Some risk it all to save a friend. They must risk it all to save an enemy.
All Matt ever wanted was to become a Golden Guardian, like his father before him. With decades of experience in battle and his powerful wind magic, Matt excels in every task given to him. Well, almost everything - Matt struggles to follow orders. But sometimes following the Guardian Oath means violating those orders when it's important. However, Matt isn't a Guardian yet - and he may never be if the Master Guardian has a say in it.
Izzy Gildspine, Matt's partner, is also bidding for Guardianship, but she understands the Master Guardian's worries. After all, how could Izzy be a proper Guardian anyway? Her healing powers can't hold a candle to Matt's wind powers. It didn't matter how good she might be in battle - Making her a Guardian would just be a disgrace to the position.
But when their world is invaded, Matt and Izzy have one last chance to prove they deserve the Guardianship.
Now they have a choice to make - save their home, and their final chance at Guardianship, or risk it all for the life of an enemy.
Some risk it all to save a friend. They must risk it all to save an enemy.
All Matt ever wanted was to become a Golden Guardian, like his father before him. With decades of experience in battle and his powerful wind magic, Matt excels in every task given to him. Well, almost everything - Matt struggles to follow orders. But sometimes following the Guardian Oath means violating those orders when it's important. However, Matt isn't a Guardian yet - and he may never be if the Master Guardian has a say in it.
Izzy Gildspine, Matt's partner, is also bidding for Guardianship, but she understands the Master Guardian's worries. After all, how could Izzy be a proper Guardian anyway? Her healing powers can't hold a candle to Matt's wind powers. It didn't matter how good she might be in battle - Making her a Guardian would just be a disgrace to the position.
But when their world is invaded, Matt and Izzy have one last chance to prove they deserve the Guardianship.
Now they have a choice to make - save their home, and their final chance at Guardianship, or risk it all for the life of an enemy.
“I can’t believe you have me out here running in forty-degree weather,” Izzy Gildspine groaned, leaping from one foot to the next on the cold, wet sand. She flattened her ears against her golden-brown quills. “I should have brought a jacket.”
Matthew Azure ignored Izzy’s complaints and glanced out over the ocean as a gentle breeze blew through his blue-tipped ears and quills. Zyearth’s sun peeked a thin line of light across the surface of the water, streaking the dark sky with blue and orange.
The perfect setting for his normal morning run.
He slipped his shoes off, tied the laces together, and slung them over his shoulders. He dug his bare, white-furred toes into the wet sand, testing his grip with his toe claws, then glanced at the Defender cliff face and the ocean around him, his stiff quills rustling in his ears.
Izzy wrinkled her short snout and snorted. “Did you hear me, Matt?”
Matt rolled his eyes, tilting a catlike ear back. “Running is good for you.”
“Sure, it is,” Izzy said, rubbing the golden-brown fur on her arms and shaking herself. The quills on the back of her head waved softly and she splayed both catlike ears. She carefully twisted the silver, sapphire-studded wedding coil on her wrist, as if trying to coax some warmth into the cold metal. “But running doesn’t have to be done at six AM in weather so chilly I’ll freeze my ears off. I’m tired, cold, and definitely not happy.” She pointed to Matt’s shoes. “You’re not expecting me to go barefoot, are you?”
“Not if you’re going to be a wimp about it,” Matt said. He stretched slowly, spreading his toe claws and working the muscles in his legs and arms. His quills bounced on his head as he moved.
Izzy crossed her arms. “I am not a wimp.”
“Tell that to your feet.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Really, Matt? We’re going to play this game?”
Matt finished stretching and gave Izzy the side eye with a smirk. “Rosemary will be disappointed.”
Izzy shivered. “Don’t start that. We’re fully fledged Defenders now and we outrank her.” She crossed her arms. “I swear to Draso, I’ll never live down her bootcamp eye-peckings.”
Matt laughed. “I hear you, but I don’t think she’d appreciate the species stereotypes.”
“Are you kidding me? She’s the one who started the whole chicken-taunting thing. And she’s threatened me so many times with eye-pecking, especially when she finds out I’ve been slacking off in training.”
“You never slack off in training.”
“Rosemary would say different.”
“I think she’d be happy to see you running with me. She likes taking the new recruits running barefoot at six AM too. That’s where I got it from anyway.” He pointed at her feet. “Except that you’re still wearing shoes.”
“Fine! Shoes off!” Izzy kicked off her boots and slung them over her shoulder. “Happy?”
Matt grinned. “Very. Wanna run through some Gem exercises too?”
“Why not?” Izzy said. “Hit me with your best shot, airhead!” She took off down the beach, leaving behind one rocky crag and heading for the next, some five miles alongside the water. Their rules had always been simple – If Izzy got to the other end of the thin beach before Matt stopped her with his magic, she won.
