First off, thanks to NetGalley and KM Lewis for providing an e-book for my honest opinion!

My overall thoughts: This book has such an interesting plot! There are secret societies, a unique and refreshing POV on religious texts, myth & folk lore, and some - well seemingly not entirely scientifically accurate - cool speculations on Dooms Day/The Apocalypse. While the premise of this story is amazing - the world is ending in 13 days, and it turns out the plagues of Egypt weren't just meant to be taken as symbolism - I wish the execution and writing had been better. The characters are a bit bland with little to no unique personalities and the style of writing seemed a bit basic. 

A Deep Dive:

- The Plot: Let me just say I live for end of days stories. Especially ones that involve history, science, and mythology. If you love movies and books like The Day After Tomorrow, National Treasure, or The Di Vinci Code, you may enjoy Book 1 in this trilogy. HOWEVER, I could have done without the *time travel* - it opens up way too many plot holes, and it didn't seem necessary to an already interesting take on Adam & Eve, the plagues of Egypt, and even Atlantis. There's a lot going on, and in this case focusing on one thing would make it a lot better.

- The Characters: The story focuses on six main characters, all which have diverse and unique backgrounds, so it's a great start. BUT, there isn't much to their personalities, growth or evolution. I didn't connect with any of the characters, and I wish that I could have been rooting for at least one of them in some way shape or form.

- GIRL POWER: I loved that one of the main secret societies is run solely by women, and that the big reveal at the end of the book has a lot to do with women and their strengths and abilities as humans. It's a subtle nod to all the amazing work ladies do and the author got it right.

- The Writing: This book would have been so much better if the writing style was just a bit different. Most of the conversations are like this: "Oh no. The World is ending. Something is wrong. We must hurry.", and I really felt like there could have been so much more emotion in every aspect of this book (conversations and descriptions). The world is ending! People don't speak properly in conversation when there's panic and terror. Use more contractions, add a bit more personality to these characters, maybe throw in a curse word here and there. I wanted my heart to race each time a new "plague" was hitting, but that extra "umph" was missing.

The Thirteenth Guardian is an okay read. I found the number of characters too overwhelming to keep track of. I also disliked the characterization overall. It's kind of ridiculous how perfect and capable every character is. It's sophomoric and cliche, and I struggled through this one. The story premise is interesting but presented in a way I found unappealing. Other readers with different interests and expectations will enjoy the book, but it's not for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

'The Thirteenth Guardian' by KM Lewis is an apocalyptic tale of biblical proportions with mysterious secret societies at its helm. For me, the first twenty pages and the last twenty pages kept me on the edge of my seat while the rest of the book was a little slow paced. Towards the end of the book when some questions were finally answered I was greatly satisfied with the ingenious revelations. I have read a few other books about cataclysms, but this story was so much more than merely an end of the world type of book... this book was deeply existential and certainty made me question some things about our own history. I won't give away the plot in this review, but what I will say is that secret societies, time travel, matriarchies, meteors, and bloodlines are the perfect ingredients for a revolutionary perspective of the past, present, and future.

I'd also like to add that I appreciated that one of the characters was Croatian because I have never read a book where one of the characters was from my ancestral home.

If you would like to challenge everything you thought you knew about the world. then 'The Thirteenth Guardian' by KM Lewis is an incredible original story and could very well be THE original story that until now, was sealed away until humanity was ready to hear the truth.

