Firebird

Rating:
Summary: Interesting characters make an enjoyable read.
Review: I recommend this fun, fast read for the wonderful characters that populate it. Lackey adds a new dimension to the classical fairy tale by describing the characters in a lively, realistic way. The world of the hero seems like a normal, real world with the typical jelousies, greed, and love. However, when the Firebird makes an appearance, the hero uncovers the magical aspects of his world as well. The combination of the hero's wits and Firebird's magic make an entertaining story

Rating:
Summary: Aside from minor discrepancies another great book from Misty
Review: I wnated to read this book for two reasons, I love reading Mercedes Lackey books and I grew up on the legend of firebird. The summary on the back almost descoriged me, but I gave Misty a chance, and wasn't dissapointed. she gave a legend interesting twists, although not all of them I liked. In original tale Baba Yaga is a yonger sister that is equiped with the bone fake leg and a huge nose, dragon is actually a three headed hydra called 'zmey gorinich' and is a middle brother, and kaschey (bessmertniy) is the undead lich/necromancer. instead of fox there's a talking wolf, and sons are searching for magic golden apples to heal their sick old father, not protecting the cherry garden. The firebird (zharptitsa in Russian) is just a magical creature that has to be cought by a hero in order to get the apples, who ends up helping the hero in the end. But all in all it was a very interesting version, and concidering the fact that Misty is not Russian, she got a lot of things extremelly well.

Rating:
Summary: Aside from minor discrepancies another great book from Misty
Review: I wnated to read this book for two reasons, I love reading Mercedes Lackey books and I grew up on the legend of firebird. The summary on the back almost descoriged me, but I gave Misty a chance, and wasn't dissapointed. she gave a legend interesting twists, although not all of them I liked. In original tale Baba Yaga is a yonger sister that is equiped with the bone fake leg and a huge nose, dragon is actually a three headed hydra called 'zmey gorinich' and is a middle brother, and kaschey (bessmertniy) is the undead lich/necromancer. instead of fox there's a talking wolf, and sons are searching for magic golden apples to heal their sick old father, not protecting the cherry garden. The firebird (zharptitsa in Russian) is just a magical creature that has to be cought by a hero in order to get the apples, who ends up helping the hero in the end. But all in all it was a very interesting version, and concidering the fact that Misty is not Russian, she got a lot of things extremelly well.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Fairy Tale Retold
Review: Mercedes Lackey fares best when she strays from the world of Valdemar. This work a retelling of a classic Russian Fairy Tale shows her at her best. Working with the original tale, she embellishes with fascinating glimpses of the hero's home life. He encounters not only the Firebird, but a dragon and a kitchen demon all of whom keep him from his fair princess. Let's hope that Ms Lackey sees fit to spin some more tales of old Russia.

Rating:
Summary: More than OK
Review: Mercedes Lackey is one of todays greatest fantasy writers and this book continues her legacy of great writing.

Set in the middle of Russia, the story takes on a magical essence as more and more fables creatures come to life. The reader is honestly transported to another time and place where everything tempts the senses.

Not only are there fantastical settings but Ilya, the main character, is fascinating. He's full of charm, witt, and most importantly kindness which has the reader cheering him on. He continues from one adventure to the next climaxing with a powerful wizard in a magnificent story.

In all it is a beautiful story. Some readers do not appreciate the fact it has a "happily ever after" ending. Yet this ending is still refreshing and after all....it is a fairy tale.

Rating:
Summary: One of the BEST!!!
Review: Mercedes Lackey kept me at the edge of my seat 100% of the time. She kept in touch with her characters and her story the whole way through. It was funny, suspenseful, and a HECK of a book. I recomend it to any reader out there.

Rating:
Summary: A great fairytale adaptation, but .....
Review: Mercedes recreates the classic fairytale-style of writing in the telling of this Russian fable. Unfortunately, it also recreates the boredom a long Chekov novel can (but with fewer names). Unlike all of her other works (which I love), Firebird was easy to put down and difficult to finish. To to her credit, she did make it as short as possible.

Rating:
Summary: EXCITING, ENTERTAINING, PROVOCTIVE,CAN'T PUT THIS ONE DOWN.!
Review: SHE HAS TAKING A RUSSIAN FAIRYTALE AND BROUGHT IT UP TO DATE,WITH VERY GOOD STORYLINE, EXCELLENT PROSE, AND STORY TWIST. VERY GOOD MESSAGE FOR YOUNG ADULTS AND TEENAGERS PLUS PAINTING A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THIS WORLD THAT WILL MAKE ALL READERS THINK! A TRUE HIT. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE. A MUST READ!! MR RICHARD LOWELL jr

Rating:
Summary: Incredible descriptions! Mercedes Lackey has done it again!
Review: The evocative tale of a young man torn between his respect, or lack thereof, for his family and his wish to be free truly struck a chord. The only thing I regret about this novel is that it is the start of another series

Rating:
Summary: Decent Effort, But Lackey Can Do Better
Review: The Firebird is a book based on the classic Russian fairy tale of the same name. Ivan is a self-styled tsar who has many strong, trained, warrior sons, but none of them are very bright. Except for Ilya, the middle son. He is much smarter than his brothers so they naturally assume that he is a sorcerer and use every opportunity provided to beat him to a pulp and just generally make his life miserable. When someone steals Ivan's prize cherries, he sends his sons one by one into the orchard to discover who the thief is. Ilya knows who the thief is because he spied on the orchard and saw her. It was the Firebird. As a reward for not telling Ivan who was stealing his cherries, she gives him the gift of speaking to animals. As his older brothers fail to discover the thief, they become convinced that Ilya is the thief and give him the worst beating of his life. Ilya now fears for his life and can think of no other plan to save himself than to pretend that the beating addled his wits and turned him into a fool. However, not even his pretense protects him as his brothers continue to play cruel jokes - such as tying him to his horse and setting the dogs on him during a hunt. Using his newly acquired skill to communicate with his horse and the dogs chasing him, he is able to get away. However, when his horse is killed, he is lost out in the forest in the middle of winter with no supplies. A kindly ex-employee of his grandfather takes him in for a time and then Ilya becomes restless and follows the feeling of magic back into the woods. There he comes upon a giant maze which leads to an evil sorcerer's castle. After catching one glimpse of the 12 beautiful maidens that the sorcerer keeps captive, he falls in love with the lovely Tatiana. He decides to do whatever it takes to free her and to kill the evil sorcerer. But, with evil demons, a dragon, and other impossible tasks, can Ilya accomplish what so many other heroes could not?

I gave this book 3 stars because there was such slow story development that I almost set it aside. I usually finish books in a day or 2 and this one took me a week and a half to plow through. The characters were likeable enough and the story was fine, but Mercedes Lackey spent well over half of the book just setting up the story. The first part of the book just dragged by as the author described Ilyas terrible life and the horrible things that his family did to him. She weakly explained that Ilya didn't dare leave because he couldn't survive out in the forest alone long enough to get anywhere else where he could survive. But, if Ilya's home life was actually as bad as it was potrayed, Ilya definitely had enough backbone to leave - long before the whole cherry tree incident. By the time Ilya actually does leave his father's land, there isn't a whole lot of time left for the real action in the book. The reader is going along at a nice slow pace and then suddenly is raced through to the ending where everything changes and nothing ends quite the way it was set up to. The ending was quite abrupt and left the reader hanging, too. If this book was a duology or a trilogy, then it would be understandable that Lackey spent so long setting up the story line and left the reader hanging at the end, but, as far as I am aware, it is a standalone novel. Perhaps Mercedes Lackey was planning on writing another novel to follow this one and it never happened?