Published by Watkins Media Limited
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Scottish Authors, Mental Health Representation, Assassin Characters, Knight Characters, Magic Users, Outlaw Characters, Royalty Characters, Chronic Illness, Mental Health, Mobility Aids, Trauma, Action, Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Various Magic, Celtic
My Rating:
Published on: 13th August 2024
Pages: 368
Disability Representation: Chronic Pain, trauma and mobility aids.
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Bookshop.org US / Bookshop.org UK / Waterstones
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A gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle, Cameron Johnston's The Last Shield is an engaging fantasy read, perfect for fans of John Gwynne and Mark Lawrence.
The ancient forest realm of Sunweald is bordered on two sides by far mightier nations – a precarious situation. At its centre, the Sunweald Palace is home to the Lord Regent and the heir to the throne, together with numerous precious and powerful artefacts. The Palace is protected by the realm's elite Shields, dedicated to guarding the royal line against all foes.
A group of vicious brigands called the Wildwood Reivers have been stealing arcane artefacts and smuggling them across the borders, out of Sunweald. And the objects they most desire are stored in the mystical Wyrm Vault, hidden away deep in the bones of the earth, within the walls of the Palace itself.
As political and religious tensions mount, Sunweald's druids prepare to enact rituals for the Summer Solstice – but the Wildwood Reivers and their treacherous allies have other plans. It falls to Briar, the commander of the Shields, to defend the ancient corridors and secret tunnels of the Palace. The odds may be against her, but she'll see every enemy head adorning a spike or she'll die trying…
This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
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The Last Shield Book Review
Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston, hosted by Beth Tabler of BeforeWeGoBlog.com!
After reading The Maleficent Seven, I knew that I would automatically be picking up the next book by Cameron Johnston, no matter what it was. His next book turned out to be The Last Shield, a gender-flipped fantasy Die Hard with a disabled protagonist. While it is very different to The Maleficent Seven, I devoured it just as quickly! Find out more in my review below.
Briar is the Commander of Sunweald’s elite guard, The Shields, and has been a warrior all her life. It is all she’s known. So when she is wounded at the Summer Solstice saving the Lord Regent from an assassination attempt, Briar is left struggling with her new reality. The thought of retiring leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, but when faced with the hard truths, she realises that she needs to put the protection of those she cares about first. She leaves without telling the Lord Regent, her long-time friend, who would try to talk her out of it.
When Sunweald is viciously attacked, it’s by pure luck that Briar is still in the palace when it happens. She had planned to be long gone by then. It’s a good thing she wasn’t because due to treachery she’s the last Shield standing. She may have a shaky injured leg, but she’s got stealth, surprise and a massive amount of fury on her side. Briar is going to make the brigands pay for attacking her home and friends, or die trying.
I was expecting good things from The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston after reading The Maleficent Seven. Going in, I wasn’t expecting the protagonist to be a disabled, older female warrior. Johnston writes about Briar’s journey through injury and recovery with care and sensitivity, demonstrating lived experience or thorough research. The way that Briar refers to how difficult stars are with her injury suggests the former might be the case; stairs as an enemy is a unique experience known only to those who have lived through that excruciatingly fun time.
Briar is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. For me, though, she was right on the money. A woman who knows her place is damn proud of her achievements, and not afraid to let people know it. Despite Shields being open to men and women, misogyny is still very much alive and kicking, with several men under her command making their dislike of her known throughout the book. This just makes it even more satisfying when they realise who is lurking in the shadows, ruining all their plans.
Other than the obvious differences between The Last Shield and Die Hard (gender and genre swap), the biggest one is that Cameron has not made Briar all-powerful. Not only is she nursing her injury from the Summer Solstice, but he considers all the wear and tear taking its toll on his character’s body versus their experience. Although action films are good fun, they don’t take things like limitations or consequences into consideration. While Briar has the experience, she needs to take into consideration her limitations, and this makes for a much more interesting story.
The world-building of The Last Shield is beautiful in its simplicity. Cameron has dangled enough information about Sunweald, its history with the mysterious fae creatures the Sleaghan Mhath, and the surrounding lands of Ves and the Holy Wrendel Empire to give context. This is very much a book about the characters and action rather than lore. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any world-building or that it should be viewed as bad, but rather as a positive, as Cameron clearly knew what type of atmosphere he was trying to create with this novel.
Instead of trying to make The Last Shield too heavy with world-building, he has pulled from Celtic history and mythology, creating a world that echoes Scottish history and culture. With druids serving as the religious leaders and medical authorities, as they did in Celtic society, the Sleaghan Mhath are reminiscent of the Tuatha Dé Danann from Celtic mythology.
It’s a world that Briar and the rest of the characters fit into neatly, providing Cameron with the opportunity to introduce characters that range from the ruling family, and cast-out sons of noble families to servants. The characters are diverse and complicated, accompanied by stellar dialogue that will have you laughing. There are a few particular scenes that will keep me giggling for a very long time. There is also a brilliant animal companion that is not your typical animal companion, to say the least.
The fight scenes are well-written and diverse using a wide array of weapons, tactics and locations. A lot of fantasy books rely on just sword fighting or certain characters being experts in one particular weapon, often forgetting that shields were used for more than just deflection. The majority of the action takes place inside the palace, and Cameron has done his homework, using every single part of the palace and its grounds to get very creative. The results are some very creative and bloody fight scenes.
The level of blood and gore was deeply satisfying to read, especially as it comes from a mature female warrior avenging her people. Too often in fantasy are women not allowed to be this violent, and if they are, they are a lot younger. As some other reviews have mentioned, yes, there is a romantic subplot. I didn’t consider it that noteworthy, to be honest, and wasn’t even going to mention it until I saw other reviews referring to it in a slightly negative way – because, oh no, we can’t have a fierce tough as all hell female character AND romance, can we?! Give me a break.
The romance subplot is very minor. It is there and runs along beneath the main plot in the sense that Briar has feelings for someone and she wants to see them safe, as would anyone in this situation. There is no swooning or the like, and due to the situation, there aren’t many romance scenes at all.
If I’ve not convinced you by now, then this probably isn’t the book for you. The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston delivers a page-turning adventure with a strong female warrior who will do everything in her power to take back her home from the enemy – and she plans to make it as painful as possible for them.
About Cameron Johnston
Cameron Johnston is a Scottish writer of fantasy and lives in the city of Glasgow in Scotland. He is a member of the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers’ Circle, loves archaeology and mythology, enjoys exploring ancient sites and camping out under the stars.
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