The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon
Rating: ★★★★☆
Swallow, Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them ‘til they’ve time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, ‘til the hour. You won’t speak and you won’t tell, you won’t call on heav’n or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, Daughter. Stay alive.
The day my mother was killed, she told my father I wouldn’t speak again, and she told him if I died, he would die too. Then she predicted the king would trade his soul and lose his son to the sky.
My father has a claim to the throne, and he is waiting in the shadows for all of my mother’s words to come to pass. He wants desperately to be king, and I just want to be free.
But freedom will require escape, and I’m a prisoner of my mother’s curse and my father’s greed. I can’t speak or make a sound, and I can’t wield a sword or beguile a king. In a land purged of enchantment, love might be the only magic left, and who could ever love . . . a bird?
A girl without a voice. A king in chains. A land on the brink of war.
Intrigued?
YOU SHOULD BE.
Ever since I read Radiance last year, I’ve been on the lookout for more books in the Fantasy Romance subgenre. Which is why I picked this one up.
Only…
While it’s listed as a fantasy, it has all the trappings of a classic fairy tale. I mean that in the BEST possible way. There are curses, prophecies, evil sorcerers, gallant princes, reluctant princesses, and creatures of all shapes and sizes.
I absolutely devoured it, reading it in a single sitting. What can I say? Magic infuses these pages, and I found it damn near impossible to resist Harmon’s spellbinding prose. The world she weaves with her words is as enthralling as it was enchanting, and I’m sorry to leave it behind.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR FAIRY TALE FANS.
I have this in kindle format. Was curious though, it you felt the story had any ‘religious’ influences?
I didn’t notice any religious influences, and I’ve read it twice. Does Amy Harmon tend to include a lot of religious themes in her books? This is the first book of hers I’ve read.
Wow, this sounds amazing. I’m really curious to see what becomes of this mix of characters. The writing style seems similar to lyrical fiction, would you saw that fits the whole book?
It was such an wonderful story. And one I see myself going back to over and over again. The writing style in the blurb and in the prologue is quite lyrical, but the rest of the book doesn’t hold true to that. Don’t get me wrong, the prose is quite beautiful, and at times poetic, but it wouldn’t really qualify as lyrical fiction.
Gah! Must have! I love awesome fairy tale like books!!
Same! So, last year I read the fewest books of my entire adult life. And yet I managed to read this one TWICE. That should tell you something. This is on my “will reread forever” shelf.