A snarky assassin engages in court politics in this YA fantasy
by Shuyler Clark
Ezra Toth has a lot on his hands; not only is he a renowned assassin with a penchant for sass, he also has many relationships to uphold and cats to feed between hits. When the crown prince, Christophe, sends knights to Ezra’s doorstep with a request to serve as Christophe’s bodyguard, Ezra must venture into the stifling world of court politics to protect his client against an assassination plot.
Michigan author Emma Khoury delivers an exceptional amount of humor in her debut novel, The Sword & Shield. The narration is the book’s strongest aspect, with witty comments peppering the prose throughout. This carries into Ezra’s dialogue, making for an amusing and sometimes charming experience. Ezra himself is an authentic character representing several underappreciated communities; as an immunocompromised asexual and trauma survivor, his persepective provides a window into situations often overlooked in young adult literature.
While Ezra’s personality carries the novel, more character flaws would flesh him out. He often knows exactly what to say in troubling situations and almost doubles as a therapist on top of his murdering-for-hire. This could be attributed to his experience with trauma in addition to wisdom accumulated with age. However, more struggles to empathize or assist his companions with their woes would help readers connect.
Many characters share similar problems of being somewhat shallow, especially when compared to Ezra’s in-depth backstory. Additional interactions and insight with these secondary characters—with the possible exception of the knight Joseph—would benefit relationships and raise the stakes of Ezra’s life-or-death line of work.
In general, many parts of the book feel short or rushed at times. The first few chapters prior to Ezra departing for the castle do provide stable groundwork (albeit with a few too many exposition dumps). But the pacing quickens once he takes on his bodyguard position. Since the plot spans several months, time-skips are inevitable to spare the reader filler; however, the scenes between time-skips feel too fast-paced and could stand to slow down to allow for plot and character development. In addition, a few scenes mostly serve as tools for worldbuilding without developing the plot, thus feeling more like padding in a novel that is already fairly short at 237 pages. Devoting more time to plot-relevant details while avoiding inconsequential parts would improve the pacing and flow of the story.
Although Khoury devotes time to worldbuilding as aforementioned, certain aspects are too rooted in real-world culture. For instance, the Zouszian country has many things ripped from Korean culture, such as kimchi and hanfu. While the names of the fictional countries are aesthetically pleasing, more creativity in their societies would improve reader engagement. Some made-up languages also appear occasionally but are awkward to read, particularly when used in complete sentences. Incorporating invented words into regular speech works, but when speaking full sentences in another language, alluding to the character speaking a different language rather than writing it out in that language would improve the flow in the reader’s mind.
As a debut, The Sword & Shield is a decent fantasy that makes strides in diverse representation. Readers can find the book on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.
ShuylerClark
Shuyler Clark is a graduate of Stockbridge High School and Lansing Community College. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found snuggling with her birds.
