Action packed and absolutely exhilarating! The suspense was jaw dropping and the ending unexpected. I loved it!

A gory and violent tale following Briar, the commander of the shields and a fearsome woman not to be disregarded!

Briar is such a compelling character, she is an older woman than we typically see in fantasy, and she felt so real - she struggles and is put in tough positions but doesn’t let others (stupid men) undermine her. the main cast of characters were fun to read about, and i loved kester’s development and growth as a person

The little magic that we do see is interesting, and it’s woven in to moments of tension!! by following briar we get to experience the world and see the growing divide between the shields

I adored the tiny romantic subplot that we did get, and i’m so happy that they got their happy ending!!

I went into this unaware it was technically romantasy, which isn't really my cup of tea. I found myself heavily intrigued by the world and the politics, but was distracted from this by having to constantly roll my eyes at the details of the romance subplot. Points given, I suppose, for romantasy featuring a middle-aged couple which isn't something I've seen much of, but tracks with the heavy Millennial Energy of the humor and character dynamics. I also really struggle with books that feature the Hot Stupid Mean Girl Gets What She Deserves trope without any subversion or queerness involved (hey, ACOTAR!) so was instantly put off by the first scene. Still, this had great action scenes and reasonably memorable characters. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoyed T. Kingfisher's Paladin's Grace series.

I loved the reading of this book. I was first intrigued by this book after reading the blurb, I instantly wanted to find out what was going to happen. Furthermore after I read the prologue of the book I wanted to read more. I loved the authors writing style, as it kept me gripped to the story and it allowed the story to flow nicely. The full plot of the story was very fascinating and became something in which kept me glued to the story. The worldbuilding within the book was amazing a brought a lot to the story. I also loved the face that there were druids within the book as I haven't read many books that have druids within the story. I enjoyed the way that the characters within this book was introduced. And with what the main characters had to develop throughout the challenges of this book was amazing.
Especially with how the story developed along side the plot, when it came to the ending I was greatly surprised. However, I did also loved the ending and have hope that there is going to develop into the series.

On the day of the Summer Soltice, Shield Commander Briar saves Lord Regent Alaric Summerson's life by taking a poisoned arrow for him during an ambush by reiver assassins. After months of lying around in bed she is not only bored out of her ever loving mind she is also sure that whatever threat the Lord Regent and in turn Royal Heir faced during the solstice is long gone. Even though she is certainly not fully healed she is determined to accompany both of them to the Winter Solstice feeling she has neglected her duty for far too long, unfortunately after marching for two days straight Briar comes to the conclusion that she is no longer fit for duty and after an argument with Alaric she is determined to leave, passing the command to her second. Little does she know that while she was in bed recovering the reivers have not only infliterated the palace, the have infliterated her Shields and on the evening she plans on the leaving they hatch a truly horrific attack on the people of the Palace, killing everyone not necessary to their plot. Unfortunately for these thirty-five men, they are about to learn a hard lesson; never send in a man to do a woman's job.

I have been waiting for Johnston to write another book since I finished his first two books I want to say last year (I read the Maleficent Seven before his first series) and trust me I have not been patient, so as soon as I saw this up for review on Netgalley I squealed in absolute delight and requested it and basically if it hadn't been for work I would have finished it yesterday. I hate that work interrupts my reading, and to be fair, I wasn't sure I was going to get to finish it over the weekend, so I took tomorrow *off* to read it. If someone took a day off to read a book, that's saying something. Okay, well, this is Goodreads, so we've probably all taken a day off to read, but you get my point. Anyway, not only am I not disappointed this is easily his best book. In this really amazing way where it's like everything he wrote before this was leading up to this amazing story, and it's clear it's only going to get better from here.

If you've read Johnston, you already know that his books are just bloody good rides, so honestly, I'm not going to go too much into that. If you're looking for a fast-paced, action-packed read, this is going to be your book. The pacing is spot on as usual, and the fight scenes are amazingly brutal.

What I am going to talk about his how fucking amazing Briar is. Omg she is literally my hero. She tears through thirty five men with the fury of the gods and she's freaking hilarious while she's doing it. The amount of times she just gets back up and murders someone is inspiring. And she genuinely gets away with this because she's not just the most badass person in the room she's the *smartest*.
And, honestly, this is where Johnston always excels; his heroes are always the most dangerous things in the room, hell on the planet and they are always smarter than the bad guys.They are OP badasses who will slaughter a god, an entire army, or a force of thirty five men if someone hurts someone they care about. He takes vengeance to a whole new level and I'm here for it.

Overall, of course I recommend this book. It is genuinely unputdownable. Unless you have to work in which case I'm sorry.


As always thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley for the eArc!

