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red_sky's review against another edition
1.0
I had so much hope for this book. I was so excited leading up the release, but I could not be more disappointed.
Nowhere did it say that this was a retelling of TSC. I specifically avoided reviews because I didn't want to see spoilers, but I think that should have been more clear. It is misleading to label it book 2 establishing expectations of a sequel.
***spoilers****
I rated THC 5 starts when I read it and it became one of my favorite books despite some flaws. This book however has actually ruined the first books for me as well.
The savior was so selfish, shallow, and one dimensional. Her whole motivation for not telling Tobias that she is the savior is because he says 'he hates the savior' when he is clearly referring to Cosima. Because of that she let's him go to his death in the arena without a blessing because she is throwing a tantrum.
At least in TSC it was ambiguous enough that I assumed Leila had some good reason for everything she did that would be explained later. Well, this book explained her every thought and her reasons were just as shallow and selfish as they appeared with nothing below the surface. She is mean and hurtful to all her friends which she thinks of as servants but yet the still loved her unconditionally, cause reasons I guess.
The sovereign was one of the worst villains I have ever read. In the first book I though he was a good B plot villain. Scary and in the background but he wasn't the main threat to Tobias (the tournament was.) The sovereign is a mustache twirling villain with no thought behind his actions. His entire motivation are just to hurt Leila because he is eeevil. He openly hates and undermines her but yet the people of the palace are shocked that he isn't this loving father. He goes out of his way to kill the artist even though there is no reason reason to other than to make Leila suffer. This is not the plans of a smart leader who (in my opinion) would be happy Leila is distracted making it easier to carry out his plans. How does killing the artist help him? And Im talking about earlier in the story when he wasn't a threat of actually winning, but simply someone leila liked. He only wanted to kill him for pleasure and to make leila suffer because eeevil. He had no depth and his plans were stupid and ill conceived (and no, that's not me saying I want a 3rd book from his point of view.)
Rereading the exact conversations from the first book was tedious and didn't add anything to the world.
The magic was inconsistent at best, and used mainly as a plot device.
The characters were inconsistent, especially leila, who claims to love Tobias but would then forget that there were even challenges happening until he came back to the palace covered in blood and disturbed.
There is more I could say about this book but over all it took things from the first book and over explained them into stupidity, retroactively distroying the actions and character motivation from the first book.
It would take a lot to get me to pick up book 3 considering every review on here seems to be paid for anyway. Very disappointed in a story and author I previously had a lot or respect for.
Nowhere did it say that this was a retelling of TSC. I specifically avoided reviews because I didn't want to see spoilers, but I think that should have been more clear. It is misleading to label it book 2 establishing expectations of a sequel.
***spoilers****
I rated THC 5 starts when I read it and it became one of my favorite books despite some flaws. This book however has actually ruined the first books for me as well.
The savior was so selfish, shallow, and one dimensional. Her whole motivation for not telling Tobias that she is the savior is because he says 'he hates the savior' when he is clearly referring to Cosima. Because of that she let's him go to his death in the arena without a blessing because she is throwing a tantrum.
At least in TSC it was ambiguous enough that I assumed Leila had some good reason for everything she did that would be explained later. Well, this book explained her every thought and her reasons were just as shallow and selfish as they appeared with nothing below the surface. She is mean and hurtful to all her friends which she thinks of as servants but yet the still loved her unconditionally, cause reasons I guess.
The sovereign was one of the worst villains I have ever read. In the first book I though he was a good B plot villain. Scary and in the background but he wasn't the main threat to Tobias (the tournament was.) The sovereign is a mustache twirling villain with no thought behind his actions. His entire motivation are just to hurt Leila because he is eeevil. He openly hates and undermines her but yet the people of the palace are shocked that he isn't this loving father. He goes out of his way to kill the artist even though there is no reason reason to other than to make Leila suffer. This is not the plans of a smart leader who (in my opinion) would be happy Leila is distracted making it easier to carry out his plans. How does killing the artist help him? And Im talking about earlier in the story when he wasn't a threat of actually winning, but simply someone leila liked. He only wanted to kill him for pleasure and to make leila suffer because eeevil. He had no depth and his plans were stupid and ill conceived (and no, that's not me saying I want a 3rd book from his point of view.)
