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Shieldmaiden #1
Shieldmaiden Book 1: Quest for the Jewel
It is to be their last summer of freedom. When it’s over Thalynder will not be able to escape her duties as Princess of the Realm. Shieldmaiden Bryn will watch her childhood friend marry and rule, her own words of love forever silenced.
Before their proscribed fate overtakes them, however, one last quest to please the Druids and the King sends Bryn, Thalynder, a dragon, and a Knight on a journey across The Realm That Touches Two Seas in an adventure perilous to their lives—and their hearts.
Before their proscribed fate overtakes them, however, one last quest to please the Druids and the King sends Bryn, Thalynder, a dragon, and a Knight on a journey across The Realm That Touches Two Seas in an adventure perilous to their lives—and their hearts.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2016
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66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 16, 2018
3.5 Stars. I had to pry myself away from the Olympics and get back to reading. With the second book in this series coming out shortly, I decided to finally read this. I love fantasy so this is a book I had my eye on for a while. When it comes to the actual premise of this series, it’s fantastic. I would almost call this historical-fantasy as it seems to take place in what is now England, when the Druids were still there and the Vikings would come and raid the lands. But instead of just being about Kingdoms and princesses, this book also adds in Elves and dragons. I mean come on how cool does that premise sound?!
The problem I had with this book and why it didn’t get 4 or 5 stars, it seems to be too much of a build-up book for the rest of the series. While answers are given, history is laid down and the future is set, not a lot happens in this book. This first book is a quest book, so I expected those slowed down pages of traveling and not much happening, but not enough excitement happened overall. There is one small skirmish, you can’t even call it a battle, and that was it. Important things do happen in this book, but I needed a little something more.
There is a romance, but it seems ill fated and I seriously wonder how it will last in the series. The two main characters are a princess and her Druid Shieldmaiden. The Princess is supposed to marry and have heirs, and the Shieldmaiden has her own future ahead of her. It’s hard to see how these two will match up, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I like the pairing. I’m not really crazy about the Princess and I’m waiting to see if she will change my mind in the next book.
The way this book sets up the series, book two should be something really exciting to read. There should be a lot of exciting battles to come. I hope that is what will happen, and then I will forgive this book for its sluggish pace. I’m keeping my fingers crossed when I read book two this weekend I will be blown away.
The problem I had with this book and why it didn’t get 4 or 5 stars, it seems to be too much of a build-up book for the rest of the series. While answers are given, history is laid down and the future is set, not a lot happens in this book. This first book is a quest book, so I expected those slowed down pages of traveling and not much happening, but not enough excitement happened overall. There is one small skirmish, you can’t even call it a battle, and that was it. Important things do happen in this book, but I needed a little something more.
There is a romance, but it seems ill fated and I seriously wonder how it will last in the series. The two main characters are a princess and her Druid Shieldmaiden. The Princess is supposed to marry and have heirs, and the Shieldmaiden has her own future ahead of her. It’s hard to see how these two will match up, and to be honest, I’m not sure if I like the pairing. I’m not really crazy about the Princess and I’m waiting to see if she will change my mind in the next book.
The way this book sets up the series, book two should be something really exciting to read. There should be a lot of exciting battles to come. I hope that is what will happen, and then I will forgive this book for its sluggish pace. I’m keeping my fingers crossed when I read book two this weekend I will be blown away.
September 18, 2018
I wanted to be generous because I knew what I was getting into but.... it was just so dull. This type of novel should be fun and it wasn’t.
November 21, 2018
There are many things I did not like in this book, but I did enjoy the overall atmosphere of it.
The princess MC is entitled, self-centered and oblivious and what character growth she shows is to become passive. She is also useless to the story and I never understood why the druid MC would be so in love with her (in addition to my discomfort with the dynamic of the relationship, which I do not have the energy to unpack here, especially since I think it will not bother many readers, as the story does not necessarily show a true imbalance of power and makes a point of them discussing their expectations). On the other hand the druid MC is perfect and good at everything that matters, be it fighting, talking to dragons, or cooking, and everyone falls in love with her. However, I did enjoy her slow realization coupled with her self-deprecating disbelief as to her position/role in the events to come (it did get old when everyone and everything kept pointing at it but her voice was better done than I have seen in a long while). (I also liked her kindness and care and the physicality of her expressing it, especially in her interactions with the dragon – it's definitely a very subjective judgment on my part, but I found it had a visceral quality to it at times.)
I actually quite enjoyed the slow, zero-action pace the author chose (as opposed to the criticism from the two others GR reviewers to date). I did find the writing way too descriptive and stilted and very uneven with a lot of too casual to too formal back-and-forth, and too much info dumping and exposure. I believe this all contributed to the perceived problems with the pacing, but the pacing itself I enjoyed.
I also want to mention the entire lack of POC, which is known for a fact to not be historically accurate, and should furthermore not be a problem in a world with dragons. Additionally, I found a lot of what is praised about the two MCs (especially the druid) are very masculine things, and I would like to think it is a commentary on the perceptions of the men making those observations in the story, but I won't be holding my breath. Final point, I could not stand the way the dragons are treated: that they are basically owned by their companions and treated like work animals/slaves bound by their human's orders? that even the druid MC thinks of "owning" one, despite being supposedly the connection between the earth/animals/dragons and the world of humans? I hoped it was more a question of inadequate wording to express the author's idea but the conceptualizations behind that language still don't feel right.
The princess MC is entitled, self-centered and oblivious and what character growth she shows is to become passive. She is also useless to the story and I never understood why the druid MC would be so in love with her (in addition to my discomfort with the dynamic of the relationship, which I do not have the energy to unpack here, especially since I think it will not bother many readers, as the story does not necessarily show a true imbalance of power and makes a point of them discussing their expectations). On the other hand the druid MC is perfect and good at everything that matters, be it fighting, talking to dragons, or cooking, and everyone falls in love with her. However, I did enjoy her slow realization coupled with her self-deprecating disbelief as to her position/role in the events to come (it did get old when everyone and everything kept pointing at it but her voice was better done than I have seen in a long while). (I also liked her kindness and care and the physicality of her expressing it, especially in her interactions with the dragon – it's definitely a very subjective judgment on my part, but I found it had a visceral quality to it at times.)
I actually quite enjoyed the slow, zero-action pace the author chose (as opposed to the criticism from the two others GR reviewers to date). I did find the writing way too descriptive and stilted and very uneven with a lot of too casual to too formal back-and-forth, and too much info dumping and exposure. I believe this all contributed to the perceived problems with the pacing, but the pacing itself I enjoyed.
I also want to mention the entire lack of POC, which is known for a fact to not be historically accurate, and should furthermore not be a problem in a world with dragons. Additionally, I found a lot of what is praised about the two MCs (especially the druid) are very masculine things, and I would like to think it is a commentary on the perceptions of the men making those observations in the story, but I won't be holding my breath. Final point, I could not stand the way the dragons are treated: that they are basically owned by their companions and treated like work animals/slaves bound by their human's orders? that even the druid MC thinks of "owning" one, despite being supposedly the connection between the earth/animals/dragons and the world of humans? I hoped it was more a question of inadequate wording to express the author's idea but the conceptualizations behind that language still don't feel right.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews