The Savior's Champion

The Savior's Series, Book 1

De: Jenna Moreci

Narrado por: Nick Denton

Tobias Kaya doesn't care about The Savior. He doesn't care that She's the ruler of the realm or that She purified the land, and he certainly doesn't care that She's of age to be married. But when competing for Her hand proves to be his last chance to save his family, he's forced to make The Savior his priority.

Now Tobias is thrown into the Sovereign's Tournament with nineteen other men, and each of them is fighting - and killing - for the chance to rule at The Savior's side. Instantly, his world is plagued with violence, treachery, and manipulation, revealing the hidden ugliness of his proud realm. And when his circumstances seem especially dire, he stumbles into an unexpected romance, one that opens him up to unimaginable dangers and darkness.

Trigger warnings: this book contains graphic violence, foul language, and sexual situations.

©2017 Jenna Moreci (P)2019 Jenna Moreci

I loved it, until I didn't.

I liked the story but there were many narrative decisions made that resulted in a book that did not have the kind of polish I was expecting of an author who readily gives out writing advise. A number of changes could have made this a flawless book, instead, the story quick dissipates from a thrilling, romantic, well paced momentum to a frustratingly slow burn by the last ten chapters.

1. It's too long. A few of the challenges in the labyrinth should have been scrapped, the amount of times the main character and the love interest sneak off is too frequent, and character's time in the palace is long and somewhat uneventful at times. Some things needed to be culled. Not every idea is a good idea.

2. There are too many characters, most of whom are unimportant. There are 20 men competing for the savior's hand, each referred to not only by name, but by the titles they are given at the beginning of the competition. That's 40 identities I needed to keep track of, most were undeveloped and had so little time spent on them I forgot they existed. Characters were killed off, and I didn't care, but the main character suddenly did.

3. Tobias and the love interest blew their cover so many times, and no one noticed until the very end of the book, when it didn't matter anymore.

4. The twist was predictable, and illogical. Everyone was in on it, including the enemies of the person who was executing it. It was never explained why the big bad went along with this plan, or why the big bad waited so long to execute his own convoluted plan.

Overall, the characters the author chose to focus on are well rounded and believable, the romance is well paced and enjoyable, and the action is gritty and well crafted. This by no means is a bad story, but it isn't well executed. It reads a bit like a first draft.

Loved the narrator

I loved the narrator, and believe he made the story come to life. All in all, I thought it was very good.

An Amazing Story

Jenna Moreci brings a story to life! I found myself unable to stop listening and invested deeply in the characters. The descriptions of both characters and events are astounding! I could listen over and over...and probably will!

If you need a deeply moving and exciting story, this is the one!

The Saviors Champion is a competent First Novel

I am a follower of Jenna Moreci's YouTube channel. She has been inspiring me to write stories I long time didn't know how to write. I've also followed her enough to see that she is an exemplary person. (IMHO.)
She has said that one of the tropes she LOVES is "Forbidden Love." This book has that. Tobias (the protagonist) is supposed to be focused on love of Cosima (the Savior) and not on Leila (the Healer.) So, "Forbidden Love." It's a girl's book: it's a bodice ripping, forbidden romance. That's the genre. OK, fine.

This is also a gladiatorial tournament story. Which seems to be a popular thing. The winner gets the girl, Cosima (the Savior), and becomes the new king of the kingdom. Which is OK, if you like that sort of thing. My biggest problem with this was that the current, Evil King, inserted three Bad Guys into the tournament to murder the other contestants. And it never occurs to the other contestants to team up and kill one or more of the Bad Guys first. Nah! Let's just stand around and allow them to murder us. Duh!

Language: Jenna uses profanity freely on her YouTube channel and her characters use it freely in her book. I found it off-putting. Even anachronistic (e.g. being out of place and time.) I am 70 years old and I remember that American people NEVER used the word FUCK in public until about 1965 and the "Cultural Revolution." This story is staged in a Medieval European setting and I seriously doubt they used modern curse words as freely as Jenna's characters do. It's a "writing style", I guess. If you don't mind it, fine, OK. For me, "Meh."

(Do recall that "Gone With The Wind" (1939) was the first time the word, "Damn" was used in a main stream movie! And it was scandalous!)

Another annoyance: I am a Christian person (Liberal Episcopalian) and I find the concept of a magical main character called "The Savior" to be annoying. Like a strand of food stuck between my teeth! Annoying! Jenna is never disrespectful of Christianity, but I still find her "Savior" annoying.

There is a well foreshadowed, Bait & Switch, reveal, about Leila that Tobias never figures out. I guess that's part of the bodice ripping, forbidden love. Whatever.

For the most part, this is a competently written first novel. If you're into romance-fantasy (Jenna also calls it "romance dark fantasy") then this may be a book for you.

Loved it

The Savior's Champion is a really good book, you will have to look away from the part that there is not much worldbuilding in this book, but afterall we are not really out exsploreing the wolrd. And it came together perfectly at the end!