cover image The Second Blind Son

The Second Blind Son

Amy Harmon. 47North, $14.95 Trade Paper (486p) ISBN 978-1-5420-2972-8

Harmon’s accessible second Chronicles of Saylok fantasy (following The First Girl Child) works just as well as a standalone, transporting readers to a land ruled by a ruthless king from atop the mighty Temple Hill. After 14-year-old Ghisla’s people, the musical Songr, are wiped out, Ghisla flees her home and washes up in Saylok. There she meets Hod, a blind boy named for a god and training to be a warrior, whose senses of hearing and smell are so well honed that nothing escapes him. Hod takes Ghisla in and the pair quickly bond, but they’re forced apart when Ghisla, a rare girl-child in a land where no girls are born, is taken to Temple Hill. She becomes a precious Temple Daughter and is given the name “Liis of Leok.” Ghisla and Hod are separately swept up into dangerous political maneuvering—and their eventual, bittersweet reunion finds them on opposite sides. Harmon’s characters are painted brightly, and her simple yet lyrical prose—like Ghisla’s songs, themselves some of the novel’s best moments—flows beautifully. There’s nothing mind-blowing here, but fantasy fans will find plenty to enjoy. [em]Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (July) [/em]