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Giant Slayers
The Kingdom or the Girl?
Demons attack him.
Spirits protect him.
A seer foretells his shocking destiny.
In a primitive land filled with magic, witches and giants, a sixteen-year-old musician named David is summoned to chase away the nightmares haunting the King each night. But more than bad dreams trouble the King. Demons torment him, and David will need more than music to break the curse.
Demons are only the first sign of a deeper and darker evil that plagues the countryside. Bent on revenge and an insatiable thirst for power, the Witch of Endor and a giant named Goliath lead an invading force against the kingdom. King Saul’s army is crumbling and only a champion can save them, but who would be fool enough to face the giant?
Princess Michal is frustrated by the constraints of palace life, but David’s arrival makes things infinitely more interesting. She finds herself drawn to him, but the King strictly forbids her from having a romance with a poor musician. Only by defying her father’s wishes and risking her freedom do they have a chance to be together.
Armed with just his sling and his love for Michal, David must prove his worth by defeating Goliath against impossible odds. Worst of all, he must choose between saving the kingdom or being with the girl of his dreams. He can’t do both.
Demons attack him.
Spirits protect him.
A seer foretells his shocking destiny.
In a primitive land filled with magic, witches and giants, a sixteen-year-old musician named David is summoned to chase away the nightmares haunting the King each night. But more than bad dreams trouble the King. Demons torment him, and David will need more than music to break the curse.
Demons are only the first sign of a deeper and darker evil that plagues the countryside. Bent on revenge and an insatiable thirst for power, the Witch of Endor and a giant named Goliath lead an invading force against the kingdom. King Saul’s army is crumbling and only a champion can save them, but who would be fool enough to face the giant?
Princess Michal is frustrated by the constraints of palace life, but David’s arrival makes things infinitely more interesting. She finds herself drawn to him, but the King strictly forbids her from having a romance with a poor musician. Only by defying her father’s wishes and risking her freedom do they have a chance to be together.
Armed with just his sling and his love for Michal, David must prove his worth by defeating Goliath against impossible odds. Worst of all, he must choose between saving the kingdom or being with the girl of his dreams. He can’t do both.
315 pages, Paperback
Published September 20, 2016
13 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Altabef
35 books264 followersJeff Altabef lives in New York with his wife, two daughters, and Charlie the dog. He spends time volunteering at the writing center in the local community college. After years of being accused of "telling stories," he thought he would make it official. He writes in both the thriller and young adult genres. Fourteenth Colony, a political thriller, is his debut novel. Jeff has a blog designed to encourage writing by those that like telling stories. You can find his blog, The Accidental Writers Workshop, on The Patch. Jeff also rights a column for The Examiner under the byline - The Accidental Writer.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 20, 2016
I really enjoyed this book. Puts a great slant on the Biblical version.
Not religious, just in case that puts you off.
Just a great story with a few twists and turns.
Not religious, just in case that puts you off.
Just a great story with a few twists and turns.
August 30, 2016
>Book Review – Giant Slayers
>This is a standalone novel turning the story of David and Goliath into a romantic adventure. All of the elements of the biblical story are present, but all of the characters are fleshed out. David is a young boy wanting to train to be a soldier with his older brothers. Instead, he has to stay home and be a shepherd for the family’s sheep. He eventually becomes the lute player for the King and falls for the Princess, Michal.
>The love story is a bit weak. David and Michal seem to fall in love at first sight without touching more than their hands. There isn’t any chemistry between the 2 characters. Along with the love story is a bit of danger. A killer is sent by a witch to kill David. This witch is in love with the arrogant giant, Goliath. I love the personality given to Goliath. Of all the characters in this story, Goliath is only known as a giant. I enjoyed seeing the authors’ ideas of Goliath’s personality. He wasn’t very bright, only strong. He came from an ancient race of strong giants. He was extremely good looking and attracted the witch to help his cause.
>David’s brothers and family come to life, with all the pettiness and love, especially David’s love of his only sister, Abby. The writing of this novel keeps this very familiar story from being boring. This version of the story is a page turner, more action and less religion, although religion is an integral part of the story. A few things seemed off, especially the parts regarding the Arc of the Covenant. I thought no one could touch the Arc, yet Jesse layers gold upon it.
>This story is appropriate for a young adult (16+) audience. I am giving the story 4 hearts. The action in the story is good, but the romance is weak. I am a reviewer for Romance Authors that Rock.
>This is a standalone novel turning the story of David and Goliath into a romantic adventure. All of the elements of the biblical story are present, but all of the characters are fleshed out. David is a young boy wanting to train to be a soldier with his older brothers. Instead, he has to stay home and be a shepherd for the family’s sheep. He eventually becomes the lute player for the King and falls for the Princess, Michal.
