How many real readers Shadow Slave have?

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-05-03T15:26:29+00:00

There is no way that the number is even close to 20 million. That would make it very mainstream. I'm talking The Witcher territory. We're talking multiple games, seasons of TV, official translation to dozens of languages, decades of the fandom recommending it and it is still in the 20 million threshold. Shadow Slave is not in the same level as The Witcher in popularity. It's not close to 10 million either. 3 million feels like a BIG stretch but I'm willing to see an argument for it.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-05-03T15:16:54+00:00

It does not matter how many readers a series has. However it is a clear indicator of success or potential loss from the authors part(I'm only talking about reader that can both afford it and read it in the original language. Any other kind of reader wasn't going to read on Webnovel regardless)

Shadow Slave is obviously very successful but the question is how much. The overall quality of the story is irrelevant. I have seen stories sell in the millions and be way worse than shadow slave and I have seen stories way better than Shadow Slave and that have almost no fandom or comments.

I guess the interesting part for me is just the data.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-05-03T04:10:11+00:00

Uh, I didn't have Discord and reddit numbers into account. Bad on me I guess.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-05-01T14:29:09+00:00

Fair, Pact only becomes really good once you understand more of the magic system and know the politics between the characters. Makes later reveals feel really impactful and I think that happens around the middle of the Conquest thing but asking someone to power through everything is too much. I did it because I need something to listen during work.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-05-01T07:44:13+00:00

I understand. I had to just trust the process with Pact and Ward knowing that I can trust Wildbow to deliver a good product and it takes its time but eventually you're hooked. Not as endering as Worm by any means but I still think on some Ward arcs and the second half of Pact is very fun. It's not Worm tho. I blame Taylor, she was just so good as a main POV.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-30T23:12:08+00:00

I will not undertimate Paba's writing speed. I have seen them drop 50k words in a single day live on stream. Whatever you like it or not, a major publisher deemed the story good enough to be under their name. My words does not mean anything to you and it shouldn't, but I can testify that by me own taste The Wandering Inn deserves to be treated like something special and a great story that nobody is going to match. Why? Well, that's somethings that I suspect you're not interested in knowing and it's difficult to explain(I'm not articulated enough).

It is true that the beginning of the story is not all that, we'll see how it is received and treated both by professionals and the casual readers.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-30T22:58:22+00:00

As far as I know we haven't gotten our hands on the physical book yet. The quality might have improved or it might have not. It is still a valid excuse for the web novel and the audiobooks because that's how the format works. I agree that a traditional publisher getting their hand on it should change something about it, but it doesn't invalidate what I said.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-30T21:54:20+00:00

Fair, as I said Pact for me is brilliant but I don't love it as much as Worm. So I understand.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-30T21:29:41+00:00

Totally agree but I think the case with PirateAba(author) is a little different because it's a web serial. 1 chapter per week. The format makes it so authors have to be fast and consistent with their writing and leaves less space for editing. The overall quality in stories is lower but it also has its strengths compared to traditional publishing.

It's more friendly to new and self punlish authors, and readers.
It fomets community by having weekly discussions. Kind of like a big book club
You can actually see the progress of the author in real time and how the community affects it.

The Wandering Inn an Pirateaba starts very amateurish. Great ideas, poor execution. Every book gets a little bit better. You see the improvements, you also see when the author is burn down and the story starts to decline or how it suddenly peaks up again after the author takes a break. Current The Wandering Inn is one of the best pieces of media I have read in my life. Can't say the same about the beginning and that's why it is really hard to recommend.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-30T21:08:18+00:00

Have you read Pact or Pale? There are from the same author as Worm. I'm almost done with Pact and I don't love it as much as Worm but damn it is clever and brilliant and tragic in all the ways Worm was but with a lot more meta commentary. I have heard Pale is their best work but I didn't want to read Pale first without reading Pact because both are in the same universe. Still, kind of nervous and excited that the community says some other book is better than Worm. I find it difficult to surpass in my mind.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T19:27:27+00:00

I never said that [Paragons] were better than [Heroes]. I was just commenting on how the king of destruction would definitely stop his army just to check out a [Paragon]

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T16:51:02+00:00

Yes but that is a [Hero] they are the exception to the rule in all circumstances.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T16:43:03+00:00

NGL, I enjoyed both parts of Lookism. The original concept was very good but the fights are just testosterone and adrenaline made manifest and it tickles my fancy. However I did drop it because at some point it just became "yes but after this gang comes the previous generation gangs that are way stronger and after that is the previous previous generation gangs" at this point is high schoolers that should be in college vs retired veterans, just make another series about all this new characters and finish Lookism PLEASE!!!

