The Blood Guard by Carter Roy

Title: The Blood Guard
Author: Carter Roy
Series: Blood Guard #1
Genre: Middle Grade/Fantasy/Adventure
Publisher: Two Lions
Publication Date: March 4th 2014
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository

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."

Review:

     I really liked this book. At first I was a little unsure of it, and then I could hardly put it down. The characters, and the story are really great. The way they revealed information about the world, and who and what the Blood Guard are, was done in a way so there was no information dumping. We learn it in a progression through the entire story, so by the end most of the questions are answered. I really like it was done this way.

Ronan-don't call him Evelyn- Truelove was a really great character. He was funny at times and for a 13 year old kid, he was pretty mature. Greta was, okay through most of the book. I didn't understand her place in the story until closer to the end when something is revealed about her.

Dawkins, I was never really able to pin down his age. I think he was supposed to be around 16, maybe 17 years old. His age is only mentioned once and then he acts like he's either 30 or 14 the rest of the time. It was probably the only thing I didn't really care for in the book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who like Middle Grade adventure books like Harry Potter of Percy Jackson.