Review of Rise of the Savior

This forum is for volunteer reviews by members of our review team. These reviews are done voluntarily by the reviewers and are published in this forum, separate from the official professional reviews. These reviews are kept separate primarily because the same book may be reviewed by many different reviewers.
Post Reply
User avatar
Kutloano Makhuvhela
In It Together VIP
Posts: 394
Joined: 28 Aug 2023, 07:39
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 85
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kutloano-makhuvhela.html
Latest Review: Sting of the WASP by LC Lee

Review of Rise of the Savior

Post by Kutloano Makhuvhela »

[Following is a volunteer review of "Rise of the Savior" by Antoine Bonner.]
Book Cover
4 out of 5 stars
Share This Review


Rise of the Savior: Acolyte of Truth by Antoine Bonner is a fantasy novel following Amanda as she is forced to be something she was never prepared to be while trying to protect her family against the evil of the world. The novel also borders on other genres like horror, paranormal, magic, and punk science fiction. It raises a lot of questions about morals and ethics to show you that in life, there is more than evil and good. The book is good but tends to lose its momentum along the way.

Amanda lives with her small family. Her parents are doting and encouraging. They are a close-knit family that does a lot of activities together, more especially gaming. There is a strong spirit of competition between them, more especially in the parents against Amanda. Amanda also has a younger sister by the name of Saira. Saira isn’t like anyone in her family. For one, she is very reserved and likes to keep to herself. Whenever Amanda tries to invite her to join in, she refuses, or when Amanda wants to hang with her, she is not cooperative. Amanda doesn’t understand her, but she tolerates her because she is her sibling.

Jamie Connor is a doctor. His marriage with his wife is not good currently. There are many suspicions of infidelity towards his wife, but he is not sure yet, as he hasn’t definitive proof. They both have a son together by the name of Lucas, and Jamie loves him to death and would do anything for him. It happens that he gets into a confrontation with Justin, and from there, things go south for him. After a lot of strange and scary events, he finds himself in a strange place where he is told unbelievable things. Amanda, too, though in different circumstances, also finds herself in such a place, and what she is told is just as unbelievable. What is the connection between Amanda and Jamie? Will their paths ever cross? Are they both ready for the journey ahead?

Read this book to find out. There were so many moving parts in this story that it was hard for me to try to give a summary of it all without spoiling it for you. I think I have tried my best above, and I think just from that summary, you can tell the plot is thick enough to last to the very last page of the book. That’s the second thing I loved about this book—its a complex plot that was supplemented by many subplots. The first thing I liked about it was the cover. I loved its creativity. It was captivating, smart, and fitting. There was this sense of mystery about it that attracted me to the book. I must say, after reading the book, it all fit together.

The characters were many in this book, although they didn’t appear all at once, at least until the end. The character development happens in the early stages of the book before it can progress even further. I think that’s what separates it from the rest. Most books would just introduce the characters but don’t develop them until the middle of the book. This one did the opposite. Once the character was introduced, their background story was given a few minutes later, and by the time the story progressed, you would have known them and could tell them apart from the rest. This was done creatively.

The writing was not that impressive. It was marred with errors here and there that made me not enjoy it as much as I would have liked. The narration made sure the story progressed chronologically from start to finish. This was done linearly so the reader could follow without any trouble. The dialogue balanced the book by bringing forth the personalities of the characters to shine. Amanda, Saira, Kid, and others were easily distinguishable through their speeches. This made sure it all felt as realistic as possible.

Another thing I could say I disliked was the descriptions contained in the book. They weren’t enough to paint the pictures fully for me to immerse myself in them. Sometimes my imagination had to do most of the work. They had their strong moments here and there, especially on slow scenes where nothing much was happening. But when it came to fight scenes, it was hard to follow them.

With that, I rate this book four out of five stars. One star was deducted because of the aforementioned reasons. I recommend it to people who love fantasy novels that encompass other genres. People who love books with villains who have strong convictions behind their destructive actions will appreciate this book. Mature readers are the target market because of strong language.

******
Rise of the Savior
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
‘When you do a good deed, people are grateful, and that creates a nice feeling inside you; and then because it feels good, that makes you want to do more good deeds. That repetition is the cycle of goodness.’

~Hogoromo.
Post Reply

Return to “Volunteer Reviews”