Michael Clupper’s Reviews > Shield of Sparrows > Status Update

Update: the misunderstood beauty has left her home to live with a beastly man for the benefit of her father. Said beauty has just discovered a library and is delighted because she loves to read.

This is a new and interesting character concept

We spend chapter 19 journeying to Treow (pronounced tree-oh). As it turns out, tree-oh is called as such because it’s a town of tree houses. Tree-oh.

This might be more egregious than the reveal of “Starfall” in ACOMAF as a *meteor shower*

If you want me to take your narrative seriously, don’t name your deuteragonist first name “The” last name “Guardian”, and don’t call the most terrifying beast in your world a “grizzur”, because grizzur?

(Inhales breath)

I HARDLY KNOW H —

Romantasy: where blatant sexual harassment is passed off as flirtation and thus excused by a majority of consumers. This is a disproportionately problematic genre, y’all

“Don’t worry.. I’m not a flight risk.”

“DON’T WORRY, I’M NOT A FLIGHT RISK.”

That phrase emerged from the US legal system in the 1960s dawg, you can’t be throwing that around in your FANTASY BOOK. Christ Almighty who is editing these things

I’m about to summarize every paragraph in this book:
1. FMC makes a snippy comment or observation about Topic
2. FMC proceeds to ponder Topic by posing four different but related hypothetical questions about Topic, with question four being a sarcastic rephrasing of question 1.
3. MMC acts like he’s going to answer one question but doesn’t. FMC is mad and plots his violent death

Oh my GOD we’ve arrived at #NewExoticHotKingdom and EVERYONE IS WEARING PANTS. It’s all too much, too hot. Too *exotic*

The FMC just pondered whether she’s always been quite so violent, and whether this is how her older sister has “always been wired.”

“Always been wired”? As in electrical wires? As in the colloquialism that emerged in the late 20th century US?

Immersion is not at an all-time high here

Chapter 11: in which 10 minutes of audiobook time is dedicated to extolling the virtues of *checks notes* pants

What befuddles me about this genre is why any author would spend hours upon hours establishing a fantasy world — geography, magic, politics, monsters, etc — just to squander any and all immersion by having every character act/ speak as though they’re from the 21st century United States