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jim_bar's review against another edition
2.0
The premise drew me in, but I think the reality competition inspiration was taken too literally and followed too closely to its formula. Much of the story became needlessly predictable and stale as a result of the cyclical routine. The book's length could've been justified had more care and attention been given elsewhere.
The MC had an inconsistent voice and was generally unlikable for me. I would've enjoyed more exploration and involvement of the side characters to break up the monotony. Many of the side characters only served to control the MC's mood at any given time, and the villains each shared the same horny and abusive traits defining their villainhood. I wish there was more nuance there. The side characters I wanted to care about were introduced in such a rush. There was something to them. I just needed more.
Spoiler
The size of the cast also wouldn't have been an issue had they not been eliminated one at a time or not at all.The MC had an inconsistent voice and was generally unlikable for me. I would've enjoyed more exploration and involvement of the side characters to break up the monotony.
Spoiler
I loved the practice scene with Leila and Flynn, for example.liloreema's review against another edition
3.0
the writing is pretty funny, but I wasn't a big fan of the main relationship
creatingjana's review against another edition
3.0
I rarely write reviews but I have to for this book because I'm so torn about it.
The story had potential. Quite a lof of it. And it's not like it squandered it completely, all in all it was a very compelling, almost addictive read. But it needed another good round of edits. Certainly line edits like for the first few chapters when I was close to abandoning the book if I had to read the word "cock" one more time (everyone either had one, was one or cocked their head - incredibly annoying), the rather wild mix of modern and antiquated tone or the occasionally stilted, clichéd and pathos-laden dialogue. Also, why were people constantly exclaiming "Oh my God" when there was no god in this world as people only worshipped the Saviour?
But more importantly it needed conceptual edits. I'm an outspoken feminist but the way feminism was treated here was so clumsy and forced in many places, it ruined the effort. The world-building was weak but I don't read much high fantasy, so I didn't mind too much, especially since this happened in favour of action. Tons of action. Not once throughout this story was I bored, which is a feat in itself for 560 pages. However, the characters remained flat, even our two protagonists. There were small side characters that I found more likable and interesting than Tobias. And since Leila was so secretive towards him, she remained a blank canvas as well. I do know she was beautiful and perfect - Tobias said so approximately two million times. His lifelong best friend and the family he sacrificed everything for though? He thought let alone talked about them for about 0.2% of the book. Motives were unimaginative and kept very general (money, power, glory etc.), bad guys were bad, good guys were good. Flynn was possibly the most interesting character since he was the only morally grey one, but we hardly learned anything about his backstory either.
What possibly annoyed me the most however was the big twist. Not because it wasn't good, but rather because by the halfway mark the latest it was blatantly obvious. And then I had to sit through hundreds more pages of Tobias being fifty shades of oblivious. It was honestly painful. If it had to be revealed this late in the game, the clues should have been much more sparse and obscured. This is coming from a person who is generally not great at figuring out twists in advance.
Phew. Again, this was an engaging read. It just could have been so much better and that still pains me a little.
The story had potential. Quite a lof of it. And it's not like it squandered it completely, all in all it was a very compelling, almost addictive read. But it needed another good round of edits. Certainly line edits like for the first few chapters when I was close to abandoning the book if I had to read the word "cock" one more time (everyone either had one, was one or cocked their head - incredibly annoying), the rather wild mix of modern and antiquated tone or the occasionally stilted, clichéd and pathos-laden dialogue. Also, why were people constantly exclaiming "Oh my God" when there was no god in this world as people only worshipped the Saviour?
But more importantly it needed conceptual edits. I'm an outspoken feminist but the way feminism was treated here was so clumsy and forced in many places, it ruined the effort. The world-building was weak but I don't read much high fantasy, so I didn't mind too much, especially since this happened in favour of action. Tons of action. Not once throughout this story was I bored, which is a feat in itself for 560 pages. However, the characters remained flat, even our two protagonists. There were small side characters that I found more likable and interesting than Tobias. And since Leila was so secretive towards him, she remained a blank canvas as well. I do know she was beautiful and perfect - Tobias said so approximately two million times. His lifelong best friend and the family he sacrificed everything for though? He thought let alone talked about them for about 0.2% of the book. Motives were unimaginative and kept very general (money, power, glory etc.), bad guys were bad, good guys were good. Flynn was possibly the most interesting character since he was the only morally grey one, but we hardly learned anything about his backstory either.
