Review by Dee_7Reichardt -- The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis
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Dee_7Reichardt
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- Latest Review: The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis
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Review by Dee_7Reichardt -- The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Sparrow" by Denna M. Davis.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Official Review: The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis.
The Sparrow, by Denna M. Davis, is a story that brings both the main character, Amanda, and the reader into a brand new and mysterious world. Amanda is spending some time with her grandparents at their home in Minnesota following some drama that occurred at Amanda’s school. Suddenly, her grandmother Rose opens a secret tunnel in her house and drops an envelope into Amanda’s hands labelled with Amanda’s name. Amanda decides to follow her grandmother down the tunnel and her life is changed forever. She is thrown into the world of Emaji and told she is Ha’Ankor (The Sparrow), the savior of their world.
There were many aspects of this story that I liked. Davis’s attention to detail and her consistency of plot were two things I liked the most. The author was so descriptive in the creation of the world of Emaji and in the appearance of the inhabitants. Every single person in the world had a unique appearance. Every single time a different landscape or scene was introduced, the author painted a picture in the reader’s mind with her words.
Additionally, the consistency of the storyline was done really well by the author. An example of this was that even though Amanda was in this magical world learning about its culture and her role in their beliefs, she still had to go back to Earth to call her parents so they would not worry about not hearing from her over the course of her “stay” at her grandparents. The events from Amanda’s high school and her childhood fears haunted her through all of her trials on Emaji as well.
What I disliked most about the book were two things: how the Amanda’s thoughts were represented and the prevalence of errors in the writing. Thoughts of the character were written in quotations. This was confusing to me as a reader and I think that for clarity they would have been better represented in italics. There is a lot of spoken dialogue throughout the story as well, and at times the thoughts get mixed up in the parts of dialogue that are spoken. The other point is the prevalence of errors in the writing. After I finished the book, I was surprised to see that this book had been both rewritten once and edited several times. Still, there were missing words, incorrect usage of words, spacing errors and comma errors. While it did not take away from the story itself, it was annoying to have to interpret what the author meant for myself in spots and small errors like this could have easily been prevented.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The content of the story was written very well and kept me entertained throughout its entirety. I believe that the written perspective from the mind of a 16-year-old girl was appropriate. Again, the author provided so much detail to her world that I was excited to discover these new environments alongside Amanda. However, as previously mentioned, there were quite a few errors in grammar, missing words, and misspellings of words for a book that was supposed to have been edited and rewritten. For this, I cannot give the book a 4-star rating. On the other hand, the story was so good that this book definitely deserves more than 2 stars.
This book would most appeal to young adult readers. Even though the main character is 16, this story brings up serious topics that may be hard for younger audiences to understand, such as sexual assault, death, and torture. Some of the themes in the story are rather dark. This adds to the narrative, but I do not think that this book is appropriate for young readers even though it would seem that way from the story’s other themes of magic and romance.
This story reminded me partly of The Wizard of Oz and Avatar with a bit of Harry Potter added in. Those who like stories such as these would also appreciate The Sparrow. While classified as fantasy, the story also contains romance and a bit of mystery. This is an all-around great read and I am excited to get to the next book in the series.
******
The Sparrow
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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Official Review: The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis.
The Sparrow, by Denna M. Davis, is a story that brings both the main character, Amanda, and the reader into a brand new and mysterious world. Amanda is spending some time with her grandparents at their home in Minnesota following some drama that occurred at Amanda’s school. Suddenly, her grandmother Rose opens a secret tunnel in her house and drops an envelope into Amanda’s hands labelled with Amanda’s name. Amanda decides to follow her grandmother down the tunnel and her life is changed forever. She is thrown into the world of Emaji and told she is Ha’Ankor (The Sparrow), the savior of their world.
There were many aspects of this story that I liked. Davis’s attention to detail and her consistency of plot were two things I liked the most. The author was so descriptive in the creation of the world of Emaji and in the appearance of the inhabitants. Every single person in the world had a unique appearance. Every single time a different landscape or scene was introduced, the author painted a picture in the reader’s mind with her words.
Additionally, the consistency of the storyline was done really well by the author. An example of this was that even though Amanda was in this magical world learning about its culture and her role in their beliefs, she still had to go back to Earth to call her parents so they would not worry about not hearing from her over the course of her “stay” at her grandparents. The events from Amanda’s high school and her childhood fears haunted her through all of her trials on Emaji as well.
What I disliked most about the book were two things: how the Amanda’s thoughts were represented and the prevalence of errors in the writing. Thoughts of the character were written in quotations. This was confusing to me as a reader and I think that for clarity they would have been better represented in italics. There is a lot of spoken dialogue throughout the story as well, and at times the thoughts get mixed up in the parts of dialogue that are spoken. The other point is the prevalence of errors in the writing. After I finished the book, I was surprised to see that this book had been both rewritten once and edited several times. Still, there were missing words, incorrect usage of words, spacing errors and comma errors. While it did not take away from the story itself, it was annoying to have to interpret what the author meant for myself in spots and small errors like this could have easily been prevented.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The content of the story was written very well and kept me entertained throughout its entirety. I believe that the written perspective from the mind of a 16-year-old girl was appropriate. Again, the author provided so much detail to her world that I was excited to discover these new environments alongside Amanda. However, as previously mentioned, there were quite a few errors in grammar, missing words, and misspellings of words for a book that was supposed to have been edited and rewritten. For this, I cannot give the book a 4-star rating. On the other hand, the story was so good that this book definitely deserves more than 2 stars.
This book would most appeal to young adult readers. Even though the main character is 16, this story brings up serious topics that may be hard for younger audiences to understand, such as sexual assault, death, and torture. Some of the themes in the story are rather dark. This adds to the narrative, but I do not think that this book is appropriate for young readers even though it would seem that way from the story’s other themes of magic and romance.
This story reminded me partly of The Wizard of Oz and Avatar with a bit of Harry Potter added in. Those who like stories such as these would also appreciate The Sparrow. While classified as fantasy, the story also contains romance and a bit of mystery. This is an all-around great read and I am excited to get to the next book in the series.
******
The Sparrow
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Dee_7Reichardt's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis
