Review by clairebartholomew549 - Shield of Sparrows

clairebartholomew549 's review for:

Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry

4.0

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I've been craving reading a romantasy, and this scratched the itch and then some. This was just pure fun and excitement the whole way through, and I absolutely tore through it.

Odessa is a princess from the kingdom Quentis, but she considers herself a forgotten princess because her older half-sister has been groomed to represent the kingdom and eventually marry the Turah prince, thus satisfying the realm's peace treaty, the Shield of Sparrows. But somehow, Odessa ends up being the one to marry the prince, and she suddenly gets whisked away to a new kingdom, with no idea who to trust and how to perform her duties to her home kingdom and her married kingdom. To complicate things, the monsters that have always plagued the realm have become even more feral and deadly, and the realm is barreling toward a migration of the deadliest monsters at all.

I don't know if I've ever read a romantasy with monsters, and I loved it; it added some flair to a genre that can be pretty repetitive (as much as I love it). The world building made a lot of sense and was doled out methodically, and I appreciated that we learned along with Odessa and that we got lots of answers without the whole game being given away. The writing was no-frills and well-paced, and the plot was unpredictable without being unrealistic. Odessa is easy to root for: she was never trained to be a leader or be the integral part of a political marriage, but she has grit and determination and throws herself into her role. As for the romance, this book has a relatively slow burn, but I loved that - I haven't read a true slow burn romance in a while. The relationship between Odessa and her love interest (this is hard to talk about without giving away spoilers lol) blooms steadily, with trust and intimacy growing in a believable and nuanced way. The slow burn also makes the sexual tension incredibly strong, which I always love. I can't wait to read the next book in this series (and watch it on Amazon whenever it comes out)!

I also enjoyed that there wasn't really a twist at the end. Odessa knows who the Guardian is and they've proclaimed their love for each other, and they don't have any secrets between them. Instead, they have to separate to try to fix the realm's problems, which I always enjoy in a romantasy more than the traditional twist of the love interest not being who the main character thought they were and the main character regretting falling for them etc.

Content Warnings