Such a cool read!

Can really feel the die hard chemistry in briar she’s a badass!

Lots of plot twists I didn’t see coming and it keeps you hooked and waiting for more!

So cool. I really hope lots of people gets to read this book because it's so good. The plot twists, the characters are superb. I rated 4 stars for this read.

Imagine Die Hard taking place in a castle with loyal bodyguards, epic battles, and touching moments of honour, duty, and an older done-with-everyone’s-crap female protagonist!

SO MUCH FUN!

Briar, Commander of the Shields, has managed to keep Lord Regent Alaric Summerson and his nephew, the king-in-waiting, alive despite many assassination attempts.
However, the Summer Solstice celebrations turns quickly into bloodshed when a brigand called the Wildwood Reivers attack and secretly infiltrate themselves deep within the Palace’s catacombs.

Briar is not to be underestimated. She is clever, shrewd, extremely witty, and will fight tooth and nail to protect those she loves.

“Despite what the bards and boasters tell you, not every battle sees you covered in glory - mostly, you just end up covered in blood and shit and tears. The best you can hope for is that it all belongs to some other poor bastard."

Early on, Briar suffers an injury which makes her question her entire purpose and ability. Pushing past this, recovering physically and mentally, was written deftly with great care and exceeding insight to Briar’s character.
I cannot comment on the accuracy and research Johnston took in writing a disabled character, however he highlighted the differences of Briar’s mindset and experiences at just living and moving around after this injury. Whilst I am not a sensitivity reader, I felt great consideration was taken in writing about this.

They couldn't see the fiery pain inside her, and that was the way she wanted it. The pain she could deal with, mostly, but the disability gnawed at her entire sense of self as a warrior.

Now you might not expect a love story from this, but Briar and Alaric definitely had be some tension and longing between them, but both put duty above any feelings or action. I wasn’t expecting this book to tug on my heart strings! It is very subtle, but just added more tenderness to two characters who seem stone-cold and married to their responsibilities.

This was just amazing! I flew through it! Briar has a strong and funny voice, and Johnston keeps it interesting despite it being a one-woman job.
Plus, there’s a farting, loyal dog. What more could you ask for?

Thank you to Angry Robot for sending me a physical arc in exchange for a review!!

This book sounded fun. But unfortunately it's landed with me at a time when I'm reading a lot of excellent new fantasy - and this just didn't grab me.

The characters weren't interesting (the protagonist actually seems quite dense in places) and I found the style of writing frustrating, with random humour peppered through long paragraphs of exposition. Compared to the very original and imaginative fantasy I've enjoyed lately, this didn't offer anything new.

Although as a pagan chaplain in my day-job, I found the depictions of Druids pretty hilarious.

A regretful DNF.

Me encontraba yo por el 2022 con ganas de leer algo gamberro, con malos muy malos, bastante mala leche, un toque de humor y que sangrara grimdark por los cuatro costados y cuando descubrí The Maleficent Seven de Cameron Johnston encontré justo lo que estaba buscando. Lo disfruté sin disimulos y, aunque es una novela sin pretensiones y de puro disfrute, cuando sabes a lo que vas y te dan dos tazas sales satisfecho y con la panza llena.



Así que cuando Leticia Lara me recordó que Johnston publicaba una novela de fantasía autoconclusiva titulada The Last Shield y que la propia sinopsis la resume como ‘La Jungla de cristal con el género cambiado y ambientada en un castillo misterioso’ claramente no la podía dejar pasar.


The Last Shield nos sitúa en un mundo de baja fantasía, con poca magia y armas de bronce donde tres naciones humanas mantienen un delicado equilibrio. Sunweald es la más pequeña de las tres y, a su vez, la mediadora entre las otra dos. La sede del gobierno de Sunweald se encuentra en un palacio excavado en la roca, con un gran entramado de galerías subterráneas donde se mezclan catacumbas, pasadizos secretos, cámaras del tesoro y es el hogar de múltiples misterios (por los que valdría la pena matar).


Briar, la capitana de la guardia del palacio de Sunweald es la protagonista única y absoluta. Es una mujer de una cierta edad, que lleva más de una década en su posición de capitana, que se ha ganado a base de habilidad y de una dedicación absoluta. El trabajo diario de Briar es proteger al Lord Regente, con el que tiene una relación con tanta tensión romántica que podría cortarse con un cuchillo.


