Mixed Feelings Audiobook.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook shortly after its release. Anticipating a blend of elements I typically enjoy in literature, I eagerly dove into it. Nevertheless, my experience turned out to be a mixed bag. Having studied Beowulf during my college years, I found both the content and analysis engaging. With a penchant for Norse mythology and a growing interest in historical fiction, this book seemed like a promising prospect. However, it attempted to incorporate numerous themes simultaneously, resulting in a lackluster execution.

The narrative encompassed elements such as political intrigue, the presence of a dragon, familial conflicts, romantic entanglements, the trope of the chosen one, and a perplexing curse, which failed to captivate my interest. Geographically confined to a relatively small setting, I yearned for a more expansive exploration of the world, its daily life, and customs. Additionally, the ensemble of characters felt limited in scope. Wiglaf stood out to me due to my intense dislike for him. Despite my aversion, I found his perspective surprisingly well-executed, providing a glimpse into his twisted psyche. However, I struggled to connect with the remaining characters. Fryda's naivety and obliviousness to the pervasive abuses around her, despite her proximity to a servant and a slave, proved to be a difficult aspect to witness. Theow's characterization left me indifferent, while Beowulf's only redeeming quality seemed to be his sense of humor.

The plot took an excruciatingly long time to gain momentum, failing to instill a sense of investment in the storyline until well past the halfway mark. While the story eventually picked up pace towards the end, the prolonged buildup with multiple plotlines left much to be desired. Surprisingly, this particular book might have benefited from a more extensive exploration, as it lacked substantial depth. Despite my reservations, I must commend Victoria Fox for her exceptional narration, which was a highlight of the experience.

If you possess a fervent enthusiasm for Beowulf or the depicted time period, you might find it worth exploring. I remain curious to hear other perspectives on this work. For further details, please follow the link below or visit your preferred book retailer. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of violence, blood, gore, and war. It includes slavery, indentured servitude, child abuse, bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny and ableism including the slur “cripple”. There are scenes of attempted sexual assault (on page) and attempted rape (off page, but wounds sustained during the attack are seen on page). At one point a character chooses to re-break previous broken bones and this scene is quite graphic in detail. Other scenes include characters being drugged unconscious, a female character being held against their will, a whipping scene off page, and discussion of forced marriage.

Shield Maiden started out as a brilliant fantasy saga, a retelling of the Beowulf saga from the perspective of a woman. Fryda is the beloved niece of the legendary hero, however, her father refuses to let her train as a warrior. As a child she snuck out to prove her skills only for a terrible earthquake to end her dreams in more ways than one. Not only was she unable to complete her hunt, she ended up trapped in the earth and horrifically injured. When she was eventually found the bones in her hand were broken so badly that she permanently lost the use of that hand, and was disfigured for the rest of her life.

Her father saw her injury as further proof that Fryda was not meant to be a warrior, forbidding her from training as a warrior. But Fryda isn’t someone who is willing to give up so easily. She survived that horrific injury and with the help of her friends, the blacksmith Bryce and a servant Hild, she trains in secret. She is determined to let nothing get in her way of becoming a shield maiden one day, and with Bryce’s help she learns to adapt her injured hand so that she can fight with it.

For the first half of Shield Maiden it was a fantastic read, with great disability representation and Fryda is a fierce figure to be reckoned with. When her home comes under attack she is right in the middle of the fight to save the day, and the battle scenes are well written. Emmerichs has captured the essence of the legend of Beowulf perfectly at this point of the novel. Mixed alongside the treachery and battles was magic as a dragon slowly began to awaken from a sleeping spell, her fate entwined with Fryda’s.

And then I’m not quite sure what happened. The novel took a swift sharp turn and became all about Fryda’s bigoted brother, Wiglaf, who seems determined to not just destroy Fryda’s happiness, but also run their home into the ground. There are more than a few holes in the story at this point, such as characters missing huge clues that point to the real perpetrator of a crime yet somehow only Fryda notices them. The narrative also starts to get shaky when it jumps to Wiglaf’s perspective and he ‘sort of’ admits that he may have done something bad but no he’s ‘not going to think about that right now’. Umm, what? Even the battle scenes at the end of the book seemed to be of a lesser standard than those earlier, and the description of the dragon scenes left much to be desired.

I couldn’t shake the feeling throughout the book that Fryda was written out of context for the time period. She has very modern ideas about slavery and servants, and quite often she tried to come across as understanding when quite frankly she was clueless to what her friends lives were like. At one point she tells her friend/lover Theow, a slave, that “slavery isn’t what you are, it’s something awful that happened to you”. While she is perfectly correct, that is a very modern perspective and one that someone in her position, a young noble woman, would not even know to consider.

What bothered me the most was the realisation that Fryda was written not as a disabled character who was inspirational due to her deeds, but because she was disabled and managed to do everything she accomplished. Her disability is constantly being pointed out, she is referred to as crippled by other characters and attention is drawn to her disfigured hand at every opportunity so that the reader never ever forgets that it’s there. It’s done almost subtly, hidden in the narration as her friend’s loving gaze as they notice how Fryda always tucks that hand away from view. There are two problems with that. One, if her friends had no issue with her disability as they continuously claim throughout the book then they wouldn’t keep looking at her hand in every single scene with her especially if they were so aware that Fryda was self-conscious about it. Secondly, it’s just a writing technique to draw the reader’s attention to Fryda’s disability which as I was saying, is the entire problem.

This became even more noticeable to me when reading the book directly after Shield Maiden, a book which also had a disabled protagonist and yet the author didn’t feel the need to keep reminding the reader that they were disabled. The only time the character’s disability came up was when it was a part of her life, such as removing her prosthetic limb to rest or bathe. It isn’t just enough to include a disabled character and call it representation. When such a huge effort is made to constantly remind the reader that a character is disabled it begins to make me question the author’s intent for including a disabled character. I felt this even more when it was heavily suggested that a badly injured character, now disabled, deserved their just desserts. Becoming disabled is not a punishment no matter what the person has done.

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Fryda is the daughter of a chief and wants nothing more than to become a shield maiden. However an accident when she was young has left Fryda disabled and even though she trains she will not be considered. When her uncle, the famous warrior Beowulf, visits their home in Geatland then everything changes. Old enmities come to the surface and Fryda force raises a terrifying beast from its sleep.
I really loved this book as it takes a different slant on both history and the sagas. Fryda is an independent woman who doesn't let her handicap stop her but traditional roles may. I also really liked the way that myth is woven into the story, both through Beowulf and through the dragon. ( )