>The love story is a bit weak. David and Michal seem to fall in love at first sight without touching more than their hands. There isn’t any chemistry between the 2 characters. Along with the love story is a bit of danger. A killer is sent by a witch to kill David. This witch is in love with the arrogant giant, Goliath. I love the personality given to Goliath. Of all the characters in this story, Goliath is only known as a giant. I enjoyed seeing the authors’ ideas of Goliath’s personality. He wasn’t very bright, only strong. He came from an ancient race of strong giants. He was extremely good looking and attracted the witch to help his cause.
>David’s brothers and family come to life, with all the pettiness and love, especially David’s love of his only sister, Abby. The writing of this novel keeps this very familiar story from being boring. This version of the story is a page turner, more action and less religion, although religion is an integral part of the story. A few things seemed off, especially the parts regarding the Arc of the Covenant. I thought no one could touch the Arc, yet Jesse layers gold upon it.
>This story is appropriate for a young adult (16+) audience. I am giving the story 4 hearts. The action in the story is good, but the romance is weak. I am a reviewer for Romance Authors that Rock.
September 9, 2016
To be fair, as fiction, Giant Slayers isn't half bad. It's got all the ingredients of a really exciting story. There's young David, a shepherd boy who's fallen in love with a Princess. There's King Saul, afflicted by demons that he doesn't dare tell anyone about for the sake of keeping his kingdom. And there's Michal, headstrong young princess, who's not content with just accepting the status quo. On the enemy's side, the Witch of Endor is calling on dark powers to assist her in getting revenge against the hated Israelite King. And there's Goliath - strong and beautiful - who is challenging the armies of God.
... I actually did like the characterisations of the Witch (I'm too lazy to look up how to spell her name now) and Goliath, and how the tension is built between the dark power of Molech and the power of God. It's a pretty good story-telling technique, fleshing out the "evil" characters which usually get passing mention. (Well, the Witch is an invention, so obviously she doesn't get ANY mention.)
[NOTE THE REST OF THIS REVIEW IS A THEOLOGICAL/RELIGIOUS RANT, SO IF YOU'RE NOT A CHRISTIAN/NOT INTERESTED IN THEOLOGY, YOU CAN STOP READING HERE. If, however, you are interested in accuracy and canon whilst retelling religious-based stories, do read on.]
Where it fails is as a Biblical retelling. Making God's power overly magical and mystical? Meh, not a favourite of mine but it's been done, not a big issue. Adding in a forbidden romance? Sure, why not? It's canon anyway. I don't know if it started then (it's mentioned only much later), but it could have. Random access to the Ark of the Covenant at King Saul's palace AND King Saul being able to plate it with "tainted gold"? What? Did you not do research? Saul would already be dead. You're not supposed to touch that thing! Painting Samuel the Prophet as an outcast/rebel? Um, well, I suppose it's within the bounds of plausibility; Samuel did not ever see Saul again after rejecting Saul as king, apparently. But recasting David's motivation for facing Goliath as being just to win Michal's hand is pure character assassination. And then forcing him to choose between saving the kingdom or being with the girl of his dreams in some magical time-stopping event?? Eh. No. Just no.
And that's my main gripe.
Biblically, God has rejected Saul as King because he's disobedient to God. There's that whole bit in 1 Samuel 15:22-23 where prophet Samuel scolds Saul:
David was anointed to replace Saul, because "the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). He's described in 1 Samuel 16:18 as "...a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him." Which basically means that David is a fervent believer. He's not one of those I'm-just-doing-this-culturally Israelites. If you want to put it in modern terms, he's a practicing Jew. Or, if contextualised, a born-again, church-going, tongue-speaking Christian. He's chosen and anointed because he knows who his God is.
In this story, David has no concept of who God is from the very start. He fights the lion and the bear to save his sister and is "magically" saved by some bizarre white flash of light whose source is unknown. If he were to build that "coming to know God" into the story as it unfolds, fine. Shaky, but fine. Instead, David is crazily impressed WITH HIS OWN SELF AND HIS OWN LUTE PLAYING which summons "birds of light" to fight the "dark snakes" plaguing King Saul. AGAIN, with no concept of God, except something along the vague lines of... "maybe it's God? But I don't know. There's some strange power thing that happens when I play" and "I'm special. Some higher power is saving me for something. Oh wait, yes, that random tatty seer who looks like Samuel says I'm going to be king."
Oh, but randomly, before the battle, he is able to spout stuff about fighting for God and God saving them, even though when he goes to Saul to insist he should fight Goliath, the only thing that's on his mind is "I must do this so I can marry Michal." God wasn't even a consideration. Which is so totally off course, because David's true reaction is one that's more towards righteous anger: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
And making him steal a horse?? And lie through his teeth?
