One Hero to Lead Them All: The Four Guardians (Pride Wars) by Matt Laney

"What if Tamir is right? What if destroying the Maguar is the thing to do?" Stick blurts out.

"I'm half Maguar!" I thunder. "Which half of me do you want to destroy?"

Just then an explosion rocks the earth. From the direction of Singara, a sooty plume of smoke drifts above the trees. I didn't realize just how close we were to the Great Wall.

"It's Tamir. He's coming. Trust me. We can stop Tamir and the Twelver. We can prevent a war. We can bring the two prides together, and Hasatamara can stay where he is for another ten million years for all I care, but if not, we have the Axis as protection."

The Axis quivers, nearly shaking itself free from my hands as it bursts to life. Dazzling colors illuminate its four sections, each reflecting one of the Guardians: blazing red firewing feathers, sparkling green draycon scales, white tiger fur marbled with dark stripes, and black tortoiseshell.

Like the boy Arthur in the Arthurian cycle, young lion prince Leo has long known that he is different, a "Spinner," driven to give voice to "fictions," a forbidden genre in his kingdom, stories which bring forth jins, spiritual beings, sent from the Haven. Concealing his differences, Leo has barely passed his manhood trial when his grandfather, the Kahn of Singara, dies suddenly and he finds himself in a struggle for succession with his power-driven cousin Tamir. Certain that Tamir intends to kill him and to conquer and rule both Singara and their rival kingdom of the Maguars, Leo flees for his life with the rest of his quadron, his loyal followers, Anjali, Zoya, and Stick, into the land of their ancient enemies.

The people of Singara are human-like lions devoted to the sciences and enemies of legend and storytelling, but their foes, the Maguars, have taken a different course, one devoted to the ancient legends and spiritual beliefs. Leo learns from Shanti, his first jin, revealed to him in his first "fiction," that he is both Singari and Maguar. He earns the mark of the Four Guardians and is, he learns, the heir of both prides--Eliyah, born to conquer Hasatamara/Helel, the Demon of the Great Mountains. Certain that his mother and father will be found somewhere in the kingdom of their sworn adversaries, Leo braves the breach in the wall between the two warring kingdoms, hoping to find his true identity and his true destiny there.

In Matt Laney's forthcoming sequel in the trilogy, The Four Guardians (Pride Wars) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019), the plot passes in a rush of mythic and physical encounters which stress the power of loyalty and honor in an epic quest tale. In a story which seems both ancient and modern, a tale of a species, a people, once one, now divided into two warring factions but with roots in a common ancient language and ethos, Laney's second book in his series tells the ancient story of the young hero who seeks a sort of Holy Grail, the Axis, that will unite his people in peace. This is a challenging read, (see review of Book 1 of this series here), one with many characters (albeit with a prefaced list of dramatis personae), subplots, and layered roots in Hebrew, Buddhist, Cherokee, and Ghanian language and legend, as the young hero figure follows his quest and works out his destiny.

Young middle readers who are up on their J. R. R. Tolkien and their J. K. Rowling, as well as Erin Hunter's Volumes 1 to 6: The Complete First Series (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin),will find this sequel unique and yet familiar.