Review of "Slaying Paradise" by T.V. Holiday

Score: 95+/100 (9.5+ out of 10)
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Slaying Paradise is a gripping supernatural thriller & romance by T.V. Holiday!

This magnificent, captivating book blends action, faith, and moral struggles within a narrative of divine/spiritual warfare.

The novel follows protagonist Travis Holiday, a police officer who, after a near-fatal accident, is chosen to become the Iron Warrior, God's champion in the war against Lucifer (Satan). A major focus of this book centers around Travis and why he—as a flawed yet honorable person—is uniquely positioned as the Iron Warrior to help the most people possible.

Travis exemplifies the idea that, as the book tells us, “God does not look for those who are perfect to serve him. He looks for those who are willing and able.”

You can look at very flawed people in The Bible like Paul, David, Samson, Daniel, Abraham, Peter, and more for evidence of this.

Travis's partner in this dangerous spiritual tango is Lynda Lynch, a former prostitute, adopting the name "Sensation" as a pseudo-abstract entity. Just as Travis is designated as God's Iron Warrior (one step down from an angel in our view), Sensation is designated as the Devil's tool of manipulation and societal degradation via her insidious "Free Love Initiative" (which isn't what it sounds like) and as the leader of the Diabolical Donnas (acting sort of like a demon/she-demon in human form).

Fascinatingly, Sensation is an antagonist, a love interest, and a deuteragonist wrapped into one very special character who blurs the lines between good and evil.

She's arguably the most compelling single character we've read about so far in 2025.

What makes Sensation such a compelling character is that she's effective in all of her literary roles. She's a formidable threat and villain. Sensation and her Diabolical Donnas can wreck your day if they wanted to. She's also a deeply emotional, layered, and wanting character. Her desire to love and "be loved" is so strong that it seems to be what guides even her darkest and evilest decisions and actions. It's also, simultaneously, what guides her best decisions and actions.

This is also effective because it highlights the main villain's (Luc/Lucifer) ability to use and exploit the wants, desires, and inclinations of people for his own gain.

Luc preys on Sensation's desire to be loved, causing her to warp the very idea of love into something unrecognizable including drugs, guns, criminal acts, lawlessness, anarchy, and a complete rejection of God and religion—the true purpose behind the not-so-aptly named "Free Love Initiative."

And that's another interesting and compelling thing about Sensation. Her "Free Love Initiative" actually sounds good (despite it being fundamentally flawed) because of Sensation's charisma and knack for presenting arguments. She's a talented and gifted speaker, which may be another reason Luc chose her to be the front and mouthpiece for his movement.

Sensation is both strong and formidable while also being sensitive and vulnerable—a really beautiful mix for a character. Similar to a Power Ranger or a Sailor Scout, she seems to have two alter egos. The same can be said for Travis, who is both Travis and the Iron Warrior. Sensation is both Sensation and Lynda Lynch.

As Sensation, she is (presumably) large and in charge. As Lynda Lynch, she is significantly more down-to-earth, living in a simple home, dreaming of being a movie star, regretting past mistakes/actions, and even ordering sushi (humorously). As Lynda Lynch, she is so relatable.

Aside from Travis and Sensation, there are several other characters in this book who range in terms of how interesting and relevant they are. Along with Mark, who is a more generic mentor character, Mike (likely a reference to the Arch Angel, Michael) serves as Travis's mentor, guide, and friend as he adopts the role of Iron Warrior. Being a flawed character, Travis often has doubts, fears, questions, and concerns about things that are happening and what he should do next. Mike is able to steer him in the right direction, though it's ultimately up to Travis to decide (and sometimes he deviates). Mike shares that he knows of others who've been Iron Warriors in the past who have failed including causing World War II, the Holocaust, and the riots of 2020-2021.

As a result, there are characters in this book like Sidious Craig and Coldred Black who serve as enforcers of Luc's evil will. And, yes, they do have funny names that evoke thoughts of pop culture characters like Darth Sidious from Star Wars.

This book is incredibly comical!
We even have characters running up and drop-kicking them and throwing chairs at their heads like this is WWE!

It's funny, fun, and entertaining.

Other characters who become very important later are Loveland, Cassidy, Domino, and Domino's daughter, Ashley.

What's incredible about all of these aforementioned characters is how dynamic and layered they are. Loveland is effectively the secondary antagonist of this whole book (after Luc), but even she changes and develops throughout the book. She starts this book as more of a henchman/lackey to Luc and Sensation, even being pushed and slapped around at times. But her fanatical idealism and devotion for Luc causes her to become the key instigator of this book's climax.

Speaking of climaxes, this book also features a giant monster called Abaddon who gives Travis an interesting beast to fight.

Anyway, going back to the characters... there's Domino, one of the Diabological Donnas who—like Sensation—sees her darkness gradually be chipped away due to her interactions with Travis and her love for her daughter, Ashley. Domino seems to be in charge of the pornography segment of the Free Love Initiative, but she treats it more as transactional and as a business than as something she's passionate about or emotional invested in. This shows that even people in frowned-upon/socially-unacceptable businesses like the adult film industry have hope.

Remember Mary Magdalene?

This book sees a lot of competing ideas, ideologies, and (perhaps most importantly) concepts of love. We see a start contrast between Luc's Free Love Initiative and Travis's Real Love Movement in this book.

Set against the backdrop of Carnage Coast—a city teetering between salvation and damnation—the story explores themes of faith, redemption, power, and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

This book is really interesting and fun to read. It does have some weaknesses. First of all, all the stuff with Lazarus really didn't stick with us. Yes, it helps to layer Lynda as someone who was sexually abused and exploited, but that could've been established in a short conversation with Travis (which is pretty much what happened anyway).

Also, the writing can be rough at times with lines like "far more darker" (rather than "far darker"). There's also an inordinate amount of cussing and foul language in this Christian book, probably more than what was needed.

Something positive we wanted to point out is how Travis is seemingly able to defeat Sensation, an antagonist early in the book, not through fighting prowess, strength, or using weapons, but by showing her grace, empathy, understanding, non-judgment, and love.

This really reminded us of things that Donald T. Hardison II said and championed in One Man's Journey. Often, the way to help a person who is suffering or struggling isn't to judge them and give them advice. The best way to help them is often just to listen to them without judgement.

It's incredible to read about Sensation going through her arc. We're told that she's surprised that Travis asks about her and how she feels. We're told that his kindness and grace warms her heart. We're told how touched she is that someone like Travis is willing to hear her story.

There's also some good writing in here. One of our favorites is the "depth of the ocean" bit:

“When I look at the ocean, it reminds me of God. The water is everywhere. We don’t know how deep it goes. It’s filled with life. We can dive in and explore. But we can’t go to the true depths of the ocean. It’s not humanly possible. He allows us to float atop without any effort. The current can take us away. Take us to wherever. For years, I fought against the current. He was bringing me here the whole time.”

Check it out on Amazon!