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Book: “Shield Maiden” by Sharon Emmerichs
Publishing Info: Redhook, October 2023
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Both epic and intimate, Sharon Emmerichs’s extraordinary debut novel reimagines Beowulf from the perspective of a young woman reclaiming her power.
All her life, Fryda has longed to be a shield maiden, an honor reserved for Geatland’s mightiest warriors. When a childhood accident leaves her tragically injured and unfit for the battlefield, her dreams are dashed—or so she thinks. But a strange, unfathomable power is awakening within her, a power that will soon be put to the test.
For when foreign lords and chieftains descend upon Fryda’s home to celebrate her uncle King Beowulf’s fifty-year reign, she realizes not all their guests come with good intentions. Treachery is afoot, and Fryda must gather her courage to fight for her people…as a queen should—as a shield maiden would—and as only Fryda can.
But as Fryda’s power grows stronger, something ancient hears its call. For buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon awakens…and Fryda must prove herself once and for all.
Review: I’m not overly familiar with the story of Beowolf. I know the general plot points, but I’ve never read any versions of the original, only loose re-imaginings. So, to continue that trend, I guess, I was happy to check out this book, another story that approaches the original from a unique angle, this time that of a young woman whose dreams of becoming a shield maiden have been hindered by a tragic accident when she was young.
This book was a bit of a struggle for me, which is too bad, because it was one of the fall titles that I was especially looking forward to. But first, I’ll cover some of the things that worked for me. For one thing, the overall writing I think is fairly strong. I wasn’t distracted by any strange turns of phrase, and the plot moved along smoothly, if somewhat slowly, throughout the story. I was also surprised by some of the choices the author made with perspective, especially the chapters sprinkled throughout that come from the point of view of the dragon that makes an appearance at the end of this story, as with the end of “Beowolf.”
But this last point also gets to a few of my problems with the story. While the writing was strong enough, I felt that the structure of the story was strange. Given the fact that the dragon had not one but multiple chapters of its own, I expected it to play a much larger role in the story itself. As it stands, the dragon only shows up at the end and is very succinctly dealt with, making the build up to this confrontation feel strange in hindsight.
I also struggled with the main character. I liked the exploration of her life attempting to become a shield maiden, seemingly thwarted at every turn by not only her role in life but also the devastating injury she sustain as a young girl which left her with limited use of one of her hands. But beyond these larger strokes, her choices and naivety throughout the story were increasingly difficult not to become frustrated by. She has not only one friend who is enslaved, but her love interest has also lived as a slave of the household. And yet Fryda seems largely unaware of what life is like for these two, close friends she’s known since children. Not only that, she is surprised when she learns of things they experience and the limitations of their existence.
I also struggled with the romance, which was very disappointing, as I went in with high hopes for this aspect of the story. But right from the beginning, I knew this wasn’t going to be for me. In the first scene in which we meet these two, they are obviously both into one another, but in both of their perspectives, the reader is subjected to fairly ridiculous inner thoughts and even outwards expressions of doubt about the other. At one point, they outright ask those around them if they think the other is into them! I believe this book is marketed as an adult fantasy, and this depiction of romance was incredibly juvenile, even by YA standards, a category to which this book shouldn’t belong.
All of this aside, I definitely think there is an audience for this book. For all that the romance wasn’t for me, I think it’s the kind that will appeal to a lot of other readers. If anything, I will admit that it was a breath of fresh air that both characters were rather straight-forwardly interested in each other, without either being grumpy or an “enemy” of the other. But, for me, this book was a bit of a let down.
Rating 7: Solid writing and an approachable romance will likely be a hit for many readers, but I was put off by some of the structure of the book as well as the overly YA nature of the love story.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Shield Maiden” isn’t currently on any Goodreads lists, but it should be on Based on Beowulf.
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