Shield Maiden is a read that goes a little bit outside of my comfort zone, being a kind of YA romance mixed with a coming-of-age historical fantasy, which I enjoyed greatly, especially with how Beowulf was implied in the plot.

We are going to be following Fryda, a captivating princess, whose dream of becoming a shieldmaiden was truncated at 13 years old, after an accident that left her with a useless hand. Despite her best efforts to train and improve, this will be a scourge on such an ableist society as the one we are seeing in this book; even being the daughter of the king and niece of the legendary Beowulf, she's seen as an invalid for the rest.
In the other part of the romance, we have Theow, a slave which was kidnapped when he was a mere kid. A brave man, who cares about Fryda's well-being, but whose condition makes this kind of relationship difficult.

Outside of this main point of the plot, we have a really interesting story around the politics and the fight for getting power in the Viking community; one that introduces some of the most interesting characters in Shield Maiden, such as can be Bryce and Wingraf. Bryce acts as a second father for Fryda, and at the same time, has his own secrets that he wants to protect. Wingraf is an excellently written character, Fryda's brother, and a despicable person who will be the catalyst of the change.

Worldbuilding is interesting, taking the legend of Beowulf as the inspiration, and blending it into a Viking setting, despite only using the last fragment, the one where Beowulf fights the dragon; and honestly, I think some of the best scenes of the novel appear as a result of taking this fragment.

In summary, I found Shield Maiden a great book, probably with a bit too much of romance for my taste, but really enjoyable and perfect for those who want an epic story in a Viking setting.