Review of Rise of the Savior
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Cassandra Correa
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Review of Rise of the Savior
[Following is a volunteer review of "Rise of the Savior" by Antoine Bonner.]
In Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth by Antoine Bonner, high-school graduate Amanda and desperate father Jamie find themselves on opposing sides after they each unlock great powers. Amanda and her sister, Saira, must learn to grow stronger together to prevent Jamie from pursuing his path of destruction.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars because I did not enjoy the characters or the writing. The only positive element I can describe is its concept, which I believe could have been great had it been executed in a better way.
Aside from that, much of my experience while reading was negative. For starters, the perspective is told in third-person omniscient. This made it difficult to connect with or care for the characters. Furthermore, a sign of poor writing I noticed was when the characters’ physical descriptions were stated all at once rather than being trickled into the narrative. Another big aspect of the writing that got under my skin was the dialogue, which was incredibly unrealistic or on-the-nose without nuance or tension; no one spoke like a normal person. An example of this unnatural dialogue was when Amanda says: “I still have no idea what you are, or even if this place is real or not... Keep your awesomeness away from me!”
Moreover, every character would state exactly what the author needed the reader to know, including their backstory, personal goals, grievances, and skill level in one huge paragraph of dialogue. It was overwhelming and stripped the reader of uncovering these facts for themselves. The author told rather than showed, which was also the case with the action, as if the reader were hearing it from a news anchor. There was also long-winded dialogue like this in which exposition for the world or magic system would simply be stated without a break, yet still a lot was left unexplained or made little sense and was hard to keep track of.
Other reasons as to why I was not a fan of the writing include the fact that Amanda and her family were not written believably, with odd parent to child behaviors. The narrative would also diverge from the main character to any character in the book due to the omniscient perspective, so it was jarring at times to jump from characters in the middle of a chapter with little to no break or explanation. Additionally, the writing style suffered because of the unrealistic escalation of action or drama, such as a leisure event taking a sudden twist into the bizarre and extreme with no build up or proper fall out, as well as the lack of emotion or drama to any of the scenes that should have made an impact. Many of the intense scenes involving fights or danger were rushed or would carelessly state casualties and move on without a second thought. Also, the progression of emotions and relationships between characters was unrealistic, oftentimes completely disregarding development that had happened just before. Plot twists or reveals often fell flat as well, since the drama or mystery was nonexistent.
Other aspects of the writing that fell flat included the weak and unexplained worldbuilding, which was all over the place and convenient, rarely ever providing proper answers or reasoning for why random things occurred. In addition to that, there were many unnecessary pop culture references that distracted more than added to the story. There were also repeated sentences for something that was already explained, and it seemed as if the author were trying to force a specific set of morals and delineation of what is “right” or “good” versus what is “wrong” and “evil,” rather than allowing the reader to evaluate these for themselves.
What also contributed to my lack of enjoyment was the unlikeable characters and poor characterizations. Firstly, Amanda was eighteen, yet she acted like a five year old and was incredibly immature. For example, in a sparring session with another fighter, she stuck her tongue out at her opponent. Even Amanda’s parents and the other adults in the book acted immature. Also, many, if not all of the characters, were easily convinced by the opposing side — no one questioned what anyone said, and their loyalties were easily bought by strange people with little explanation; the characters would just go along with anything. This resulted in a story that had no tension or flow. In fact, oftentimes the characters would suddenly change their minds midway through their dialogue without explanation.
All in all, I would not recommend this book to anyone because of its weak writing, as well as its unlikeable and poor characterization. There were also quite a few typos and grammar errors that were hard to ignore, and profanity that felt out of place in any given situation.
******
Rise of the Savior
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth by Antoine Bonner, high-school graduate Amanda and desperate father Jamie find themselves on opposing sides after they each unlock great powers. Amanda and her sister, Saira, must learn to grow stronger together to prevent Jamie from pursuing his path of destruction.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars because I did not enjoy the characters or the writing. The only positive element I can describe is its concept, which I believe could have been great had it been executed in a better way.
Aside from that, much of my experience while reading was negative. For starters, the perspective is told in third-person omniscient. This made it difficult to connect with or care for the characters. Furthermore, a sign of poor writing I noticed was when the characters’ physical descriptions were stated all at once rather than being trickled into the narrative. Another big aspect of the writing that got under my skin was the dialogue, which was incredibly unrealistic or on-the-nose without nuance or tension; no one spoke like a normal person. An example of this unnatural dialogue was when Amanda says: “I still have no idea what you are, or even if this place is real or not... Keep your awesomeness away from me!”
Moreover, every character would state exactly what the author needed the reader to know, including their backstory, personal goals, grievances, and skill level in one huge paragraph of dialogue. It was overwhelming and stripped the reader of uncovering these facts for themselves. The author told rather than showed, which was also the case with the action, as if the reader were hearing it from a news anchor. There was also long-winded dialogue like this in which exposition for the world or magic system would simply be stated without a break, yet still a lot was left unexplained or made little sense and was hard to keep track of.
Other reasons as to why I was not a fan of the writing include the fact that Amanda and her family were not written believably, with odd parent to child behaviors. The narrative would also diverge from the main character to any character in the book due to the omniscient perspective, so it was jarring at times to jump from characters in the middle of a chapter with little to no break or explanation. Additionally, the writing style suffered because of the unrealistic escalation of action or drama, such as a leisure event taking a sudden twist into the bizarre and extreme with no build up or proper fall out, as well as the lack of emotion or drama to any of the scenes that should have made an impact. Many of the intense scenes involving fights or danger were rushed or would carelessly state casualties and move on without a second thought. Also, the progression of emotions and relationships between characters was unrealistic, oftentimes completely disregarding development that had happened just before. Plot twists or reveals often fell flat as well, since the drama or mystery was nonexistent.
Other aspects of the writing that fell flat included the weak and unexplained worldbuilding, which was all over the place and convenient, rarely ever providing proper answers or reasoning for why random things occurred. In addition to that, there were many unnecessary pop culture references that distracted more than added to the story. There were also repeated sentences for something that was already explained, and it seemed as if the author were trying to force a specific set of morals and delineation of what is “right” or “good” versus what is “wrong” and “evil,” rather than allowing the reader to evaluate these for themselves.
What also contributed to my lack of enjoyment was the unlikeable characters and poor characterizations. Firstly, Amanda was eighteen, yet she acted like a five year old and was incredibly immature. For example, in a sparring session with another fighter, she stuck her tongue out at her opponent. Even Amanda’s parents and the other adults in the book acted immature. Also, many, if not all of the characters, were easily convinced by the opposing side — no one questioned what anyone said, and their loyalties were easily bought by strange people with little explanation; the characters would just go along with anything. This resulted in a story that had no tension or flow. In fact, oftentimes the characters would suddenly change their minds midway through their dialogue without explanation.
All in all, I would not recommend this book to anyone because of its weak writing, as well as its unlikeable and poor characterization. There were also quite a few typos and grammar errors that were hard to ignore, and profanity that felt out of place in any given situation.
******
Rise of the Savior
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Rulers of the Galaxy by Tayma Tameem
