Shield of the People by Marshall Ryan Maresca – Review

Published: October 29, 2019

Publisher: DAW

Series: Maradaine Elite #2

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 400 (Paperback)

My Rating: 3.5/5.0

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

Synopsis:

The second novel in the Maradaine Elite series blends fast-paced high fantasy and political intrigue.

After stopping Tharek Pell and saving the Druth Parliament, Dayne Heldrin and Jerinne Fendall find themselves on the margins of the Tarian Order: lauded as heroes in public but scorned and ignored in private, their future in the Order hazy. Dayne is given an assignment that isolates him from the Order, and Jerinne is hazed and bullied at the bottom of the initiate rankings.

But it’s a grand holiday week in the city of Maradaine, celebrating over two centuries of freedom and the foundation of the reunified modern nation, and with that comes parades, revelry… and protests and demonstrations. A dissident group called The Open Hand–and their mysterious, charismatic leader, Bishop Ret Issendel–seeks to disrupt the Parliament elections with their message of secession and dissolution.

Despite orders to stay out of the public eye, Dayne and Jerinne are drawn into the intrigue of the Open Hand and kept apart by dark powerful conspiracies that brew around them. Dayne and Jerinne must fight for their own principles, and protect the will of the people as the election is thrown into chaos.

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Shield of the People is the second installment in the Maradaine Elite series. I’ve been a fan of the Maradaine universe since I picked up A Murder of Mages a few years back. It’s quite a work of art and has been built so caringly and in such detail! I was quite excited to get my hands on the latest series, focusing on the Tarian Order. 

Dayne Heldrin had his dreams somewhat crushed after the first book and he’s taken on a new post away from the Order’s headquarters. Jerinne Fendall and her reputation both were somewhat battered after the first book and with her damaged leg she is struggling with training. Both she and Dayne are so determined nothing will keep them down for long! Dayne is such a goodie two-shoes that I end up liking Jerinne’s POV so much better. She’s interesting – she has doubts and I think has a more realistic worldview than Dayne. 

The plot has plentiful action, but I wasn’t invested in it. I didn’t really care what happened and there were a few times that I found myself checking to see how many pages were left. Overall this missed my expectations, though not by much. I knew going in to this installment that I didn’t like these characters or their plot arc as much as those in the other Maradaine series. Now don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a bad book it just wasn’t for me and I’m also comparing it to the other books in the series. These characters are more interesting when interacting with, for example, Satrine and Minox.