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Savior
A BRAG Medallion Honoree
There’s nothing new about holy war. The language of the Crusades is echoed in the news of today. You can hear it in Savior in the songs that were sung, in the words of street-preachers recruiting soldiers, in the common cant church and citizen. Savior, a work of historical fiction looks both at holy war and self-discovery through the mirror of the 13th century.
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Imagine living in a world where depression is not regarded as a disease, but as Satan trying to steal your soul. Imagine turning to your priest who counsels you to take the Cross and to travel thousands of miles to the Holy Land to kill people so that you can be free of Satan forever. Imagine you believe this so absolutely that none of the rational arguments offered by your parents, your friends or your beloved can persuade you otherwise. Imagine that this journey costs you everything but the one thing you had hoped to lose — your life. What, from that desperate emptiness, would you find to bring back? Savior is this story. Savior is a coming-of-age novel, set in thirteenth century Switzerland, Palestine and Lebanon. Savior exemplifies the universal human journey of delusion, suffering, discovery, liberation, and transcendence that creates the individual. Savior is a loose prequel to The Brothers Path which tells the story of the same family three hundred years after the events recounted in Savior as they find themselves in the middle of the Protestant Reformation.
There’s nothing new about holy war. The language of the Crusades is echoed in the news of today. You can hear it in Savior in the songs that were sung, in the words of street-preachers recruiting soldiers, in the common cant church and citizen. Savior, a work of historical fiction looks both at holy war and self-discovery through the mirror of the 13th century.
---
Imagine living in a world where depression is not regarded as a disease, but as Satan trying to steal your soul. Imagine turning to your priest who counsels you to take the Cross and to travel thousands of miles to the Holy Land to kill people so that you can be free of Satan forever. Imagine you believe this so absolutely that none of the rational arguments offered by your parents, your friends or your beloved can persuade you otherwise. Imagine that this journey costs you everything but the one thing you had hoped to lose — your life. What, from that desperate emptiness, would you find to bring back? Savior is this story. Savior is a coming-of-age novel, set in thirteenth century Switzerland, Palestine and Lebanon. Savior exemplifies the universal human journey of delusion, suffering, discovery, liberation, and transcendence that creates the individual. Savior is a loose prequel to The Brothers Path which tells the story of the same family three hundred years after the events recounted in Savior as they find themselves in the middle of the Protestant Reformation.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
222 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2014
2 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Martha Kennedy
14 books29 followersMartha Kennedy has published four works of historical fiction. Martin of Gfenn, Savior, The Brothers Path and The Price. All are BRAGMedallion honorees.
Her first novel, Martin of Gfenn, which tells the story of a young fresco painter living in 13th century Zürich, was awarded the Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society Indie Review in 2015 and short-listed for the Chaucer Award by Chanticleer International Book Awards.
Her second novel, Savior -- the first in the trilogy Across the World on the Wings of the Wind -- tells the story of a young man in the 13th century who fights depression — and discovers himself — by going on Crusade. The Brothers Path, a loose sequel to Savior, looks at the same family three hundred years later as they find their way through the Protestant Reformation. The third book in this trilogy -- The Price -- set in the mid 18th century, brings the family across the Atlantic escaping religious persecution.
Kennedy has published two award-winning works of non-fiction -- My Everest -- a collection of hiking stories from her thirty-odd years in Southern California and a memoir about her life as a Foreign Expert in English in Guangzhou, China, in 1982/83. She recently published a small collection of poems titled Shit, Fear, and Beauty.
She's also published many short-stories and articles in a variety of publications from the Denver Post to the Business Communications Quarterly to Letters from the Hidden Lake, the publication of the Alamosa Colorado Public Library.
Martha Kennedy was born in Denver, Colorado and earned her undergraduate degree in American Literature from University of Colorado, Boulder and her graduate degree in American Literature from the University of Denver. She has taught college and university writing at all levels, business communication, literature and English as a Second Language.
For many years she lived in the San Diego area, most recently in Descanso, a small town in the Cuyamaca Mountains. She has returned to Colorado to live in Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley which she calls Heaven (because it is).
Her first novel, Martin of Gfenn, which tells the story of a young fresco painter living in 13th century Zürich, was awarded the Editor’s Choice by the Historical Novel Society Indie Review in 2015 and short-listed for the Chaucer Award by Chanticleer International Book Awards.
