong, the main character of this story is edgy, but not unreasonably to the point where I’m rolling my eyes every sentence. He strikes a nice balance I’d say, it’s enough to show his flaws while also not making the reader actively root against him.
I’m not going to lie and say that it’s a perfect story, it definitely has its flaws, the constant repetition of words, the actual fight part of fights isn’t always the most well written, and there are a few characters in the main 7 who aren’t fully fleshed out, but when it hits the high notes, it hits the high notes.
All in all, if you want a good story with a flawed protagonist, rich lore, and a unique power system you should read Shadow Slave.
