saintsgirl74's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastic end to the series. Truly not afraid to go very dark but a great finale for Bennet and Flynn.
nimeneth's review against another edition
3.0
I'm giving this one a 3.5 stars, because this book fucking wrecked me.
christycorr's review
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kbusse2's review
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide
alisonalisonalison's review against another edition
5.0
The end of a spectacular series. Wow. This is stunning. I'm sad it's over and definitely have been feeling a little bereft lately at the fact that there will be no more Shield books (the author has said it straight up). Bennet completely captured my heart in the first book and reading his journey over these five books has been absolutely brilliant. This is an epic, powerful, queer military space opera and it's so involving. Note that this book does not stand alone and the series needs to be read in order. This is not an easy, comfortable book. The title gives a hint there. It's an intense story about war and humanity and I had a hard time putting it down. These people are fighting for their lives and it's at times bleak and heartbreaking and grim and people die, but there's so much hope and so much love and so much excitement. There's a couple of huge surprises in this story and wow, it's incredibly gripping stuff, and so poignant. The ending is great. This is not a romance series, but Bennet and Flynn's love story, while in the background, is still at the centre of this story (and the whole series, really), and it's beautiful. Bonus points to the author for having two bi guys as main characters, and also because one of them is a person of colour. I can't say enough good about this series and this last book is the perfect finale. I read this several weeks ago and it's still in my head. I am excited to re-read this series all the way through. It's quite an amazing journey. The best books are the hardest to write about--so I'll just say read this series because it is spectacularly good.
kaje_harper's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. That was an amazing gut-punch of a book. It ends this wonderful series in a way that is completely unexpected, and yet completely logical, and that's a real achievement.
For those who have followed and loved Flynn and Bennet through all these stories, they do have an ending together, with hope for forever. Not an HEA, but pretty much where we wanted to see them go in their relationship. But they reach it via trials by fire, and losses. Secondary characters we have been attached to die in this book. It's not a pleasant stroll to happiness, but a painful battle to the end.
I do appreciate an author who surprises me, in a way that totally fits with where the series has been going and yet leaves me blindsided. This book does it in spades. I'll be rereading the series again, back to back as I did before starting this one. But I'll only be doing it on a day when my own world is in good shape, and I'm ready for the impact of this resolution. Not a comfortable story, and one that is still resonating with me days after finishing it, but well worth your time as long as you're not just in it for the HEA. Excellent bi main characters and complex family and friend relationships in a realistic, exciting, and thoughtful SciFi space saga. Start with book 1 and read in order.
For those who have followed and loved Flynn and Bennet through all these stories, they do have an ending together, with hope for forever. Not an HEA, but pretty much where we wanted to see them go in their relationship. But they reach it via trials by fire, and losses. Secondary characters we have been attached to die in this book. It's not a pleasant stroll to happiness, but a painful battle to the end.
I do appreciate an author who surprises me, in a way that totally fits with where the series has been going and yet leaves me blindsided. This book does it in spades. I'll be rereading the series again, back to back as I did before starting this one. But I'll only be doing it on a day when my own world is in good shape, and I'm ready for the impact of this resolution. Not a comfortable story, and one that is still resonating with me days after finishing it, but well worth your time as long as you're not just in it for the HEA. Excellent bi main characters and complex family and friend relationships in a realistic, exciting, and thoughtful SciFi space saga. Start with book 1 and read in order.
frothy's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent stuff.
Start with the first one.
This book will leave you wanting more stories about what happens next. I hope Butler gives us more.
Start with the first one.
This book will leave you wanting more stories about what happens next. I hope Butler gives us more.
filipa05's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
expendablemudge's review
5.0
This is it. The last time we'll see Bennet and Flynn in a Taking Shield story.
I pause here for sad and lonely reflection.
The journey of the series has been a good, satisfying one, and I am deeply glad that I followed it. Bennet's growth as a man and an officer has been steady. He's gained enormous insight into his past and uses it, as one should, to guide his steps into the future. He's been separated from his true love by circumstances beyond his control...any military family will recognize this reality...and has fought his hardest to return to his heart's home.
It is to Author Butler's great credit that she doesn't make the fight trivial by making it easy. She doesn't allow for any la-di-da fantasy of victorious sweetness, either. The Bennet who comes out of this book is a man who has lost and struggled and lost some more, so he's got his feet in the one place we all need to place them in the end: on rock bottom. Bennet has finally found his ground and he plants himself on the first really firm footing he's ever had.
