Shadow Slave by Guiltythree

What is TLM

My main problem with this novel is, author nerf mc at every turn, with the excuse of 'fated' aspect he keep pushing mc from one terrible situation to another with a measly wins to keep people barely content.

Unlike reading RI, LOM, TLM, during the novel you dont get the feeling of "OMG, how did he do that and how did i not think of it. It's brilliant". At every turn i see mc waste the potential possiblity and you are kept wondering why didnt he do this or If this terrible thing hadn't happended to him he's have been so much better.

Eg:



All i want is for him to try and maximize his gain. It doesnt even matter if he fail, atleast TRY. but we all know author not gonna go that route since mc can become super OP and it'll ruin the story.

Until now, I dont understand why sunny is the mc he is literally trash, especially in the second arc. If he was a secondary character, that would be better.

I didn't really like the title and concept of being a slave....

And start was rather boring too so I really took long breaks and never actually moved past start of forgotten shore...

But this week, I decided to read it and it has really been great and overturned my expectations...

This book while has it's flaws, is still in same league as classics like WMW, Revered Insanity etc...

MC is not OP but strong enough.....
World and enemies always keep getting harder and dreadful and you would not get bored because of power dynamics and struggles do feel like struggles...

Character development is probably bit lacking overall for everyone else other than sunny....

But World building is great and lore is too...

In short, story kept getting more and more interesting and last ark of evacuation was the longest ark I have ever read which was like 78 chapters or something but it was really done well and was worth it...

I felt bad when I caught up to latest chapters so I would rate this a top tier work if you can push through until the boring start...

There are probably fillers at times too but it was an entertaining ride...

I think sunny is the weaver

The Fifth Volume just ended, and so far, I’ll say it’s been very good. Nice plot points, steady progression and some unexpected plot twists. 9.5/10.

I really felt the tension of this novel in the beginning where they survived looking for the weak point of the creatures, it reminded me a lot of darksouls, despite some low points like the things with Cassie that irritated me, it's part of the work, it's not going to please everyone all the time, I think it's worth a solid 4 stars + and unlike Lotm the translation here is pretty decent.

I found a website that has been updated to chapter 1028

Waiting for more chapters ☺️😞😞

Reviewing at around 850 chapters in

CharacterIzation: 4.5/5
All the major and even some minor characters have distinct personalities and generally, all of their decisions are consistent with that. There are some beautiful character moments that make the series stand out though like which is a great way of displaying character flaws in a way that makes you even more invested in the series rather than turned off. Mc himself is a very interesting character with subtle but rich character development. The only issue is that the mc in the first 10 chapters and the mc for most of the series are completely different characters. It’s explained why he’s so different later but it’s jolting to see someone originally apathetic and incredibly calculating act so immature and emotional.

World Building: 3.5/5
The physical world isn’t developed very well which I guess makes sense considering the rules of the world. What exactly Earth looks like isn’t revealed until like 800 chapters in, what the dream world looks like is somewhat unclear with only a few regions being talked about in detail. The supernatural elements are explained very well though which makes the physical world not being explained as much make sense. The power system, I don’t really like. It follows very particular yet constantly overlapping tiers that make power comparisons unclear.
Edit: Earth gets expanded upon heavily in a few chapters so worldbuilding imo is now a 4 or 4.25

Plot: 4/5
The fights are incredibly engaging(which is good because sometimes, there are huge stretches of time with nothing but fights). The character moments are often really nice to read, especially . However, they can also be incredibly annoying. It feels like for some chapters, the mc’s intelligence is nerfed like he just exists to ask questions and make the plot clearer. Also, some of his decisions are just pointlessly immature like I said earlier. Some of the conflicts also feel forced. For the first couple hundred chapters, my least favorite part of the book was his flaw. It’s inconsistent and forces him to respond when the plot wants him to.

Overall, great series with just a few bad spots. I do recommend.