I usually don't mind minor variations or little tweaks for the story's sake, because that makes a retelling all that more interesting. (There were quite a few of those which I haven't mentioned because eh, who cares.) Humanising Biblical characters with a little bit of doubt and wavering and adding romance is fine. There's room enough in the stories for you to add those, especially when it hasn't been said/inferred/spelled out in any way because you don't know ANY of their thoughts anyway. All you know are their actions and words as written. But changing a fundamental principle of the story? Total character assassination of the main character himself? No. Just no.
Other annoying bit - not so very much theological - is the fact that David, as a shepherd boy, has no fighting skills whatsoever. He literally can't use a sling or a staff to defend himself... which doesn't make sense because he has to protect his flock. This story makes it seem like the one lion and one bear that attacked him was a fluke, and it has never happened before. Yet he boasts of never having lost a sheep. Uh, right. Besides wild animals, there are raiders and bandits and such. I'm sure that even as a shepherd boy he should already have developed some defensive skills, even if he's not depicted as a soldier with sword and armour. (Also note "warrior" description above.)
Ah. I should stop here. To summarise, eh, needs more research.
Note: I received a free digital ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
... I actually did like the characterisations of the Witch (I'm too lazy to look up how to spell her name now) and Goliath, and how the tension is built between the dark power of Molech and the power of God. It's a pretty good story-telling technique, fleshing out the "evil" characters which usually get passing mention. (Well, the Witch is an invention, so obviously she doesn't get ANY mention.)
[NOTE THE REST OF THIS REVIEW IS A THEOLOGICAL/RELIGIOUS RANT, SO IF YOU'RE NOT A CHRISTIAN/NOT INTERESTED IN THEOLOGY, YOU CAN STOP READING HERE. If, however, you are interested in accuracy and canon whilst retelling religious-based stories, do read on.]
Where it fails is as a Biblical retelling. Making God's power overly magical and mystical? Meh, not a favourite of mine but it's been done, not a big issue. Adding in a forbidden romance? Sure, why not? It's canon anyway. I don't know if it started then (it's mentioned only much later), but it could have. Random access to the Ark of the Covenant at King Saul's palace AND King Saul being able to plate it with "tainted gold"? What? Did you not do research? Saul would already be dead. You're not supposed to touch that thing! Painting Samuel the Prophet as an outcast/rebel? Um, well, I suppose it's within the bounds of plausibility; Samuel did not ever see Saul again after rejecting Saul as king, apparently. But recasting David's motivation for facing Goliath as being just to win Michal's hand is pure character assassination. And then forcing him to choose between saving the kingdom or being with the girl of his dreams in some magical time-stopping event?? Eh. No. Just no.
And that's my main gripe.
Biblically, God has rejected Saul as King because he's disobedient to God. There's that whole bit in 1 Samuel 15:22-23 where prophet Samuel scolds Saul:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”
David was anointed to replace Saul, because "the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). He's described in 1 Samuel 16:18 as "...a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him." Which basically means that David is a fervent believer. He's not one of those I'm-just-doing-this-culturally Israelites. If you want to put it in modern terms, he's a practicing Jew. Or, if contextualised, a born-again, church-going, tongue-speaking Christian. He's chosen and anointed because he knows who his God is.
In this story, David has no concept of who God is from the very start. He fights the lion and the bear to save his sister and is "magically" saved by some bizarre white flash of light whose source is unknown. If he were to build that "coming to know God" into the story as it unfolds, fine. Shaky, but fine. Instead, David is crazily impressed WITH HIS OWN SELF AND HIS OWN LUTE PLAYING which summons "birds of light" to fight the "dark snakes" plaguing King Saul. AGAIN, with no concept of God, except something along the vague lines of... "maybe it's God? But I don't know. There's some strange power thing that happens when I play" and "I'm special. Some higher power is saving me for something. Oh wait, yes, that random tatty seer who looks like Samuel says I'm going to be king."
Oh, but randomly, before the battle, he is able to spout stuff about fighting for God and God saving them, even though when he goes to Saul to insist he should fight Goliath, the only thing that's on his mind is "I must do this so I can marry Michal." God wasn't even a consideration. Which is so totally off course, because David's true reaction is one that's more towards righteous anger: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
And making him steal a horse?? And lie through his teeth?
I usually don't mind minor variations or little tweaks for the story's sake, because that makes a retelling all that more interesting. (There were quite a few of those which I haven't mentioned because eh, who cares.) Humanising Biblical characters with a little bit of doubt and wavering and adding romance is fine. There's room enough in the stories for you to add those, especially when it hasn't been said/inferred/spelled out in any way because you don't know ANY of their thoughts anyway. All you know are their actions and words as written. But changing a fundamental principle of the story? Total character assassination of the main character himself? No. Just no.
