The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, A sex scene that is not very descriptive

 
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.

After reading Amy Harmon's fantasy novels The Bird and the Sword, and The Queen and the Cure I was eager to read this new one. It ended up not being quite what I expected. Instead of the fairy tale type fantasy feel those books had, this one is a historical fantasy that included some Norse mythology. In the beginning it seemed to lack something compared to The Bird and the Sword, but eventually, as I read on I began to see that this story was something special on its own. It was rather slow paced at times, but for the most part that worked well for this story. Once I got to the last part I saw some glimmers of the same magic that made up The Bird and the Sword, so this book may be a bit different, but it's still very good.

This story is wrought with heartache, but also wonderful triumphs. This is a story about a cursed land and the people who live there and endure. The characters Bayr, Alba, Ghost, and Dagmar became very dear to me. The way their lives intertwined was at times wonderful, and at times heart breaking. This is also a story about love, and there was more than one beautiful love story here.

First there is the love of a parent for a child.

“I am yours, Bayr. Always. My heart is yours. My spirit is yours, and even when I’m dead, I will refuse Valhalla, and I will follow at your heels, watching over you.”

Then there is the forbidden kind of love that burns unrequited.

“You make me want to be seen,” she said, and his gaze shot to hers, searing, searching. “I have always seen you, Ghost.”

And there is the one that grows from childhood friends to romance.

"There is no Alba without Bayr,” she whispered. “Not now. Not then. Not ever again.”

There are, of course, also the characters that do terrible, despicable things, and at times my heart broke for my beloved characters as they went up against the terrible things they had to endure. But as always the best fantasy stories break your heart before you get to the end. Amy Harmon did not disappoint with this story. She has now become a favorite author of mine. There is so much to love about her stories, and this one was no exception. I've yet to read any of her non-fantasy books. but I plan on giving them a try.