What possibly annoyed me the most however was the big twist. Not because it wasn't good, but rather because by the halfway mark the latest it was blatantly obvious. And then I had to sit through hundreds more pages of Tobias being fifty shades of oblivious. It was honestly painful. If it had to be revealed this late in the game, the clues should have been much more sparse and obscured. This is coming from a person who is generally not great at figuring out twists in advance.
Phew. Again, this was an engaging read. It just could have been so much better and that still pains me a little.
carlixalfonzo's review against another edition
3.0
It’s a good book. The plot is interesting and the tropes are very well writen, following her own advices. But some parts of the book are dragged for what I felt way too long.
ashmikaa's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so engaging and exiting and I could barely put it down. Tobias and Leila are the best and the characters are so flushed out and overall it’s such a great book!
bran_the_writer's review against another edition
4.0
No Spoilers!
I'll start by saying I had a lot of fun reading this- even though a lot of the subject matter wasn't supposed to be "fun", at least from the characters' points of view. That being said, I really enjoyed being able to pick up a fantasy novel that wasn't too bogged down by world building and I was equally just as happy to not be inundated with a bunch of apostrophes thrown into the middle of names.
I'll kind of just run through a list of things I liked and didn't like.
Characters:
I feel like not all characters were created equally, but they didn't need to be. I was happy to not get long, sad backstories for the Tournament fodder characters, or even the antagonists throughout the entire story. We learned enough about everyone to keep the story going. There were a few surprises in there as well, as far as characterization goes- Moreci did a great job with easing some characters in and out of the spotlight when need be, which I appreciated.
Setting:
I will say I didn't have a great connection to the kingdom of Thessen that the story takes place in, but we don't spend too much time outside of the palace grounds anyways, so hopefully we'll see more of that country in the future.
That being said, that palace is something else as far as the different locations the tournament goes.
Pacing:
This is one of the problems I had with the story- specifically the ending. I feel like the last chapter or so went by so fast and the resolution just hit me. There's not much of any falling action as far as I felt, but I definitely hope it'll be improved on next time around!
All in all, I really had a good time reading this book! I mean, despite the fact that some of the tension that came from the possibility of two characters being caught in something scandalous, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I'll start by saying I had a lot of fun reading this- even though a lot of the subject matter wasn't supposed to be "fun", at least from the characters' points of view. That being said, I really enjoyed being able to pick up a fantasy novel that wasn't too bogged down by world building and I was equally just as happy to not be inundated with a bunch of apostrophes thrown into the middle of names.
I'll kind of just run through a list of things I liked and didn't like.
Characters:
I feel like not all characters were created equally, but they didn't need to be. I was happy to not get long, sad backstories for the Tournament fodder characters, or even the antagonists throughout the entire story. We learned enough about everyone to keep the story going. There were a few surprises in there as well, as far as characterization goes- Moreci did a great job with easing some characters in and out of the spotlight when need be, which I appreciated.
Setting:
I will say I didn't have a great connection to the kingdom of Thessen that the story takes place in, but we don't spend too much time outside of the palace grounds anyways, so hopefully we'll see more of that country in the future.
That being said, that palace is something else as far as the different locations the tournament goes.
Pacing:
This is one of the problems I had with the story- specifically the ending. I feel like the last chapter or so went by so fast and the resolution just hit me. There's not much of any falling action as far as I felt, but I definitely hope it'll be improved on next time around!