Rereading the exact conversations from the first book was tedious and didn't add anything to the world.
The magic was inconsistent at best, and used mainly as a plot device.
The characters were inconsistent, especially leila, who claims to love Tobias but would then forget that there were even challenges happening until he came back to the palace covered in blood and disturbed.
There is more I could say about this book but over all it took things from the first book and over explained them into stupidity, retroactively distroying the actions and character motivation from the first book.
It would take a lot to get me to pick up book 3 considering every review on here seems to be paid for anyway. Very disappointed in a story and author I previously had a lot or respect for.
cegj's review against another edition
1.0
I hoped this would be better than the Savior's Champion, but it was worse.
Pros: This book did answer pretty much all of the questions and confusion that TSC left me with.
HOWEVER, companion novels should be able to stand on their own, and having to invest in another half-baked book for the other half-baked book to make sense is nothing but a greedy marketing ploy. I can appreciate the full story of the Sovereign's Tournament now, but I should have been able to figure it out independently rather than relying on two 500 word books to tell one crazy, frustrating story.
Cons: The grammatical choice to capitalise all of Leila's pronouns was distracting and disorienting, and for me it had a huge impact on the readability, syntax and flow of the novel.
This book made me hate Leila and Delphi. There was so much wasted potential in these characters, and the story could have been so compelling, especially in the exploration of Cosima, who I think did a wonderful job at playing Savior. I would have loved to see Pippa explored more too—and not as "duckling", but as an adult woman. Her portrayal was extremely problematic for reasons I don't think I need to explain.
This book was riddled with misogyny and misandry, which was a huge problem for me simply because the characters couldn't even do that justice. To sum up TSS, I couldn't use anything but "shallow"—that applies to the plot, the characters, and the concept of companion novels in general.
And yet, I will be reading the next books in this series because I'm invested in seeing improvement in this story. It can be saved, and I really hope that Moreci takes the reader feedback on board and puts more effort into characterisation and intelligent plotting.
Pros: This book did answer pretty much all of the questions and confusion that TSC left me with.
HOWEVER, companion novels should be able to stand on their own, and having to invest in another half-baked book for the other half-baked book to make sense is nothing but a greedy marketing ploy. I can appreciate the full story of the Sovereign's Tournament now, but I should have been able to figure it out independently rather than relying on two 500 word books to tell one crazy, frustrating story.
Cons: The grammatical choice to capitalise all of Leila's pronouns was distracting and disorienting, and for me it had a huge impact on the readability, syntax and flow of the novel.
This book made me hate Leila and Delphi. There was so much wasted potential in these characters, and the story could have been so compelling, especially in the exploration of Cosima, who I think did a wonderful job at playing Savior. I would have loved to see Pippa explored more too—and not as "duckling", but as an adult woman. Her portrayal was extremely problematic for reasons I don't think I need to explain.
This book was riddled with misogyny and misandry, which was a huge problem for me simply because the characters couldn't even do that justice. To sum up TSS, I couldn't use anything but "shallow"—that applies to the plot, the characters, and the concept of companion novels in general.
And yet, I will be reading the next books in this series because I'm invested in seeing improvement in this story. It can be saved, and I really hope that Moreci takes the reader feedback on board and puts more effort into characterisation and intelligent plotting.
mandimoon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
3.25
I enjoyed this book a lot more than the 1st one, I wish the 1st and 2nd were somehow in tandem instead of the same story in a differnt perspective and as their own book. But I did get a lot more backstory and world building with this one. I will read the 3rd one.
writehollydavis's review against another edition
5.0
Ahhh I devoured this book!! Loved reading all the scenes from Leila's POV plus all the hidden happenings we never saw in TSC. It made everything come together full circle. Jenna weaved the story and two POVs from two books seamlessly. I was hooked!
sfitzgerald04's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
mnr's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.5
Did I love the first book? No. But did I love this one? Also no, but for some reason I finished it and have invested too much time in the series so far to not see it to the end once the final book is eventually released.
When I embarked on The Savior’s Sister, I was hoping that a more stable cast of characters, a high-stakes assassination plot line, and a fresh POV would help endear the first book to me a bit more. Instead, I was left feeling disappointed because the only characters I still liked by the end of the story were fairly minor, the major stakes for the series weren’t introduced until the very end, and there was still next to no world building.
