Champions: The Ten

I'm very picky with managing my time, so for a book not in ebook form (that I can listen to on the way to work) to hold my attention, it has to be *good*. I made time for the contemporary fantasy of "Champions: The Ten" in text format because I'm a fan of world building. "But wait," you might say, "isn't contemporary fantasy for those that would rather not have to learn a whole new world to understand the story?" Yes, it is, and this book gets the best of both worlds, pardon the pun. Contemporary fantasy does present the option for shortcutting (as a random example) "yep, it's New York, moving on," but it also gives the opportunity to say "what if New York... but AWESOME?!" "Champions: The Ten" is the latter type, and it's the "but AWESOME" that really reels you in!

I've been running D&D and building worlds for it for about 30 years, and I'm a big fan of "writing pantheons of gods." One of the potential pillars of writing a good custom world is observing that, love it or hate it, religion is a pillar of societies. As an agnostic cynic myself, I love writing gods because they are wholly fantastical entities to me. Estelle Faust crafts her polytheistic, magical alternate earth with a reverence and respect that makes you believe that this is how earth could very easily embrace magic in the mainstream!

I'm also a big, big fan of the concept of a cosmological, elemental compass in fantasy, and as if it were hooked straight to my veins, "Champions: The Ten" Delivers on this front! If you've ever played the MMORPG City of Heroes/Villains, you know that a character's entire concept changes when you alter the color or flavor of their beams of magic: it rewrites the character from a whole new direction, like altering alignment in D&D. The character that will fire off a "chaos bolt" is vastly different from one that might erect a "shield of earth." This idea has always been a bottomless, bountiful well for character design both in powers and especially in personalities, and "Champions: The Ten" draws deeply from that well!

If it seems like I'm gushing one-sidedly, maybe I am, but I can't even come up with a "constructive complaint" about this book, so if you're looking for your next read, this is a straight up recommendation! It's fun, it's sweet, the romance feels both natural and satisfying for those that will pick the book up for that element, and you can tell that Estelle Faust built this as a billboard for every kind of story she likes and tied those concepts together with a loving hand! The book's website has a quick video overview to help gauge whether or not you want to spend the time, but in case you don't see that (I'm pretty sure I can't/shouldn't link it in a review), I'm here to tell you: "Champions: The Ten" is worth your time as a fantasy fan!

Multi-post (received an error message but review went up multiple times), please delete

I am editing this review to draw attention to the fact that due to error messages with book patch, my review posted erroneously multiple times, and with star-ratings I didn't intend. Please delete this post, and the second unintentional multi-post and leave my original 5-star review up. Thank you.

Multi-post (received an error message but review went up multiple times), please delete

I am editing this review to draw attention to the fact that due to error messages with book patch, my review posted erroneously multiple times, and with star-ratings I didn't intend. Please delete this post, and the second unintentional multi-post and leave my original 5-star review up. Thank you.

A really well crafted plot and definitely some memorable characters. A good fun "curl up on the couch for the weekend" read for sure.

Definitely an interesting plot worthy of holding your attention, and some memorable characters. Solid book to curl up with for the weekend.