Series: Old Erth # 1
Format: Hardcover, 448 pages
Release Date: October 22, 2024
Publisher: Entangled (Red Tower Books)
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Romance
Gladiator meets Final Fantasy in this cinematic, action-packed epic romantasy where one man’s last hope for freedom—and revenge—relies on one elven royal and her bloody, brutal arena.One hundred years. Tens of thousands of gladiators. And today, only one will rise…
Everything in the Kingdom of Arrow is a lie.
Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land and volunteering to fight in the gladiator arena—vicious, bloodthirsty tournaments where only the strongest survive—would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose.
He was wrong—and they took everything. His hope. His freedom. His very humanity.
All Leith has left is his battle-scarred body, fueled by rage and hardened from years of fighting for the right to live another day.
Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard—and his freedom.
Bloodguard is the first installment in author Cecy Robson's Old Erth series. This story focuses on two characters: Leith of Grey and Maeve, an elven princess, and daughter of an alleged Queen Killer. Leith is a human who has spent years fighting in the arena for his impoverished family. After a certain number of wins and bloodshed, a gladiator can earn the prestigious title of Bloodguard and essentially become part of the wealthy elite of Arrow.
Leith is only a few wins away from earning that title and saving his family when he meets Maeve, an elven princess who is next in line for the throne. Unfortunately, Maeve cannot become Queen until she marries and there are very few acceptable potential partners in the corrupt court that could secure her the throne because of her reputation of being the daughter of the man who killed the Queen. When Leith is offered help from Maeve, the offer is too good to pass up.
The catch is that if he becomes Bloodguard, he must agree to marry her. The future of Arrow is in peril following the assassination of the Queen and Maeve needs to marry to take the throne. However, after Maeve learns the truth about what happened to Leith's family, I thought he should have been told immediately since it appeared that those who ran the fights were looking to leave no one alive. It was pretty apparent that the two main characters were going to fall for the other once Leith started acting as Maeve's bodyguard.
I literally wrote down all the spicy chapters so I could tell those who don't care about them to skip over these chapters, but then I thought who am I to tell you what to do or what to like? This book does do alternating first-person narratives which are sometimes off-putting. In this case, it was necessary since both characters are dealing with a variety of issues that take much of the story to sort out. There are some issues which is why my rating is the way it is.
The pacing was also horribly confusing at times. The author would bring up interactions with the characters that we never saw. I found myself a couple of times flipping back through the book to see if I had missed something. Finally, the ending is very interesting, and I am not sure where the author goes from here.
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