Amy Harmon

Rob Shapiro

The First Girl Child

Hanna Rybchynska

Shay

I really enjoyed reading this book. So much so that I didn't realize how slow paced it was until I had finished it, AND I read it in one sitting. 

It's definitely story and plot heavy. We jump around a bit with different characters and it's a little bit like sitting in the back of one character's consciousness while they're going through their life. It had a sort of hazy, dreamy atmospheric quality to it that I haven't experienced in any other book and I really liked that.

Harmon writes in a way that the characters seem intimately familiar, even just a few pages in. It makes it very easy to connect with the characters and take interest in their lives. 

The one thing that's keeping me from a 5 star review on this one is that there were times that the storytelling felt a little weak. There were a lot of time jumps and some of the narrative choices didn't quite feel cohesive. I can remember having a vague sense of confusion throughout the whole book, which may have lent to that dreamy/hazy atmosphere, but it also made it very easy to disengage. 

I loved all of the characters in this book. One thing that Harmon did a phenomenal job with is writing the intricacies of relationships. I loved the way Bayr looked after Alba, and the friendship he had with Dagmar. So much of this book is character-driven and Harmon's execution of friendships, familial ties, and childhood curiosity is what really makes this book shine.

(view spoiler)[I honestly just wish we'd had more time with Bayr and his sister, because she was my favorite character of them all. (hide spoiler)]


  

  

  Content Warnings for abandonment, blood, death, death of parent, gore, grief, infertility, rape, religious bigotry, and war.

Demi

4.25/5

“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.”

I absolutely loved this. I went into this book knowing next to nothing, and I was pleasantly surprised! I really liked the storyline of this book. We saw the lives of several characters over several years, and I know some people think that it was unnecessary to do that, but I actually really enjoyed that aspect of this book. I felt a lot more attached to the characters after seeing there lives over the span of however many years. The ending of this book definitely got to me a little as well because I came to absolutely love these characters.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the world they lived in. I thought the political system in this world was so fascinating! Seeing how all the clans worked together and had different interesting traditions (such as growing out their hair during the rein of each king and cutting their braids when his rein was over) was super cool.

I also really loved that in this book it showed both men and women who were good and both men and women who were bad. I really loved that theme in this book a lot!! (“Not all men are monsters, and not all women are innocent.”) SO AMAZING!

Lastly, I really loved the different relationships we got to see grow in this book. I obviously loved the story told of Alba and Bayr, it was such a roller coaster of a ride! I also adored the relationship between Ghost and Dagmar. They had such a tough and to them forbidden relationship and I honestly found myself rooting for them. They had such a sweet and innocent relationship. However, I think my favorite relationship in this book was Bayr and Dagmar’s. Seeing how their relationship grew over the time Bayr was born to the events at the end of this book was so beautiful yet so heartbreaking at the same time. I actually think this was the best (and most powerful) love story in this book. A love between family members, that is stronger than anything in the world.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It wasn’t so much that I was reading a book, but living the lives of all of these characters. I think this book did an amazing job of creating a story spanning over the course of 20 or so years!

The First Girl Child

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