Other annoying bit - not so very much theological - is the fact that David, as a shepherd boy, has no fighting skills whatsoever. He literally can't use a sling or a staff to defend himself... which doesn't make sense because he has to protect his flock. This story makes it seem like the one lion and one bear that attacked him was a fluke, and it has never happened before. Yet he boasts of never having lost a sheep. Uh, right. Besides wild animals, there are raiders and bandits and such. I'm sure that even as a shepherd boy he should already have developed some defensive skills, even if he's not depicted as a soldier with sword and armour. (Also note "warrior" description above.)
Ah. I should stop here. To summarise, eh, needs more research.
Note: I received a free digital ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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August 12, 2025ORIGINAL THOUGHTS:
This book was an interesting introduction to some old religious stories that I knew virtually nothing about. It was exciting and fun and I have only one reason that I did not rate this higher: it didn't stand out to be as particularly special or incredible, but rather a solid, good book.
FULL REVIEW:
Am I religious? No. Do I know a lot about religion? Also no. Will this be highly detailed? Definitely not. But I can talk about books, so let’s do this!
As I mentioned, I feel the need to talk about the religious aspect of this book. This is a retelling of a biblical story and therefore is religious as a whole. Depending on the way you would like to view this story, this may either matter to you, or not matter that much. Originally, I didn’t notice any discrepancies in the religion, but after reading a review, I then thought I saw some. After the author kindly contacted me to clarify some of the finer details which I did not understand, I have now changed my review and would like to say that as far as I am aware, this story is biblically canon as much as a story not actually in the Testament can be.
This book was quite interesting, very fast paced, and I really enjoyed David’s family. The romance was slightly clichéd, but otherwise interesting. I normally wouldn’t say this, as I love romance, but I felt that there was slightly too much emphasis on the relationship and not enough on the other aspects of the story. I also really enjoyed the POV of Alzsheba (the Witch of Endor) and really enjoyed the writing style and especially the opening paragraph, which you can find below.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and only had a few minor things that I would have liked- mostly just to see more of the really interesting world that I don’t know much about.
This book was an interesting introduction to some old religious stories that I knew virtually nothing about. It was exciting and fun and I have only one reason that I did not rate this higher: it didn't stand out to be as particularly special or incredible, but rather a solid, good book.
FULL REVIEW:
Am I religious? No. Do I know a lot about religion? Also no. Will this be highly detailed? Definitely not. But I can talk about books, so let’s do this!
As I mentioned, I feel the need to talk about the religious aspect of this book. This is a retelling of a biblical story and therefore is religious as a whole. Depending on the way you would like to view this story, this may either matter to you, or not matter that much. Originally, I didn’t notice any discrepancies in the religion, but after reading a review, I then thought I saw some. After the author kindly contacted me to clarify some of the finer details which I did not understand, I have now changed my review and would like to say that as far as I am aware, this story is biblically canon as much as a story not actually in the Testament can be.
This book was quite interesting, very fast paced, and I really enjoyed David’s family. The romance was slightly clichéd, but otherwise interesting. I normally wouldn’t say this, as I love romance, but I felt that there was slightly too much emphasis on the relationship and not enough on the other aspects of the story. I also really enjoyed the POV of Alzsheba (the Witch of Endor) and really enjoyed the writing style and especially the opening paragraph, which you can find below.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book and only had a few minor things that I would have liked- mostly just to see more of the really interesting world that I don’t know much about.
October 26, 2016
Many tales from the bible have been retold; several movies come to mind such as The Ten Commandments (Charlton Heston). This telling of David and Goliath is rich with texture, describing sights and sounds, smells and touches--the feel of rough-woven versus silken cloth, the weight of a stone, the burn of a claw. David is in tune with God, feeling the power and majesty of the world around him and, occasionally, the literal power of the Lord channeling through him. But as a young, simple, shepherd boy he has an annoying sister whom he loves and charge of his flock and no great expectations. The Altabefs have created a compelling story moving the innocent boy and his family toward the confrontation with the giant. And as someone else remarked: a boy, a girl, a witch and a giant--what's not to like?
December 3, 2016
"Giant Slayers" by Jeff Altabef and Ken Altabef is a nice rendering of the Biblical David and Goliath story, broadly following the arc of the original and fleshed out with imagined detail that feels organic. The characters and dialog are modern, yet there's a vivid sense of time and place in the descriptions of customs, locations, weapons, food -- all the trappings of life that fit Israel of 3000 years ago. It's a balancing act that keeps this version both readable and plausible. As fitting the source, divine intervention is supported unequivocally. There's no ambiguity here: God is real and working through David, but again in a way that feels organic without veering into dogma. Demons, witches, evil magic -- they all exist ... but there's a greater power, if you are humble enough to accept it. Perfect connection to the spirit of the original, if you ask me.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews