Sparrow Man

De: M. R. Pritchard

Narrado por: Phil Gilbert

This is a story about Meg Clark and what really happened the day she killed those seven men.

Meg Clark has turned out to be everything her father and the people of her little North Country town of Gouverneur, NY, have been saying her whole life: nothin’ but a piece of white trash. To hide her past, she spent her inheritance on the perfect little house with a white picket fence. Then something terrible happened and Meg got sent to county lockup so her fiancé, Jim, wouldn’t have to. And then everyone started waking up…dead.

Good thing escaping from County wasn’t hard. Jim told her exactly how to get free. Now Meg is running and the walking dead are following. In a last ditch effort to find weapons to protect herself, Meg finds Sparrow instead. A tall, strange man with a quirk. Sparrow is obsessed with feathers and the only goal that’s on his mind is finding an old barn on Route 37 with a snowy owl in its rafters.

Meg is headed to Kingston, where she and Jim agreed to meet if they ever got separated. But sometimes, crossing the border brings more than just freedom and protection and safety. Sometimes it brings questions that someone like Meg would prefer not to answer. And everyone keeps asking questions, including Sparrow. He thinks she’s hiding something and he’s not impressed by her stories of the sins she’s been committing all her life.

While Sparrow’s the one who’s cracked in the head, it never occurs to Meg that she could be the one who’s not remembering something. Like what really happened that day she killed those seven men?

Enter the Veil of Shadows. When pulled aside, it reveals the Seven Kingdoms of Heaven, the Earthen plane, Hell, and the Astral plane. Nothing is what it seems. No one is who they seem.

Join Meg as she faces her own demons, desires, and traumas. Every decision she makes will impact the balance of the Veil and lead her to her deepest desires.

In a Realm of Curses and Desires, Will Love Forge Unbreakable Bonds?

©2014, 2023 M. R. Pritchard (P)2024 M. R. Pritchard

A dance between otherworldly realms

With a hefty library of sci-fi and LitRPG titles in my history, I was unsure whether an urban fantasy story involving the realms of heaven and hell would keep my attention. Sparrow Man dives head-first into a gripping mystery involving devastating trauma, worldwide apocalypse, and oddly-behaving characters. Pritchard’s dialogue treatments for each character adds layers of authenticity and emotion that keeps the listener fixated on the outcome of each chapter. The story is contemporary and shines a harsh light on the terrible things that can be done to people while also revealing a path to redemption and a brighter future. Narration is clear and easy to follow, though I would have liked if Meg and Sparrow’s voice lines were more differentiated. I’m definitely looking forward to continuing the story in book 2. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 1.85x]

Interesting story with a great narrator

While I was mystified that the author chose a male narrator for a female character, he did a great job. (still should have been a female). The story was very interesting, although that female character was mostly unlikeable. Not only that, the story should have stopped midway through chapter 8. That whole last chapter should have been the beginning of the next book. The character, Meg, just got more unlikeable. Not sure I want to continue with the series.