Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry Series: Shield of Sparrows #1
on May 6, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy
Pages: 500
Format: eBook
ISBN: 9781649378088Shield of Sparrows is a slow-burn, high-stakes romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros—where enemies become lovers, monsters stalk a cursed realm, and a forgotten princess finds the strength to tear off her crown and become the warrior she was never meant to be.
The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel. I’ve spent my life kneeling—to their will and to my father's. As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king. I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood. But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life. Now I’m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him—bound to a future I didn’t choose and a husband I barely know. Everyone wants me to be something I’m not—a queen, a spy, a sacrifice. But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there’s power in being underestimated? And what if—for the first time—I reached for it?
I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall, the book is an enjoyable, escapist book. I’m going to start with the parts I didn’t like and end with what was done well. This review is not spoiler free, so proceed at your own risk!
First off, I don’t understand all the questions that were in the book. The questions revolving the mystery and what was happening in Turah made a bit more sense, but having statements instead would’ve made Odessa as a character less annoying and just a stronger book in general. Both the two main characters were annoying in the first half of the book. I didn’t care for them til the later half, and even then, I didn’t care about their relationship either.
The Guardian being the actual prince wasn’t that surprising. I knew there was something up and made a guess about it pretty early on considering Ransom was the one who said the vows and how Zavier never used the titles of royalty. While it made sense why Ransom and Dray continued the ruse, it doesn’t make sense why Ransom hunted monsters. The body double is supposed to protect the real heir, but monster hunting is dangerous so why not do something less so if it’s really about protection. It’s odd and just doesn’t make sense. Plus, Ransom’s insistence (even after Odessa knows he’s the prince) to not tell Odessa anything is frustrating. I’m really tired of reading books with alpha males trying to “protect” the women in their life or just not willing to communicate to their loved ones. Grow up and talk with them!
I’m still unclear why Banner was working with Ramsey at the end. This might be explained in the next book, but for now it was weird and confusing. I definitely didn’t see that coming or Brielle and Jocelyn being spies. I’m more annoyed by the fact this means the only people on Odessa’s side are the people from Turah, the people she was told were the enemy. It would’ve been nice for her to have one person from her home country on her side. I also would’ve liked more explanation on Banner’s brother’s death. Yes, I believe Ransom’s story that Banner’s brother was human trafficking, but did Banner know about this? Did Odessa’s father? Again this might be explained more in the next book, but there’s a lot of missing information. But again, I did think there was more to the story from the beginning considering in chapter one Odessa muses “they’d fought over a woman in Turah, and that fight had ended in death.” One, if two men are fighting over a woman and either not listening to her or just being alpha assholes, then I don’t care if one ends up dead. Two, it sounded pretty vague when I first heard it, so yea, I wasn’t surprised that his brother was a horrible person.
Lastly, the length of the novel. I’m all for long novels and continuing the story, but only when there’s an actual story to read. Having to read day after day of the journey to Turah, and then day after day of her training was monotonous. The first 50-60% was a drag to read through. I started reading this on 9 July, and finally reached a bit over halfway through on Sun/Mon, and finished the book late last night (Tues, 15 July). To give some context, I read through A Court of Mist and Fury in less than 24 hours. So to take a week to read a book is a slow pace for me. It wasn’t that the beginning was bad or anything, it could’ve just used something more….especially considering how often Ransom was away from Odessa. The drips of action just weren’t enough, and it felt like the first half could’ve done with another round of edits.
Okay, now on to the parts I did like. Again, once getting through the first half of the book, it was extremely entertaining and hard to put down. I did think the world-building was quite amazing with the kingdoms, magic, and creatures turned into monsters. (Although I could’ve done without all the long paragraphs of info dumping about them. Sorry, no more critiques). Plus, as I said already, I really didn’t see Brielle or Jocelyn as spies, so that was quite a surprise and a cool twist.
The ending of the book was so fascinating and it does make me want to read the next one. As I was reading this one, I was hesitant to continue the series, but that last chapter was so captivating and now I need the next book like today! I’m curious to see how this woman who was the Crux relates to Odessa and what’s going on when Odessa is near magic (again, something I knew would come into play).
Truthfully, the second half of the book and those last few chapters with the Crux bumped this book up to hover between 3 and 4 stars, instead of the 2 to 3 stars I was at first going to give.
If you made it through this detailed review, congrats, go get yourself another book (to be clear, I’m not buying you a book. I’m just saying you deserve a treat after slogging through this).
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