The Savior's Champion (The Savior's Series Book 1)

So I enjoy the author's YouTube channel quite a bit and then I bought her first book and ...yeah I was not a fan but I decided to give this book a chance because I enjoy fantasy and the premise sounded interesting. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it has lots of flaws in my opinion but it had good pacing, good structure, and I read it really fast because I was actually pretty entertained.Plot: I think this was probably the strongest aspect of the book except that you could see the twist coming from a mile away. I saw that some people were complaining about the lack of world building but it didn't bother me too much. I mean...imagine yourself in a Roman/Greek world and I think you'll be okay.Dialogue: Oh man, this was probably my least favorite part of the book and the reason for my 3 stars instead of 4. It sounded very unnatural to me and the author repeated the word "cock" so many times I don't want to ever read the word again...or at least for a few weeks. There are other words you can use to describe that feature...anyways another surprising word that annoyed me was "sour". One of the characters calls Tobias or describes him as sour SO MANY TIMES. Once was more than enough.Another thing I thought was weird was they said "God" sooooo much. The region considered the Savior their god or at least that was my understanding and the author even capitalized She and Her every time someone was referring to the Savior so why are they saying God all the time? I mean it's a lot...almost every page and it was kind of confusing.Another thing that bothered me and it's minor was that the men in the tournament talked about how handsome each other were all the time and it was kind of strange? It was the "straight" characters that were doing it too and just like casually calling each other handsome. I don't know... none of my guy friends or my husband talks like that but whatever.Overall, the dialogue was pretty cringy IMO.Characters: Hmmm this one is hard because I didn't hate any of the ones we were supposed to like. I did think Tobias came across as a little too "perfect" at times...I mean he's handsome (all the guys say so!), a sensitive artist, brave, has a good sense of humor, smart, strong and stands up for the little people! His flaw...uhhh he can't fight? But then he can! Oh and sometime he wears a SOUR expression. He was easy to root for but he just wasn't super engaging either. I liked him but didn't love him. Leila was kind of the same as Tobias. The side characters were fine. She had a lot of diversity and I thought the author handled it well. The antagonists probably could have used some more character building ...they kind of seemed like they were bad just to be bad but maybe there will be more explanation in the second book.Let's talk about what I liked most and that is the challenges . They were really well written and suspenseful. I enjoyed them the mostThe romance scenes were nice and steamy even though I wasn't totally in love with the romance itself.I think this book could have been much better if the characters would have been developed a little better, a little more work on the world building , and A LOT of work on the dialogue.I heard the second book is going to be the exact same book but from Leila's perspective? I really hope not...because I was actually interested in reading the next installment but I'm not sure how I feel about that...maybe if it's just the first quarter of the book and the rest of the book moves the plot along...I don't know . I'll see how I feel in a year.Overall, the author has significantly improved, I think her hard work showed , and she should be proud. Just needs to work on a few things but apparently a lot of people adored this book so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about..which might be true .

Because I enjoy the author's YouTube channel so much I avoided purchasing her first novel for fear I wouldn't like it. I am most certainly in the minority with my opinion of The Savior's Champion. Therefore, take what I say with a grain of salt. 3 stars is generous but 2 stars wasn't quite enough.This book is longer than it needs to be. And at the same time has a very abrupt, unsatisfying ending. I understand that she was preparing for a sequel but that doesn't mean you can't properly wrap up the first book. For me, there were no twists or surprises in any way. I knew who the Savior was the second she was on the page. There were so many action scenes that I got tired of them and started skimming to the end to find out who died. Nothing felt organic, it all seemed very contrived and calculated. The person responsible for the Savior's mother's death and for trying to kill the Savior was a given from the opening but made no sense, to me, under the circumstances. Power means absolutely nothing if you destroy the only thing that keeps your world prosperous. People that want power tend to also want prosperity.Her promotion and Street Team were fantastic at getting this book in the hands of so many people. Many people really love this book. Millions of people loved the Twilight series as well and it made my eyes bleed to read it. So, as I said, take my review with a grain of salt. For what it's worth, I will purchase the rest of the series because I love this author and am happy to support her. I think her writing will continue to improve and I will cheer her all the way.

If this was a movie it would not be a PG-13 young adult fantasy romance but rather a rated R summer blockbuster. It would be rated R do to graphic violence, deaths, language, and some sensuality. The author weaves together a great story which takes turns you would not expect that will twist your heart and leave you begging for more in the end if you're patient enough.Jenna knows how to write incredibly intense action scenes full of emotion while also writing character scenes that are just as intense and full of development. The world that she creates for Tobias seems to have a rich history but she only allows the reader to see Snippets of it as the majority of the book takes place during the tournament. A careful reader may be able to pick up the hints and clues to the few twists she has set up throughout story. Still you're never really sure exactly where she's going until the very end. There's also some excellent moments that feels real.I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling action packed adventure with romance and mystery woven throughout. I do caution that they are scenes of graphic violence and events. The romance is mostly reduced to kissing but they are some sensual situations that do go a little further, however it is balanced well with emotion so as not to seem out of place. The only real complaint I have about the story is that the foul language is reduced to variations of the F-bomb and the c words for male and female genitalia. While the main character does not do more than think variations of the F-bomb other characters seem only to be able to use same few curses to the point that it did slap me out of the story at some points. This is mainly due to the fact that while I know people do curse to varying degrees it is not often to the same few vulgar curse every time.Still there was a great deal for readers to enjoy and writers to learn from in purchasing and reading this book. I just hope that sequel is on its way.