4.5
Stars
“Before
vampires, they were Guardians. Drinking the blood of the Holy Grail, and sworn
to protect it and the other sacred relics through the ages.”
Elena
Bryce’s ‘Immortal Blood’ series follows the precious few who have drank from
the Holy Grail, gaining enhanced strength, speed, night-vision, and other gifts;
along with a responsibility to the Grail and the other sacred artifacts. Author Bryce has combined aspects of the Christian
religion with the legend of King Arthur and Merlin, as well as a host of
supernatural creatures into a truly original and captivating paranormal urban
fantasy series.
In ‘Guardian
of the Grail,’ we follow Grail Vampire Lachlan Thorn and witch Ivy Meadows on
their quest of protecting the Holy Grail while in transport so that it can be
properly hidden once again. You see, the
Grail draws the attention and attraction of everyone in the surrounding area,
whether they be human, vampire, witch, werewolf, fay, or otherwise magically
inclined.
Though
Lachlan and Ivy do some traveling together, their story focuses more on their
personal journeys. Through conversations
between Lachlan and Ivy, readers learn about Lachlan’s past and the origination
of Grail Guardians, and separately, vampires as known by modern popular culture. We also learn much about Ivy’s family history
of witches through the ages as she taps deeper into her powers.
As
with all good paranormal fantasy novels, there is a ‘villain,’ perhaps the oldest
of villains; known as The Wandering Jew.
Rumor has it he possesses all the advantages of vampires without any of
the weaknesses and cannot be killed. His
search for the Grail and other sacred relics in his quest for power and domination
brings him in direct contact with Lachlan and Ivy, and Lachlan’s family.
The
characters may be ancient and powerful, but they are easy to care about and
emphasize with. Likewise, the
story-telling nature of this novel was easy to read and enjoyable, and the fight
scenes weren’t descriptively gruesome.
The
‘Immortal Blood’ series is solid paranormal urban fantasy. The sequels to ‘Guardian of the Grail’ – both
‘Guardian of the Spear’ and ‘Guardian of the Thorn’ are currently available as
part of the Kindle Unlimited Program.
Author Elena Bryce is also working on more novels set in this world.
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