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Summary: I always thought this would make a great movie...
Review: Go ahead and read the reviews below. But if you were intrigued by the recent made-for-cable movie retelling the story of Troy's fall from Helen's perspective, you will love this book, told through the eyes of a richly conceived character: Kassandra, the doomed daughter of King Priam. I can only hope that the makers of the upcoming "Troy" movie take a page or two from this retelling...I personally would love to see Brad Pitt's Akhilles fall as he does in "The Firebrand"! As always, MZB manages to turn one of the most traditionally testosterone-driven tales in history into a female-centered but no less thrilling page-turner. Give it a try before you go to the theaters or TV!
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Summary: The Mists of Avalon is still my favorite
Review: I definitely, definitely like this book, no question about it. It's well-written, meticulously looked into by Marion Zimmer Bradley to give it an authentic feel, and an easy read.But if, like me, you're looking for lots of magic, then Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon will probably be a bit better suited to your taste. (It also portrayed more three-dimensional characters, in my opinion.) The Firebrand has more of a historical feel in the way it's told as compared to the Otherworldliness of Mists. But it's certainly good, too.
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Summary: an incredible re-telling of the fabled greek tragedy
Review: Chorus: Why do you cry out thus, unless at some vision of horror?
Cassandra: The house reeks of death and dripping blood.
Chorus: How so? 'Tis but the odour of the altar sacrifice.
Cassandra: The stench is like a breath from the tomb.
-Aeschylus "Agamemnon" The FIREBRAND is by far one of the most unique and compelling retellings of the fall of Troy. This is a book that captures your attention immediately. There is without question mythic overtone to the story (the book wouldn't be what it is without it) but yet it is at its very core humanistic and revealing. The well-known anthropomorphism of the patriarchal deities figures prominently and we see they are prone to the same weaknesses and desires as the mere mortals. As in the style of many of Bradley's books, the FIREBRAND centers on a prominent female main character. It leads us through the bitter-sweet trials and tribulations of Kassandra, the doomed prophetess of Apollo sungod and the princess of Troy.
Victim of retribution from the very god she loves, Kassandra exists to foretell the future but never be believed. We are from the first page at once taken on a staggering journey through a world that is home to both human and gods, and find that the fall of the once-proud Trojan empire is not the result of a sequence of destined events (i.e. events leading up to and during the romantic feud over the renowned beauty Helen of Sparta) but because it existed as one of the major players in a mind-blowing battle between the gods. The FIREBRAND carries with it the workings of a masterpiece. One cannot help but be caught up with the drama and compelling power created by Bradley's artful storytelling.
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Summary: Painful
Review: "Firebrand" is an example of a book that could have been brilliant, but ended up being painful instead. With its use of sketchy characterization, blatant hyperfeminism, and constant fast-and-loose playing with both history and myth, this book flops like a heavily decayed fish. It retells the story of Troy from the point of view of the women, starring the mythical Kassandra as the protagonist. She is sent from Troy at a young age to be raised among the Amazons, woman warriors who teach her their strong, independent, 20th-century-feminist ways, and the worship of the Goddess instead of those upstart little Greek gods. She returns to Troy as her brother, long thought to be dead, arrives back and begins the legendary war over the beautiful Helen. As with "Mists of Avalon," Bradley was clear more interested in twisting a time-honored tale into a feel-good feminist fable than telling a good story, which should be the first consideration of any writer. I am not one to defend the Greek legends, arguably the most chauvinistic in the world, and certainly the most prominently so, but Bradley takes what could have been a brilliant and insightful book, and turns it into a lifeless retread of "Mists" with some gratuitous Goddess worship thrown in. Like "Mists," it is merely a prolonged and pseudo-weighty romance novel with intensely modern sensibilities, which makes this, in terms of quality, junk. In fact, in most ways it IS "Mists," (a book I heartily dislike) as the characters are essentially the same, with different names. The strong queen with a sexist husband she resents, the strong heroine raised by strong feminist women until she is a young woman, the male characters carefully castrated to further enhance the female characters, the pointless lust scenes, and the inclusion of Goddess worship at the expense of the dominant religion. Readers with even a vague knowledge of Greek culture will be aware that there was no earth-mother-goddess religion at that time, except for perhaps some obscure and belitted cult that fell into extinction. The Amazons, who in this book stop just short of shouting "I am woman hear me roar!", worshipped the extremely tough and seemingly feministic Huntress Artemis; however, I imagine Ms. Bradley and her ideals could not sanction Artemis being shown as her twin brother's equal rather than his superior. The inclusion of mother-goddess worship, now a cliche in fantasy books, adds nothing to the storyline and detracts from the attempts at realism. There is a sense of lifelessness in the writing style and dialogue, as if Bradley were contracted to write another book but her heart was not in it. There's a reason why this book has no cult following. The characterizations are dull; as always, the men are colorless and pointless, while the women are painted as vivid, strong, and intelligent. Whether they are is another matter; only Bradley would drool over Helen of Troy simply because she was a woman. Kassandra is a prefab feminist heroine, with no soul or continuity; we hear about her wanting to remain a virgin, for example, but she leaps into the sack with a guy she hardly cares for. The sensitive sweetie-pie males made me feel vaguely ill, as did the chest-thumping Amazons and the traditionally masculine and heroic men who are obviously disdained by the author. Until such time as someone can write a good retelling of the Troy legend, hopefully from Cassandra's point of view, try reading the intelligent and intriguing "Troy."
