Shard & Shield

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By Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Publisher Description

He can save her life—if he sacrifices those he swore to protect.

King's bastard Shianan Becknam buries himself in his military career to avoid the dangers of drawing political attention. When the artifact intended to end an interdimensional war is damaged, a mage is trapped on the other side of the rift with her servant—only the cheery young boy is really one of the monstrous enemy, disguised as a human. Shianan is desperate to rescue Ariana, one of his few friends, but to do so requires committing treason and betraying his people to attack.

State mage Ariana struggles to survive as a prisoner of war in a world of deadly magic and unfamiliar customs. Her only ally is her former servant, once again a renowned warrior caught up in political machinations. To survive, he'll have to take up the fight against Ariana's world.

As their people's wasted armies prepare for fresh battle, bastard, mage, and monster must set aside prejudices and rivalries to find an end to centuries of conflict, before they die as traitors.

Book 1 in a new epic fantasy series The Shard of Elan.

This new epic fantasy series by an award-winning author is recommended for fans of Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, and Brent Weeks.

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6 Reviews

3.5

Tyler Gordon

Created about 2 years ago

Julia Kitvaria Sarene

Created over 2 years ago

“I liked, but didn't love this. It's hard to put my finger exactly on what it was that was missing for me, as I liked most of the single contents, but somehow they didn't all add up to a "I can't stop reading!" It had all the right ingredients, but maybe the balance wasn't right for me? I liked the setting of two worlds with different cultures and races, but I feel it could have been fleshed out a lot more. Both worlds had interesting cultures, but the way the switch between worlds worked, and how one world raids the other felt a bit on the shallow end. Compared to the the court and world's this part just didn't hold up. The whole magic and fantasy part of the book wasn't really explained, so it's not a hard magic system at all, just people being able to do what needs doing by magic. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, I am happy with a hard or a soft magic system. In this book it just added to slightly two dimensional feel of some parts of the world. The characters... I liked each of them in their own, and I especially enjoyed the interaction between the king's bastard Shianan and the slave Luca. They grow and learn about themselves as well as about each other. Tam was interesting to read about, and I liked to see him switch between his two very different lifes. Ariana and her father are supposed to be very powerful, and had a few moments were they could actually shine, but a lot of the time there was little agency. They just deal with what fate deals them, without really fighting it. This was also true of Shianan a lot of the time - just resign to how things are. At times I just wanted to shout at them all to just go and do things, instead of just reacting to things. Some of it for well with his backstory and the way he grew up, other times it just felt like it was simply convenient for the plot, and he changed his mind within a snap of fingers. That's abothe rod my gripes - like with my last book - this seems to be mostly reactive instead of proactive, and there doesn't seem to be a clear focus on the plot. We just follow along as things happen, and don't really know what even is the "point" of the book. One bit I really enjoyed was the almost non existent romance in Shard and Shield, so I found it rather annoying to have that seemingly added in at the end of the book. Yes, there's little clues along the way, but everyone is way too busy to deal with stuff to think about anything like romance. And then at the end This didn't feel like a smooth part of the book, but really like it was an added afterthought the way it was handled. This is the main reason why I won't read teh sequel, as I have a big inclubg it will have a romance plot. Nothing wrong with romance, I just don't like to read it personally, as I usually find it boring. The little bit we got to see here, does not make me optimistic that any romance that might be in the sequel would be smooth and well developed. Despite all this complaints, it was an entertaining read, which I did enjoy, it just didn't manage to fully grip me.”

Hannah

Created over 2 years ago

CuriousDreamer

Created about 4 years ago

Sophia L Hansen

Created about 5 years ago

About Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Laura was born at a very early age and never looked back. She overcame childhood deficiencies of having been born without teeth or developed motor skills, and by the time she matured into a recognizable adult she had become a behavior analyst, an internationally-recognized and award-winning animal trainer, a popular costumer/cosplayer, a chocolate addict, and of course a writer. Find her at www.LauraVanArendonkBaugh.com