Guardian Angel (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore

Guardian Angel (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore
Buy Guardian Angel (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: As always with CHERUB, some good and some not-so-good here. I really enjoyed the action but was slightly less impressed with the characters.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 352	Date: August 2012
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0340999219
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Warning - spoilers for previous CHERUB books, in particular People's Republic, below.

Reviewers at the Bookbag have had mixed feeling about cherub in the past, so I wanted to start this review by saying I'm a big fan of the series in general. I thought People's Republic, the first of the 'new' books, actually showed a significant improvement on the last couple of the James Adams books because Muchamore didn't use the long flashback which had irritated me in both of them. I really liked Ning, one of the new characters introduced in that one, and was looking forward to reading more about her here.

That said, I'm slightly disappointed by this latest book. There are still good points - as ever, Muchamore writes strong action scenes and his plots are compelling, while he deserves credit for bringing real issues like people trafficking to the attention of his younger readers. I've also always liked his 'shades of grey' approach to morality - as usual in this book, there are good guys doing bad things at times for the overall success of the mission.

While the plot is good, though, the characters are somewhat weaker than we've come to expect. Part of the problem is the strong focus on Ryan and Ethan. I've always thought Muchamore was stronger at portraying female characters than males, and neither of them is as interesting as Ning, who takes a back seat for much of the book. Ryan in particular is so bland that I was longing for James Adams, who was frequently an obnoxious prat but was at least memorable. Ethan is slightly more likeable, but the best character here is his ageing grandmother, a crime boss depicted with just the right mixture of family loyalty and ruthlessness.

Overall, this is worth reading if you're a CHERUB fan. In fact, I was so impressed by People's Republic that I'd say it's worth picking up that book and this one because the new spin-off series overall has definitely captured my attention. I'm just hoping that either Ryan develops more of a personality or Ning features more heavily in the third book.

Lots of other CHERUB action is available - I really enjoyed People's Republic and think it's a good jumping-on point for newcomers to the series.

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