This book is amazing

I don't listen to a lot of audible books but i was gripped by this book. The characters all have a rich engaging backstory that left me thinking one more chapter. Nick Denton was a phenomenal choice for voice over every character had their own unique voice and flavor, the only down side to it was some words the sound was paused half way through a word. the world is painted in a master stroke both as a thought provoking look into what we would do for the ones we love and a elegant tapestry of vivid descriptions finely woven into a mental canvas. i highly recommend this book to everyone and cant wait to read more from Jenna Moreci

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My honest review

simply Awesome, a gripping tail that takes you on a ride and it's fucking amazing.

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Loved it!

I loved the story, the characters all of it. I really enjoyed the narrators voice too, very smooth.

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Champion

loved the book. looking forward to TSS.
the characters were very compelling. very well written. great twists and fights. very creative challenges

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A near perfect story.

All I will say is this, 99% of my Audible library is in depth non-fiction or personal development books. after 7 years on audible and keeping my fiction tastes to a nightly Creepypasta or two this is truly one of the first stories I could not put down.

I've heard many bad reviews on this book, but I disagree.

without any spoilers I will say this:
If your into dark fantasy fiction with romance then that is what you will find. I would split this story into two things:
50% action featuring some of the best fight scenes I've ever read in my life.
50% believable romance.

There is a formidable amount of swearing but it suits the kind of characters the MC finds himself among, also, Flynn is giga Chad (You'll see).

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Very enjoyable, blood thirsty and passionate.

Thoroughly enjoyed the narrator! The story was fantastic, only thing keeping it from 5 stars were some slip ups regarding ableism and not the most thorough world building. Fantastic characters. I saw the twist coming, but it was satisfying when it happened.

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Magnificent

First Dark Fantasy I’ve ever read and I was very surprised at how engrossed I was in the story and its characters. Can’t wait to read the next book.

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What's not to love?

Words can't express how much I loved this book. It's dark and gritty and has some serious Hunger Games, Maze Runner and Game of Thrones vibes that kept me hooked until the very end.
Nick Denton's performance was the cherry on top, with an impressive emotive performance that gave extra life to the characters.

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brilliant

Brilliant i was hooked from the first chapter until the end, cant wait for the next book. Callao is awesome.

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Didn't finish: Repetitive and Toxic

I picked up this book because I really enjoy the author's youtube platform, and the advice she provides about the writing process. The book, The Savior's Champion, has an excellent cover, great premise, and compelling character and plot - in the first few chapters. I had such high hopes after reading the first section. The narrator's performance was also very good, with enough range to flesh out the sound of a large cast of characters. But... I struggled to listen as the book went on, and I think that comes down to three things. Warning, this review includes spoilers and swearing.

1) Overly repetitive with few or no stakes
This story is set out like a action/romance, following a male lead who enters a gladiatorial competition for the money to support his family. It plays out like an obstacle course, with a series of challenges being put before the characters with little foreshadowing of what to expect, or the overall journey of the competition. Do you want to sleep with the Saviour? Great! Show up at this day and time, and we'll throw something new at you every day for two months until you all die. Each challenge is designed to test an attribute of the contestants (i.e. strength, focus, straight up brutality), but it feels like a "Monster of the Week" scenario, to borrow a term from TTRPGs. None of the challenges directly links to another, and the performance in any particular challenge had no effect on the story other than "the main character hasn't died yet, and the rest of the characters are worse than ever before". After the first 5 challenges (which is about one per chapter), I noticed that there was still 16+ hours left on this book, and it began to feel like a chore to even finish it.

2) The cast was too large
From the way some of the characters were portrayed, I couldn't help but feel like I was meant to care about them more than I did. There were particular moments were a character would have an input into a conversation, or be able to provide something to overcome a scenario, that were written as if there was more weight to it than i felt as a reader. Many of these characters had hints of large backstories, with skills and motivations that occasionally had the chance to shine, but much of this was not actually written in the book. With more than 20 named characters in every scene, and a high chance that one would die each chapter, it was hard to keep track of each person. Particular deaths or victories didn't feel earned because enough time hadn't been spent to flesh out a character. With such a large cast, and much of the writing dedicated to describing the challenges rather than the characters (beyond superficial tags such as "cute", "serious", "a fisherman"), it doesn't surprise me that I was unable to connect with the characters. I wish that I had been able to see the story as the author intended, because it was clear that some characters were meant to be more impactful than they came across in writing.

3) Every Supporting Male Character Was Horrible
As I mentioned, there is a large cast of 20 men seeking to win this competition. Like any event, these are a mix of brutes, privileged assholes, intelligent thinkers, homely dependable types, and lucky bastards. However. The majority of the interactions between these men can only be described as awful, awkward, far-fetched, and toxic to listen to. When describing this book to others, I've likened it to the trope where some male authors get ridiculed for being unable to write realistic female characters - but in reverse. The only thing the supporting cast ever discussed was murder, sex, and bravado, and this "locker-room talk" pervaded every moment that the characters weren't killing each other or running for their lives. I lost count of the amount of times the words "cunt" and "cock" were said, even when there was no reason for them to except as some method of adding atmosphere. I can agree that there is an argument to be made that every other male character is meant to be a horrible abomination of a man in comparison to the main character.
An entire half-chapter is dedicated to the male supporting cast ridiculing the main character for bothering to ask the female characters their names. It is portrayed as if the main character might be the only decent guy in the realm, because he thinks its right to ask a woman her name and care about her feelings. If this was the angle the author intended, the execution failed to drive this home, because instead it only proved to anger me that he felt the need to separate his behaviour from the men around him yet offered no commentary (internal or external) as to why it was important. It almost felt like a "I'm not like other men" trope.
With regards to atmosphere, the behaviour of the mean lead to some awkward scenes. At one stage, the main character wakes up to find one of his "tent-mates" and rivals masterbating in the bed across the room. The man realises the main character is awake, doesn't stop, and continues to stare him down until the main character finally gets dressed and leaves the tent. As far as I could tell, this scene has no other purpose than to make the reader feel uncomfortable. It succeeded, but not in the way I imagine it was intended. Rather than routing for the main character to defeat his rivals and prove to them what a real man looked like, I just wanted to put down the book.
In case its not clear, in my opinion the portrayal of men in this book reduces them to unthinking, sex-driven, misogynistic assholes, which I was unable to push through to finish this novel. The wholesomeness of the main character fails to alleviate this, and his passive experience of the entire competition leans itself to a lack of character depths rather than an endearing protagonist. Other male friends who have listened to excerpts of this agree that sections of this story are terribly unrealistic to actual male-male interactions, and only serve to paint a grim and unhealthy portrayal of men.

This book is a romance, but I didn't make it far enough to even start routing for the main character to "get the girl".

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2 people found this helpful