Something I do have to say in favor of the book though is that we as readers did get to see a more in-depth look at all of the characters both old and new. While this made both Tobias and Leila a little more frustrating as characters, it gave new and better life to characters like Delphi and Raphael and Enzo, who I hope will continue to take larger roles in the next book.
When I embarked on The Savior’s Sister, I was hoping that a more stable cast of characters, a high-stakes assassination plot line, and a fresh POV would help endear the first book to me a bit more. Instead, I was left feeling disappointed because the only characters I still liked by the end of the story were fairly minor, the major stakes for the series weren’t introduced until the very end, and there was still next to no world building.
Something I do have to say in favor of the book though is that we as readers did get to see a more in-depth look at all of the characters both old and new. While this made both Tobias and Leila a little more frustrating as characters, it gave new and better life to characters like Delphi and Raphael and Enzo, who I hope will continue to take larger roles in the next book.
writicious's review against another edition
5.0
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The greatest thing about this book is the chemistry between Leila and Tobias. Their interactions are so natural and fun, their chemistry crashes from the pages, a pure joy to read. It shows Moreci's excellent skill in writing dialogue.
Another great aspect is the character development. Each character is fleshed out so well, each with their own voice and (hidden) agendas. The interaction among each of them is so well done, helping the characters come alive.
This novel is a companion to The Savior's Champion. While the previous book gave us Tobias's perspective, this book's written from Leila's. At points in the story I was astonished by how well Leila's part was already incorporated in the original book as it seamlessly followed the Champion's storyline. This is definitely one of the perks to plotting your novel beforehand, instead of pantsing it.
A minor setback for me was Leila's anger and how she seemed to solve everything with her blade. While it becomes clear why she's so angry throughout the story (and she has good cause!) I felt that there weren't enough consequences to her actions.
Another point that some may find off-putting is the lack of descriptions. Moreci does give descriptions here and there, but it's not as elaborate as most fantasy books. Personally, I don't mind this but I know some of you out there love a good Tolkienish description
The greatest thing about this book is the chemistry between Leila and Tobias. Their interactions are so natural and fun, their chemistry crashes from the pages, a pure joy to read. It shows Moreci's excellent skill in writing dialogue.
Another great aspect is the character development. Each character is fleshed out so well, each with their own voice and (hidden) agendas. The interaction among each of them is so well done, helping the characters come alive.
This novel is a companion to The Savior's Champion. While the previous book gave us Tobias's perspective, this book's written from Leila's. At points in the story I was astonished by how well Leila's part was already incorporated in the original book as it seamlessly followed the Champion's storyline. This is definitely one of the perks to plotting your novel beforehand, instead of pantsing it.
A minor setback for me was Leila's anger and how she seemed to solve everything with her blade. While it becomes clear why she's so angry throughout the story (and she has good cause!) I felt that there weren't enough consequences to her actions.
Another point that some may find off-putting is the lack of descriptions. Moreci does give descriptions here and there, but it's not as elaborate as most fantasy books. Personally, I don't mind this but I know some of you out there love a good Tolkienish description
tzipporahkeshet's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my new favorite books. I thought it was even better than the first one, and I loved that one so much I bought a copy for all my friends. It is a thrilling, suspense-filled, and delightful read. It makes the first book so much more interesting to know what was going on in the palace. I have waited two years to understand the missing pieces of Tobias' story, and it was completely worth the wait. I know I won't be able to pick up another book for a while now, because they will pale in comparison to The Savior's Sister's vivid world, storyline, and characters. I am excited to reread the Savior's Champion knowing what I know now, and I can't wait to read the next book in the series as soon as it is released.
galeforce's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.5
the tournament is the significantly more enjoyable perspective of this, which this book has significantly less of.
jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the first book, The Savior’s Champion, but I loved this one even more. The performance of the narrator was also incredible. She captured each character perfectly. I loved the friendship between Leila and Delphi and the blossoming friendship between Leila and Raphael. Delphi and Raphael are complete characters, not just “black friend” stereotypes. They have their own goals and purposes outside of Leila. They have their own lives. It’s nice to see a platonic friendship like that between Raphael and Leila, even though it’s at the beginning stage. It’s also nice to see the healthy romantic relationship between Leila and Tobias.