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A review by creatingjana
The Savior's Champion by Jenna Moreci
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.