Set in a fanciful time when generals trained lizards for war, when princesses hid libraries from invaders, and when everyone from grandmothers to youth wielded swords for their very survival, Shield shares the story of a young girl named Innera who is caught in the midst of a war of nations. Innera of Dider, a fanciful nation under the oppression of attackers, must trek the mountains and valleys of her world to return a special shield to a king who may no longer be alive.

Shield is a healthy taste of fanciful fiction for youth in an age too filled with vampires and black magic, too saturated with dystopian dreams. To counteract the dark entertainments that generally attract today’s tweens, Dawn Watkins peppers her book with wholesome quips from Innera’s respected herbalist grandmother: “Good unguarded is good lost” (Kindle Loc.93) and “Evil will thrive only when the good allow it” (Kindle Loc.772) being some examples. Shield is the prequel to another Watkins novel, Medallion, which follows the story of Trave, a distant offspring of Innera’s line.

Having read several fanciful novels in my time, I must admit that this genre is not my favorite. Because history is so filled with truly captivating battles in every region and from every age, it seems unnecessary that authors would have to make up their own. [For this reason, by the way, I am a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell‘s masterful historical, war-torn fiction.] This sentiment, however, does not necessarily detract from the pleasure I got in reading Shield. While I occasionally found myself lost in the book’s many characters and was unsure for some time who belonged to what army or which army was even the antagonists, I still enjoyed the story and would certainly recommend it to parents who care about what their kids are reading.

©2012 E.T.

Read More from JourneyForth Press:

• With Wings as Eagles by William Pinkston (1983)
• These Are My People by Mildred T. Howard (1984)
• Medallion by Dawn L. Watkins (1985)
• Derwood, Inc. by Jerri Massi (1986)
• A Dangerous Game by Jerri Massi (1986)
• Treasure in the Yukon by Jerri Massi (1986)
• With Daring Faith by Rebecca Henry Davis (1987)
• Courage by Darkness by Jerri Massi (1987)
• Some Summer! by Jean Vandervenne (1987)
• Llamas on the Loose by Jerri Massi (1988)
• The Runaway Princess by Milly Howard (1988)
• Abandoned by Jerri Massi (1989)
• A Question of Yams by Gloria Repp (1992)
• Brill of Exitorn by Peggy Downing (1994)
• Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World by Deb Brammer (1994)
• The Lost Prince by Peggy Downing (1995)
• Tales from Dust River Gulch by Tim Davis (1996)
• Camp Sierra Secret by Esther G. Wilkinson (1996)
• Chickadee Winter by Dawn L. Watkins (1999)
• Songbird by Nancy Lohr (2000)
• Nix by Penny McKnight (2006)
• Shield by Dawn Watkins (2008)