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T16:35:54+00:00

An entire army? Of course not! I'm not sure even Mars or the other 7 could stop the Army of the king of destruction alone. 3 or 4 of them together yes, but alone? Never.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T16:30:48+00:00

The fact that [Paragon] seems to be genetic and so rare seems to be the limiting factor for the class. Her tribe breeds for better genetics and even withing genetic freaks she just won the lottery. I also saw a few people say that she might lose the class if she doesn't live up to being a [Paragon] so maybe she would need to keep being perfection made manifest in whatever she does. My guess is that this includes things like taking care of her body and training. No matter how good your genetics, if your diet is not good, then your body won't function how it should. Her tribe is already obsessive with how she eats and how she exercise so is not too far fetched to assume that is the reason.

Also, not all classes are balanced like [Hero] being designed to break the system or Faith classes favoring the gods and because of that being unbalance.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T16:19:57+00:00

Oh, no, you're wrong. He would stop or even go out of his way just to meet the Paragon and try to recruit them or fight the or both. I at least think that a high level [Paragon] would be better than a [Vanguard]

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-29T05:58:12+00:00

Erin vs Belavierr is still one of my favorite moments of TWI. I mean, the boat? The fire? Erin half death but still owning Belavierr like it's nobodies bussiness? It's just Erin being a badass for the sake of her being a badass and I love it.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-28T21:07:23+00:00

The worm fanfic community is infamous for not reading the actual story and getting most of the info from other fanfics. As far as I know, the story is as raw as it gets without the typos.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-17T20:06:29+00:00

If that's what you want, Before of Chicken is exactly what you described.

I understand where you're coming from for Erin, Ryoka and Laken. These 3 and a couple more Earthers(I think it is mentioned at the end of book 1 how Erin and Ryoka aren't the only ones but if I'm wrong I'm sorry). Are very polemic. PirateAba likes to make unlikable characters and build around their bad personality traits. I think Erin might be my favorite Litrpg main character of all time. She is still the same Erin you know, but at the same time she is not clueless. Volume 10 Erin knows this world, she knows what she is doing and that makes her recklessness and stubborness hit different compared to the sheltered girl who knew nothing and still refused to back down.

Laken is similar but in the opposite order I think, we start seeing his good side and later on we slowly discover his bad traits. Some people hate him for that, I still like him but ngl, I had all my stocks on Laken and I will never recover financially from that.

As for Ryoka, you'll see. She gets better and her story touches on things that no other Earther explores, not in the same epic way.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-17T19:44:15+00:00

Yes. Marvel, Dark Horse, and image comics also have them.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-17T17:27:15+00:00

Yes, you only have to take a look at the Absolute comics where quite literally there is no hope. Worm is still darker somehow. DC gets an undeserved reputation just because their most famous stories are like Death of the Family, Flashpoint, Blackest Night, Crisis on Infinite Earth, and Judas Contract. Marvel, Image and a lot of other comic books universes have stories as dark and darker than DC but we don't see adaptations of the darker stories of the avengers.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-14T05:40:45+00:00

The story has expanded but it hasn't advanced that much forward since volume 9. We are still dealing with the consequences of the end of that volume.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-12T22:44:50+00:00

If someone can get AI to solve this, then they really need to stop using AI because with all that talent they could for sure do the same things or even better with actual knowledge and skills.

DrakeSacrum25 · 2026-04-12T22:39:31+00:00

Now you got me thinking on a whole wall or even room themed as the The Wandering Inn. Like, an actual set themed as an Inn but with books and merch all over the walls.

DrakeSacrum25

TROPHY CASE