I am not sure which cover I like most. The one the German edition is showing or the one, the English edition has. Both are so unique and beautiful in their very own way. One thing I DO know. The Bird and The Sword (its original title) is a novel that will polarize its readers. And with polarizing its readers I mean that some of us will be swooning over the moon over this story while others will probably ask what is so special about this novel? Keep reading and you´ll find out how I think about it. Well, there´s for sure no simple answer to that.
Bird And Sword*
by Amy HarmonThe Bird And The Sword Chronicles #1
Translation Corinna Wieja
Original Title The Bird And The Sword
Publisher LYX on October 26, 2017
Genre Novel
Pages 396
Format Softcover
Source Publisher
✶✶✶½
At age five, Lark had to watch her mother being executed. With the last breath, she took her daughter´s voice and power of words. Because magic is a mortal sin in Jeru. Thirteen years later, the young King Tiras appears at the court of Lark´s father to remind him of his fidelity to the war. He takes the voiceless young woman hostage with him. At first, Lark fears the king, but she quickly realizes that Tiras is just as free as she is, and that love may be the only weapon that can break their chains.
Story
Lark was only five when she witnessed the brutal death of her mother. The king himself took her life only because he thought she´d done some magic. From that moment on, Lark was marked. Not with a visible sign, but with the loss of her voice. And with that loss, she became invisible to others. Until one day, Tiras, the new king, arrives at her fathers´ doorsteps and demands her as price until her father would pay his depth to the kingdom.
Style
No doubt, this novel has a very varied plot and characters who know how to catch the reader´s eye. And the writing-style *sigh* Pure melody. And yet, I am wondering how a beautiful story, told in a very unique voice could be so dull at the same time. Over the pages, I was enjoying the novel about Lark and Tiras and couldn´t get enough of the beautiful language the author used while describing emotions, scenery, and figures. Then there were pages where everything seemed incredible mat and not haunting and thrilling at all. During those parts of the book, it seemed as if Amy Harmon was searching for the right words to tell her story but couldn´t find ´em.
Over most parts of this novel, the author has built an amazing setting, shows how powerful words are - even the unspoken ones - and yet this book isn´t what I call a page-turner. At least not entirely. While reading I had my moments, loved some of the things that were happening and because of the diversified story, I was never in the situation to put it aside and stop reading. My curiosity about how everything would end up, how things would develop, and if and how Lark would gain her voice back, were just too big. On the other side, there are a lot of emotions here. The reader gets an oppressive notion of how it must have felt like to be without a voice and to discover that there are many words but not being able to get their full meaning only because you can´t speak them out loud. The journey Lark made while learning and discovering all the secrets a language can have – was quite impressive. Especially when you think about the time, this fantasy novel is set.
Characters
Lark is a young woman who doesn´t take anything for granted. With the loss of her voice, she discovered how others were acting in her presence and that she had her very own ways to get the information she needed to survive. And over the years she became a strong and smart woman who was willing to do everything to get what she wanted. I loved the way how the author has created her. The strength Lark has, the energy she is keeping hidden deep inside her, how she sees her father, how she sometimes acts to stay alive and well. She is a really adorable person though she isn´t what most people call real beauty. And if you ask me, she is a beauty. Maybe not in a common way, but in her very own one she has more grace and style than any other of the beautiful figures in this novel. Because she´s got a heart.
Conclusion
In the end, I guess I am honest when I say that I am torn about this novel. On one hand, I enjoyed it very much, on the other, I still can´t believe how melodic and dull at the same time a story can be written. Call me crazy or whatever you want, but I already marked the publishing date of the second book. And that not only because of its cover (which is like the one at the beginning of my review), no, but also because after the end of this book I want to know how things go on. Yes, I do believe that this story has still air up. But judge for yourself.
Happy reading
*This book was kindly provided to me by LYX in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Thank you. Therefore, the cover of the German edition is shown first in this review.
The English edition was published The Bird and The Sword by Createspace Independent Publishing on May 6, 2016
Amy Harmon
Even as a child, Amy Harmon knew that she would become a writer once. Growing up surrounded by wheat fields and without TV, she spent her free time singing and reading and soon wrote her own songs and stories. Later, she worked as a teacher and was a member of the Saints Unified Gospel Choir, which received a Grammy in 2005.
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