Matt mentally reached for the white, blue-trimmed Lexi Gem on his belt. A surge of power rushed through his body and little twisters of wind formed at his feet.
“You’ll never catch me being that slow, Matt!” She sped up and increased the distance between them.
Let’s see her dodge this. He dashed after Izzy, toe claws extended for better grip in the hard, wet sand. Calling on the power from his Gem, he tossed a small twister at her feet.
Izzy leapt over the twister and rolled on the sand. “Gotta do better than that!”
“That so!” He formed a larger twister and threw it at Izzy. It picked up sand and debris as it gathered speed.
Izzy held out a hand and in a quick shimmer of green and purple that quickly faded from view, she created a full body shield and fought off most of the rubble. “Keep trying!”
They kept up their exercise all the way down the beach. Matt kept his powers weak during the spar. Using his full-strength magic against someone who wasn’t also an elemental user could be deadly, despite Izzy’s prowess with shielding. Izzy was a healer, but Gem magic never worked on the user. Helpful to keep fire users from catching their tails on fire, but useless to healers who couldn’t heal themselves.
Using his power at half strength also helped boost her confidence in battle, he reminded himself.
And they both needed every boost possible.
As they neared the end of the strip of land between the two craigs, Matt pulled out his final attack. A thick tornado that he kept above the beach to avoid it gathering any sand. He ran through the waves and harder sand, until he hit full speed and nearly caught up with Izzy.
“Heads up!” He tossed the tornado toward her.
Izzy shielded again, but it didn’t do much good. Matt’s tornado lifted her a few inches off the beach and skipped out into the shallow waves.
“Matt!” she called, though her voice was nearly drowned out in the wind. “No fair. Put me down!”
“As you wish.” He pulled the power back and dropped Izzy into the drink.
“Matt!” Izzy scrambled to her feet and shook her arms. “You ass!”
Matt ran up to her, grinning. He had won. Again. “Well, you’re awake now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but I’m even more cold and my unhappiness has evolved into unbridled rage!”
“At least I got one out of three,” Matt said. “You can shower and take care of the other two.”
“After I climb the cliff stairs with soaking wet clothes,” Izzy said. She checked to make sure her golden brown Lexi Gem hadn’t fallen out of its holster at her hip, then crossed her arms. “You’re such an asshole. I should sic Roscoe on you after this.”
“I could kick Roscoe’s tail and he knows it,” Matt said.
“You’re not taking into account Roscoe’s raw anger,” Izzy spat. “He’s gonna be pissed at me for dripping sea water all over the carpet. We just had that cleaned.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Here.” He ran into the ocean and dove into an oncoming wave. The cold water hit his ears and quills, sending shocks up his body. He swam up and burst through the surface of the water, then stood and shook himself. Water flew off his fur. “Happy? Now we’re both soaked. You can tell Roscoe I’ll pay for the carpet cleaning in both our suites.”
“You should have been born a polar bear instead of a quilar,” Izzy said, shivering.
Matt laughed. “Fair enough.” He gripped Izzy’s shoulder. “Let’s get breakfast. My treat. Roscoe can join us if he’s awake.”
“Shower first.”
“Deal,” Matt said.
They walked toward the cliffs. Matt’s gaze trailed the rocky escarpment until he caught sight of the Defender Academy towering over the edge. The tall glass buildings shined above them, gleaming in the sunrise.
Izzy glanced up at them too, pasting one ear back and frowning. “Think we’ll get the Golden Guardianship today?”
Matt flattened his ears. Golden Guardians. Third highest ranked in the Defender military. It was a place of honor. A high rank designed for those willing to put their lives on the line for the good of others. Both Matt and Izzy’s fathers and grandfathers had been Guardians before them, leaving behind a legacy that their children felt they needed to live up to.
Both previous pairs of Golden Guardians had died on the job as well. Matt still had nightmares of his father’s final screams, images burned in his memory of red quilars, called the Omnirs, destroying his home.
But he refused to let that get in the way of his desire to be a Guardian. He needed to be one. It was his legacy. And more than that, he needed to succeed where his father failed.
Master Guardian Lance Tox had been excited at the prospect of them becoming Guardians when they’d first brought it up, but as they went through training, he became more and more reluctant. So reluctant that he hadn’t been willing to induct them into the Guardianship without extra training and experience.
Matt and Izzy had twenty years of training, nearly twenty more as a ranked soldier, with countless war games, missions, and skirmishes under their belts, and, by Lance’s standards, they had just barely qualified to apply.
Three applications in three years. All three rejected with vague explanations as to why. This was their fourth, and since not much had changed since his application last year, he suspected he’d lose this one too.
Lance had some hidden reason for refusing them Guardian status. Maybe he thought Izzy and Matt lacked the necessary experience. Maybe the governing Assembly had convinced him they weren’t ready.
