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

THAT’S the plot twist? Oh booooooo

I’ve been training to run another 5K recently, but the endurance and strength of fortitude required for that absolutely pales in comparison to that which is necessary not to DNF this jawn

Waited until I was 83% through but we finally have reached the obligatory “protagonist is a chosen one with unique connection to powerful magic” trope reveal. That’s genre trope bingo babyyyy

4/5ths complete and there’s still basically no causal linkages between plot points. It’s all “this happened and then this happened and then this happened”. More random monster encounters than running through the grass in a Gen 3 Pokémon game

It’s a shame, because I do think there’s a decent book somewhere in here. Under a mountain of mind-numbingly average text, there’s some interesting geopolitics and nuanced character-work. Unfortunately, it’s absolutely so tangential to the main plot and main characters that it’s almost irrelevant.

I think “Shield of Sparrows” takes the cake for Romantasy with the least amount of actual romance. Take a shifty-eyed mononymous himbo and just *the* most generic protagonist and throw them together… and even though they have no chemistry and don’t know anything about each other and barely spend quality time together it’s *fireworks*

Ooooh baby the big mating bond reveal! I would hashtag this with spoilers but there was enough blatant signposting leading up to this to win Michigan another college football national championship

“I was hoping to crash in a real bed tonight.”

A quick google suggests this saying originated in US 1960s counterculture slang.

It seems the author has completely given up trying to maintain immersion at this point in the novel

I want to apologize. Thus far, the MMC has been referred to solely by his sobriquet: “The Guardian”. That’s pretty silly goofy, and I’ve made fun of it at length. However, I have just learned that his real name is Ransom.

I want “The Guardian” back.

The protagonist, on her habit of being persistently immature and an incessant weirdo:

“Shades, what in the six hells was wrong with me? Why can’t I shut the fuck up?”

Why indeed, Odessa? Why indeed.