Looking at the New York Times Bestsellers list the other day, I saw that Book 2 in this trilogy was sitting at the number one spot (Rites of the Starling) and since it seems wonky to review the middle of a story without reviewing the beginning, let’s take a look at the first part, Shield of Sparrows.
Author Devney Perry is a fairly active writer, having already penned almost 60 books in the romance genre, although this is her first published fantasy work – making Shield of Sparrows a ‘romantasy’ novel. The premise is intriguing: a world in which humans are not at the top of the food chain, but are instead one rung down, needing to arm and defend themselves against monsters which are, for reasons we must wait to discover, becoming increasingly aggressive. The dangers presented by these monsters lead to the formation of an alliance between five countries, reinforced by international marriages. This is where we meet our heroine, Princess Odessa. She is not the princess who has been raised with the knowledge that she will be married to the king of the northern country, a harsh landscape full of forests and danger, so when she ultimately has to take her sisters’ place without any of the skills her father had hoped for, you know we’re in for a ride.
Given that Odessa’s first-person narration is how we follow the story, it is no wonder that we are closer to her than to any of the other characters. Having her be neither too useless nor too overpowered, a nice blend of sassy, stubborn and flawed, she is written in a very comfortably relatable style. With that said, many of the other characters were a little more predictable, even formulaic. A handsome yet infuriating male lead who smirks and makes snide comments, creepy priest/magicians, a dead mother and an unsentimental stepmother – few of the other characters proved particularly compelling. The male lead in particular felt pretty cookie-cutter, which may be a side effect of the overlapping genres. Even Odessa herself reaches conclusions at certain points that don’t necessarily feel consistent with how she had been written previously, and overall she comes across as younger than the 23-year-old princess she is supposed to be.
In terms of pacing, to me Shield of Sparrows is far more reasonable than I have seen other people mention! With any fantasy setting there needs to be some world-building, and the journey that Odessa takes helps that happen. I personally enjoyed the long and uncomfortable ride on horseback that they had to endure, as it felt believably excruciating. However, I do feel as though the final quarter of the book was a little too rushed, as though we’d been pushing a great boulder up a hill and suddenly it had tipped over the summit and gone crashing down the other side, with so many plot points resolving and new ones opening all within fifty pages of the back cover. We’re left with so many unanswered questions at the end of the book (appropriate, perhaps, given that Odessa herself seems incapable of going for longer than three minutes without asking ten questions of whoever is with her) and it is this sense of incompleteness that almost had me reaching to download the sequel on autopilot as soon as I’d finished the first.
Stopping the crux. Was it possible?
Was there really a way to keep the monsters from destroying
Calandra? A way to prevent the horrors shown in the castle gallery?
“How?”
Shield of Sparrows, chapter 5
But would I actually get the sequel? Honestly, I’m still on the fence. I like the world Perry has created for this trilogy, but the writing feels immature, and the romance feels like it isn’t as supportive to the plot as it could have been. Ultimately though, I do think I’m invested enough in Odessa herself to want to know what happens to her throughout the rest of this story. We’ll have to wait a little longer for the full conclusion, however! Book 3 isn’t out until March 2027, so there’s plenty of time to read both Shield of Sparrows and Rites of the Starling before then.
Buy Shield of Sparrows here:
Amazon | Waterstones | Barnes & Noble
Buy Rites of the Starling here:
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