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.