Two Halves, One Brian

Book Stats

• Series: Book 1 of the Shield of Sparrows series
• Publication Date: 05/06/25 (ebook) & 05/06/25 (audiobook)
• Format: ebook & audiobook
• Narrators: Ellen Quay, Jon Vertullo, Jake Delcy, Full Cast, Brian Kim McCormick, Tia Shearer, Colleen Delany, T. Shyvonne Stewart, Tatyana Ridgeway, Gerald Hill, Zoleka Vundla, & Stephanie Németh-Parker
• Narrators: Samantha Brentmoor & Jason Clarke
• Chapters: 63
• Pages: 658
• Length: 18 hours & 10 minutes
• Narrator POV:
• Available on Kindle Unlimited 🖤

Book Rating

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

Summary & Review

I initially read the ebook, available on Kindle Unlimited, in May 2025. Book 2 will be available for me to read soon (thank you, Libby!), so I wanted to do a re-read so the details would be fresh in my mind, but I decided to try the audiobook instead.

I started the graphic audio with a full cast of wonderful narrators, but I was listening on Spotify and only Part 1 of 2 was available without additional purchase. So then I switched to the regular audiobook, with Samantha Brentmoor and Jason Clarke. In case you noticed the weird way I noted the narrators above, that’s why. 😅 But honestly? Wouldn’t change a thing. I got to experience a little of both and had the pleasure of exploring a few new narrators!

So first, the graphic audio. WOW. The sound effects and cast were so wonderful. I absolutely LOVED listening to it. But when I switched over? Samantha Brentmoor ON HER OWN was able to continue bringing this story to life. Superb narration, truly, even though she was narrating multiple women, men, and children. It was very well done. We only got Jason Clarke in the final chapter so I can’t rave QUITE as much, but he also did wonderful and his version of The Guardian is exactly how I imagined his voice. While the graphic audio was extremely well-done, I did feel like the version Jason Clarke offered was just a little more fitting. 🖤

So, this story was a blast. The writing and plot were so fun! The story follows Odessa as she goes from the “spare”, wallflower princess to the chosen bride of a foreign prince. All her life, despite being older, her sister was trained and groomed to be the bride of the Turan prince in order to appease the Shield of Sparrows treaty. However, once the Turan prince, Zavier, arrives? Everything changes.

There is so much more to this book than that super brief description, but I don’t want to risk giving away any unintentional spoilers. Trust me that once you start on this journey, you will fall in love. Not only with the plot, but also the characters and everything they have to offer.

Devney Perry puts so much into this delightful story – political intrigue, spying, betrayal, lies, love, and so much more. It kept me on my toes and in suspense almost constantly. I love so many of the characters we got to meet and some of the betrayals and twists near the end really hit hard. We had love and loss, friendship and betrayal. It’s so well done, honestly.

If you haven’t read this delightful book, you definitely should. Especially since book 2, Rites of the Starling, is now out and available for purchase/borrowing! I cannot wait to dive straight into that. It’s supposed to be available on Libby in the next couple weeks! 😁

One last note – I did give this 2 chili peppers. It really isn’t spicy, but there’s just a bit more than just kissing and closed door/ fade-to-black intimate scenes. It’s not super descriptive, but just enough to move this up to 2 peppers.