Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Given the set up here, the direction of the plot is fairly predictable. We have a protagonist in a place of privilege who is beginning to question the view of the world he has always been given. He's an idealist beginning to question the sharp lines of good and evil as he's always understood them. The metaphor is a little heavy handed but forgivable for the intended audience. Fairly action oriented.

Guardians of Porthaven was a lovely read. Shane Arbuthnott continues to be one of my favorite middle grade/young adult fantasy writers. If you're looking for diverse representation, fantastic world building, and a strong, action-packed story, look no further than Guardians of Porthaven.

Sadly my access expired before I had time to completely read this book, however, from where I got it was interesting! It has a strong plot and characters and real potential! I look forward to buying this book and reading it completely before reviewing fully

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.

Fifteen-year-old Malcolm Gravenhurst is an innocent. Orphaned young and sheltered from outside influences — including friends — he has just been presented to the public as a Guardian, one of a team of local superheroes who keep Porthaven safe. But Malcolm isn’t satisfied with fighting the klek, the alien robots who regularly invade the city, so he sneaks out of his highly protected home to find real villains, real problems. He soon does. What he doesn’t expect is the source of these problems. How will Malcolm honour his role as a Guardian when even his own family is set against him?

Guardians of Porthaven is an intriguing, rewarding science fiction novel for upper-middle grade readers. Its fast-moving, twisty plot will keep readers turning pages while its identifiable real-world concerns will encourage them to keep thinking about Malcolm and his relationships long after the book is closed. The story contains themes of class- and race-based privilege, and asks important questions about leadership, underscoring the value of teamwork and collaboration.

I really enjoyed this novel and recommend it heartily. Guardians of Porthaven would make a great addition to any elementary classroom or school library and would make a welcome gift for any reader of contemporary science fiction.

☆☆☆☆,25 /5
(english review below)

Une lecture jeunesse entraînante et intéressante entre super-pouvoirs, combats et secrets !
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À l'occasion de son quinzième anniversaire, Malcolm Gravenhurst se prépare à assumer le rôle de Gardien, comme de nombreux Gravenhurst avant lui. Les Gardiens sont chargés de défendre la ville de Porthaven, et sa famille est la seule à posséder les super pouvoirs nécessaires pour lutter contre les fréquentes invasions extraterrestres de Klek. Mais le pouvoir a apporté aux Gravenhurst plus qu'une simple responsabilité, il leur a également apporté gloire et richesse. Lorsque Malcolm rencontre des adolescents vivant et travaillant en secret, il apprend que sous leur façade héroïque, la famille Gravenhurst cache de très sombres secrets. Avec la menace d'anéantissement à l'horizon, Malcolm doit bientôt choisir entre la loyauté familiale et faire ce qu'il faut.
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J'ai beaucoup apprécié cette lecture qui nous introduit la ville de Porthaven, ville que Malcom doit protéger contre les aliens, comme l'ont fait ses ancêtres auparavant. Bien qu'il n'ait que 15 ans, le jeune adolescent est prêt à prendre les responsabilités que lui confère son nom et à prendre soin de son peuple... Tout du moins, il dit être prêt et c'est ce pour quoi il a toujours été éduqué. Tout de suite, lorsque son personnage nous a été présenté, je l'ai apprécié. Je l'ai apprécié pour sa personnalité bien construite, les pensées réalistes qu'il avait et les choix qu'il faisait, comme nous nous les aurions fait.
Ambitieux et sûr de lui et de ses capacités, Malcolm va tout de même être en proie aux doutes lorsqu'il connaîtra d'autres adolescents. Des adolescents comme lui. Des adolescents différents... Et avec ça, bien d'autres révélations pour lesquelles il n'aurait jamais pu être prêt... Et quelles révélations ! C'est tout aussi surprenant pour le lecteur et je dois dire que l'auteur a su bien maintenir le suspens et distiller les informations.
J'ai tellement aimé cette histoire mêlant super-pouvoirs, aliens et mystères. Lorsque j'ai tourné la dernière page, j'en voulais plus. Ça ne pouvait pas se terminer comme ça ! Je pense que c'est un roman que j'apprécierais relire.

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

A catchy and interesting middle grade book with superpowers, fights and secrets!
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On his fiteenth birthday, Malcolm Gravenhurst is preparing to take on the mantle of Guardian, like many Gravenhursts before him. The Guardians are tasked with defending the city of Porthaven, and his family is the only one to possess the superpowers necessary to battle the frequent alien invasions of robotic klek. But power has brought the Gravenhursts more than just responsibility—it has also brought them fame and wealth. When Malcolm meets some teens living and working in secret, he learns that underneath their heroic facade, the Gravenhurst family is hiding some very dark secrets. With the threat of annihilation on the horizon, soon Malcolm must choose between family loyalty and doing the right thing.
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I really enjoyed this reading which introduces us to the city of Porthaven, a city that Malcom must protect against aliens, as his ancestors did before. Despite being only 15 years old, the young teenager is ready to take on the responsibilities his name gives him and take care of his people... At the very least, he says he's ready and that is what he has always been educated for. Right away, when his character was introduced to us, I liked him. I appreciated him for his well-built personality, the realistic thoughts he had and the choices he made, as we would have made them.
Ambitious and sure of himself and his abilities, Malcolm will still be plagued by doubts when he meets other teenagers. Teenagers like him. Different teenagers... And with that, many other revelations for which he could never have been ready... And what revelations! It's just as surprising for the reader and I must say that the author was able to maintain the suspense and distill the information.
I liked so much this story mixing superpowers, aliens and mysteries. When I turned the last page, I wanted more. It couldn't end like this! I think this is a book that I would enjoy reading again.

