I wonder if I’m good at dealing with change. I feel that I’m not, frankly, but at the same time I feel that I am.

Of course, there are small changes and there are big changes; there are things that really matter, and things that only matter as far as you can throw them - they’re very heavy, hypothetically, and therefore hard to throw.

Recently, as I’ve been reading Shadow Slave, I’ve noticed some changes. The themes are changing, the characters were changing and getting a little flanderized, the writing style was changing… Compared to 1000 chapters ago, Shadow Slave is a completely different experience. On one hand, this sounds great, right? I mean, reading the same thing for 2000 chapters sounds like a bore… However, there are certain aspects of the work that I was taking for granted. For instance, Shadow Slave very rarely changed perspectives. Very, very rarely. In the first, I don’t know, 1400 chapters, maybe 5 of those were written from the perspective of characters other than the MC. Maybe 10. But in the latest 200 chapters, maybe half of them were as such. Weird.

Partially, I think this is because the world has grown so much. One thing about Shadow Slave is that there’s world, and there’s building, and the building is being done to the world. Extensively, might I add. Maybe because of that, the author has felt the need to shift between different characters that are in different places in the world to better show the reader what’s happening overall in the story, instead of keeping us in abject ignorance and then leaving that feeling of Deus ex Machina when somehow something on the other side of the cosmos saves the MC - though of course, he knew it all along! If we see what’s happening on the other side of the cosmos, that feeling goes away. It’s frustrating, though, because, quite frankly, I’m mostly interested in certain aspects of the story and not so much in others. It’s not that I don’t care, just that I prefer some POVs to others.

I get the point, I’m just not sure I like it.

Also, the romance seems to be picking up. A little. Maybe. However, the way it’s being developed is cringe, at best, and borderline infantile, at worst. Shadow Slave isn’t a particularly adult webnovel, mind you, but COME THE FUCK ON MAN! These people are supposed to be older than me and they’re acting like little children. A fake relationship, really? That’s how low we’re going with this? Alright.

Look, I love romance as much as the next shoujo-obsessed maniac, but - just like a shoujo-obsessed maniac - I know bait when I see it. Or read it. And this is bait. The baitiest most bait shit I’ve ever fucking read, in fact. It’s just… Disastrous. Now, I believe in the author’s ability to redeem himself, so I shall and have continued to read. However, I am, at the current moment, disappointed in the way the story’s been developing, in that particular regard.

There are things I’ve been very much enjoying from the change in perspective - there’s one POV in particular that I really love - and I also appreciate how the author has managed to grace us with both never-ending action, complex interpersonal relationships, and political intrigue, all at the same time. I also love that, some-fucking-how, the world keeps growing. More and more things keep being introduced, our knowledge of the complexities of reality in the Shadow Slave universe keeps being advanced and it somehow never feels particularly contrived. I did feel, occasionally, like the author was writing something cool, then didn’t find a way to justify it, so he just waved it away. Some bullshit excuse and then moved on. Honestly? I appreciate that. I don’t think there’s a need to endlessly attempt to justify bad shit. Just leave it as a plot hole, don’t make it a plot contrivance. That’s my hot take, for the day.

I was trying to weave a mention of pants into this post, but didn’t find a way to do it. Here it is.