La novela tiene un planteamiento rápido y no tarda en pasar de la presentación al turrón. La cosa se complica más y más rápidamente. El autor no pierde el tiempo con demasiadas intrigas diplomáticas y la amenaza que se cierne es más física y violenta que política. The Last Shield es una novela de acción y no dedica más de lo estrictamente imprescindible en subtramas o en desarrollar demasiado a los secundarios. Johnston invierte más tiempo en describir las escenas de combate o acción que en cualquier otra cosa. Sin embargo lo hace con soltura y oficio. Uno de los puntos que más me llamó la atención fue que los “Escudos”, que es el nombre que recibe la guardia del castillo, van armados con una espada de bronce y una pequeña rodela reforzada muy maciza. En combate utilizan tanto su hoja como el propio escudo (que va atado a la muñeca) y golpean y embisten a sus enemigos con él. Esto distingue el estilo de acción de la novela y da lugar a enfrentamientos con movimientos inesperados que resultan refrescantes.


En este estilo tan directo de la novela Briar tiene prácticamente el único punto de vista de
toda la narración (con la excepcional escena donde alguno de los secundarios toma la batuta). Los personajes de la novela se pueden clasificar básicamente en dos categorías: gente con la que Briar tiene que acabar y gente que tiene que proteger. La vida y obra (o el desarrollo) de esta gente solo tiene las pinceladas necesarias para que su muerte (o salvación) tenga el impacto justo para que el lector pueda recordar su nombre antes de que Briar les corte el cuello.


No me da la impresión de que Johnston busque dejar una impresión duradera ni plasmar una reflexión para que el lector la recoja cual guante en el campo de duelo. The Last Shield es una novela que te da exactamente lo que te promete: acción, venganza, sangre y dolor, mucho dolor.

A pesar de toda la violencia que rebosa en sus páginas, el autor no es particularmente desagradable. No hay un gore desaforado e incluso el par de escenas con más casquería son descritas con limpieza y sencillez, sin recrearse en las partes que podrían ofender al lector sensible.


El aspecto del libro que menos me entusiasmó es la subtrama romántica (si se le puede llamar siquiera así). Desde la primera escena queda claro que Briar siente algo en su duro corazón por el Lord Regente (el soltero madurito e interesante de turno). Sentimientos que claramente se ven correspondidos por éste. Sin embargo sus respectivas posiciones como Lord Regente y capitana de la guardia les impiden actuar y deben de mantenerse en el plano estrictamente platónico (como si del Japón feudal se tratara). Aunque este tipo de relación es algo que entiendo que podría darse, Johnston no ha conseguido convencerme. A Briar se la percibe como tontorrona y testaruda con respecto al Lord Regente y a éste como sobreprotector y obsesionado con su deber. No hay una discusión honesta, un disimulo forzado o un avinagramiento de los sentimientos (que es lo que yo creo que pasaría si transcurrieran más de diez años en esta situación).


Al contrario que en The Maleficent Seven, donde Johnston establecía diferentes grados de maldad (no todos los Siete maléficos eran igual de malos ni de la misma manera), en The Last Shield los malos son muy malos (y a veces muy tontos) y los buenos son muy buenos. Incluso algún asomo de gris que puede intuirse al principio en algún personaje queda totalmente aclarado (u oscurecido) sin dejar lugar a dudas o interpretaciones.


De nuevo, lo que normalmente se tratarían como defectos: secundarios planos, ausencia de escalas morales, subtramas inexistentes, son en The Last Shield elementos virtuosos. En menos de 400 páginas Johnston te plantea una película novela con mucha acción, directa, sin complicaciones y completamente disfrutable. Y, lo que sí que merece la pena destacar, completamente autoconclusiva. Si estás de humor para este tipo de lectura, esta novela no te va a fallar.

Fantasy with a romantic subplot?? Me... no thanks ❌ Fantasy with a romantic subplot by Cameron Johnston?? 💳💳💳

I went into this slightly blind, I should have known bc Cameron writes lover boys that I approve of. I giggled and blushed until I was tired. If we have to do romance, then he fell 1st, and permanently harder is what I advocate for. And between responsible adults who are friends and equals 🥲

What I enjoyed in The Last Shield more than the lore, the plot, the fighting sequences, the insults Ms. Briar comes up with, the food descriptions bc I would consider myself a chef, whatever the druids were up to, and even the sexual tension, are the characters. Anything I say will be considered a spoiler, so take my word for it: Briar and Kester will be your faves easily. Especially bc Briar reminds me of our Queen and Mother, Orka and Kester reminds me of Jezel 🥰 if that means anything to you, grab it.

Is it a flex that I have read everything Cameron Johnston has published and liked it??

Grateful to Angry Robot and NetGalley for sending me an eARC ✨🫶🏽

The Last Shield is a thrilling standalone fantasy set in an infiltrated castle. Deep within the Sunweald Palace, home to the Lord Regent and Royal Heir, lies a secret chamber of ancient artifacts. When a group of brigands infiltrate the castle and hold its royal members hostage, the lone free agent left to deal with them is Briar, the injured and almost-retired commander of the elite guardian force Shields. With sneaky tactics and through secret tunnels, she must find a way to defeat her enemies and free the royal family before it’s too late.

