Let me set the scene: I’m in NYC, with a younger brother, my mom, and my maternal grandmother. I have PTSD due to a terrorist attack, and my last experience in NYC was a catastrophe. We’re waiting in line to get tickets to The Daily Show, and we’re going to be there an estimated 2 and a half hours.

So of course I have a book on me, which is a very good idea because books are an A+ grounding source.

It’s possible the sequel to The Sparrow was not the best choice. It’s a little awkward to be in a line of people howling in rage/pain/joy/sorrow at a book.

The Sparrow, roughly, is about an atrocity and Children of God is about recovery from the atrocity. They’re two halves of the same book.

Ish.

I agree a sequel was necessary, and I did love it, but it feels very… pat. I agree with the conclusion, that out of even the worst darkness comes some ray of light, but… idk. I’m ironically struggling with how easy this felt.

Maybe it’s cause I read the first half sitting on a new York sidewalk and the second half that night in our hotel room, maybe it’s cause I’ve spent the week grappling with the long lasting effects of trauma, maybe it’s cause the book leans too hard on good results almost excusing horrible prior actions.

Maybe I’m just wrong.

The Sparrow left me worrying at an impossible question, what do you do when God has set you up to be destroyed? And while I agree some answer to that needed to be attempted, I’m not sure Children of God reaches it.

On a more mundane level, it felt rushed. New characters weren’t given the loving backstories the old ones got, while old characters… Particularly [spoilers]. I felt like they didn’t have as much POV scenes as in The Sparrow, and as a result, their later development feels jerky. There’s a disconnect between their treatment of two individuals, and their treatment of the entire species, and while this may make sense for the character, it wasn’t explained for me in the way the development of Emilio was.

Don’t get me wrong, I still laughed, I cried, I embarrassed myself in public and private, I intend to purchase a copy and keep them in loving pride-of-place. This is a stunning book that benefits from a reread.

The problem is that it’s a 5-star book in comparison to books, and somewhat..less in comparison to its predecessor.