Epic Viking Shit
Indie Book Review - The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela by Thomas Clark Schecter
(Apologies in advance for this voiceover if I pronounce any of this stuff wrong, because I’m not very good at it!)
I had so much trouble writing this review, I’m going to be honest. As much as I love reviewing and gushing about books, I have a really hard time organizing my thoughts into something more coherent than ZOMG THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD READ IT YOU GUYZZZ!
has been ever-so-patient with me, though, bless him. And it’s time to gush like hell over Shieldbreaker. Because, as so eloquently put it, this book fucks hard.I heard he took the man’s eyes out first…I heard the Prince ate his heart right in front of him, while he was still alive…
-The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela, Thomas Clark Schecter
I love Viking shit. I love shield walls. I love blood splatters. I love warrior women dual wielding swords. I love rituals and gods and dying well in battle.
I also love well-written books with deep worldbuilding and character development and succinct descriptive prose that is so tight there’s not a single extraneous word.
It’s like this book was made for me.
One thing that’s really cool about indie fiction is authors aren’t afraid to take risks and think outside the box. This is especially evident in the fact that this book begins with an Epilogue. It’s ballsy as hell, starting with the end, but the end is not really the end and I was still floored at the actual end of the book and hungry for more. (Then went and reread the epilogue at the beginning again with my hand on my heart.)
The basic premise here, without spoilers, is the war between the Hodrir and the Pohyor, and all of the politics and infighting within. There is a lot of jumping back and forth between the two sides, with a massive cast of characters that all have so much backstory and emotion despite the small word count.
I struggled a little in the first half to keep track of some of the characters, which is 100% my own shortcoming, not of the text, I’m just really bad with names. One of my favourite books, Gideon the Ninth, has a cast list in the front of it and I referenced it at least once per chapter my first read through to remember what planet everyone was from.
In the second half, though, I had it and just immersed myself in this bloody feud. I love stories that are from two perspectives, instead of just having the looming ‘bad guys’ in the distance. As much as I was rooting for Kareva’s side, the Pohyor were so humanized and real it was difficult to be all ‘rah rah slaughter everyone.’
No word would be spoken, no song would be sung, no sound would be made, until the fire was burning and the deceased was on his way home.
-The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela, Thomas Clark Schecter
Rituals, rites, gods, laws, there’s so much rich ceremony that not only builds the world but the characters as well. Kareva has his own problems aside from being a very young and inexperienced leader, being haunted by his brother and questioning whether the gods even exist in such a broken world.
I love this line: “You all know the danger we find ourselves in. The gods handed down a command to us, long ago, never to kneel to our enemies, so we might never have to become the servants of anyone but them.” The implication that I got out of this was that the gods are selfish assholes and don’t care whether their people live or die as long as they live or die being completely and wholly loyal to only them. The way it’s worded is so petulant, it sent a thrill up my spine.
Another standout character (and my very favourite, I’ll admit), is Sivridi. The Daughters of Vei are the last of their kind, merciless and ready to throw down and die fighting. (Can’t wait to read Tom’s prequel of these ladies, available here on Substack!)
What I love most about her is that even though she’s a hardcore badass, she’s a well of emotional depth. Even in a difficult situation, being one of only three and not accepted well by many of Kareva’s men, she puts 110% into the battle and even manages to flirt with him a little in the midst of all of the carnage. (If anyone wanted to write that fanfic I would love you forever, in my headcanon these two fucked like champions.)
Fantasy written by men often pops up in r/menwritingwomen, but there’s not a single instance in Shieldbreaker that would qualify. There are women and men on both sides of all flavours, characters with different strengths and weaknesses and stories, not stuffed into a single tropey box.
It’s cool that Sivridi can make me fist pump the air with this:
The thing she had not told Kareva, that first afternoon when he asked her why she and her sisters had followed Kivli into certain death, was how wonderful it felt to be in the heat of battle, to defeat an enemy—to kill that enemy. No matter who it was.
-The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela, Thomas Clark Schecter
And then also bring me to tears with this:
In the midst of the celebrations, Sivridi paced quietly, looking around the summit for any sign of her sisters, trying to escape her gnawing suspicion that they’d left her behind.
-The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela, Thomas Clark Schecter
And that is a huge part of why this book stands out to me above so many other fantasy stories. With so much else going for it, it could have just been a badass battle story. But I legitimately choked up so many times. These characters are so fucking raw and real.
Their voices are also so clear. There are some scenes that are just dialogue. One page was literally only dialogue between two characters with no tags at all except at the beginning and end and I never lost the flow of conversation while still envisioning the two characters in my head, all of their expressions and bodily movements not needing to be described because their voices are so realistic.
Schecter weaves these conversations so masterfully that there’s even comedic timing, which for such a dark concept is a delight. I loved this exchange:
“So you let him live.”
“I sent him back down the cliff on his rope.”
“You’re out of your damned mind.”
“Yes, Oproz.”
“And now he’s down there asking to talk.”
“Yes, Oproz.”
-The Shieldbreaker Book One: The Last of the Etela, Thomas Clark Schecter
Like snap, snap, snap, so fucking good, and also I love Alakuz so much. I can hear his like tail-between-the-legs tone and Kareva’s little sighs of disappointment, all of this is so beautifully implied without needing to be explicit and it’s masterful.
The battle scenes are also so intricately described, which is a difficult thing to do without it feeling like choreography or blocking in a script. I often glaze over and skim battle scenes in books because it reads so robotic. But what Schecter has done here is plunged me into deep third POV and forced me to hear every blow, taste every blood splatter, experience every heartbeat. Feel the agony of a wound and the elation of joining the gods. Swell tears in my eyes as Alakuz does, the manliest of warriors showing heartbreak for just a small few lines that punch me in the gut so hard it takes the wind out of me.
This book is a fucking experience. It’s intense, bloody, emotional, and jerked me right out of the real world and into its own. I don’t know how else I can possibly put into words how badly you need to read it. Right now. Go.
So good!
Dig the voiceover, too!
This is such a gorgeous and comprehensive review of Shieldbreaker. You’re doing the Lord’s work, Hurricane