The Firebrand: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't match up to others by this author.
Review: Having read all of Marion Zimmer Bradley books, I have learned to love her style of writing. However, I felt that this book fell short. I think the only reason I made it through the whole book was because it was by this author and I kept expecting the ending to make up for the rest of it. This did not happen and the ending was a let down. I kept wondering, what is the point of this story? There was much rambling on about different gods which took away from the characters. Everything the main charcter, Kassandra, set out to do was in vain. I felt very disappointed when finished with this book. While I have treasured and even re-read previous Bradley books in the past, I will not open this one again. I do recommend The Mists of Avalon or The Priestess of Avalon instead.

Rating:
Summary: Not very good
Review: Once you get past MZB's insessant "male religions are bad, female religions are good", you get... not a whole heck of a lot, I'm afraid, other than anarchronisms and plain wrong history. Feel free to pass this one by.

Rating:
Summary: The Illiad by women
Review: This book is wonderful. MZB's take on the fall of Troy is amazing a beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Not impressed, not at all
Review: (...) Opening the book, I could have sworn I had read it before. Except the Amazons were priestesses, the Greeks were Saxons, and Helen was Gwynhyfar! Indeed, I felt as if the characters from 'The Mists of Avalon' had come back to star in another version of 'Mists' set in ancient Greece. All together, i was not impressed by this book, especially after my Humanities Honors class spent monthes discussing 'The Illiad', 'The Odesseuy' and 'Trojan Women'.

Let's start off with the men in the book. Now, a lot of times in MZB books, the men are either egotistical jerks or they're romantic interests who become egotisical jerks. If you've read 'The Illiad' you understand the emotions of the warriors, especially Hektor, Priam and Akilles (who admittingly is a bastard in 'The Illiad' and is downright ancient Greek Ted Bundy in 'The Firebrand'). However, MZB just makes all of them mean! Just like in 'Forest House' and most of her other books! I cried at Hektor's death in 'The Illiad', and I was very disturbed by her portrayal of him as a pompous know-it-all in her book.

Then there's the women. I did not like Kassandra--she was a goody-two-shoes version of Morgaine from 'The Mists'. She was constantly thrown around with a 'victim' sign around her neck. And, at least for me, it's very hard to like victims. Polyxena's character is completely wrong--she is the YOUNGEST of Priam's children! Why is she older than Kassandra? Hecuba and Priam had scads of daughters--why was Polyxena the oldest? Why did Helen and Andromache eerily resemble Gwynhyfar and Igraine from 'Mists'? Why was Hecuba turning into Vivian from 'Mists' as well? And, why was the entire sad story of 'Trojan Women' dubbed down into a couple of pages? MZB had a huge oppurtunity to play an emotional card here, but she didn't. I am throughly disappointed.

And on one final note, what's with the cover painting? Are the publishers THAT desparate to sell to the teenage Wiccan crowd? Why is Kassandra dressed like a Medieval princess in ancient Greece? Oh well. I'm not the one to argue.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting look at Greek Mythology
Review: Though there were several things I didn't like about this book, it inspired such emotion from me that I have to say in spite of myself that it is very well-written and I understand the author's message. First off, for the readers that seem to slam her inclusion of mother-goddess worship in those times over preference for the dominant male-god worshipping, they are not looking at Greek mythology closely! The "Earth Mother" discussed is none other than the Greek Goddess Gaia who came before Zeus, Hera etc. The Python and the slaying of the Python by Apollo is in reference to Gaia's child and Apollo's slaying of it. Just type up Gaia, Greek mythology on any search engine and you can read about it. As for her "belittling" of the Trojan horse in the myth as others seem to complain about, again this is understandable. Archaelogical evidence over the supposed "discovered" city of Troy believes that Troy did fall to an earthquake and there is no evidence of a Trojan horse. This book was Bradley's attempt to get closer to the truth about Troy - a myth that has fascinated many for years and also seems to include a clear bias to male characters throughout time in such epic novels as "The Illiad", "Odyssey" etc. If one woman comes forth and challenges those stereotypes, then what is so terribly wrong about that?! In the other epic novels, Paris' act is not nearly criticized as much as it should be and Helen is mainly portrayed as a lascivious, evil adultress. In this novel, Bradley portrays a self-centered Paris, because obviously that's what he was to have committed his deed and portrays Helen simply as a woman exercising her right in choosing a lover. My major dissapointment in the novel was Kassandra's departure from Aeneas (though her re-creation of Aeneas was right on target!) - I would have preferred her give the true "Aeneid" retelling because it seemed more believable but then, I didn't write this book. Also, if we again look closely at Greek mythology, one would realize that Kassandra could very well represent the ideal of a modern woman with the choices she made in her time. As far as I'm concerned, Bradley attempted to convey this and I applaud her for it. She seemed to do a lot of research into this book - we see that in her postscript and also with her interpretation of the entire myth throughout the book. She uncovered a lot of old, almost lost stories of Greek mythology such as the Gaia retellings inserted in the novel and revived it for us to take a closer look. If you're looking for a fascinating, honest attempt at a retelling of this myth, you've read the right book.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Marion Zimmer Bradley book
Review: This is among my FAVORITE books of all. In the tradition of Mists of Avalon, all those who wish to read about the female/goddess perception of fantasy-historical tales MUST read this book. I cringe to watch the new TROY movie because now the female version makes so much sense to me. I love this book more than MISTS.. even though that book changed me. I'm so happy to see it re-editioned, as my original is yellowing and torn. READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Very pleased...
Review: I am a big fan of mythology and I try to read as many books as I can on the subject. When I found this book I didn't know if it was going to be a good book or not, seeing as I had never heard of the author before. By the time I had finished the first two chapters I was hooked. I loved the detail that she put into the characters and the surrounding areas. Reading the book was like watching a movie. I highly recomend this book for anyone who is a fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley.