The Savior's Champion by Jenna Moreci

“Choose the path that's right by you. Always. It may end in misery -a small price to pay. No amount of hardship compares to the emptiness of regret. Of never having lived at all.”

Let’s first talk about this opening – it was really promising, it engaged me immediately and I found myself consumed into the story.  Yet there were also a few things that I want to discuss as certain aspects could have been improved upon. One of my favourite things about this book, and the most obvious, was that I really enjoy reading from Tobias’s prospective. He is kind, loving and honest. He also interacts with people in a realistic way, and was probably the most grounded character in the book. His internal dialog also sounded realistic– I would probably think the same things in those situations. He wasn’t a hero. But he will try and save people and he is modest about it. All round good guy. The only thing I will say about his character, that I found unrealistic, was that he immediately decided he wasn’t attracted to the Saviour. Which I consider to be odd because, based on this girls description, she is very attractive. And despite only seeing her for few minutes, he had already judged her. Saying she was boring and unworthy of his attention. I can understand not liking someone because they don’t peak your interest, however she could be shy- and there would be time to grow to like her. He decided this so quickly that I could see that the author was trying to make it so that we like the love interest she has setup for him. And I do agree, Lilah is a good love interest, she cares very much about him and they work well together. BUT… this love interest cost the book something. And that something made the whole book dull. If your characters were supposed to be unlikeable, then that’s fine, make the readers dislike them, hate them even. But under no circumstance, make a character whose only traits are beauty and lack of personality, the centre of attention and then tell us even the MC things that she is uninteresting. Because that is not good writing. Make us dislike her because she is evil, or selfish, or veil. Not Boring. Just because Tabias is attracted and loves someone else, doesn’t mean you have to make this pretty girl boring to prove your point. The funny thing was, the whole time I am like, when is the saviour going to do something? When is she going to prove to me, she is different, she is special she is worth the deaths. And only near the end, do we realise why this is! Now, I don’t like how this was setup, because the result meant that I was bored through most of the book. I am also disappointed that the sovereigns tournament wasn’t as bloody as I expected it to be. They had a mutated pig with horns as part of the tournament, and also a painting challenge. Seriously?! The only reason this 'challenge' is in here, is to prove Tobias ability to paint as a plot point. But that doesn't even make sense!   This book is good in terms of the writing style and all that, it wasn't perfect. And I did have very high expectations because she has a writing advice channel, even though that means nothing. I can't wait to read the rest of her books, I can imagine she would learn from her writing and become more