Her second novel, Savior -- the first in the trilogy Across the World on the Wings of the Wind -- tells the story of a young man in the 13th century who fights depression — and discovers himself — by going on Crusade. The Brothers Path, a loose sequel to Savior, looks at the same family three hundred years later as they find their way through the Protestant Reformation. The third book in this trilogy -- The Price -- set in the mid 18th century, brings the family across the Atlantic escaping religious persecution.
Kennedy has published two award-winning works of non-fiction -- My Everest -- a collection of hiking stories from her thirty-odd years in Southern California and a memoir about her life as a Foreign Expert in English in Guangzhou, China, in 1982/83. She recently published a small collection of poems titled Shit, Fear, and Beauty.
She's also published many short-stories and articles in a variety of publications from the Denver Post to the Business Communications Quarterly to Letters from the Hidden Lake, the publication of the Alamosa Colorado Public Library.
Martha Kennedy was born in Denver, Colorado and earned her undergraduate degree in American Literature from University of Colorado, Boulder and her graduate degree in American Literature from the University of Denver. She has taught college and university writing at all levels, business communication, literature and English as a Second Language.
For many years she lived in the San Diego area, most recently in Descanso, a small town in the Cuyamaca Mountains. She has returned to Colorado to live in Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley which she calls Heaven (because it is).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 7, 2016
When I started reading Savior, I expected a straightforward, action-filled story of the Crusades. And while this book is that, it is so much more. It's also a journey of self-discovery, a story of spiritual awakening, and a tale of the power of love and family.
The book's main character, Rudolf, struggles with depression. It had never occurred to me that depression existed back in the Middle Ages, but of course, it did. As with some churches today, mental illness was viewed as a sin. Having dealt with depression myself, it's hard to imagine how difficult it would be to struggle with "the darkness"without any kind of support system like we have today.
After experiencing first hand the horrors of war, Rudolf meets a Maronite monk in the desert. The monk teaches him some powerful lessons such as where is God when we can't find Him? What is truth and the perception of truth? Who is my neighbor? What if I think I know where I'm going and God changes the plan?
One of the most powerful lessons I learned from Youhanna, the monk in the story, was this:
If your heart beats in fear, look around to see if there is an enemy, if you see none, your body is telling you the enemy is inside. Heed it, and it will help you.
In the end, Rudolf discovers what is most important to him and becomes, in many ways, a different person, or at least a more mature one, than he was at the beginning of the story.
I highly recommend Savior for readers of historical fiction. In addition, those who appreciate a story of self-discovery with a Christian theme will enjoy this book immensely.
The book's main character, Rudolf, struggles with depression. It had never occurred to me that depression existed back in the Middle Ages, but of course, it did. As with some churches today, mental illness was viewed as a sin. Having dealt with depression myself, it's hard to imagine how difficult it would be to struggle with "the darkness"without any kind of support system like we have today.
After experiencing first hand the horrors of war, Rudolf meets a Maronite monk in the desert. The monk teaches him some powerful lessons such as where is God when we can't find Him? What is truth and the perception of truth? Who is my neighbor? What if I think I know where I'm going and God changes the plan?
One of the most powerful lessons I learned from Youhanna, the monk in the story, was this:
If your heart beats in fear, look around to see if there is an enemy, if you see none, your body is telling you the enemy is inside. Heed it, and it will help you.
In the end, Rudolf discovers what is most important to him and becomes, in many ways, a different person, or at least a more mature one, than he was at the beginning of the story.
I highly recommend Savior for readers of historical fiction. In addition, those who appreciate a story of self-discovery with a Christian theme will enjoy this book immensely.
August 1, 2016
We are proud to announce that SAVIOR by Martha Kennedy is a B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree. This tells a reader that this book is well worth their time and money!
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August 13, 2016Savior is Martha Kennedy’s poignant tale of Rudolf and his brother Conrad, inhabitants of thirteenth-century Zürich and a society immersed in religion and warfare. Rudolf suffers from depression, a condition he is counseled comes from Satan and can be eradicated in a fight to save the world from such sin. A local priest explains that with Jerusalem once more in the hands of the infidel, who “wasted no time in desecrating the holy sites and persecuting Christians living within its walls,” fighting these invaders would help to expiate sin and contribute to his salvation.
