I've read The Sparrow countless times, I really love it.

As for the sequel, no, it's not as good. Obviously that was to be expected. If you loved The Sparrow, you might still want to read on about Emilio (and one of the others...), but it'll be kind of rough and poignant. I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it, but I'm happy to have read it, and I've been thinking about reading it again (only read it once so far, a few years ago).