All in all, I really had a good time reading this book! I mean, despite the fact that some of the tension that came from the possibility of two characters being caught in something scandalous, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
devongambrell's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, my, gosh! I have to wait until September for the next book!!!!! Not sure if I can wait that long. I finished this book in 4 days!
faemorgan's review against another edition
4.0
A solid first book to fantasy series
Been wanting to read this for a good while, since I first saw it on Jenna's Channel actually, but I kept putting off both buying and reading it. Then came the sequel, and I still didn't buy or read it. I then bought them both on Kindle close to maybe a year and half more ago, (or more) and have only now just gotten to starting the series. Right before the third book is due to drop.
And despite, the few negative reviews about this series playing into the classic fantasy storyline, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And I look forward to reading the sequel, thank you Jenna Moreci for all of your amazing content.
Been wanting to read this for a good while, since I first saw it on Jenna's Channel actually, but I kept putting off both buying and reading it. Then came the sequel, and I still didn't buy or read it. I then bought them both on Kindle close to maybe a year and half more ago, (or more) and have only now just gotten to starting the series. Right before the third book is due to drop.
And despite, the few negative reviews about this series playing into the classic fantasy storyline, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. And I look forward to reading the sequel, thank you Jenna Moreci for all of your amazing content.
sohare1981's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, I loved the Saviors Champion. As constantly read more about writing novels it’s rather hard to keep surprises a big surprise nearing the end when you begin to understand story structure and plot details. However, this story continued to surprise me. Though I was left kind of wondering what happened to the Prince, but other than that things easily came to a close, while still managing to leave it open. Since I follow Jenna on You-tube I do know there’s a sequel to the book coming, I don’t know when but I can’t wait to read it.
The Savior’s Champion takes place on a fictional world where magic is real and secrets and treachery run deep. The Savior of the realm lives in a palace in Theasen, and she’s of age to be married so a tournament is held gladiator style where twenty of the finest men are selected and compete to win the right to marry the Savior. Only one is to survive. They are each given laurel, or nicknames and three are picked by the Sovereign as being his favorites. The Sovereign turns out to be the Savior’s father.
Though he’s of age Tobias isn’t interested in competing in the gams. He is shocked and dismayed when his best friend announces he’s entering. He spends a great deal trying to prevent this from happening, but his friend Milo is determined to enter. Tobias tries to forget about, but after his handicapped sister has another bad spell with her back and he is unable to get to the towns doctor he forces himself to enter the tournament to win the promised coin for his sister and mother to be comfortable.
During the tournament he tries to stick to himself, even more so after his friend is murdered early on by another competitor, a group tries to form and wants to include him. He is distant and doesn’t really pay attention to the group finding them more of an annoyance than ally’s. But they do help each other through various challenges.
Things get even more complicated when Tobias falls in love with one of the queen’s court members, known as the Healer. He begins to resent the Savoir and the tournament as the games go on, and only wants to be with Leila.
That’s about all I can really get into without ruining plot twists. I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone who likes fantasy/fiction stories.
The Savior’s Champion takes place on a fictional world where magic is real and secrets and treachery run deep. The Savior of the realm lives in a palace in Theasen, and she’s of age to be married so a tournament is held gladiator style where twenty of the finest men are selected and compete to win the right to marry the Savior. Only one is to survive. They are each given laurel, or nicknames and three are picked by the Sovereign as being his favorites. The Sovereign turns out to be the Savior’s father.
Though he’s of age Tobias isn’t interested in competing in the gams. He is shocked and dismayed when his best friend announces he’s entering. He spends a great deal trying to prevent this from happening, but his friend Milo is determined to enter. Tobias tries to forget about, but after his handicapped sister has another bad spell with her back and he is unable to get to the towns doctor he forces himself to enter the tournament to win the promised coin for his sister and mother to be comfortable.
During the tournament he tries to stick to himself, even more so after his friend is murdered early on by another competitor, a group tries to form and wants to include him. He is distant and doesn’t really pay attention to the group finding them more of an annoyance than ally’s. But they do help each other through various challenges.
Things get even more complicated when Tobias falls in love with one of the queen’s court members, known as the Healer. He begins to resent the Savoir and the tournament as the games go on, and only wants to be with Leila.
That’s about all I can really get into without ruining plot twists. I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone who likes fantasy/fiction stories.
elmakra's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75