Shadow of the Conqueror
Chronicles of Everfall • Book 1
by Shad M. Brooks
Why You'll Love This
The protagonist of this book is not a fallen hero — he is a genuine monster trying to earn the right to become one.
- Great if you want: a morally complex antihero whose guilt is the whole point
- The experience: action-driven with a surprisingly heavy emotional undertow throughout
- The writing: Brooks builds a vivid, inventive world — floating continents, perpetual daylight — without losing momentum
- Skip if: a 3.6-average on Goodreads signals its divisiveness — the pacing and tone won't work for everyone
About This Book
What does redemption look like for a man who has done everything wrong — not a few mistakes, but a lifetime of atrocities that shaped the course of history? Daylen was once the most feared and hated figure in the world, a conqueror whose crimes are still taught as warnings to children. Now old, broken, and hidden, he expects to die in obscurity. Instead, he's pulled back into a world that still bears his scars, forced to confront whether someone genuinely monstrous can earn the right to be something else. The tension between Daylen's genuine guilt and his undeniable capability drives every chapter with uncomfortable force.
Brooks constructs the novel around a fantasy world with genuine physical imagination — Everfall is a place of floating continents and perpetual sunlight, and its rules matter to the story in ways that feel earned rather than decorative. The prose is direct and purposeful, keeping the focus on character psychology over spectacle. What distinguishes the reading experience is how seriously the book takes its moral questions: Daylen's past isn't softened for the reader's comfort, and his path forward is never made easy. It rewards readers willing to sit with a protagonist who remains genuinely difficult to fully root for.