Kennedy opens Savior with a quote from St. Augustine that reflects Rudolf’s state of mind—“I bore a shattered and bleeding soul,” it reads in part—and a downpour reflecting the emotion, as if nature herself was as anguished. No amount of service to travelers escaping the downpour, or joy in his fiancée, Gretchen, eases Rudolf’s internal torture.
Conrad, on the other hand, is restless and though negative about Gretchen or some content of the minnesingers’ songs, sees a bright future elsewhere, such as under the tutelage of a knight, who could teach him the rules of chivalry. He longs to see the reality behind the travelers’ wonderful stories, so filled with the strange and faraway, the wild and brave. One could easily imagine Conrad delighting in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville had he known of even the outlandish within the travelogue, yet to be published.
Thus begins Rudolf’s aim to join the latest Crusade, following his own examination on the roots of his torment, and Conrad’s in his quest for adventure and something beyond the confines of the Longfields’ estate and his father’s goal for him, to serve his brother as a stable hand.
As the boys prepare to leave, Kennedy alternates between Rudolf and Conrad and their conversations with those who seek to dissuade them. Through expressive, sometimes heartbreaking, dialogue readers are given an internal view to the opposing motivations of each to make the dangerous journey, the same their father had made in his own youth, and which had driven their mother close to the brink: Rudolf, to rid himself of feeling suffocated by the presence of evil, Conrad to “be[come] the hero of his own romance.”
One of the first features I noticed in Savior was the manner in which Kennedy brings to life not only her characters, but also the emotion swirling through so many scenes, while simultaneously managing its effect and keeping it out of the realm of the overwhelming. Readers feel each mood as it hovers, and the author consummately provides the history that we need to know behind each person’s perception.
Despite their opposing motivation both Rudolf and Conrad search for self, and the dialogue, whether between the brothers or one of them and a supporting character, reflects this intuitively. It is as if Kennedy overheard and recorded real conversations rather than created ones that sought to speak from distinct perspectives.
Character growth in Savior is depicted beautifully, largely utilizing the author’s dialogue expertise but also the internal discourse of several characters, including that which plagues and then begins to inform Rudolf as he faces the terrible reality of war, and the now-porous walls of his depressive prison. While his understanding is not exactly as he thought it might be, there is a greater openness to his examination that questions circumstances while retaining the devotion he had always known.
Kennedy wisely allows Rudolf to be the thirteenth-century man he is rather than forcing on him either genuine modern sensibilities or political correctness, while truthfully opening his understanding to the political machinations that had made their way into bonafide belief. The changes wrought by invasion and crusading alters his individual world and eventually society as a whole, and the pain of that transition is felt in Rudolf’s experiences.
Through the current trendiness of Christianity bashing in our own time, it would be easy to label Savior as an indictment of the religion given its early misdirection. While Kennedy does not pull her punches in illuminating the misdeeds of those who abused power and manipulated religiosity, she does also address human failure to recognize the beauty Rudolf’s God desires for him, and how ignorance is the main driver behind misinformation treated as the nature of God.
“Brother Youhanna, did those priests lie when they said my sins would be forgiven if I came to fight the infidel?”
“Lying? No, yet I doubt they spoke the truth. They spoke from their beliefs, in the limits of their understanding, but Truth is not carried on the edge of a sword.
“But if the Holy Father in Rome told them, would it not be the truth?”
Youhanna shrugged.
Rudolf never imagined the Holy Father could speak anything other than the truth. “What then?”
“Confusion. Desire. Blindness. Anger. No one is free.”
As historical fiction the novel is top notch. Kennedy brings readers to the brutal Battle of La Forbie where injections of stark prose match what lay out in front of the arriving fighters: too few of them—the Hospitaller leader looks at them “thinking only that they had come to die”—horrendous confidence-destroying heat—shedding layers of protection one at a time, eventually succumbing grievously to, “Who cared if a sniper’s arrow picked them off? They were in Hell now. Death would bring Heaven”—and locals trying to “redeem themselves for the crime of survival.”
From their position on the coast to de Brienne’s impatient and premature strike from a disadvantageous terrain, Kennedy remains true to historic events, smoothly writing in both Conrad and Rudolf’s places in and before the battle. Rudolf experiences a watershed moment, flawlessly written into a scene leading to the moments both he and the fighters have been waiting for. A bridge in the novel, it is filled with an array of memories, sensations, activities and song of the minnesinger, and displays an achingly beautiful passage of time both ghastly and poetic, a combination not often seen done, even less often done as well as it is here.
