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A review by catrinaamarie
Guardians of Porthaven by Shane Arbuthnott
4.0
Guardians of Porthaven was my first ever eARC received through Netgalley thanks to Orca Publishing. While it was gifted to me, my review is fully my own thoughts.
If I had to give a sort of this meets this type of line for this book it would be Legend meets Pacific Rim: The Black meets the naivety of Percy Jackson wrapped into a sci-fi package. Guardians of Porthaven follows 15 year old Malcom Gravenhurst as he becomes a Guardian, taking up the mantle like the Gravenhursts before him. Guardians are people with powers which protect the city from invading aliens known as Kelk, but like in any good dystopian/sci-fi, the Guardians aren't all that they're cracked up to be.
This novel brought back a nostalgia for my favourite 2010s dystopians but it just felt better. This novel being Middle Grade, which I didn't even realize until after finishing this book and going to write this review, contained far less violence than the YA dystopian/sci-fi novels which it reminded me of, but despite this it still focused on a lot of hard hitting topics and conversations. This novel for me really focused more on the realization of our own biases and privileges (including being white and rich) and really showed a full character arc and growth of Malcom's character leaving it with a very satisfying ending. Along with the growth arc of Malcom this book allows you to see growing friendships and trust building between unlikely companions, heartwarming until the end with a bit of banter and tough love.
I suggest this book to anyone looking to jump into a bit sci-fi, and while it is a middle grade novel, I think it's actually fantastic for anyone to pick up. While younger people in the 9-12 age group can appreciate the conversations and maybe be inspired to start some of their own, even in my 20s I found this a refreshing way to see sci-fi, especially the lack of violence which I feel is so common place in older novels. This book really let me appreciate the world and what was happening it without bogging me down with unnecessary fight scenes, all of the scenes within the book felt like they were helping to move the plot and not just fill time and pages.
If I had to give a sort of this meets this type of line for this book it would be Legend meets Pacific Rim: The Black meets the naivety of Percy Jackson wrapped into a sci-fi package. Guardians of Porthaven follows 15 year old Malcom Gravenhurst as he becomes a Guardian, taking up the mantle like the Gravenhursts before him. Guardians are people with powers which protect the city from invading aliens known as Kelk, but like in any good dystopian/sci-fi, the Guardians aren't all that they're cracked up to be.
This novel brought back a nostalgia for my favourite 2010s dystopians but it just felt better. This novel being Middle Grade, which I didn't even realize until after finishing this book and going to write this review, contained far less violence than the YA dystopian/sci-fi novels which it reminded me of, but despite this it still focused on a lot of hard hitting topics and conversations. This novel for me really focused more on the realization of our own biases and privileges (including being white and rich) and really showed a full character arc and growth of Malcom's character leaving it with a very satisfying ending. Along with the growth arc of Malcom this book allows you to see growing friendships and trust building between unlikely companions, heartwarming until the end with a bit of banter and tough love.
I suggest this book to anyone looking to jump into a bit sci-fi, and while it is a middle grade novel, I think it's actually fantastic for anyone to pick up. While younger people in the 9-12 age group can appreciate the conversations and maybe be inspired to start some of their own, even in my 20s I found this a refreshing way to see sci-fi, especially the lack of violence which I feel is so common place in older novels. This book really let me appreciate the world and what was happening it without bogging me down with unnecessary fight scenes, all of the scenes within the book felt like they were helping to move the plot and not just fill time and pages.