Scan barcode
A review by opheliapo
The Savior's Champion by Jenna Moreci
3.0
I wanted to love this book. I’ve been a fan of Jenna Moreci’s YouTube channel for quite a while now, and hearing the premise of The Savior’s Champion made me anticipate it’s release a great deal.
I want to premise this review by saying that I did not dislike the novel, by any means. I enjoyed the story a great deal: the pacing, the characters, the consistency of plot and prose and, of course, the twist. I am excited to read the next instalment, and I trust Moreci’s writing ability is reliable enough to pull through on an excellent sequel. I believe Moreci is a good writer, I just do not believe she is a great writer.
It is, in fact, the reliability of the novel that put me off a little. It is a high school teacher’s wet dream it is so reliable. For what it exemplifies in ‘good writing ability’ it sorely lacks in experimentation and vision. The Savior’s Champion succeeds in it’s ability to strictly follow the rules of writing (in the way that a ‘How To Write Your First Novel’ handbook might praise) but fails to even attempt any literary flare.
Moreover, it feels as though Moreci didn’t really know who she was writing for. The premise, characters, and general development of the novel, as well as the way it was promoted, felt as though it was a YA title, which would make sense, considering the majority of Moreci’s YouTube audience are teenagers and young adults. But the promotional material claims that it is a ‘romantic fantasy’, and some of the material within the book seem to be attempting to ‘make up’ for it’s lack of adult themes.
The intense use of language (particularly the word ‘cock’, which seems to show up more often than ‘the’) is more off-putting than anything else. I don’t have anything against the use of strong language, but in this case it felt as though it were a compensation for the book’s less than mature topic.
The violence also felt a little strained. There was more discussion about how brutal the things that were happening were, rather than showing how brutal they could be. There was also a juvenile split between ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ which gave away it’s appeal to a younger audience.
The dialogue also seemed forced, which I think is a shame, as it was very clear that Moreci had a great deal of fun writing her character’s communicating. I’m not sure if she was trying to make the characters seem noble and archaic by giving them such stiff prose and using so many British turns of phrase, but it was immersion breaking for me, and felt false. This is especially noticeable in the more intense action scenes, when Tobias insists upon using longwinded, formal speech, even in the face of death.
My final criticism is that I found Tobias difficult to connect with a lot of the time, because he is a bit of a Gary Stu - a man who can do no wrong. He is morally perfect, romantically perfect, skilled, passionate, and not to mention impossibly strong and powerful because of his blessings. He stands up for his friends, he loves unconditionally, he plays by the rules, he does not succumb to the temptations from the bad guys. I can honestly not name a single thing negative about him. He’s boring.
With all that being said, I have to commend Jenna Moreci for her pure skill in the art of tension building. I was TENSE for a lot of this book. I sprung through those pages like wildfire. She also does an excellent job of building unique characters, and making them all memorable when 20 are introduced within the same chapter.
Over all, I think this was a solid read, and I look forward to book two.
I want to premise this review by saying that I did not dislike the novel, by any means. I enjoyed the story a great deal: the pacing, the characters, the consistency of plot and prose and, of course, the twist. I am excited to read the next instalment, and I trust Moreci’s writing ability is reliable enough to pull through on an excellent sequel. I believe Moreci is a good writer, I just do not believe she is a great writer.
It is, in fact, the reliability of the novel that put me off a little. It is a high school teacher’s wet dream it is so reliable. For what it exemplifies in ‘good writing ability’ it sorely lacks in experimentation and vision. The Savior’s Champion succeeds in it’s ability to strictly follow the rules of writing (in the way that a ‘How To Write Your First Novel’ handbook might praise) but fails to even attempt any literary flare.
Moreover, it feels as though Moreci didn’t really know who she was writing for. The premise, characters, and general development of the novel, as well as the way it was promoted, felt as though it was a YA title, which would make sense, considering the majority of Moreci’s YouTube audience are teenagers and young adults. But the promotional material claims that it is a ‘romantic fantasy’, and some of the material within the book seem to be attempting to ‘make up’ for it’s lack of adult themes.
The intense use of language (particularly the word ‘cock’, which seems to show up more often than ‘the’) is more off-putting than anything else. I don’t have anything against the use of strong language, but in this case it felt as though it were a compensation for the book’s less than mature topic.
The violence also felt a little strained. There was more discussion about how brutal the things that were happening were, rather than showing how brutal they could be. There was also a juvenile split between ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ which gave away it’s appeal to a younger audience.
The dialogue also seemed forced, which I think is a shame, as it was very clear that Moreci had a great deal of fun writing her character’s communicating. I’m not sure if she was trying to make the characters seem noble and archaic by giving them such stiff prose and using so many British turns of phrase, but it was immersion breaking for me, and felt false. This is especially noticeable in the more intense action scenes, when Tobias insists upon using longwinded, formal speech, even in the face of death.
My final criticism is that I found Tobias difficult to connect with a lot of the time, because he is a bit of a Gary Stu - a man who can do no wrong. He is morally perfect, romantically perfect, skilled, passionate, and not to mention impossibly strong and powerful because of his blessings. He stands up for his friends, he loves unconditionally, he plays by the rules, he does not succumb to the temptations from the bad guys. I can honestly not name a single thing negative about him. He’s boring.
With all that being said, I have to commend Jenna Moreci for her pure skill in the art of tension building. I was TENSE for a lot of this book. I sprung through those pages like wildfire. She also does an excellent job of building unique characters, and making them all memorable when 20 are introduced within the same chapter.
Over all, I think this was a solid read, and I look forward to book two.