While Savior is a work of historical fiction set in a time when religion was a way of life and not just part of it, it also is a coming-of-age story, though related within a cultural milieu so different to many of the same stories of today. This is not a Vietnam, or a coming to grips with gruesome urban events, and though it retains the spiritual with its mood and prodigal son angle, it opens itself to readers in its search for truth, an age-old quest, even while appearing in some ways so foreign to what many readers will know, such as medieval attitudes toward mental illness. It is also a book audiences will want to read again and again, it being easily recognizable as one with layers that often reveal themselves upon subsequent visitations, which I highly recommend.
Kennedy opens Savior with a quote from St. Augustine that reflects Rudolf’s state of mind—“I bore a shattered and bleeding soul,” it reads in part—and a downpour reflecting the emotion, as if nature herself was as anguished. No amount of service to travelers escaping the downpour, or joy in his fiancée, Gretchen, eases Rudolf’s internal torture.
Conrad, on the other hand, is restless and though negative about Gretchen or some content of the minnesingers’ songs, sees a bright future elsewhere, such as under the tutelage of a knight, who could teach him the rules of chivalry. He longs to see the reality behind the travelers’ wonderful stories, so filled with the strange and faraway, the wild and brave. One could easily imagine Conrad delighting in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville had he known of even the outlandish within the travelogue, yet to be published.
Thus begins Rudolf’s aim to join the latest Crusade, following his own examination on the roots of his torment, and Conrad’s in his quest for adventure and something beyond the confines of the Longfields’ estate and his father’s goal for him, to serve his brother as a stable hand.
As the boys prepare to leave, Kennedy alternates between Rudolf and Conrad and their conversations with those who seek to dissuade them. Through expressive, sometimes heartbreaking, dialogue readers are given an internal view to the opposing motivations of each to make the dangerous journey, the same their father had made in his own youth, and which had driven their mother close to the brink: Rudolf, to rid himself of feeling suffocated by the presence of evil, Conrad to “be[come] the hero of his own romance.”
One of the first features I noticed in Savior was the manner in which Kennedy brings to life not only her characters, but also the emotion swirling through so many scenes, while simultaneously managing its effect and keeping it out of the realm of the overwhelming. Readers feel each mood as it hovers, and the author consummately provides the history that we need to know behind each person’s perception.
Despite their opposing motivation both Rudolf and Conrad search for self, and the dialogue, whether between the brothers or one of them and a supporting character, reflects this intuitively. It is as if Kennedy overheard and recorded real conversations rather than created ones that sought to speak from distinct perspectives.
Character growth in Savior is depicted beautifully, largely utilizing the author’s dialogue expertise but also the internal discourse of several characters, including that which plagues and then begins to inform Rudolf as he faces the terrible reality of war, and the now-porous walls of his depressive prison. While his understanding is not exactly as he thought it might be, there is a greater openness to his examination that questions circumstances while retaining the devotion he had always known.
Kennedy wisely allows Rudolf to be the thirteenth-century man he is rather than forcing on him either genuine modern sensibilities or political correctness, while truthfully opening his understanding to the political machinations that had made their way into bonafide belief. The changes wrought by invasion and crusading alters his individual world and eventually society as a whole, and the pain of that transition is felt in Rudolf’s experiences.
Through the current trendiness of Christianity bashing in our own time, it would be easy to label Savior as an indictment of the religion given its early misdirection. While Kennedy does not pull her punches in illuminating the misdeeds of those who abused power and manipulated religiosity, she does also address human failure to recognize the beauty Rudolf’s God desires for him, and how ignorance is the main driver behind misinformation treated as the nature of God.
“Brother Youhanna, did those priests lie when they said my sins would be forgiven if I came to fight the infidel?”
“Lying? No, yet I doubt they spoke the truth. They spoke from their beliefs, in the limits of their understanding, but Truth is not carried on the edge of a sword.
“But if the Holy Father in Rome told them, would it not be the truth?”
Youhanna shrugged.
Rudolf never imagined the Holy Father could speak anything other than the truth. “What then?”
“Confusion. Desire. Blindness. Anger. No one is free.”
As historical fiction the novel is top notch. Kennedy brings readers to the brutal Battle of La Forbie where injections of stark prose match what lay out in front of the arriving fighters: too few of them—the Hospitaller leader looks at them “thinking only that they had come to die”—horrendous confidence-destroying heat—shedding layers of protection one at a time, eventually succumbing grievously to, “Who cared if a sniper’s arrow picked them off? They were in Hell now. Death would bring Heaven”—and locals trying to “redeem themselves for the crime of survival.”