I just finished The Thieteenth Guardian and I am completely blown away. I give this book four stars because it is a phenomenal book except for characterization and confusion. Let me start off by saying this is now one of my favorite books. It is an apocalyptic tale about six people fighting to survive. Against all odds, will this group of teens be able to save the world? There are warnings in Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel, in the Bible itself. Could so much that humanity has been taught about our beginnings and the world be wrong? Lewis answers these questions in the book that will consume your thoughts and make me look out of windows, half expecting to see the signs for an ending world. References and clues in this book are accurate, which makes it so believable it sent chills down my spine. This book includes details from different religions but it was not a religious book, and I loved it even as an atheist. The only things I would change in this book are characterization, main characters, and perspectives. Some characters in The Thirteenth Guardian are too perfect, for example Avery is a star basketball player, stunningly beautiful, and on top of that is incredibly smart. She doesn’t really have flaws, and the book would be even more believable if all characters were more relatable. Also, there are six main characters with other perspectives which makes it rather confusing to readers. I found it hard to keep tabs on all different characters, and sometimes confused them. Six main characters is a bit much for me. Besides, the book includes other perspectives for more information about the plot, which confuses me more. This story would be more straightforward without these. Some degree of confusion helps the plot of this tale because the main characters do not exactly know their role in saving the world until very late, and it is captivating to not know what their role is either. But I would enjoy this book even more if there weren’t so many perspectives. All in all, if you love a captivating story that is spine-chillingly believable, full of clues and suspense, and apocalyptic then you should certainly pick up The Thirteenth Guardian.

I started reading this book and found myself more and more engrossed with the story. The plot is non stop action and thought provoking. I could not put the book down. Lewis has written a hit.

Woah okay hold on, I have very mixed feelings about this. At first I was annoyed about how preachy everything was and I truly believed it would become a fully-fledged christian-lit which I am not into because I am not religious in the slightest and get aggravated when it drags on.
But... It all pulled together and turned out not to be religious. I think?
Although the inaccuracy of the science ground my nerves, I was able to accept that this is fiction and science doesn't actually have to be real (the whole mind-wipe neuroscience bit did lead to the docking of a few points though because I find it hard to accept inaccuracies in my field of study even if I know it's fiction, and I HATE to be that person but I really can't help it).
The main six characters were all way too perfect to be believable which some people may not like but I didn't mind.
I liked that we actually saw the apocalypse going down (unlike most books where we just see the aftermath) and we were told exactly why it was happening before the end of book one.
Oh, also another thing that lead to me docking some points, was that I think the author considers the USA to be way more important than it actually is? Like when shit was getting real grim it's said that everyone (and I mean it's said that everyone in the world) turned to the president of the US for reassurance instead of their own leaders. There was also a lot of "the US is the most advanced country in the world" (um okay) and "the world will only survive the apocalypse if the US is there to guide them through it" and all that american-centric crap that I (and I'm sure many non-americans just have to roll their eyes at).
Also, now that I think about it, what happened to the main antagonists? They hit one of their marks and then they're done? I don't know it just seemed like Lewis may not have been fully committed to writing them in to the story apart from a few mentions.
Overall, yeah I enjoyed it and I'd pick up the sequel.
Solid 3.5 stars.

This book gave me chill. Its writing of apocalypse is really detail, and for believers, you really can relate with what you know from your religion with the catastrophe described on this book. KM Lewis really done her research, connecting the dots between religious text and science.
But, this action-packed book could become too much because Lewis do P.O.V jumping repeatedly, sometimes its confusing about which story it is. Mind you, this book has 6 main characters, not to mention minor character.
Other than that, the characters are not really relatable. These 6 special characters has basically the same gene, white people, and also they are very rich with what they wore or the lifestyle they choose to have. Not relatable at all.
The plot also jumped quite shockingly, from religious text to science fiction slash fantasy suddenly. A reference that the ancestors are really modern and already conquer teleportation technology and the key could be found underneath Atlantic.

It also has cliff ending to my frustration, but probably it is because the book is the first instalment of the trilogy.

Receive the book via netgalley in exchange for honest review

What to do about this book?

I honestly don't know what to make of it. To be honest, I can't tell if I liked it or hated it. I think it just did not reach its full potential, if that makes sense.

It started out really good; the first 50% of the novel was pretty epic, not gonna lie. You follow this unique, religious based apocalypse that was cool. You meet this wide ranged set of characters that--even though fell VERY flat diversity wise--were still mildly entertaining. You start getting this information about a secret society and rich people keeping powerful secrets in conspiracy groups.

I mean--it sounds pretty epic right?

