Review by Charis_n_a_book -- The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis

[Charis_n_a_book]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Sparrow" by Denna M. Davis.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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As requested by Mimi Rose, Amanda is shipped up to Minnesota to spend part of her summer with her grandparents. What she thought would be an uneventful couple of weeks turns out to be the complete opposite. Mimi Rose introduces Amanda to the colorful and magical world of Emaji. In Emaji Amanda learns of a prophecy that foretold The Sparrow coming to Emaji and saving the Emajians from the evil plans of Zorn. The prophecy also foretells of her future husband; a silver-bodied, black-haired, multi-colored winged suitor. On her journey to become The Sparrow, Amanda learns the ways of the Emajians and gets to know her future husband. Although the prophecy predicted her, there are still doubters and there are attacks made to kill Amanda before her Journey of Discovery with Ema. Will she make it to her Journey or will she die trying?

The Sparrow is the first book in the series of Emaji Nation by Denna M. Davis. Denna has done a great job inventing and portraying a fantasy world full of colorful people and magic. She has depicted good vs. evil conflict, a lot of strong women with supportive men characters and a budding romance between multiple couples. The Emajian language she has created is intense and used freely in the book. She does a great job of explaining the words in the book, but it is still a struggle for me to keep them straight. As I was reading, I wanted a glossary for the Emajian language and guess what happened to be at the end of the book? You guessed it a Glossary. I would prefer it in the beginning because as a reader I didn’t know it was there in the back and it would have come in handy while reading.

Amanda is portrayed by Denna as a strong-minded 16-year-old, who justifiably is hesitant to believe and fulfill her role as The Sparrow. On many occasions, she thinks to give up and return to Earth. She shows her maturity as she is more concerned with finishing high school and going to college rather than boys. As a reader, I rooted for her to stay and be with Soloman and help the Emajians. Honestly, I would love to be a part of their world myself. The Emajians seem so happy with their roles in the community. They have a barter system, and everyone seems like one big family lending a hand wherever needed. They have a simple way of life that I envy.

After debating with myself, I decided to give The Sparrow by Denna M. Davis a 4 out of 4 stars. I really enjoyed how Denna depicted the story and built up Emaji and I felt like I was there with Amanda. I only thought to give the book 3 stars because there were a couple of errors with grammar and spelling and the book seemed to take a while to build to the major action scene. I didn't dislike anything in the book and I overall understood the long build up after I researched Denna’s intent to write a series not a single book. She can’t put all the juicy bits and battles in the first book and leave nothing for us later.

I fully enjoyed The Sparrow and look forward to the next chapter. The Harrow, the second book in the series, will only be better and delve deeper into Emaji’s ways of life. Hopefully, we will get more from Zorn and his evil sidekick Rasha as well. I would recommend the Emaji Nation series to young adults and anyone who loves fantasy books that involve battles between good and evil, prophecies and other worlds.

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The Sparrow
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