The Guardians of Elijah's Fire by Frank L. Cole

Just when they thought they were safe, Amber, Trendon and their classmates get yanked back into the action. With the Tebah Stick in enemy hands, Amber becomes a target and it seems even her closest allies can’t be trusted. Now the gang will have to travel through enemy territory to protect a deadly ancient weapon that could cause the earth’s utter destruction.

This thrilling tale ups the action and doubles the danger. Bestselling author, Frank L. Cole delivers an addicting read for adventurers of all ages.

I just finished Frank L. Cole's book The Guardians of Elijah's Fire.  You might remember that last week I reviewed his first book in the series, The Guardians of the Hidden Scepter and really enjoyed it.  Well, this second book is even better!

It starts out with Amber receiving a mysterious package for her birthday.  She assumes that it is from her friend and teacher Dorothy.  Then she gets a strange phone call in the middle of the night from her friend Joseph.  What follows, almost immediately, is a spell-binding, frantic, action-packed adventure that leaves you breathless!   The action is nearly non-stop throughout the book, which makes it a hard book to put down.  (On a totally unrelated side note, I was browsing the library today with my daughter and she asked for help finding a book.  I asked her what kind of books she liked to read and she said, "I want one that, when I get to the end of a chapter, I have to keep reading because I want to find out what happens next!"  That's exactly what this book is!)

I love the character development in this book, especially compared to the first in the series.  In the first book I felt like the characters were introduced, but in this book they were able to grow and change a bit and we were able to see different sides of them which was great!  And I especially loved the questions of loyalty and trust that were brought up throughout the book.  I was finding myself wondering, just like Amber, who were the good guys and who were bad.

I loved the ending of the book and, without giving anything away, it was exactly perfect.  I loved the characters Temel and Abelish.  They were wonderful men to learn about and very well developed, maybe even more so than Lisa, who is part of the group, but is usually on the sidelines.  And I loved the biblical themes that ran through the book, specifically with the story of Elijah. 

I can't wait to read more from Frank Cole!  His characters are delightful, his descriptions of setting and action are amazing.  And his books are genuinely fun to read!

I was given a digital copy of this book to read, but the opinions expressed are my own.