Books #17 of 2025: Shattered Shields

Shattered Shields by assorted.

Quick synopsis: 17 stories about "Swords and Shields. Faith and Magic.".

Brief opinion: First read in 2017. I rated it "loved" then, but this time it worked a lot less well for me. (Original review here.)

Plot: Of the 17 stories, two were really good and a couple were pretty good. The rest were in the meh to bad range.

One of the two good ones was written by the MAGA author (sigh), so I'm not even going to mention it. It soured me on the whole book though sadly.

The other good one was First Blood by Elizabeth Moon, about a boy's first experience with betrayal and war. I felt like this one was the strongest writing of all the stories -- it pulled me in and it's the only story I got lost in.

The Smaller We Are by John Helfers (about mythical races trying to survive against armies of humans), Hoofsore and Weary by Cat Rambo (about a troop of centaurs), and Yael of the Strings by John R. Fultz (about a bard pulled in to the front lines of a battle) get honorable mentions as being pretty good.

Writing/editing: Both were fine.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: There were too many stories that didn't work for me. Between that and the MAGA author, I can't say I enjoyed this rereading of the book.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️ - Disliked