Review of Rise of the Savior
-
Jayden Gilbey
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 09 Nov 2021, 10:28
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 19
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jayden-gilbey.html
- Latest Review: Rise of the Savior by Antoine Bonner
Review of Rise of the Savior
[Following is a volunteer review of "Rise of the Savior" by Antoine Bonner.]
Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth by Antoine Bonner follows 18 year old Amanda, who finds out she is the acolyte of truth after she is involved in a car accident. She is thrust into a world of acolytes and deities but can she use her new found powers to defeat Jamie, the acolyte of death? Amanda does not want this responsibility, the fate of the world in her hands but when she finds out Jamie intends to kill hundreds of children in order to save his his son, including Amanda’s sister Saira, she doesn’t have a choice.
The first and only positive thing I can say about this book is that it has a really intriguing premise and I was looking forward to seeing how it would be executed throughout. After the first 100 pages, the intrigue started to pick up and I was interested in knowing how it would end.
Unfortunately, the negative points about this book outweigh the positive. This book was let down by the lack of well developed and fleshed out characters. Amanda’s parents along with other side characters could be exactly the same person because they speak and act the same way. To be honest, I don’t think Jean, Amanda’s mother, needed to be in the story at all. She didn’t add anything to the plot. Another thing is that I didn’t really connect with the characters, and because of this i wasn’t invested in what happened to them, and didn’t really care if they were hurt or if they would make it out of bad situations. Also, something unusual would happen (e.g. items would move on their own without anyone touching them) and the characters would just accept this and not ask any questions about it, which is not realistic. This type of thing happened multiple times and it took my attention away from the story because it didn’t make sense.
Another negative point is that the pacing is off and the writing doesn’t flow. The first 100 pages are quite slow and not much happens, then after that it picks up and is much quicker paced. The author tends to over explain and describe things with filler words. For example “Amanda tries to…” and “Amanda begins to…” is repeated throughout the text. Alongside this the book is filled with telling and not showing “Amanda became hostile”. Another example of this is the author would describe a character as trembling but then go on to tell the reader “it’s clear they were horrified”. This part is not needed as the reader can infer that the character is horrified from the trembling.
The third negative aspect of this book is that the dialogue is unnatural and it didn’t read like how conversations sound in real life. This also kept pulling me out of the story because it didn’t flow and it didn’t feel natural. For example “What’s up, little sister? Did you come to wish your big sister good luck?” As well as this, there were lots of pieces of dialogue that would’ve read better if they were part of the description or the inner monologue.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. This is because I was intrigued about the plot and how the book would end, however, this was the only positive aspect of the book. From the synopsis I got the impression I would really enjoy this book, so it was disappointing to find that it was let down by the lack of 3D characters and poor writing. Due to the one positive and numerous negative things I had to say about this book I would not recommend Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth, however, those who are fans of mythology and are interested in reading about gods and deities, especially Egyptian mythology, may find this book enjoyable.
******
Rise of the Savior
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth by Antoine Bonner follows 18 year old Amanda, who finds out she is the acolyte of truth after she is involved in a car accident. She is thrust into a world of acolytes and deities but can she use her new found powers to defeat Jamie, the acolyte of death? Amanda does not want this responsibility, the fate of the world in her hands but when she finds out Jamie intends to kill hundreds of children in order to save his his son, including Amanda’s sister Saira, she doesn’t have a choice.
The first and only positive thing I can say about this book is that it has a really intriguing premise and I was looking forward to seeing how it would be executed throughout. After the first 100 pages, the intrigue started to pick up and I was interested in knowing how it would end.
Unfortunately, the negative points about this book outweigh the positive. This book was let down by the lack of well developed and fleshed out characters. Amanda’s parents along with other side characters could be exactly the same person because they speak and act the same way. To be honest, I don’t think Jean, Amanda’s mother, needed to be in the story at all. She didn’t add anything to the plot. Another thing is that I didn’t really connect with the characters, and because of this i wasn’t invested in what happened to them, and didn’t really care if they were hurt or if they would make it out of bad situations. Also, something unusual would happen (e.g. items would move on their own without anyone touching them) and the characters would just accept this and not ask any questions about it, which is not realistic. This type of thing happened multiple times and it took my attention away from the story because it didn’t make sense.
Another negative point is that the pacing is off and the writing doesn’t flow. The first 100 pages are quite slow and not much happens, then after that it picks up and is much quicker paced. The author tends to over explain and describe things with filler words. For example “Amanda tries to…” and “Amanda begins to…” is repeated throughout the text. Alongside this the book is filled with telling and not showing “Amanda became hostile”. Another example of this is the author would describe a character as trembling but then go on to tell the reader “it’s clear they were horrified”. This part is not needed as the reader can infer that the character is horrified from the trembling.
The third negative aspect of this book is that the dialogue is unnatural and it didn’t read like how conversations sound in real life. This also kept pulling me out of the story because it didn’t flow and it didn’t feel natural. For example “What’s up, little sister? Did you come to wish your big sister good luck?” As well as this, there were lots of pieces of dialogue that would’ve read better if they were part of the description or the inner monologue.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. This is because I was intrigued about the plot and how the book would end, however, this was the only positive aspect of the book. From the synopsis I got the impression I would really enjoy this book, so it was disappointing to find that it was let down by the lack of 3D characters and poor writing. Due to the one positive and numerous negative things I had to say about this book I would not recommend Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth, however, those who are fans of mythology and are interested in reading about gods and deities, especially Egyptian mythology, may find this book enjoyable.
******
Rise of the Savior
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Rise of the Savior by Antoine Bonner
