THE BLOOD GUARD - Carter Roy


 Ronan Truelove is just an ordinary thirteen year old, with very ordinary parents - or so he believes, until one day when his mother 'abducts' him from school and tears off on a high speed car chase. His father, she informs Ronan, has been kidnapped, and those kidnappers are now after Ronan as well. Kidnapped? His boring, nerdy dad?

Ronan's mother is not the ordinary soccer mom that Ronan thought.  She is actually a member of an ancient, sword-wielding order of knights known as the Blood Guard, bound to protect the Pure - a specific number of individuals on whose shoulders lie the fate of the world.

Suddenly Ronan understands why his mother had him enrolled in after-school classes of gymnastics, martial arts, survival training, etc.  He has been groomed to take on the mantle of a Blood Guard!

His mother sets him off on his own and he joins forces with two unlikely individuals - Greta, a girl from his school who he never really liked very much, and Jack, a teenaged pick-pocket.  His mother's parting words were 'trust no one' - but Ronan will need to rely on his own instincts and trust his companions in order to avoid the decidedly evil organization out to kidnap him.

This book is an exciting adventure tale. Secret organizations and spies, swords and the supernatural - this hits all the right marks to draw in a lot of middle grade/YA readers. Ronan is precisely the kind of protagonist a lot of young readers would fantasize themselves as being (like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson) - someone who thought they were ordinary but are part of something much larger and only just now learning about it. His partners (like Hermione and Ron or Grover and Annabeth - to stay with the previous two examples) are more than just sidekicks, but integral to his ability to achieve his goals.

The action is pretty much non-stop from the very first page and author Carter Roy really does a fine job of building the story amid constant chases and character development.  

I enjoyed this a lot and have actively sought out subsequent volumes in the series (sadly, it's only a trilogy as far as I can tell).

Looking for a good book? The Blood Guard by Carter Roy is a fast-paced, high-action story for middle grade and YA readers that should be recommended for anyone asking what to read after reading Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

* * * * * *

The Blood Guard

author: Carter Roy

series: The Blood Guard #1

publisher: Two Lions

ISBN: 1477847251

hardcover, 320 pages

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