♦BLURB♦
From the New York Times bestselling author comes a breathtaking fantasy of a cursed kingdom, warring clans, and unexpected salvation.
Bayr of Saylok, bastard son of a powerful and jealous chieftain, is haunted by the curse once leveled by his dying mother. Bartered, abandoned, and rarely loved, she plagued the land with her words: From this day forward, there will be no daughters in Saylok.
Raised among the Keepers at Temple Hill, Bayr is gifted with inhuman strength. But he’s also blessed with an all-too-human heart that beats with one purpose: to protect Alba, the first girl child born in nearly two decades and the salvation for a country at risk.
Now the fate of Saylok lies with Alba and Bayr, whose bond grows deeper with every whisper of coming chaos. Charged with battling the enemies of their people, both within and without, Bayr is fueled further by the love of a girl who has defied the scourge of Saylok.
What Bayr and Alba don’t know is that they each threaten the king, a greedy man who built his throne on lies, murder, and betrayal. There is only one way to defend their land from the corruption that has overtaken it. By breaking the curse, they could defeat the king…but they could also destroy themselves.
♦4-STAR REVIEW♦
The First Girl Child was a richly imaginative fantasy full of enticing characters and a vivid world. Harmon’s brand of no-nonsense storytelling captured a vast setting with ease, making the full-figured story easy to digest and become invested in. And with a truly expansive tale to tell, I quite honestly found myself intrigued up to the very last page.
With a broad cast of characters—quite a few in main roles—there was always a sense of direction and individuality. I adored every character and how much purpose they held for their own stories and the main thread connecting them all. Their layers were wonderfully executed—even while covering a broad span of years—and it kept them feeling lively on the page throughout the story. Each of their storylines stayed on point the entire book, all leading to a brilliant crescendo that felt satisfying and thrilling. My one wish was that it was told in first-person or even third-person, rather than third-person omniscient as that viewpoint created such an opening for a disconnect—my being unable to feel or experience the story through each character’s direct view and losing that ability to feel their plights firsthand. With that said, it was still a fantastic book worthy of reading and experiencing firsthand.
The First Girl Child was a character-driven tale full of fantasy and the subtle differences of all the kinds of love stories one can have, and I loved every moment of it.
♦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 fifteen different languages, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.
Amy Harmon has written eleven novels — the USA Today Bestsellers, The Bird and The Sword, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as From Sand and Ash, The Law of Moses, The Song of David, Infinity + One, and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. Her recent release, The Bird and the Sword, is a Goodreads Best Fantasy of 2016 finalist.
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