royal guardianRating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


Lando Garr is Level A1 security, born and bred to protect the royal family. From a young age, he knows his place and excels at his task. Lando has a particular fondness for the young prince, Kallen, even though he’s six years younger than Lando. When he finds a curious egg on a foreign planet, he is drawn to the psychic energy. And when he brings it home, the creature inside bonds with Kallen and heals the young prince. As the years progress, Kallen comes into his own power, and his symbiont, Bobik, is his constant companion.

Lando’s affection for the prince grows into so much more as Kallen approaches maturity. And once Kallen is 18, he makes his feelings for Lando known. Both men know what they have is special, and Kallen declares Lando his consort. But Kallen feels the need to go away to hone his magical skills. Though they will be apart for two years, Kallen and Lando agree to visit and wait for each other. But when Kallen’s ship is attacked on his way home and the prince is taken prisoner, Lando is the only one who can save him, because Bobik will only respond to Lando. Together, the symbiont and Lando are the prince’s only hope.

I was intrigued by the blurb and premise of this book, so I was excited to pick it up. While the world building wasn’t as fully explained as I would have liked, I did enjoy the book. I’m a sucker for bonds, and I thought it was interesting the way Lando and Kallen were drawn to each other from a young age. And how that, in turn, brought Bobik to Lando’s attention.

The characters themselves were fairly well drawn. Lando was the better developed character, as he was the narrator of the story. I liked being in his head and seeing his thought process. And I loved the way he cared for the young prince as a child, and the way that naturally developed into so much more as they both grew up and matured. They definitely had chemistry, and their connection was an integral part of the story. So this part worked well for me.

But as I said, the world building wasn’t as explained as I would have liked. What was there was fascinating, but I felt like a lot of things were glossed over and I was left to just kind of…go with it. There’s magic and telepathic abilities, and only a select few have them. Bobik is some kind of dragoneque creature, and his psychic and physical link to Kallen healed the sickly boy. There were mentions of other technologies, but nothing was fulling explained and we only get the barest of information. It wasn’t enough for me at times, and the lack of it worked against the story.

The pace was, in my opinion, too fast as well. The scenes that were on the page were great, but it moved at a breakneck speed. There were a lot of time jumps, and while I understood why they were there, it also felt like we didn’t get enough explanation of what was happening in between. There were some telling paragraphs here and there to fill in the gaps. But I still felt like I was missing some things.

But despite the downsides, I did enjoy the story. It’s the first of a series, and I’m interested to see where it goes next. The book is a quick read, and while I would have liked a bit more substance, it still kept me engaged until the end. A futuristic world with so many differences makes things interesting. If you’re looking for something a little different, then this might be one to fill that need.

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