He is not alone. All the characters we've come to love end up with their feet firmly planted. Some of them plant a lot more than their feet...Author Butler isn't afraid to swing the Grim Reaper's scythe. I was most vocally disgruntled about this, and was told by the lady herself that stories make demands that must be met so belt up and quit bellyaching. (I paraphrase. Barely.)
Bennet's life aboard the Gyrfalcon wasn't ever easy, and the return to the ship he's required to make by political events he can barely bring himself to tolerate is really a precisely calculated torture. Flynn is still there...his rigid, judgmental younger sister and his freewheeling younger brother are there...his starchy, duty-loving father is Captain. Not one of these things is calculated to make the uneasy political reality of Bennet's return comfy. Add in Flynn's whopper of a fuck-up of not-Bennet relationship partners and, well, this short reunion the two lovebirds are due to enjoy might just be more trouble than it's worth.
No. Never that for either man. They are each other's lobster, as Phoebe Buffay called Ross and Rachel on Friends all those decades ago. They're the true loves whose path seems never to be smooth, but Flynn really plants his size-13s in his mouth this time. When you get there, you'll know. So the problems ratchet up, the resolutions aren't obvious, and the politics that Flynn doesn't understand while Bennet plays them become orders of magnitude more difficult to navigate.
And then the real fun begins.
Trouble doesn't get bigger than this. Battlestar Galactica-sized big. It's in this moment of pure hell that Bennet crystallizes his priorities and acts on them for the first time in his life. It's a perfect moment, a small and intimate moment, and it's got huge implications for the future.
I don't know how else to say this except "this series deserves your attention and eyeblinks." Wait...yes I do:
BUY THE BOOKS AND READ THEM.
I pause here for sad and lonely reflection.
The journey of the series has been a good, satisfying one, and I am deeply glad that I followed it. Bennet's growth as a man and an officer has been steady. He's gained enormous insight into his past and uses it, as one should, to guide his steps into the future. He's been separated from his true love by circumstances beyond his control...any military family will recognize this reality...and has fought his hardest to return to his heart's home.
It is to Author Butler's great credit that she doesn't make the fight trivial by making it easy. She doesn't allow for any la-di-da fantasy of victorious sweetness, either. The Bennet who comes out of this book is a man who has lost and struggled and lost some more, so he's got his feet in the one place we all need to place them in the end: on rock bottom. Bennet has finally found his ground and he plants himself on the first really firm footing he's ever had.
He is not alone. All the characters we've come to love end up with their feet firmly planted. Some of them plant a lot more than their feet...Author Butler isn't afraid to swing the Grim Reaper's scythe. I was most vocally disgruntled about this, and was told by the lady herself that stories make demands that must be met so belt up and quit bellyaching. (I paraphrase. Barely.)
Bennet's life aboard the Gyrfalcon wasn't ever easy, and the return to the ship he's required to make by political events he can barely bring himself to tolerate is really a precisely calculated torture. Flynn is still there...his rigid, judgmental younger sister and his freewheeling younger brother are there...his starchy, duty-loving father is Captain. Not one of these things is calculated to make the uneasy political reality of Bennet's return comfy. Add in Flynn's whopper of a fuck-up of not-Bennet relationship partners and, well, this short reunion the two lovebirds are due to enjoy might just be more trouble than it's worth.
No. Never that for either man. They are each other's lobster, as Phoebe Buffay called Ross and Rachel on Friends all those decades ago. They're the true loves whose path seems never to be smooth, but Flynn really plants his size-13s in his mouth this time. When you get there, you'll know. So the problems ratchet up, the resolutions aren't obvious, and the politics that Flynn doesn't understand while Bennet plays them become orders of magnitude more difficult to navigate.
And then the real fun begins.
Trouble doesn't get bigger than this. Battlestar Galactica-sized big. It's in this moment of pure hell that Bennet crystallizes his priorities and acts on them for the first time in his life. It's a perfect moment, a small and intimate moment, and it's got huge implications for the future.
I don't know how else to say this except "this series deserves your attention and eyeblinks." Wait...yes I do:
BUY THE BOOKS AND READ THEM.