This book was just a whole lot of fun, scratching an itch in anyone who loves those lone wolf type action flicks. It is literally Die Hard (or more recently Olympus Has Fallen) in fantasy novel form. Full of intense action sequences, the book is brutal in its depiction of violent ambushes, acts of retribution and vengeance, and all kinds of gore and torture. But even with all that, it never feels gratuitous (even though it probably is) and it packs a lot of heart as well.

Channeling Bruce Willis and Gerard Butler, Briar is a gritty and world-weary lead heroine who finds herself forced to uphold her duty alone. She is smart, honorable, and resilient as she tries to protect and rescue the spoiled foppish prince Heir and the Regent she has served (and loved at a distance) all these years. Their sexual tension was palpable even before there were any overt hints at any deeper feelings (I just kept thinking, “Just kiss already!”). Prince Kester was a pleasant surprise actually and gets a few PoV chapters of his own while the Regent is just a constant presence that drives Briar forward.

The story is quite predictable and you know exactly where it is going with just some minor twists. Like its film contemporaries, you just know it will end triumphantly with the bad guys getting their comeuppance and Briar will be the one to give them their just desserts. There’s just something comforting about that. Sometimes you just need a quick straightforward read that is a sure thing in terms of entertainment and “popcorn” fun.

The Last Shield is a thrill ride of action and heart, delivering a cinematic experience in novel form.

*Thank you to Angry Robot Books for the eARC via NetGalley.

I read an eARC of this book so thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

This is a survival fantasy. We have a totally awesome guard who is injured badly protecting her regent and his heir. Briar is the captain of the shields and is formidable. She receives a significant leg injury following an attack at a festival and spends a long time recovering though few expect her to survive. Disillusioned by the thought of being a burden to her regent and no longer able to serve as captain. She makes the decision to leave the castle to go live with her brother. However nefarious forces mean she won’t be able to retire just yet…

Briar is a fantastic character. I’m loving this trend we’re seeing in a few sci-fi and fantasy book lately of older, female characters who have the skills and experience to be believable in their prowess, whilst also being really interesting characters with attitude!

Imagine John Wick but in a fantasy castle setting and with an older, female main character and that will give you a sense of this book. It’s wildly entertaining! This book is often gruesome and extremely violent. Briar has to face a formidable enemy whilst navigating a serious injury and she’s often in real danger.

I really enjoyed this book, it was exciting, fast paced and a great read!

The Last Shield was my first experience reading Cameron Johnston's work and it did not disappoint. It has been touted as a gender-flipped Die Hard set in a mysterious castle, and I couldn't say it any better myself. In a world of never-ending trilogies and massive epic series, this standalone was just what I was looking for. I was hooked from the first pages of the prologue.

Our main characters in The Last Shield are well developed and are easy to become attached to. We have a few different points of view throughout the story, but we are with Brair, the Commander of the Shields, the majority of the time. The Shields are the elite warriors of Sunweald. Briar herself, is in charge of guarding the Lord Regent, Alaric Summerson, and has done so for 10 years. I loved the choice Johnston made to have his main character be a middle-aged veteran solider. After being wounded to the point of no full recovery, Briar is probably going to be relatable to a lot of people. She has constant aches and suffers immensely throughout the book. I loved reading her struggles and pains. These elements really humanize her and balance out the fact that she is a complete badass.

Johnston has also created a noteworthy villain that I found mysterious and despicable. Imperatrix is ruthless from beginning to end and I loved the care the author took to make her so dislikable. She is a sorcerer, powerful beyond all measure and really gives our cast a reason to be afraid. She is on a mission to steal relics of unyielding power and she pulls no punches. In a genre that has recently been obsessed with morally grey characters, it was refreshing for me to read a story where there is no question who the bad guys are.

The Last Shield is seething with depth, history and lore. The world building was phenomenal, and I think there is enough history and lore here to fuel an entire series. The author takes us down memory lane more than once, giving us stories of the ancient Fae and enormous wyrms. The history of Sunweald plays greatly into the main plot of the story and added so much depth. The stakes are high here. The castle is not the only thing Briar has to worry about.

The Last Stand was a strong 4/5 stars for me. I couldn't put this book down and read it in chunks over 4 days (which is really fast for me).
The character work and history of the land were top notch and the only thing holding back that last star was that I felt the plot was a bit transparent. Even saying that, this book was very well written and easy to follow and did have some surprises I didn't see coming. I'll be adding Mr. Johnston to my must buy pile.