Well it goes downhill from there. At one point, the action and disasters get boring and repetitive. Somehow it goes from mysterious, religious based conspiracies... to time travelling black rocks that you trace symbols on so that lightning from a comet zaps them, but the rocks are somehow portals too that can take you to any location on Earth on top of the time travel, but the rocks need a key that's underneath the Atlantic--

Let me interrupt myself: if the above sentence made no sense--welcome aboard because I don't know either.

The story just spirals so out of control that I'm sitting here feeling like I've read 2 separate stories to be honest.

The final verdict: I have a hard time saying that this was a bad book. But I really can't say it was a good book either. There were so many characters they all became wishy washy, the religious themes really started going haywire, the apocalypse started getting repetitive, the plot started making no sense. I'm just a little flustered by what I've read.

The thirteenth guardian, well where to start, I went into this book knowing nothing and it blew me away, from the first chapter I was hooked, the history aspect,the different character points of view over different continents and the hidden history stories had me captivated for page 1 . I'm not a very religious person but even all the religious text and information that was incased in this book was great and surprisingly powerful. This book has now become one of my favorite books of all time, which in comparison to some of my all time favorites such as Jurassic Park, Harry Potter (all of them), Vicious, The KingMaker Chronicles and Stalking Jack the Ripper series just to name a few, this book has something unique and awe inspiring about it that will make reading it a vivid and sometimes terrifying experience that everyone needs to do.

The Thirteenth Tale has an intriguing premise and an interesting plot but the characters are pretty unreal. We follow the story from POV of 6 main characters as they try to survive an apocalypse. But the problem is how unrelatable they become because they are perfect in all the senses and can do absolutely everything. The writing style was also pretty banal. The changing perspectives and repetitive narration is frustratingly undercut.

Based on the other reviews of this book and the summary, I thought I would really like The Thirteenth Guardian. And I stand by my early analysis that it's a fascinating premise that has a lot of promise. The problem, though, is in the execution. I'm gonna be completely honest here, it took a lot of willpower for me to get through this book. I definitely skimmed through pretty significant chunks of it.

The Thirteenth Guardian is first and foremost a survival apocalypse book, about a group of people working to survive a series of increasingly devastating natural disasters. And yes, it features secret societies and conspiracies and all that delicious goodness. However, I couldn't enjoy those things, because, in my opinion, this book failed in a couple other, more important areas.

1) Main characters. The Thirteenth Guardian follows (mostly) six main characters as they try to survive. However, my beef with literally all of the characters is that they are the kind of characters I wrote as a sixth grader: obnoxiously perfect, good at everything, and extremely unrelatable. Avery is a) extremely beautiful b) a star basketball player and c) Very Smart and studying astrophysics at Stanford. This is just one example, but it tracks for all the rest of our characters. Because of this, I disliked them from the beginning and was never able to root for them or feel invested in their stories. My emotions towards them ranged from apathy to pure hatred, but if there isn't a single character I like, you can bet I won't like the book. (Remi in particular...oof. Talk about unlikable.)

2) Side characters / POVs. If you thought to yourself, "Six main characters? Sounds like kind of a lot" then you have another thing coming. This book switched POVs like nobody's business (like...usually several times each chapter) and added new ones constantly. I believe the author was going for a vignette sort of feel, but for me, every time a new POV was introduced, I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth. Each POV, no matter how inconsequential, got a backstory which took up entirely too much time. I was bored and even more disinterested in these brief side characters than I was in our main six.

3) Writing style. The last thing that really took me out of this book and made me struggle through it was the writing style. Normally, I wouldn't criticize an author for their writing, but in this book, it negatively impacted my reading experience in a big way. The author seemed to avoid contractions like the plague, which led to unnatural feeling dialogue. It was deadpan to a fault, and in the beginning, in particular, I just felt like I was reading a math textbook or something. There was also a lot of repetition that felt like the author didn't trust the reader to make even the smallest of leaps (a la "'Wow,' he said with shock. He did not expect the other man to know this." Not a direct quote but this was the vibe). I resorted to the skimming because reading every word made me want to smash my face into a wall.