From their position on the coast to de Brienne’s impatient and premature strike from a disadvantageous terrain, Kennedy remains true to historic events, smoothly writing in both Conrad and Rudolf’s places in and before the battle. Rudolf experiences a watershed moment, flawlessly written into a scene leading to the moments both he and the fighters have been waiting for. A bridge in the novel, it is filled with an array of memories, sensations, activities and song of the minnesinger, and displays an achingly beautiful passage of time both ghastly and poetic, a combination not often seen done, even less often done as well as it is here.
While Savior is a work of historical fiction set in a time when religion was a way of life and not just part of it, it also is a coming-of-age story, though related within a cultural milieu so different to many of the same stories of today. This is not a Vietnam, or a coming to grips with gruesome urban events, and though it retains the spiritual with its mood and prodigal son angle, it opens itself to readers in its search for truth, an age-old quest, even while appearing in some ways so foreign to what many readers will know, such as medieval attitudes toward mental illness. It is also a book audiences will want to read again and again, it being easily recognizable as one with layers that often reveal themselves upon subsequent visitations, which I highly recommend.
June 22, 2016
Overall a good book about brothers who take part in a Crusade to take back Jerusalem from the Infidel. Includes interesting information with regard to the Maronite brethren in the Qadisha Valley in Lebanon and provides a realistic view of the Crusades in general.
January 31, 2018
Savior follows the trials and tribulations of two young men, Rudolf and Conrad, who, against the wishes of their family, join the Christian Crusade in the 13th century to fight for the true faith in the land of the infidels. It is a time in history when religion pervades every aspect of life. Both men want to escape their home – one for the promise of adventure and glory, the other to escape his own inner demons. The focus of the story is on Rudolf’s struggles with depression and anxiety, and his path to healing.
Rudolf is a young man with everything to live for – he has a fiancé from a good family who loves him, respectable social standing, the means to provide a comfortable life for his prospective family, and the opportunity to inherit a fortified abode to keep his family safe. Yet, he feels only hopelessness and darkness. His life is a living Hell and godless. Depression was not recognised as an illness in this era; it was considered Satan’s work.
Rudolf and his brother are persuaded by the Pope’s emissaries to join the army being assembled to retake the Holy City, Jerusalem. The Church offers salvation to those prepared to join the fight, for when fighting for God, there is no sin too evil or heinous that will not be forgiven. Martyrdom guarantees glory. ’Life indeed is a fruitful thing and victory is glorious, but a holy death is more important than either. If they are blessed who die in the Lord, how much more are they who die for the Lord!'
Martha Kennedy’s depiction of depression is spot on. It presses in upon Rudolf; he is under siege. Rudolf is torn apart by his obligations to his family that are, from a very young age, too heavy a burden to bear. He sinks into a black void from which he cannot escape. Every effort he makes to pull himself out of the mire is stymied by ignorance, superstition, and political agendas. The best that he can hope for is a ‘peaceful’ death in God’s service.
By setting the story against the backdrop of the holy wars, Kennedy taps into our collective anxiety about events in our world today, where recourse to force as a means for seeking peace appears to be the default option of the righteous and powerful.
If we choose, we can learn much from the history of holy wars. There are many quotes from the Christian scriptures and much sermonising in the novel. Some may see this as overly repetitive, but the repetition serves an important purpose. It illuminates the power of words. They become a mantra with the power to brainwash. Later, they will also demonstrate the power to heal. With these religious passages, Kennedy also illustrates that while culture, race and religion may divide us, we are more alike than we realise. The language of the Crusades is the language of Jihad. There are parallels today in the increasing militarism of the Christian religious right and other extremist religious forces. However, if you think that secularism is the solution, then the muscle-flexing of secular ideological superpowers belies this.
The novel highlights the futility of war and the dangers of blind faith in ideology. The actual battle is dealt with swiftly in the book. Greater emphasis is given to the trauma, both physical and mental, that the war causes. Broken, Rudolf must find a way to live in this world for the ‘peaceful’ death he desired is denied him. Through the love, care and compassion of a wise man, Rudolf is given the weapons to finally find his faith.
