BOOK TITLE: The Savior’s Champion
AUTHOR: Jenna Moreci
YEAR: 2018
GENRE: Fiction
SUBGENRE: Dark Fantasy
GRADE: Extra Credit
In a medieval tournament to crown The Savior’s husband,
twenty men must venture through trap-infested tunnels, complete blood-curdling
challenges, and even fight each other to the death until one man is left standing.
Muscle-bound mercenaries, arrogant royals, and imaginative artists are among
these twenty competitors. Tobias Kaya, a sugar mill worker and former painter,
only wants to be a part of this tournament so that he can earn enough money for
his impoverished family and handicapped sister. He gives less than a damn about
The Savior and instead forms a secretive romance with a healer girl named
Leila. Their relationship could lead to charges of blasphemy and possibly
execution. After all the violence and trauma the tournament has to offer,
Tobias’s love for Leila is the most real thing to him.
I must say, it has been years since a book hit me so hard in
the feels that I thought I’d fall to pieces right then and there. Every emotion
Tobias went through in this heinous tournament, I felt a hundred fold. The
trauma of his friends being savagely murdered, the heartbreak of his arguments
with Leila, the warm fuzziness of their passionate loving moments, the tears
that fell down both of their cheeks, they all solidified what would become my
Tobias-Bias. I connected with his anger, sadness, and passion like no other
character. I came very close to crying myself at times, but if I won’t reveal
the events that made me do so, because that would unveil too many spoilers. As
a reader, you want Tobias to succeed and be happy despite all the misery and
bloodshed the tournament brings.
And then you have characters in this story who deserve all
the venomous hate you’ve got bottled up in your heart. The Sovereign, Brontes,
will get under your skin quicker than a jagged dagger with his humiliating and
loathsome treatment of Tobias. The Sovereign’s favorite muscle-bound
competitors, Kaleo, Drake, and Antaeus, will have you wishing over and over
again for somebody to throw them screaming form a helicopter. And Flynn? Well,
he comes off as a harmless arrogant jerk at first, but as the story progresses,
you’ll want to strap him to a chair and beat him with hammers. This isn’t just
mild annoyance you’ll have with the villains of the story. You’ll be seething
with rage at them. You’ll see red 24/7. You’ll drool like a rabid wolverine.
You’ll wish you could kill them yourself. These kinds of villains are the most
effective and I commend Jenna Moreci for making me want to punch them endlessly
in the face.
What else could be said about this wonderfully-crafted piece
of fiction? The traps in the underground tunnels are creatively put together,
that’s for sure. The spider trap reminded me of the tarantula scene from
Something Wicked This Way Comes. The fanged pigs served as the perfect form of
mockery, which will make you want to strangle the Sovereign even more. And when
Tobias goes through these blood-spraying traps, you’ll feel those too along
with his colorful palette of emotions. These are the kinds of traps that would
make the creators of the Saw franchise jealous. Jenna Moreci left no stone
unturned with these obstacles and for that she should be commended.
The Savior’s Champion is bloody. It is heartbreaking. It is
tearful. It is well-written. But most of all, it’s proof that independently
published authors are not to be laughed at. Other self-published authors such
as myself should look up to Jenna Moreci as a beacon of hope and a role model
for what a professional author should be. I’m so confident in her abilities as
an author that I wouldn’t doubt the idea of a movie deal coming her way soon.
“The Savior’s Champion. Rated R. Starts Friday at a theater near you.” An extra
credit grade will go to this beautifully-crafted novel that hit me in the feels
harder than any one of Kaleo’s right hooks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going
to look for someone to give me a hug. I need one!
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