I gave this book two stars because the actual action was pretty good, and I still think the premise has promise. It was a good idea, but man, the execution. I can't recommend this book.

I just finished The Thirteenth Guardian and I am still blown away by the action packed, devastating, gripping, philosophical, hopeful and character driven story.
It really is thought provoking and KM Lewis managed to take some biblical and mythological events and give them a natural spin all while spinning an original myth around it.
I also think the author did well in bringing different point of views together towards the end and weaving a strong and compelling tale of science, belief and nature's force.
I also got the feeling that this story would do great as a movie, so powerful written were many of the scenes.
The only weak point of this book - for me - was the revealing of the original myth the author created as I think it was too often hinted at throughout the entire story only to be told somewhat rushed towards the end. But seeing this is to be a trilogy I hope there will be some more to this mythology and naturally the characters that are affected by it the most.
I'd recommend this book to fans of The DaVinci Code, The Core and Armageddon.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this ARC.

*I received an eARC through NetGalley but all opinions are my own*

oh man, oh man when I read the description of this I IMMEDIATELY sat down and read it. I am fascinated by the mythology of religion and there is just NOT enough biblical lore in books and the thirteenth guardian just made me realize how much I want that void filled.

so since there aren’t any reviews for this I wanna try to be thorough with my review but I’m a delinquent so pardon my in-eloquentness.

plot:
we follow a cast of characters as the world faces the “plagues of egypt” which is just a whole lot of catastrophic events that basically kills everyone on earth. our main characters are six individuals who are to be protected at all cost as they have a certain genetic code that makes them super important.

alright so first lemme tell you why this wasn’t a 5 star book because that’s the real tea that’s important here.

FIRST, and most importantly is the diversity SUCKED ASS. for a book to be published in 2019 and only three of the ONE IN SIX BILLION PEOPLE to have this gene weren’t white is unacceptable. every character was white minus a half-japanese/half-white female and half-white/half-cuban twins. on top of that, every one lived in a western country and was FILTHY rich. I’m not sure where lewis was going with it but she made SO many references to how wealthy someone was, the designer clothes they wore, the tech thy had, etc etc. this spills into minor characters that just show up during the book as well; everyone was white, and everyone was rich. it was reallllyyyyyy annoying and just unrealistic. I cannot express how much more interesting it would have been to see the perspectives from someone in kenya, india, argentina, etc as they experience the apocalypse. very disappointing and shame on lewis for this. there’s really no excuse for this behavior in 2019, no ma’am.

SECOND, the pacing wasn’t the best. I was hooked during the first 40% however, 40-65% really dragged on. it was all just travel travel travel and I felt like I was watching an apocalyptic fellowship of the ring (which now that I say that does sound pretty badass,, moving on). it was really slow but there was a ton of action so it could have been worse. also lewis REALLY wants you to read till the very end until she gives you ANY information which left me both frustrated and gripping at my chair. I just wish we got a litttttllleee but more backstory and character development mixed with some more foreshadowing to make the ending more satisfying.

now onto why I enjoyed the book.

SECRET SOCIETIES YALL !! S E C R E T S O C I E T I E S !!! this is a trope that IS NOT used enough and I am TIRED of it. and this book isn’t about just any secret society but A SECRET SOCIETY RAN BY WOMEN,, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT.

and again,, biblical lore is BANGIN. so many references to exodus and egypt and so many ancient civilizations that had my history-loving heart BURST.

also the prologue already got me with experts from the edda and hesiod BIG YEA BOI HOURS

wrap up the thoughts:

the lack of diversity sucks and is inexcusable. I even though about giving it just a 2.5-3 stars because of it. but the concept was so gripping that I have hopes for the rest of this series. this is more of an introduction to the story as the last 15-20% is really where all the revelations/relevant stuff happens but it was definitely worth it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes national treasure/secret societies/religious myths because it was a quick and fun read through and through.