Shadow Slave follows Sunny, a poor and deeply cynical young man who becomes infected by the Nightmare Spell. Those chosen by the Spell are eventually dragged into supernatural trials called Nightmares, where surviving can grant extraordinary powers — and dying can have very real consequences. The story gradually expands into the Dream Realm, Nightmare Creatures, powerful Awakened and a much bigger mystery surrounding the world itself. The premise is already good, but Sunny is what really sells it. He's clever, suspicious, petty, resourceful and absolutely not built like the traditional heroic protagonist who proudly announces that friendship will solve everything. Watching him scrape through situations that look completely unfair is half the fun. Then you get the progression. New abilities. New enemies. New places. Bigger mysteries. Stronger characters. More information about the Nightmare Spell. And every time you think you finally understand the scale of the world, the story finds another way to make it bigger. Very easy novel to accidentally read until an irresponsible hour of the morning.