About the Book:
“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?”
About the Author:
Marlayne Giron is a Messianic Jew who found Christ as her Messiah at the age of 17 while watching Franco Zefferelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” on television in 1977. After coming to faith, she began to read the Old Testament for the first time and was amazed to discover that believing in Jesus was a very Jewish thing to do and not a betrayal of her Jewish religion as she had been taught by her parents and the rabbi’s in her synagogues.
In the course of her life she has had many small ”miracles” occur; the first major one being coming to faith in Christ when she hadn’t even been looking for it and with a built-in bias against Him. The second was meeting and marrying her future husband Michael whom she had prayed for by name as well as writing and illustrating a story (with his image in it) five years before meeting him. The third is the publication of The Victor after almost 30 years with no previous publication credits to her name. All three of these significant milestones in her life occurred on the Easter holidays. The fourth was becoming a mother of an adopted daughter on Christmas Eve in 1997.
Marlayne Giron is a full-time career secretary, wife and mother who likes to read, cook, entertain, draw, ice-skate and scrapbook. The Victor is her first novel.
My Review:
First, let me stress again that I am NOT a big fantasy reader, but, I like to give every author a fair chance at their book being praised. And let me say this: The Victor is wonderful! It was a medieval fantansy novel BUT it didn’t completely read like a fantasy! Truly different from any fantasy novel I’ve yet to read. I am so glad that I had the chance to read this for Marlayne!
The medievalness (is that even a word?) of this book with the “knight in shining armor” and names like Thaddeus and Segrid and the many other unusual style of names used, is fantastic. I was immediately captured into the medieval era and the rush of the fighting and the sacrificial romance was breathtaking! Marlayne creates beautiful fiction that you can feel deep into your soul.
On top of the beautiful work the author does, there are some illustrations woven into the story that add depth to this fascinating tale. The deep emotions of betrayal, sadness, God’s mercy and love, and sacrifice flowing through your soul as you read this novel is undescribable. You heart will weep at all the betrayal but will rejoice at God’s love for His children and the sacrifices made. And there is a bit of humor to round out the story and keep it perfectly interesting!
So,to end my review of this novel, I will leave with a minor little complaint….the chapters were a bit long for my liking. But that doesn’t stop me from leaving it with a 5 star review and recommendation! If all fantasy novels were like this I would make this a new genre that I would read all the time! I am hoping that Marlayne will write more wonderful stories that capture the heart like this one!
You can purchase your copy here.
*This book was provided for review courtesy of the author and her publishing company, Tate Publishing*
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