⭐⭐💫
Continuing to pick books to fill my remaining Bang in the Night prompts, I picked up The Fool and Sparrow to cover the It's a Sign prompt. This is the first book in Dana Fox's Arcana of the Tarot series. For Bang in the Night, I used Frank Sinatra's The Game Is Over from Reprise Rarities Volume 3. I also was able to use this for the prompts Cozy Cover for Fall in Love and Olive (sneaky/deceptive character) for Color Me Romantic.
Kit is The Fool, the tarot archetype. When he feels the urges to leave the Arcana realm and head to Earth, he finds himself drawn to Thea. He had saved her as young girl when he found her wandering on the streets and dropped her off at a local police station. Unfortunately, she ended up going to an orphanage and was "adopted" by a shadow government operation. She has spent her life since then becoming on of the top agents. After receiving an assignment she disagrees with, she finds a way out and stumbles across Kit when trying to touch base with a media person to expose the operation. Kit joins her in her journey and tries to help her out in any way he can.
Oh gosh was this a struggle bus for me. I just really wanted to enjoy this fantasy romance set around the tarot, but I wanted a lot more from the fantasy aspects. Usually the way that something is written doesn't bother me too much, but here I was really struggling with the world building and the way that things were introduced to the reader. I'm not sure if Dana has written fantasy before, but to me it felt like someone that first starts writing fantasy and hasn't quite caught the nuances of it. While I can forgive the info-dumpiness, it was juxtaposed with not enough explanations or unnecessary information that felt like the author just trying to show it was a fantasy world. It just felt like you should have all these weird animals with "fantasy names" but it didn't really serve a purpose in the story. Even more so when Kit immediately leaves the fantasy realm for Earth. While they did end up going back to the fantasy realm, I wanted more. I really pushed myself through this and maybe I should've dnf-ed, but I the bare bones and overall idea was intriguing to me so I kept pushing hoping to find that glimmer that sparked my enjoyment.
If you are interested in this, definitely check it out. I can see others that don't read fantasy very often or prefer lighter fantasies. I've just read so much fantasy (both romance and not) so my bar is higher than probably the normal reader. I do feel like I should say that most of the tarot stuff was handled well. While there usually is a little bit more of leeway for what a tarot readers can get from the cards, I did think that Dana hit all the main ideals that are the basics.
Have you read The Fool and the Sparrow?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: The Fool and the Sparrow, Dana Fox, 2.5 stars, 5 days, eBook, 302 pages, published in 2022, indie published
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