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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.
yellowpecorah's review against another edition
3.0
Una reinterpretazione dell'autrice delle vicende narrate nell'Iliade. Personalmente, preferisco l'originale. Inoltre, Cassandra è un personaggio troppo simile a Morgana de Le nebbie di Avalon.
Un buon libro dal punto di vista stilistico, non è pesante né difficile da seguire.
Un buon libro dal punto di vista stilistico, non è pesante né difficile da seguire.
amgeever's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book years ago, in 1990 or '91. It is excellent, a book I have thought about often over the years. A fully realized world.
larobb01's review against another edition
5.0
https://restivereader.blogspot.com/2019/05/review-firebrand.html
allyriadayne's review against another edition
5.0
I FINISHED IT. I'll shed several tears.
Kassandra is a very strong protagonist. We see her fears, her desires and her struggles through out her whole live right until she finally finds herself not tied to a destiny grander than her own, but following and /making/ her own path. Asides, from Kassandra, everyone was trash and I hated them but that is more of a compliment to Marion Zimmer Bradley, as always lmao.
I leave you with this quote in the same book:
"Readers will be likely to reaise challenges: "That's not the way it happened in the Illiad." Of course not; had I been content with the account in the Illiad, there would have been no reason to write a novel." I THANK YOU. WOMEN.
Kassandra is a very strong protagonist. We see her fears, her desires and her struggles through out her whole live right until she finally finds herself not tied to a destiny grander than her own, but following and /making/ her own path. Asides, from Kassandra, everyone was trash and I hated them but that is more of a compliment to Marion Zimmer Bradley, as always lmao.
I leave you with this quote in the same book:
"Readers will be likely to reaise challenges: "That's not the way it happened in the Illiad." Of course not; had I been content with the account in the Illiad, there would have been no reason to write a novel." I THANK YOU. WOMEN.