4 out of 5, I’m in love!
Key Aspects…
- Fantasy
- Violence
- Corrupt Systems
- Cuteness Overload
- Grounded/Awesome Characters
- Magic
- Gore
Tobias Kaya despises the concept of a competition to win the hand of a woman no one has ever met, but when it seems to be the only way to provide for his suffering mother & sister, he signs up. Will he even survive the extreme challenges that lay ahead of him & his fellow contestants? Will his sacrifice be enough to help his family? The labyrinth is a dangerous place…
“If everything looks good and pure, then nothing’s truly beautiful. The ugliness is what makes beauty so distinct.”
Jenna Moreci, The Savior’s Champion
Out of 20 men fighting for The Savior’s hand, who will be left standing when the dust clears? It’s violent, treacherous & everyone seems to have a hidden agenda, despite all this Tobias finds himself unexpectedly falling in love. But love may in fact be even more dangerous than the Sovereign’s Tournament…
I have to admit, I was curious when I first began the book. I know Jenna Moreci through her YouTube channel offering writing advice. A channel where she frequently mentions her distaste for certain tropes & cliches (& many she loves as well). So when I began I thought ‘surely Jenna won’t be writing such cliched tropes? It can’t be!’
I love a good trope I really do, one of my favourites by far is the enemies to lovers trope… if it’s done well. But as much as I enjoy tropes because I already know I love them, there’s always the risk it’ll be too predictable & boring. This definitely wasn’t the case with TSC. Jenna Moreci took tropes and flipped them on their heads; she had twist after twist that even I didn’t see coming (& I pride myself on my ability to guess plot twists…) I was one happy bookworm reading TSC. It truly is incredible.
Now let’s talk characters… I absolutely adore this cast. Not just Tobias – he’s sweet & caring, he loves to paint & all he really wants is a nice quiet life with his mother and sister – but the rest of the cast too. Leila is a fantastically impressive woman – she’s independent, kickass when she needs to be & she heals people.
But we’re not just here to fawn over characters we love, there are some amazing characters to hate in this book. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such revulsion at a character prior to Kaleo, he’s a monster & I’m totally here for it. Milo is naive, goofy & lovable. Flynn is… well let’s just say there’s a well used phrase in TSC that sums him up perfectly.
I truly love this book, words can’t really sum it up. I devoured it in 2 days, & I haven’t found myself that into a book for a long time. It’s gone straight into my top 5 novels that’s for sure. All of it’s aspects combined – plot twists, well built characters, high stakes, deep healthy love interests, & let’s not forget I love a bit of violence in my fiction – makes one hell of a read.
S. M. MITCHELL 