Prophecy of the Guardian

Prophecy of the Guardian (Guardians of the Seventh Realm, 1) by J.W. Baccaro, 2010. 318 pages. Published by Whiskey Creek Press. Source: Author for review.

The Second Great War between the Light and the Dark has begun, and Abaddon the Demon Lord is searching for the four ancient Wizard Crystals of the Elements.
Once the Crystals are in his hands, and corrupted to evil, he will destroy the forces of Light upon the earth, and transform the world into eternal darkness.

But Darshun Luthais, one of the last Nasharin warriors, along with a few companions, sets out on a quest to find the Crystals first. Along the journey they encounter giant six-legged serpents, the ruthless Cullach, and other entities of darkness; yet the most challenging obstacle is Darshun's constant struggle against temptations of evil, and his vow to hold to the faith of all who are calling him the Guardian—the prophesied warrior who will bring down the Demon Lord.

First Sentence:

As a summer heat scorched the land, the stink of death could be sensed miles away.

Prophecy of the Guardian starts off with the the people of Loreladia who are forced to leave their kingdom behind after they suffered a grievous lost during their last battle with the Cullach.
  One of the most fascinating things about this book, to me, would have to be the Nasharins and when they transformed (or used their unique abilities). I really liked how the three that were mentioned all had different abilities.
   The pacing of PotG was fairly quick, although there wer a few points when the story seemed to kind of lag. Like when Darshun's training was being covered, but other than that it a pretty quick read. 

My hope is that in the next book Darshun will have matured a little and that he won't be so easily deceived. Definitely looking forward to seeing where the story will go in the next book, especially since the ending of the first was very open ended.

Darshun, I thought he was a pretty okay character. That is until he royally screwed up and let his hormones get in the way...okay so I'm pretty sure the girl is evil and maybe even seduced him, but gosh I just wanted to throttle him near the end of the book. So cross out his idiocy near the end of the book and he's actually a fairly interesting character, but I liked him best when he was a happy-go-luck kind of person.
  As for Mirabel I found him to be probably the most interesting out of the whole cast. Why, because he had more back story then some of the others, plus his personality was one that seemed to catch your attention more and pull you in.

What I liked best about Prophecy of the Guardian were the monsters that the good guys were up against. I thought they were some of the most vile, loathsome creatures that I've read about in a while and the fact that they were absolutely ruthless was a bonus. This might seem like an odd thing for my favorite part of a book, but for me if the villain is weak or sub par it just will not hold my attention.
    While I really enjoyed reading Prophecy of the Guardian I have just one minor complaint. I felt that there was maybe just a bit too many things added to the mythos of the story, you had wizards who were fallen angels, elves, and horrible creatures all in one book. While it did make for interesting reading to see how everything all tied together, I felt that maybe there were just a few too many different beings in the book.

Content (will contain spoilers/highlight to see): This book is relatively clean until the last chapter or two, when Darshun and girl (I forget her name) sleep together. Language, I don't recall any while reading it.
Prophecy of the Guardian is also pretty violent at some points (beheading, loss of limbs, just general  acts of violence that happen in fantasy books with war).

Final Verdict: Prophecy of the Guardian

Prophecy of the Guardian earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.