Amy Harmon – The Bird and the Sword – ARC Review

Synopsis

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?

*ARC generously provided by author in exchange for an honest review*

Véleményem a könyvről

Amy Harmon szavaiban varázslat rejlik. Varázslat, amellyel minden egyes alkalommal képes valami csodálatost és különlegest átadni. A The Bird and the Sword egy gyönyörű és izgalmas olvasmány volt, tele lélekkel és tiszta szépséggel. Ez a történet is már az első soroknál magához láncolt és nem is engedett el az utolsó oldalig.

Az írónő bebizonyította, hogy fantasy műfajban is különleges és csodálatos könyvet tud alkotni. Ezúttal egy olyan fajta gyönyörű történetet kaptam a tollából, amely igazán varázslatos helyekre kalauzolt el. A világ amelyet megalkotott különleges és összetett, megtöltve varázslattal, kivételes képességekkel és mágikus lényekkel.

Mindent imádtam ebben a könyvben! A történet izgalmas volt, a könyv felépítése pedig tökéletes. Annyira tetszett, ahogy az írónő oldalról oldalra bontogatja ki a részleteket, a végén egy teljes kört leírva a történettel. Mind a főszereplők, mind a mellékszereplők örök helyre leltek a szívemben. Imádtam, hogy Lark milyen makacs és független lány, és annak ellenére, hogy nem tud beszélni, a gondolatai nagyon is sokat mondtak. Azt pedig mondanom sem kell, hogy Tiras király is egyenes utat talált a szívembe. A Lark és Tiras közötti szerelem gyönyörűséges, és sokszor rendkívül szórakoztató. 🙂 Végig izgultam azért, hogy vajon a végén meg tudják-e találni “Boldogan élünk, míg meg nem halunk” befejezésüket.

Ez alkalommal az írónő egy gyönyörű mesével ajándékozott meg, amelyet egyszer majd szívesen adnék oda a gyerekeimnek is. Sőt úgy gondolom, hogy ez az a történet, amely tényleg megérdemelné, hogy egyszer a filmvásznon is láthassuk.

Amy Harmon tagadhatatlanul kivételes tehetség. Nagyon-nagyon kevés szerzőt ismerek, aki ennyiféle műfajban képes tökéleteset alkotni, és aki képes arra, hogy tényleg minden kötetével lenyűgözzön. Ahogy már mondtam, Amy Harmon szavaiban valódi varázslat rejlik, akárcsak az általa megalkotott szereplőkében.

My Review in English

Amy Harmon creates magic. She creates magic with her words and with her beautiful heart and soul that she pours onto the paper every single time. This book was so enchanting, beautiful and thrilling! It hooked me from the very first lines and it didn’t let me until the very last page. It was truly amazing!

Amy Harmon proved that she can create something different and amazing in the fantasy genre, too. This time I got an astonishing story from her, which took me on a journey to beautiful magical places. The world she created is really unique and complex, filled with wonder, special abilities, and magical creatures.

I loved everything about this book. The plot was thrilling, and I really loved the way the story was told, unfolding page by page, bringing the story to a full circle at the end. This book had me on the edge of my seat, waiting, marveling and it simply left me breathless. The main and the secondary cast of characters were found a special place in my heart forever. I loved Lark so much! Her stubbornness and her independence could always put a huge smile on my face and I loved that although she can’t speak her thoughts she could say so much! And King Tiras? He will stay imprinted on my heart forever. I fell in love with him. Hard. The relationship between Lark and Tiras was truly pure and beautiful, and yes, sometimes really entertaining and funny. 🙂 I bit my nails for them hoping that they will be able to find the way to their “Happily Ever After”.

This time Amy Harmon created a little gem, a beautiful fairy tale, one I hope to share with my children someday. Moreover, I truly think that this is the kind of story that deserves to be seen on the big screen. 🙂

Amy Harmon is undeniably gifted. I know very few authors who can write on this level of perfection in this many genres and who can create so many different stories. She is one of the few authors who is able to amaze me with her talent every single time. (Every single book of her was a five or six stars read for me.) Like I said she really has magic in her words, just like the characters she created.

My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“Kjell is right. You are a dangerous little bird. But I think I will keep you.”

“His kiss was warm and persuasive, and completely different from the first time he’d kissed me. He still took—demanded even—but laced with his power was something sweeter. Something I needed from him. Something I longed for.Yearning. There it was again. Suddenly yearning had a flavor. It tasted like a king, a beautiful, frightening, infuriating man who flew into my life and began to free my words.”

“I have loved you every moment of every day, and I will love you until I cease to be. Bird, man, or king, I love you, and I will always love you.”

“But . . . she is . . . a mute!” my father stammered, clearly as stunned as I.
“Yes, she is.” The king smiled around the words, and his tone was wry and laced with humor.
“A wonderful quality in a woman. She will keep all my secrets.”

“I had felt his desire to claim, even as he kissed me softly and swallowed my hurt, soothing it with gentle hands and tender words. The words had risen from his skin even when he wasn’t speaking, and I had called them to me, collecting them like falling leaves, pressing them between the heavy pages of my memory so I could keep them.”

“Because without desire, there is only duty.”

“Because there is fire beneath the ice, Lark,” he shot back. “And I like your fire.”

“I refused to look away from him, though my body said flee, and my heart begged for tenderness. I was not beautiful. I was not vivid or bold. I was small and scared, a wisp. Exactly as Kjell had once described—a tendril of pale smoke, hardly there at all. But the way Tiras was looking at me made me believe I was vibrant and brave. He made me feel powerful.”

“But the voices of fear and discontent are always loudest.”

5 – Magical- Stars

About the Author

Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in several countries, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.