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gabrielleragusi's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of my absolute favourite books. I first read it years ago after the Avalon series and I fell in love with it.
As in all the author's books, there's a theme of violence and abuse that I absolutely hate, but the writing is undeniably good and the amount of research is evident in The Firebrand.
When I talk about Marion Zimmer Bradley's books, I always end up talking about the negative (how can I not, I fell in love with her books when I was in middle school, I was obsessed, and then I felt... betrayed? I was certainly disappointed), but to this day I still adore her writing and the structure of her stories.
But here's the negative.
The characters are human and inhuman at first, but each one of them tends to become a stereotype by the end of the book. They're also inconsistent and have the tendency to appear and disappear at random.
The book is based on feminism, or at least a very distorted concept of it. In my opinion, this is not feminism. Kassandra isn't an independent strong woman, she's quite the opposite to the very end. Her desire to worship someone, a God or a man, doesn't go away. She continuously changes her mind about this. Although she's somewhat strong by the end (she's been through some shit), she isn't independent.
The timeline could have been better. There are small and large skips.
In general, there are inconsistencies throughout the book and this may cause confusion.
But! I'm giving this book four stars because it's one of my favourites. I studied history in Uni because of MZB's books and the Firebrand in particular (then I dropped out to pursue something else), and her work is still very important to me.
As in all the author's books, there's a theme of violence and abuse that I absolutely hate, but the writing is undeniably good and the amount of research is evident in The Firebrand.
When I talk about Marion Zimmer Bradley's books, I always end up talking about the negative (how can I not, I fell in love with her books when I was in middle school, I was obsessed, and then I felt... betrayed? I was certainly disappointed), but to this day I still adore her writing and the structure of her stories.
But here's the negative.
The characters are human and inhuman at first, but each one of them tends to become a stereotype by the end of the book. They're also inconsistent and have the tendency to appear and disappear at random.
The book is based on feminism, or at least a very distorted concept of it. In my opinion, this is not feminism. Kassandra isn't an independent strong woman, she's quite the opposite to the very end. Her desire to worship someone, a God or a man, doesn't go away. She continuously changes her mind about this. Although she's somewhat strong by the end (she's been through some shit), she isn't independent.
The timeline could have been better. There are small and large skips.
In general, there are inconsistencies throughout the book and this may cause confusion.
But! I'm giving this book four stars because it's one of my favourites. I studied history in Uni because of MZB's books and the Firebrand in particular (then I dropped out to pursue something else), and her work is still very important to me.
kiki124's review against another edition
3.0
Sorta feminist,
almost queer Trojan War. Teen
me loved it. Now? Meh.
almost queer Trojan War. Teen
me loved it. Now? Meh.
lauraethacker's review against another edition
4.0
I took this book with me on a trip to Denmark. I did not read it on the airplane because it was a little hard to get into however I did finish it over the course of our month long trip.
I love the format of a classic mythological city from the view point of a female however the Mists of Avalon is better.
I love the format of a classic mythological city from the view point of a female however the Mists of Avalon is better.
m1r's review against another edition
VIDEORECENSIONE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzjcS_dJCqo&t=1s
knmartinez666's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
murmuration19's review against another edition
Posted on my blog (readmuchrunfar.com)
This paperback has been on my to-be-read shelf for many years, ever since I first read The Mists of Avalon. Although I really enjoyed the perspective of the misunderstood villain/female in Mists, I somehow never found a good chance to pick up The Firebrand. I wish I had done so earlier. I also wish that I had read it earlier in my life in order to compare my understanding of the feminist themes now to what they would have been then.
Beyond being a well-written story, these themes struck me the most about this book. Nearly any historical fiction about medieval or ancient times will at least touch on the issue of women as commodities, and perhaps even the ubiquity of accepted rape, but it was Kassandra's commentary on these things that made them central themes in Firebrand. She seems to be the only one in Troy, even among other women, who questions or finds it outrageous that a woman can be carried off, raped, bought, sold, or claimed...and it's all completely acceptable as long as her violator marries her. She's written to see things things in the way a modern reader would. This makes her an accessible narrator, but at the same time it introduces an interesting interpretation of her curse.
In the myth, Kassandra is cursed by Apollo to see the future, but never to be believed. But her gift in Firebrand manifests itself very early and appears to be either inborn or a gift of the mother goddess. And she's not believed from the start, first because she is a child, and then because she is a woman. She doesn't just see glimpses of the future, she sees events as they happen and understands them. She airs her views to others but is ignored. Her opinions sound sensible and right to a modern reader, but are constantly dismissed by the other characters as madness or else an attempt to create drama and draw attention to herself. Perhaps her curse isn't to be a seer but to be a woman ahead of her time.
