Book Review: Shield Maiden
The challenge in retelling any myth, one readers are likely to be familiar with in some capacity, is making sure the new telling stands wholly on its own, offering a new perspective for those who’ve heard it before, and welcoming in those new to the adventure. Fortunately, Sharon Emmerich’s Beowulf retelling Shield Maiden — which retells roughly the last third or so of the epic poem — succeeds in that monumental feat, presenting a compelling adventure and coming-of-age story all its own.
Shield Maiden primarily follows Fryda, the daughter of clan chieftain Weohstan, who has aspirations of becoming a shield maiden. Her father forbids this pursuit, deeming it unsuitable for a woman of her station, not to mention an accident in her youth that left her with limited use of her left arm makes the goal more difficult to attain. But the arrival of the legendary King Beowulf, and an ancient curse slowly awakening mean things in Fryda’s life are about to take a turn for the dramatic.
As a heroine, Fryda is that too-rare sort of badass who is actually allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. She aspires to be a shield maiden, and accordingly trains very hard, but she is also inclined to believe the best in everyone, even those who don’t deserve it. She’s allowed to fail, to feel, and to fall in love, and none of these things are ever seen as diminishing her story. This should be a given, but you’d be surprised. In allowing Fryda dimension, she feels so very real, despite her semi-mythological story.
The story is also filled with an engaging cast of supporting characters, each of whom is given a voice in the story through shifting POV’s, including Fryda’s friend and possible love Theow, fellow aspiring shield maiden Hild, her brother Wiglaf, blacksmith Bryce (whose decades-long romance with Eadith I would happily read a whole separate book about), and even Beowulf himself. While there is no doubt that this is indeed Fryda’s story, having each of them offer their own perspective on events helps the world feel richer.
As a reader who admittedly doesn’t read many books in this particular historical setting, and whose education always seemed to skirt around Beowulf without ever touching on it directly, Shield Maiden is a remarkably accessible text. It never talks down to the reader, nor does it assume a certain heightened academic familiarity. Instead it uses its mythological and historical origins to weave a beautiful, magical narrative that has me clamoring to read more of this world, and by this author.
With Sharon Emmerich’s Shield Maiden, those with fond memories of reading/studying Beowulf will find a compelling, focused, feminist retelling of the original. As for those of us whose high school teachers and four years worth of literature professors somehow never seemed to touch on Beowulf when we took their classes, the tale of Fryda coming into her own power is every bit as gripping as we could ask for.
Shield Maiden hits shelves on October 3. Special thank you to Redhook Books for the advance copy for review purposes.