Book Review: The Last Shadow Warrior by Sam Subity

The Last Shadow Warrior
by Sam Subity (j Subity)

I enjoyed this juvenile novel that mixes Viking lore with a little magic to demonstrate that middle school girls can do anything, even save the world. Abby Beckett, age 12, recently lost her mom. If that isn’t enough to shake a sixth grader, it seems an evil shadow creature is following her, bent on destroying not only her family, but the world as we know it.

 

As the next in line of a family of elite Viking warriors known as the Aesir, Abby cherished that her mom used to call Abby her little Grendel hunter. She loved to practice and play that she was slashing down imaginary evil foes with toy axes and swords. Then one day, home alone, her amulet starts to glow and she hears a creepy voice– it seems a very real shapeless black shadow monster has begun to track her. She and her father pack and leave immediately, but they are attacked on the road and he is left unconscious in the hospital. She’s all alone in a new school in Minnesota called Vale Hale on a knattleikr scholarship, and she’s not even sure what knattleirk is. This new school holds a secret. Vale Hall is also a front for the Viking central command for North America, known as Asgard. She learns about the Grendel research her mother did before she died–research most in the Viking community would like to believe is ancient history. Or is it? And is it the reason for her mother’s death and why Abby faces danger as well? The reader finds themselves engrossed in the story to see if Abby can uncover how to save her father before his time runs out, and if she can defeat whatever monster as possibly the last Viking Aesir.

 

Filled with references to Asgard, Valkyrie, svefnthorn, Beowulf, and even lutefisk, The Last Shadow Warrior gives readers a taste of Viking life. The story begins with a bang, and never slows down. By the end of the book you are hurrying to the next page to see if Abby will succeed and if anyone will believe a 12-year-old girl.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland or The Strangeworld Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski.)

 

( official Sam Subity web site )

 

Recommended by Cindy K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!