I found many lines that echoed problems women face even now. One thread of the story is the pursuit of Kassandra by a priest of Apollo named Khryse. Upon his arrival in the temple, Khryse immediately begins to lust after her, despite the fact that she has take a vow of chastity. When she politely but firmly rebuffs him, he will not take no for an answer. When it escalates, he blames her for leading him on with her beauty, and even makes the excuse that the gods caused her to be beautiful and if he desires her, the gods clearly meant for him to have her.
This and other situations in an ancient setting seemed designed to parallel issues that plague women in the present day, even though we may think we've left these attitudes far behind. Firebrand works as a simple feminist retelling of the Iliad, but there also seems to be a very deliberate message underlining it.
This paperback has been on my to-be-read shelf for many years, ever since I first read The Mists of Avalon. Although I really enjoyed the perspective of the misunderstood villain/female in Mists, I somehow never found a good chance to pick up The Firebrand. I wish I had done so earlier. I also wish that I had read it earlier in my life in order to compare my understanding of the feminist themes now to what they would have been then.
Beyond being a well-written story, these themes struck me the most about this book. Nearly any historical fiction about medieval or ancient times will at least touch on the issue of women as commodities, and perhaps even the ubiquity of accepted rape, but it was Kassandra's commentary on these things that made them central themes in Firebrand. She seems to be the only one in Troy, even among other women, who questions or finds it outrageous that a woman can be carried off, raped, bought, sold, or claimed...and it's all completely acceptable as long as her violator marries her. She's written to see things things in the way a modern reader would. This makes her an accessible narrator, but at the same time it introduces an interesting interpretation of her curse.
In the myth, Kassandra is cursed by Apollo to see the future, but never to be believed. But her gift in Firebrand manifests itself very early and appears to be either inborn or a gift of the mother goddess. And she's not believed from the start, first because she is a child, and then because she is a woman. She doesn't just see glimpses of the future, she sees events as they happen and understands them. She airs her views to others but is ignored. Her opinions sound sensible and right to a modern reader, but are constantly dismissed by the other characters as madness or else an attempt to create drama and draw attention to herself. Perhaps her curse isn't to be a seer but to be a woman ahead of her time.
I found many lines that echoed problems women face even now. One thread of the story is the pursuit of Kassandra by a priest of Apollo named Khryse. Upon his arrival in the temple, Khryse immediately begins to lust after her, despite the fact that she has take a vow of chastity. When she politely but firmly rebuffs him, he will not take no for an answer. When it escalates, he blames her for leading him on with her beauty, and even makes the excuse that the gods caused her to be beautiful and if he desires her, the gods clearly meant for him to have her.
This and other situations in an ancient setting seemed designed to parallel issues that plague women in the present day, even though we may think we've left these attitudes far behind. Firebrand works as a simple feminist retelling of the Iliad, but there also seems to be a very deliberate message underlining it.
v_o's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
eupomene's review against another edition
3.0
Contains a lot of the typical Bradley tropes -- warrior women, gender wars, etc etc, but remains a fairly well done retelling of the battle of Troy. My one beef is that she leaves out the Trojan horse. The Achaeans start building it, yes, but it never gets used the way the legend has it. I know she wanted to write it her way, not Homer's, but the Trojan horse -- with all those Greeks hidden inside it -- and the Trojans' greed in bringing it into the city is such a big part of the story to have it be missing. The characterization is somewhat inconsistent, also. Oh well - certainly the best version of this story would be Homer's anyway. Read this if you are an MZB fan, but don't miss the original. Fagles or Lattimore translations suggested! Unless, of course, you know your Homeric Greek.
magentabyfive's review against another edition
1.0
I don't get this author. The first book was interesting enough, but I always feel like I'm reading the same thing. There is a strong female on the cover, who turns out to be someone swept by fate, who learns or knows and is beholden to the goddess. Who watches and makes a little effort here and there as men usurp their world and take over and destroy the rights of females, and this is always set in some pseudo historical period I guess to say this is how we lost power. I have no idea. I don't mind tragedies, but she always comes off as whiny, and setting up basically all men as evil or corrupt and wrong minded and putting women down and anyone who isn't "strong" wants all women "weak" and the plot is thin as it stretches years and has "women problems" and in the end is just not my cup of tea and I need to stop reading her hoping for something different. Because the plot is the same, the message is the same, and the characters are never interesting enough to distract from this.