After I saw a fable book club reading this book that has been hyped up by so many people already, I got my hands on the sprayed edges edition and after finishing another book club book I dived right into this one and oh my god it did not disappoint.

The book I’m talking about is “Shield of Sparrows” by Devney Perry which has been all over booktok / bookstagram but has been absent in local bookstores near my city and I don’t get why. This story, it’s gold. I can’t even properly review this book because it was so long and yet way to short and there was so much happening, I’m not going to spoil this amazing story, so it’ll be a bit of a story outline review.

Odessa Cross, firstborn Daughter of the Gold king of Quentis. Always overlooked, always overshadowed and never in the inner circle. Which gave her a lot of leeway in the castle to just roam around. But not today, today she has little time to roam because some guards from Turah are coming.

With a younger sister Mae being appointed as the Sparrow, to be wed of to a Prince of one of the other lands to unsure mixed bloodlines and peace among lands due to an old accord that’s been sealed with magic called “The shield of Sparrows”. But nothing goes as planned, as the king has planned.

The prince of Turah demands a Bride prize and the bride to be has to be Odessa. The marriage having to take place that same evening to they can go back to Turah the next day.

Once in Turah, Odessa can’t have imagined all the dangers lurking about. All the monsters that seem to be drawn to them. After being locked up, she has a demand. To wield a sword, which wasn’t the brightest idea, since she has to train with the best guard of Turah, the one her folk loathe with a vengeance called the guardian, but who even is he? How did he get his ‘powers’ and surely he had a name?

With the king of Turah of burning books and on a hunt, Odessa can’t seem to find the reasoning of, she sets about finding out truths. The truth about monsters becoming more feral than they are supposed to, the truth about the capital that seems more than a myth then an actual place. The truth about the guardian but also, adventure.

To find out what caused the infection that makes the monsters kill hundreds of people, but also to find out if it can be cured. Because the monsters aren’t the only infected among them. Live as she has known it her entire life had changed so much. She’s become a warrior, a savior, a “sister”, a keeper of secrets and hasn’t let the shadows pull her back, gone is the little mouse and risen has a woman with a purpose.

Absolute ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐star read; can’t wait for the next one.