Izzy had confided in Matt that she thought Lance was afraid to lose another Guardian pair.
“I don’t know if we’ll get it this time, Iz,” Matt said. “Especially if Lance really is paranoid about losing us, like you think.”
Izzy eyed him. “He’s not paranoid. He’s lost two pairs already. That’s unheard of in a single Master Guardian’s rule, especially when they weren’t even in war. All of them died on what should have been simple missions. Hell, our dads weren’t even on a mission when they were killed. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“But it’s part of the job,” Matt said. “Guardians take on some of the most difficult and dangerous tasks the Defenders face. They die. It happens. We accept that when we sign up for it. And whether he likes it or not, he’s not going to be able to go much longer without appointing someone. The Assembly won’t stand for it.”
“They have for over sixty years.”
“Yeah, but even the old slugs have limits to their patience,” Matt said. “And we’re not getting any younger.”
“You’re only sixty, Matt.”
“Fifty-nine.”
“Water below, Matt,” Izzy said. “You haven’t even hit your first century yet, and you’ve got four to live, assuming Guardianship doesn’t take that away from you.”
“It’ll never have a chance to if Lance doesn’t appoint us.”
“Matt.”
He met Izzy’s eyes.
“Don’t be in a hurry.”
But he was in a hurry. And Izzy should be too. They were wasting precious time sitting idle while they could be doing a Guardian’s work.
“You know,” Izzy continued. “It might help if you’d actually listen to command instead of charging into everything you do like a moron.”
Matt shot her a glare. “I listen.”
“Not well enough,” Izzy said. “We’ve all noticed it.”
Matt crossed his arms. “If I need to take an unusual action on a mission, I’m not going to wait for authority to approve it. That’s one of the perks of being a Guardian.”
“But you’re not a Guardian yet,” Izzy said. “And it’s not just on missions, Matt. You question a lot. You need to follow orders. You’re a soldier.”
Matt shrugged. “I’m a Guardian.”
“Not yet you’re not.”
“But I will be.”
Izzy sighed. She gripped Matt’s shoulder, squeezing water out of his shirt. “Come on, Matt. I need a shower and you owe me breakfast. We’ll figure out where we stand at some point today. No sense in worrying about it too much, right?”
He glanced at her. “You brought it up.”
“And now I’m dropping it. You’re too stubborn to listen anyway.” Izzy turned toward the carved stairs in the cliff. “Breakfast?”
“Fine, fine,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”
Izzy smiled, then started up the stairs.
Matt turned back to the beach and let the waves lap at his still-bare feet. Should he even hope for Guardianship anymore? It seemed so far out of reach. And if Lance really was worried about losing his third pair of Golden Guardians, the idea that he’d ever fill that role was pretty much nonexistent.
It was in Draso’s claws now. If the dragon god really wanted him in this position, He’d give it to him. If not…
Well. No use in thinking about that, right?
“From my thoughts to Draso’s ears,” he said, tilting his head up to the sky in prayer to the feather-winged dragon. Surely He would bless Matt’s willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Then Matt jogged after Izzy.
Time to learn his fate, whatever it was.
Okay, I know I say this nearly every review, but I genuinely didn't know what to expect from this book. While the synopsis sounded straight up my street, the cover felt a little...Warrior Cats? Which I'm sure is a great series, but as a 24-year old, I was worried that it wouldn't be for me. Boy was I wrong! I loved this book.
When we meet our main characters Matt and Izzy they are training to become Golden Guardians like their fathers and their grandfathers before them, however, their application gets rejected. Whilst looking for an opportunity to prove themselves to the Master Guardian Lance, it comes in the form of an attack from a conflicted being named Ouranos. Ouranos is powerful, and he needs Matt, more specifically needs an elixir that only Matt can produce to separate him and his evil father who controls his body and his actions. When their search for Ouranos takes them into the dead zone of the Zyearth, they are tested beyond limits but this may be their chance to finally prove themselves to Lance. But will they be able to follow his orders and all come back alive?
I love ending the synopsis with questions, if you want to know the answer you gotta read the book. Okay, but seriously. This author is seriously talented. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a fantasy book but this has spurred my love once again. This author has a consistent and clear voice throughout this book, making each character distinctively their own. You grow to enjoy these characters and their relationships throughout the book and I found myself hoping for a happy ending for each of them. Ouranos can I just say, was an immediate favourite. I love the brainwashed antihero trope, think Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier energy.
Ouranos perked both ears. "Hope". He glanced up at the sky, the faintest blue light fighting back the night. "What a luxury to have hope again".
Are you KIDDING me?! How could you not just love him?
Overall I think this book is a really good late middle grade, entry into young adult bracket for fantasy. The magic, powers, characters and the world all make for a compelling read and I would definitely look for more from this author in the future.