Audiobook Review & Giveaway: The Bird and The Sword by Amy Harmon

The Bird and the Sword (The Bird and the Sword, #1) by Amy Harmon
Series: The Bird and the Sword Chronicles #1
Published by Self-Published on May 10th 2016
Pages: 352
Narrator: Trina Nishimura


Amazon B&N Apple Audible

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?

For me, this book had two strikes against it from the get go:
1) I’ve only read one other Amy Harmon book, and I wasn’t impressed. *runs and hides*
2) I don’t read fantasy very often.

I wanted a change of genre, though, and the glowing comments about The Bird and the Sword made me decide to give it a chance. My only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner. It is magical in every sense. This book swept me away from the very first chapter, and I was completely enraptured.

Hatred and fear are allowed to flourish in a land where it is a crime to be gifted with magical abilities. The main characters are fascinating. You have Lark, a young Lady of noble birth who is mute. She is small, plain, and undermined; She is also intuitive, smart, and stubborn. Then there is King Tiras, a perplexing, magnetic warrior who is protecting his country against a formidable enemy. At the same time he is fending off attempts to overthrow him.

Amy Harmon painstakingly paints a picture of this new world that is obviously fantasy, but it draws out genuine emotions. It is easy to forget that the people and the circumstances are not real. All you lovers of love stories should be happy to know that even in the midst of battles and suspense, romance is very much incorporated into the plot.

I listed to the audiobook version, and it is phenomenal! Trina Nishimura nailed it. She is more than just a narrator. She is a vocal performer who infuses emotion, intention, and character distinction with every sentence. Between her narration and the engrossing plot, I found myself sitting in my driveway for long periods of time, just listening to the audio book, unwilling to go inside. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was nuts. I didn’t even care.

Amy Harmon’s creativity is clearly reflected in her spectacular writing. Color me impressed! The Sword and the Stone has earned a spot on my Favorites shelf.

Recommended for fans of:
Fantasy
New Adult
Romance
Suspense

The Bird and the Sword Giveaway

Enter to win a Kindle copy of The Bird and the Sword on Facebook

Related Posts