The Blood Guard
by
Carter Roy
Genre:
Juvenile/Middle Grade
Published:
March 4th, 2014 by Two Lions
Source:
Goodreads 'First-Reads'
Pages:
279
My Rating:
4 stars
SYNOPSIS:
When thirteen-year-old Ronan Truelove's seemingly ordinary mom snatches him from school, then sets off on a high speed car chase, Ronan is shocked. His quiet, nerdy dad has been kidnapped? And the kidnappers are after him, too? His mom, he quickly learns, is anything but ordinary. In fact, she's a member of an ancient order of knights, the Blood Guard, a sword-wielding secret society sworn to protect the Pure—thirty-six noble souls whose safety is crucial if the world as we know it is to survive. Now all those after-school activities—gymnastics, judo, survival training—she made him take, make sense. For suddenly Ronan is swept up in a sometimes funny, sometimes scary, but always thrilling adventure—dashing from one danger to the next, using his wits to escape the Bend Sinister, a posse of evil doers with strange powers. Falling in with two unlikely companions, Greta, a scrappy, strong-willed girl he's never much liked and Jack, a devil-may-care teenage pickpocket, Ronan is left with only his wits and his mom's last words of advice: Trust no one. That's a lot for an ordinary kid to deal with. But then again, maybe Ronan's not ordinary at all.
MY THOUGHTS:
What an unfortunate name! Evelyn Ronan Truelove's mom has kept him busy with extra-curricular activities for as long as he can remember. He might not have time for friends but he can defend himself in a sword fight!
One day his mother picks him up after school and ends up in a highspeed chase. His father has gone missing and people are after them! His mother has very little time to fill him in on what is going on (something about a Blood Guard?) before she dumps him at the train station with a cryptic message to help him find someone who is supposed to help him but before he can even board the train, more people come after him. Using some of the skills that he acquired in a gymnastics class, he evaded his followers. Finally on the train, he meets the elusive helper and runs into an old schoolmate that ends up tagging along throughout the fast-paced, thrilling race to survive.
The Blood Guard is the first in a new series that will thrill middle-grade readers. The language is pretty clean but there is some violence, as would be expected in a good vs. evil situation. Ronan and his companions spend the majority of the book running and fighting for their lives.
This book was pretty enjoyable and reminded me that I don't read enough thriller/suspense novels that speed you along on a marvelous ride. That is one of the things that I love most about middle-grade novels; they are always entertaining and adventurous reads.
