Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 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.

Publisher: Angry Robot (August 13, 2024) Length: 386  Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback 

The Last Shield is easy to pitch: a gender-flipped Die Hard starring a wounded veteran who refuses to quit. That pitch is accurate, but also a little misleading, because the book takes its time before it becomes the wild, bloody romp it promises.

The opening section is the weakest part for me. There’s a lot of description, a lot of scene-setting, and a fair amount of recovery and reflection. Things are happening, technically, but the direction isn’t always clear. I wasn’t bored, mind, just unsure where the story was steering itself. 

Once the plot locks in, though, the book changes gears. Betrayals surface and the castle turns into a slaughterhouse. From there on, it’s fast, nasty, and often very entertaining.

Briar herself is the novel’s strength. She’s older, injured, stubborn, and furious about all of it. I liked how Johnston portrayed a warrior who knows her limits but refuses to surrender her purpose. Her disability shapes how she fights, thinks, and survives. The tension between who she was and who she can still be works well. 

The relationship between Briar and the Lord Regent, Alaric, is another highlight. It’s restrained, adult, and rooted in duty rather than melodrama. There’s affection and loyalty there, but also resignation - they know the cost of their roles. 

Broader cast and plotting could be better. Several antagonists are functional, and the villainy leans toward the theatrical. Motivations are often thin, and some twists feel rather convenient. The story also leans hard on secret tunnels, hidden routes, and just-in-time escapes. Sure, it's a castle, they can be there, but perhaps we could do with less convenience.

That said, Johnston clearly knows what kind of story he’s telling. This is heroic fantasy in the Gemmell tradition, it's direct, violent, and straightforward. It isn’t trying to reinvent the genre, it simply wants to entertain. For me, it worked. When the book is in full motion, it’s the kind of story where you think, okay, fine, one more chapter, and suddenly several people are dead and something is on fire.

In the end, The Last Shield didn’t fully win me over at the start, but it won me over by persistence. It’s uneven, sometimes blunt, occasionally convenient, but also energetic, brutal, and sincerely fun once it finds its footing.