Thank you to @orcabook and @netgalley for this ARC of Guardians of Porthaven written by Shane Arbuthnott for an honest review.

I was intrigued from the moment I saw the cover art, and by the time I read the opening paragraph of the synopsis, I knew that I wanted to read this book!

“Malcolm Gravenhurst is about to become a Guardian, working with his family to defend the city of Porthaven from alien invasions. All Guardians come from the Gravenhurst family, the only one in the world with superpowers. But before he can take on his new role, he learns some shocking truths…”

Aliens! Superpowers! A dark secret! Ahh, you have my attention, hook, line and sinker. This story did not disappoint. From the very beginning, our introduction to Malcolm, his family and the city of Porthaven was alive with detail, fantastical imagery and a fast-paced story that kept you turning the pages to see what would happen next!

The more I read, the more I was drawn not only into the city of Porthaven, but I was also drawn into the lives of those that lived there. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters and their backstories. I enjoyed watching them evolve, not only in their own personal growth but also as friends and a newfound family.

I anxiously await the next installment from Arbuthnott and hope that more of Kazue’s backstory is shared.

All in all, there is a little bit of everything for everyone in this book, and I was continually guessing till the very end, which is a rare occurrence and a most pleasant surprise!

Guardians of Porthaven releases September 14th, 2021, from Orca Book Publishers, and it is a must-read for the Fall!

I enjoyed Shane Arbuthnott’s previous books, Dominion and Terra Nova, so I was excited when I found out he had a new book coming out about super heroes. Thank you to NetGally and Orca Book Publishers for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

This book felt like a mashup of The Boys and The Umbrella Academy - but for middle grade readers! The main character, Malcolm, is the youngest in a rich and powerful line of super heroes. The story begins with Malcolm’s introduction to the world as the newest Guardian - complete with news interviews and social media coaching. From Chapter Seven: “Being a Gravenhurst was sometimes more like being part of a business than part of a family, but he’d managed to ignore that stuff so far.”

The Bad Guys in this book are mysterious robotic aliens that only seem to attack the city of Porthaven, via portals. The actual city of Porthaven has also been affected by these alien attacks because the Gravenhursts have learned how to use the scraps of alien technology to create new tech that doesn’t exist in any other city in the world. The Gravenhursts are also affected by this alien tech - it’s how they got their super powers. I thought this was an interesting setting for the book and a way to keep the story contained to this one specific anomalous city.

Malcolm wants to do more with his powers and ends up stumbling upon a secret the Gravenhurst family was trying to keep hidden from him. From here he meets a a fun group of characters and the rest of the action packed story unfolds.

Malcolm often comes across as a little bit too dopey and I felt that the words ‘um’, ‘like’, ‘uh’, and ‘yeah’ were a bit overused. Malcolm says ‘like’ A LOT. Even his aunt uses “like” in a sentence where it wasn’t really necessary and seemed, like, out of character. ;)

Other than that small annoyance, this was a fun book that would be perfect for middle grade readers who are into super heroes.

Malcom is a guardian. He just became one, and will help defend the city of Porthaven from alien robots called kleks, that appears about 60 years ago when the intersteller gate came. His family gained the powers then, and defeated the rest of the invastion, when they destroyed the gate. But the robots keep coming back, and the family keeps defeating them. The same power that creates the kleks also gives his family powers. And the powers and the tech that goes along with them is only in the city of Porthaven.

At least, that is what Malcom has been told all his life, until, when he decides one day to go out on patrol, and he meets someone who is not his family, who has super powers as well. That chance meeting gets him questioning everything he knows about his family and the legacy they have of fighting the kleks.

Very fast paced story, which I devoured in about two days. I kept thinking I knew what was going to happen, and then I didn't, s full of suprrises.

Great story.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

First of all I want to thank the publisher and Netgalley for sending me this E-Arc in exchange of an honest rewiev.
This book was a fast-paced easy middle grade book. Honestly I adored this book and all of the characters.
The book follows Malcolm, who is part of one of the most important families in the city of Porthaven. His family has superpowers and they defend the city from the kleck (that is the way that they call the aliens). Malcom dreams of being a superhero, like the ones he sees in the comics. One day he decides to go and patrol the city alone and discovers another person with powers that is not part of his family: Drew. Later on Malcolm discovers that there are other people like him and that his family doesn't know about them. Each of the other people he gets to know has a special hate/fear towards his family. Malcom discovers that his family might not be as good and as great as he always thought.

I started reading this book with not many expectations and it surprised me in a very good way. Malcolm is a very relatable character, most of the choices he made are similar if not the same as the ones I would have done. I really liked how the book includes LGBTQ characters without being their entire personality. The same thing with plus-sized characters. My favorite character of the book is Kazue and I hope that we will get more of her backstory in the next book (because it can't end in the way it ends). I also hope that we get more backstory on Malcolm's grandfather, I think that he is a very interesting character. Having superheroes in a book is a strange thing and it's normally not done very well, but in this book it was amazing. Something I would have liked more of is the way Kazue, Briar and Drew interact with each other since they enter into the found family trope.
The writing was easy to understand, but I had a little bit of trouble understanding Malcolm's powers in the beginning of the book. Also I would make it clear that the book is set on earth, because it was a bit confusing.

In general this was a very enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend this book if English is not your first language and you want to start reading in English. It was a four out five star book for me.