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Summary: The Best Book In the World
Review: Besides the Mists of Avalon (by the same author), this is the best book ever. I was never interested in the Trojan War before I read this book and now I understand it better. I highly reccomend this book. It interesting to read a story on the Trojan War through the eyes of the women (Kassandra, Helen, Hecuba, Leda, Andromache, Oenone etc...) and it's very sad in the end (at least in my opinion). I'd give it more than five stars if I could!! :o)
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Summary: A Wonderful and Surprisingly Human Re-Imaging!!!
Review: As far as I'm concerned, Marion Zimmer Bradley is the master of injecting new life into old stories. Her retelling of the Arthur legend, The Mists of Avalon, is a phenomenal book (as anyone who has read it will tell you, if they have any sense!). In The Firebrand, Marion Zimmer Bradley takes on the Iliad of Homer. The story is told mostly from the point of view of Kassandra, prophetess of Troy and sister to Paris, son of Priam who spirited Helen away from Sparta and became the catalyst for the 10-year-long Trojan War. Many wonderful details make the characters, like the Amazons or the Kentaurs, amazingly human and real. Ms. Bradley has an enviable gift that makes her readers care about each and every one of her characters. At the center of the story lies a conflict, embodied in Kassandra herself, between the Earth Goddess and the newer Greek gods, like Apollo and Athena. As in the Iliad, the gods seem to meddle in everything, fathering children or bringing down plagues. I really enjoyed this book because it puts a new spin on the old story and gives the female characters attention that they well deserve. Kassandra is a strong, consistent character, struggling with her vows of chastity to the free-worker Apollo and the Sight given to her by the Earth Goddess. For angering Apollo, Kassandra is cursed with seeing terrible things and having no one believe her. Helen, the wife Paris stole from the Spartan king Menaleus(sp?), is also well-developed as a character. She does, however, remind me strikingly of Gwenhyfar from The Mists of Avalon. Besides having the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen has the sort of strength that inspires admiration even in the unwilling. She, too, like Kassandra, is a pawn of the gods. Other strong women, like the Amazon Queen and Andromache, prove that the war was not fought by the soldiers alone. Surprisingly scary, Akhilles(spelled scarily, too!) along with Agamemnon are Troy's, and Kassandra's, greatest enemies. Aeneas, the future founder of Rome,is a rather unlikely, but extremely likable, romantic hero. Pretty much the only nice man in the book...where Kassandra is concerned, anyway! I will say that the plot really seemed to fragment toward the end. I liked the writing, but I felt that the storyline lacked the strength of the previous parts of the book. There are, however, a few delectable and - for readers familiar with the Iliad and the Odyssey - unexpected surprises in store. As a sort of halting scholar of the Ancient Greek language wrestling with my first attempts at translating Homer, The Firebrand provided me with inspiration and gave me a more personal attachment to the characters, for which I am extremely grateful. It's obvious to me that Ms. Bradley is an extremely well-researched writer, who has a wonderful creative vision that makes the Iliad her own, while at the same time it remains the same wonderful story. Anyone who likes these sort of legend retellings should read this book! And then recommend it to a friend!
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Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: Marion Zimmer Bradley has done an excellent job transforming a myth many of us have taken for granted. Kassandra is a realistic and touching character. She is so human in her emotions and actions you can't help but understand her. The other characters add so much to the story you feel for them too. Creusa, Helen, Andromache, Hector, Penthesilia, and Aeneas have you hooked onto the story and the fate of the characters. Though Bradley pushes the theme of independence, it's woven into the story so well it's hardly noticable. Plus her explanations of such events like the slaying of Achilles are new and interesting. A great read.
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Summary: A new view on a classic story
Review: The Firebrand was an excellant book. This historical fiction was a differant view on Troy. From Princess Kassandra's point of view it sheds a new light on the fall of Troy looking from a woman's view. The story is more detailed and adds more perspective to the way you see the story. It expresses that the women of Troy played just as big of a role in its fate as the men. I would recommend this book to anyone with a creative imagination.
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Summary: Amazon Doom
Review: Bradley is a fine author that I normally greatly enjoy, but I find this one of hers has little to recommend it. It is one of her very few novels that is classified as 'general fiction', though why it should so filed seems odd to me, as it is at least as much a fantasy set in historical times as her Mists of Avalon. It tells the story of the fall of Troy, complete with all the characters from the famous Greek epics, the main character viewpoint being that of Cassandra (or, as spelled in the book, Kassandra). For this interpretation, Bradley posits that the Gods and Goddesses of the time are real, and only in very brief points does she give the possible interpretation that they may be merely the inventions of fevered dreams. Kassandra is still the prophetess of Doom, trying to warn all and sundry of her visions, which naturally nobody will take seriously until they come to pass. As an idea for a novel, this seems quite good, but unfortunately the book does not succeed as either an historical novel nor as a fantasy. The mix of the two here is very uneasy, unlike the brilliant job she did with Mists of Avalon. I think my main problem was with the secondary characters - just about all of them except Helen seemed like they were strutting on a stage, mouthing their pre-ordained lines. And sometimes her explanations for the legends, like the Trojan horse or Achilles heel, seem too mundane and matter-of-fact to have spawned the legends as we know them. Worst of all, here she harps on her main theme of independence for women from the tyranny of men, more so than in most of Bradley's books. While this theme is not inappropriate given the subject material, here it was to the point where it was too strident, to where I almost felt I was reading a feminist tract. A good idea, but a flawed execution. Bradley has done much better.
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Summary: Great book!
Review: I have studied Greek and Roman mythology since I was very young, and this book just made it all come to life for me. The descriptions and characterizations all brought me into Troy, and I saw all that happened to Kassandra. It was really interesting seeing all the insights that the author had into the characters, and the unique way that the women were represented. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone.
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