Review: Shield Maiden

Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I had high hopes for this book and was really looking forward to reading it. But despite wonderful detail, attention to historical accuracy, and a great setting, the characters just really fell flat. The book started of very well, and--due to the fact that I just finished a rereading of Beowulf a few days ago--I was drawn into the story. It didn't take long however, for the characters to begin to feel underdeveloped, two-dimensional, and even a bit annoying. Fryda seemed like she was supposed to be the main character (I'm just going by the title of the book, here...), but she came across as naive at best, childishly ignorant at worst, about so many things going on in her home and with the people around her. I got fed up with her pretty quickly. Also, big events in the plot that affected Fryda greatly were not "told" from her point-of-view. It created a distance and lack of sympathy for Fryda. And all those points-of-view became confusing and cumbersome. It was hard for me to tell how much time was passing, where people were, and what was going on due to the fact that the story jumped from person to person to person.
When I put the book down I felt little desire to pick it back up, and I felt very little connection to any of the characters--even Beowulf himself!
This read more like a YA novel with a great deal of historical accuracy, than a retelling of Beowulf. Perhaps that is just my fault, and I came into the book expecting more, having just finished Beowulf and recently having read Queen Hereafter (another "retelling" of a classic literary work with the tone and characterization I was expecting). But if you love Beowulf, I'm not sure that I can recommend this book. I truly appreciated all of the historical detail, but I needed more from the characters and plot.

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