Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry, a classic romantasy taking Booktok by storm. Did it live for the praise? Or was it another flop that booktok overhyped? You’ll find on goodreads the tear between reviews, either really good or really bad. Why did this happen?
Spoiler-free Plotline
Odessa Cross, our female main character, the invisible sister and daughter. A princess to be hidden away as a “back-up” and often considered “incompetent” to meet some expectations. However, her fate becomes sealed in a sudden turn of events and is expected to gain information for her father. She is shipped off to another country, where monsters thrive and threaten cities daily. But be cautious, these monsters are different. They are infected, and an attack is a death sentence.
On this journey, she rides alongside a warrior who is giving her nothing but trouble. He tests her loyalty, questioning her intentions, and cautious to open up any information. Secrets are being kept from both sides, but Odessa wants nothing more than her freedom. To no longer be the invisible child or the pawn of her kingdom, She puts her foot down to make her own decisions and not to be the “caged bird” she feels like she is.
This romantasy has tropes such as enemies to lovers and forced proximity. However, my favorite is the slow burn of this story. The romance takes a while to set in and tensions are high! It was a feet-kicking experience as we unveiled some of the biggest secrets of each character. They came across troubles with hard decisions, it would be wise to proceed with caution.
My Takes and Turn Offs
I really enjoyed the story. The theory being an infection taking over a kingdom on top of the threats of monsters is well executed. There are great plot twists sprinkled in and takes some thought to see. Cliff hangers at the end of chapters do leave it engaging to read.
I enjoyed this book a lot actually. I was impressed by this Booktok recommendation because booktok usually doesn’t usually show me books I would enjoy (Except Once Upon a Broken Heart). I was also worried this book would be like other romantasy series and blend in with the others, like another ACOTAR chaser. In the end, I can say this book thoroughly surprised me.
What I didn’t enjoy was the writing. The story, the ideas, the characters were very engaging and had potential, but the execution in writing was not it.
Statements like “um..ew” and “um..okay” used a few times throughout the story. It felt like it was written by a cringy millennial. It is a bit unengaging when you have a story set in timelines that don’t use modern language, this isn’t saying to write the books in old english, but there is a balance. It really takes you out of the book to include a lot of intense modern slang or “trendy” terms.
The other part of the writing that was really unengaging is the chapters, not pages, chapters of dialog that tells the story through questions. The longest games of 20 questions, mainly one sided to get background information instead of experiencing the story. It was more irritating than engaging, and it made the book harder to get through.
Shield of Sparrows – The End
Overall, from a 5 star perspective, -1.5 for the writing, leaving it at a 3.5 star rating.
I wrote my goodreads and fable review with spoilers.
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