The Blood Guard

The Blood Guard
by Carter Roy
My rating: ★★★★☆

(I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review)

Wow.

I've been looking for a book to fill the hole left behind by finishing the Percy Jackson series, and boy oh boy did I find it. Full of action, nail biting adventure and witty banter, I couldn't put this down once I started.

The opening captured me, who wouldn't want to continue when the opening sentence is "It wasn't me who burned down our house". We're tossed right into, dare I say, fire, and the constant suspense doesn't let up until the last word it read.

I love how there was no filler, the story never lagged, and the parents are not forgotten about. Ronan's mom is badass. I don't think I have ever read a book where the parent went all matrix and deflected bullets. Most times the parent is a shadow figure only present for a short while, just enough to let us know that the main propagandist wasn't immaculately conceived. Harsh I know, but very true.

For the first bit of the book she plays a big role, and is never from from Ronan's mind.

Ronan, is a bit wishy-washy, but he does come into his own by the end of the book. I liked that. He wasn't perfect, and wasn't suddenly a hero because the plot called for it. Sure he had all this training from being in every extracurricular activity that's ever been created, but he is still just a 13 year old boy, who been raise to be, well, normal. Being tossed into this traumatic situation, where he doesn't know what up and whats down, would have been terrifying for him.

Through out this book, he has to look within himself to push, to stand up and make the hard choices himself; but most of all, decide for himself what is right.

Our female protagonist Greta, I love her. Well not at first, at first I found her annoying, but she grew on me and proved to be the spark Ronan needed to gets his ass in gear. She may seem like the typical love/sidekick character thrown in to have some type of romance, but that was not the case with this book. Greta plays a big part in the plot, and it was never implied that she is a love interest. She is the second protagonist on par with Ronan, and without her this story would have been boring.

If you can't tell I'm excited about this series, about where it's headed and most of all, how much I can't wait to read more about these new favorite characters of mine. Th only thing I would say that I didn't like, or picked up on, were a few misplaced words, that to me, made a good sentence sound, off, and weird. That could have been intentional, or it could have well been a formatting issue with my kindle. There wasn't a lot, but enough to make be me go, What? That doesn't fit.

Other then that little blunder, the writing was smooth, the dialogue flowed, it connected and was near perfection. I was surprised with the lack of cheesy lines. Don't get me wrong I love me some cheese, but the was refreshing to read witty banter that was simply, witty.

I highly recommend this book, it is mesmerizing, energetic, and a start to a new incredible world of fascinating fiction fantasy, and adventure.

I would like to thank Netgalley for exposing me to this new stunning world of action, sword play, and refreshing take on saving the world.

Happy Reading

-Emily