The Bird and the Sword - Review

The Bird and the Sword

By: Amy Harmon

Published: May 10, 2016

352 pages

Source: Personal Kindle Library

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

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 heaven 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 sell 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?

MY REVIEW:
This was a true gem! I think that I came across this title from a favorite author of mine talking about it on social media. However I came to find it though, I'm SOOO glad I did! I first read from Amy Harmon in her book The Law of Moses. And let me just say, if you haven't yet read that one yet, and enjoy emotional romance with a supernatural twist, then please do yourself a favor and go get it!

This story, The Bird and the Sword has so many aspects that I enjoy in fantasy stories. Castles, kings, love in unlikely places, ooh, it was exciting! An interesting beginning, Harmon includes scripture from The Bible to set the stage for the fantastical world in which our characters belong. Though scripture is used and certain creation details from The Bible, it's changed just enough to make this story fictional.

"In the beginning God" created 2 sons and 2 daughters, all gifted with abilities: a Healer whose ability was to heal any illness or any injury, a Changer whose ability was to change into any beast of the field or bird of the air, a Spinner whose ability was to spin anything into gold, and a Teller whose ability was the power of words, and could predict the future. As time went on and the world was filled with their offspring, new abilities came about. Eventually the powers were diluted and altered. There were those who had no gifts at all, and some who used their gifts for harm. This created fear among the people and an evil king seeking all power arose and ordered any who had a gift be killed.

Lark is the daughter of a nobleman. She and her mother are gifted but have to keep their gifts a secret or else be killed by the king. Lark has the gift of words and at a young age is just learning how to control her gift. In an innocent moment of using her words to make her poppets dance and sing and fly she and her mother are found out. Her mother takes the blame for the use of the gift, at the same time as speaking a curse against the king and words of protection over her daughter in her final breaths. From that moment on Lark can no longer speak and is not allowed to read or write. It is then Lark finds herself being used by the men around her.

There's so much more to say but to do so would be to spoil too much of what happens in the bulk of the story. Not specifically mentioned as being New Adult, the two main characters are between the ages of 21 and 30. This is a standalone story. Part of me finds that refreshing in a book world where most books are part of a series. Another part of me would've loved more in this fabulous world and with these characters. For $3.99 in the Kindle version, this is a steal! Very entertaining, touching, emotional even as it made me tear up. I'm a HUGE fan of Amy Harmon!

Top 5 Favorite Quotes:
"You are dangerous little bird. But I think I will keep you."

Maybe the secret to happiness is simplicity.

"I don't want to look anywhere else. My gaze is continually drawn back to you."

"You have all this power - you heal, you convince, you persuade, you destroy - but you want me to believe you feel nothing," he murmured. "I know differently."

"Those who persecute the hardest usually have the most to hide,"

Language: 1 (light)
Mature Content: 1 (light)
Final Rating: 4.5 stars