The Blood Guard: The Glass Gauntlet product reviews

I had really enjoyed the first book in this series and so I was very happy to receive a copy of this book to read and to get to find out where our characters are headed and just what they might come up against this time around. The characters, as before, are well written and feel real, though there are some moments where it just didn't make sense, ie. moments where a new skill was used and mentioned when he'd learnt it, but why not say it at the time...

It takes a little time to get into but it wouldn't have worked to jump straight into the action, though the constant needing saving got a little tiring in the end. We still have a lot of mystery left to the series as whilst we get a few small tidbits to the history of both sides of the fight, we don't get any major details, so you're left wanting to learn more about the mythologies and histories of these characters and sides of the coin. I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first book but it was a fun ride, though some bits didn't aid the book as well as they could have, but I had fun and I cannot wait to see what book three will have to offer us.

I had read the first book so was happy to read the second book, there were some major plot twists and sometimes the question had to be asked, how do we know the Blood Guard is good even when it seems that the members are doing really bad things

The characters are developing and starting to be a bit more real, they have fun and disagreements but never lose sight of the goal, even if one of them is not sure what the actual goal is. The escape plans hatched up really made me laugh, the author kept it simple like most teenagers would and that helped make the story a lot more believable. There is of course the assumption that the reader is open minded and not narrow minded in their beliefs, the explanation of what the Damascene 'Scope is, what it does and how it works would never be believed by the close minded.

There was parts that was remarkably similar to Harry Potter but the good guys aren't always distinguished from the bad guys as it is not always clear what each character's motivation is. I was surprised at how some of the characters got past the obstacles as it is not something I would expect from them.

The story had me hooked and I was eager to discover what the actual goal was and how it would be achieved. The end of the book had me sitting in my chair going "it can't end like that" and now I really want to read the next installment and see what happens next. Well done for such a great way to be sure the reader wants to read the next book.