CHERUB: Guardian Angel (Series 2, Book 2 of 5) by Robert Muchamore

"Twelve kids had started basic training back in December, but four quitters, two cracked bones, a badly sprained ankle, a chest infection and an asthma attack meant only three were left as the sun came up on the course's hundredth and final day." (page 1)

As you'll be aware from my last post, I'm reviewing Series 2 of CHERUB in the run-up to the release of the last CHERUB book (EVER), at the beginning of June 2016. The countdown to the release of New Guard seems to be going so fast! Guardian Angel was first released in 2012. I was very lucky to get hold of a first edition, having been out of the UK at the point of public release. My flight landed back in London on the day of a signing at Forbidden Planet and I decided to race across London to go, having not eaten, slept or showered for over 12 hours. I looked dreadful but it was great to get my copy of Guardian Angel and the graphic novel of The Recruit signed (shown below).

Right, now to the review then. I hate to say this, but from the new series, this is my least favourite book. It's not very often that I sit on the fence for so long about whether or not I like a book, but this really made me wonder until the last few chapters. It's very unfortunate as I am obviously a super-fan of Robert Muchamore and his writing exploits, but this felt like a bit of a placement book for the first part of it.

On the plus side, there's a lot of character development throughout this book. We get a much clearer picture of the personalities, motivations and challenges for Ryan, Ning and Ethan. Ryan turns a full 180 from his disgrace on his first mission, through girl trouble on campus, to being a 'James'-style hero. We see Ning gain confidence from basic training to her first big mission. Ethan goes through a crazy transformation from Californian kid to Kyrgyzstan misfit to *SPOILERS* kidnapped to Africa, to rescued by his Guardian Angels.

The action finally starts kicking in from about half way through and it doesn't disappoint! There's fights in London, fights in Kyrgyzstan, fights in Africa and chaos in America when the TFU/CIA computer servers crash at the time they're most needed. And boy, what an ending! This book truly is a slow-burner. The ending is gripping and gets you excited for part 3: Black Friday. This is still a vital book to read in the series to understand everybody's relationships to each other and how the Aramov clan will implode.

Laura's rating: 6.8/10
"If you're not my guardian angel then I don't know what the hell you are." (page 306)