The Way of the Shield by Marshall Ryan Maresca – Review

Published: October 2, 2018

Publisher: DAW Books

Series: Maradaine Elite #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 354 (Mass Market)

My Rating: 3.5/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Dayne Heldrin always dreamed of being a member of the Tarian Order. In centuries past, the Elite Orders of Druthal were warriors that stood for order, justice, and the common people. But now, with constables, King’s Marshals, and a standing army, there is little need for such organizations, and the Tarian Order is one of the last remnants of this ancient legacy. Nevertheless, Dayne trained his body and mind, learned the arts of defense and fighting, to become a candidate for the Tarian Order.

When a failed rescue puts Dayne at fault for injuring the child of a powerful family, his future with the Tarians is in jeopardy. The Parliament controls the purse strings for the Order, and Dayne has angered the wrong members of Parliament. He returns to the capital city of Maradaine in shame, ready to be cast out of the Order when the period of his candidacy ends.

Dayne finds Maradaine in turmoil, as revolutions and dark conspiracies brew around him, threatening members of Parliament and common people alike. Dayne is drawn into the uproar, desperate not to have one more death or injury on his conscience, but the Order wants him to stay out of the situation. The city threatens to tear itself apart, and Dayne must decide between his own future and his vow to always stand between the helpless and harm.

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At this point I’ve read every Maradaine novel MRM has released, so I think it’s safe to say that I have a well-versed opinion of the series so far. I was quite excited for the start of a FOURTH story arc set in the sprawling, multi-cultural city of Maradaine and that it featured an order of knights was just icing on the cake. I went in to this full of hope and the naivety of youth and… it was my least favorite of the books so far. BUT, it was still a good book.

When I read the other series I was instantly hooked by the characters or the plot or what have you, but with this one it took quite a while for me to get into a groove. I just didn’t care for Dayne and it affected my overall enthusiasm, despite me liking the other characters and the plot. He’s like, the goodiest of goody-two-shoes and he couldn’t shake the idea that other people are inherently good, just like him. Sure, not every character can be a street wise cynic, but he couldn’t keep himself out of trouble for FIVE MINUTES.  The Tarian Order trainee Dayne is “mentoring” is so much more realistic in her perspective of the world. She was an absolute breath of fresh air and I wouldn’t have minded at all if the story centered around her instead.

The actual storyline here is GREAT. If you get around Dayne’s self-deprecation and moral highgrounding, you get some awesome political plot drama. There’s a group of wealthy revolutionaries plotting the downfall of certain Parliament members with a group of lackeys doing their dirty work. Parliamentarians are getting offed in all sorts of interesting and spectacularly public ways and the city is abuzz with fear and suspicion. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tries to blow up Parliament in a future book. Of course our dear Tarian’s get brought in as bodyguards, status symbols, etc. and they end up being rather central to some of the maneuverings and, uh, demonstrations therein.

Overall, this was a good book, though not my favorite due to a bit of a slow start and my lack of positive feelings toward our main character. By the end of the book I did like him a bit more, so I hope future books in this series will prove to be more to my liking. I do think this would be a good place to start in the Maradaine world if you’ve never read the other books since you don’t need any prior knowledge to enjoy it, but my personal recommendation would be to start with any of the other three series.