Bloodguard

BloodGuard, Book 1

By: Cecy Robson

Narrated by: Taylor Meskimen, Lucas Webley

ONE HUNDRED YEARS. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GLADIATORS. AND TODAY, ONLY ONE WILL RISE …

Everything in the Kingdom of Arrow is a lie.

Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land and volunteering to fight in the gladiator arena—vicious, bloodthirsty tournaments where only the strongest survive—would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose.

He was wrong—and they took everything. His hope. His freedom. His very humanity.

All Leith has left is his battle-scarred body, fueled by rage and hardened from years of fighting for the right to live another day.

Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard—and his freedom.

But in a kingdom built on secrets and lies, hope doesn’t come cheap.

Nor will his ultimate revenge …

©2024 Cecy Robson (P)2024 Recorded Books

Great story - female performance was grating.

Cecy Robson's "Bloodguard" is an exceptional story that beautifully blends engaging, slow-burn romance with a compelling world steeped in unique history. The characters are rich, multidimensional, and memorable, making it easy to fall in love with the story. The romance felt authentic and realistic, adding emotional depth to the thrilling narrative.

Regarding the audiobook performance, I didn’t mind the male voice talent. He did an excellent job using his deep voice to convey a wide range of emotions, all of which felt genuine and nuanced—a feat that's not easy to accomplish. Unfortunately, the female voice talent left much to be desired. Her delivery often sounded strained or scratchy, and her inflection at the end of sentences gave the impression that every statement was a question. This lilting quality made her narration feel unconfident and, at times, grating. It was distracting and made the audiobook harder to enjoy.

Despite the challenges with the female narration, the strength of the story itself more than makes up for it. Cecy Robson’s world-building and storytelling are top-notch, and I’d wholeheartedly recommend "Bloodguard" to anyone who loves an engaging romance and a well-crafted fantasy world. If the narration detracts too much, the book is certainly worth reading in print (especially the hardback version with the beautiful sprayed edges).

Feels like Hungry Games meets Gladiator

Loved the story and the male narrator was so good. The female’s acting was questionable at times but overall such a good listen!

The males voice

The male voice was too deep couldn’t understand what he was saying..it made the tension fall flat between the characters

Great book!

It’s a great book!! Don’t be scared to start it, it will start out slow but it gets so much better!

I enjoyed the story

I liked the story, and the female narrator was good, but the male narrator sounded like Batman and was hard for me to hear and understand even when the sound was turned up. That whisper-growl made it somewhat unpleasant to listen to Leithe's pov.

Skip the audiobook, go for print

I loved the concept of this book: a gladiator who is fighting for his freedom and a young woman in line to the throne with many evil characters trying to keep them both down. But the execution was just not riveting for me. I honestly may have liked it more had I only read the print version (which is beautiful and lovely on my bookshelf), but I listened to most of it on Audible and the female narrator used a very immature voice, making the character come across and a very young, naive, and immature when she's described as strong and powerful. She also read very slowly, necessitating listening at at least 1.2x. The male narrator was great and what one would expect for a gladiator, but the juxtaposition to the female character's voice was not believable and a little icky. Overall, I give it 3 stars. This does contain spicy scenes.

Yes yes yes

This is a solid reason and I can’t wait for the second book to come out. I need that book yesterday. Everything works really well and the plot and storyline are great.

The story is great

This may be the worst voice acting I’ve ever heard. Very monotone, the male just sounds like he’s growling.

Voice acting

The voice of Leith was just too raspy. Soften that a little bit but besides that pacing was decent.

So Worth It!!

This book was amazing from start to finish! It grips you from the first chapter and doesn’t let go.