The Victor Review & Halloween Giveaway

A benevolent King; ...his sword of power; ...a ruthless traitor bent on revenge; ...and the faithful son who stands in his way with the woman destined to share his throne. Who shall emerge as the victor in this epic struggle between good and evil to govern the lives of hapless men?
Taken from GoodReads.

The Victor follows the story of Eloth, King of Ellioth, Lucius, and the crown prince, Eloth's son, Joshua. Essentially paralleled with the God-head, the characters can be directly related to God, satan, and Jesus, respectively. Merging a medieval fantasy tale with Biblical allegories and the struggle between good and evil, right and wrong, and the pure and the wicked, The Victor leads you on an exciting journey of life, Judgment, and the human condition.

To be honest, I'd never heard of The Victor before I won it from the lovely ladies at I'd So Rather Be Reading. However, their review raved about the beauty and accuracy of this Christian, historical fantasy novel, which pretty much blends every genre I love. Now, I'll admit that Christian fiction tends to rub people the wrong way because it has a reputation of being rather preachy, but The Victor manages to portray the beautiful story of Lucifer being cast from heaven without inundating you with religious idealism. Both as a Catholic and a YA fantasy fan, I was able to connect with the rich imagery and detail provided by the talents of author Marlayne Giron.

That said, it took me almost three full chapters to get into The Victor. I think the amount of detail and historical set-up (though fantastic) made for a bit of a slow start. Determined to stick it out though, I'm truly glad I did. The story picks up, the beautiful time period and attention to both accuracy and detail amps up the story line and leads you on a fun, profound, and meaningful journey. And when I say meaningful, I mean - there's a legitimate theme and moral to this entire story.

I am pleased to say that I truly enjoyed this book, and I give The Victor a very strong 4 out 5, only dropped because of the slow start. I recommend it to fans of Christian fiction, fantasy, YA, and allegorical stories.

------------------------------------------------

Now, I'm super super excited to tell you all that I have a fantastic giveaway in which I will have three (3) winners...I know, awesome, right?! A big thanks and shout-out goes to Hachette Book Group for making all of this possible! Ready to hear the prizes?! Three lucky winners will win ARCs of four spooktacular Halloween-themed books, namely:

Dark Song by Gail Giles
Bloodthirsty by Flynn Meaney
The Witches' Kitchen by L. Williams
The Saga of Larten Crepsley - Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan

Time for the rules: US only, as the publisher will be mailing the prizes. You MUST be a follower of this blog. You get one extra point for spreading the word, but you MUST provide a link! To enter, simply leave your email in a comment below, and feel free to spread the word! This giveaway closes at 8:00 PM on October 27th.