I enjoyed this story immensely, even while I fretted about the dark shadows gathering apace in our world today; shadows mirrored in Rudolf’s world of the Crusades. Kennedy tells a powerful story with skill and sensitivity. Her characters are three-dimensional and the reader can sympathise with and relate to them. The story of Rudolf’s depression is woven carefully into the story. Kennedy explores Rudolf’s world, both mental and physical, in meticulous detail. She does not lecture but lets history do the talking. While the power of institutions can seem overwhelming and unstoppable, Kennedy hints that, like Rudolf, an individual can make and find peace through kindness, compassion, hard work, patience, mercy and nurturing the land that sustains our minds and our bodies.
Rudolf is a young man with everything to live for – he has a fiancé from a good family who loves him, respectable social standing, the means to provide a comfortable life for his prospective family, and the opportunity to inherit a fortified abode to keep his family safe. Yet, he feels only hopelessness and darkness. His life is a living Hell and godless. Depression was not recognised as an illness in this era; it was considered Satan’s work.
Rudolf and his brother are persuaded by the Pope’s emissaries to join the army being assembled to retake the Holy City, Jerusalem. The Church offers salvation to those prepared to join the fight, for when fighting for God, there is no sin too evil or heinous that will not be forgiven. Martyrdom guarantees glory. ’Life indeed is a fruitful thing and victory is glorious, but a holy death is more important than either. If they are blessed who die in the Lord, how much more are they who die for the Lord!'
Martha Kennedy’s depiction of depression is spot on. It presses in upon Rudolf; he is under siege. Rudolf is torn apart by his obligations to his family that are, from a very young age, too heavy a burden to bear. He sinks into a black void from which he cannot escape. Every effort he makes to pull himself out of the mire is stymied by ignorance, superstition, and political agendas. The best that he can hope for is a ‘peaceful’ death in God’s service.
By setting the story against the backdrop of the holy wars, Kennedy taps into our collective anxiety about events in our world today, where recourse to force as a means for seeking peace appears to be the default option of the righteous and powerful.
If we choose, we can learn much from the history of holy wars. There are many quotes from the Christian scriptures and much sermonising in the novel. Some may see this as overly repetitive, but the repetition serves an important purpose. It illuminates the power of words. They become a mantra with the power to brainwash. Later, they will also demonstrate the power to heal. With these religious passages, Kennedy also illustrates that while culture, race and religion may divide us, we are more alike than we realise. The language of the Crusades is the language of Jihad. There are parallels today in the increasing militarism of the Christian religious right and other extremist religious forces. However, if you think that secularism is the solution, then the muscle-flexing of secular ideological superpowers belies this.
The novel highlights the futility of war and the dangers of blind faith in ideology. The actual battle is dealt with swiftly in the book. Greater emphasis is given to the trauma, both physical and mental, that the war causes. Broken, Rudolf must find a way to live in this world for the ‘peaceful’ death he desired is denied him. Through the love, care and compassion of a wise man, Rudolf is given the weapons to finally find his faith.
I enjoyed this story immensely, even while I fretted about the dark shadows gathering apace in our world today; shadows mirrored in Rudolf’s world of the Crusades. Kennedy tells a powerful story with skill and sensitivity. Her characters are three-dimensional and the reader can sympathise with and relate to them. The story of Rudolf’s depression is woven carefully into the story. Kennedy explores Rudolf’s world, both mental and physical, in meticulous detail. She does not lecture but lets history do the talking. While the power of institutions can seem overwhelming and unstoppable, Kennedy hints that, like Rudolf, an individual can make and find peace through kindness, compassion, hard work, patience, mercy and nurturing the land that sustains our minds and our bodies.
October 6, 2016
If you want a plot summary just read the existing blurbs. "Savior" is an excellent story. Expect to learn a lot about the tradition and mindset of the era, how powerful the church was, the depths of (what might be called) depression and the ways spirituality helped and hurt people. Where things get a bit off track I think is in the translation from story to book. I found the characters confusing and plot mostly MIA for about the first 1/3 of the book. Eventually we get into the action and start to understand the main characters better as the side characters fall away. Unfortunately -- not to spoil -- the "most important scene" is reduced to nothingness in words. Afterwards, much transpires, spiritually, in the life of our protagonist. And then finally comes the denouement, what we've read hundreds of pages to find out: answers to the two important questions that we have been waiting for since the quest began, and.......
I guess that's why they invented sequels.
I guess that's why they invented sequels.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews