Black Trillium [Hardcover]

Julian May (Author), Marion Bradley (Author), Andre Norton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1991

Ruwenda is a pleasant, peaceful land-but the magic of its guardian, the Archimage Binah, is waning.  Binah must pass along her protectorship to the triplet princess of Ruwenda.  She bestows upon the infant girls the power of the rare and mystical Black Trillium-badge of the royal house, symbol of an ancient magic.  While the sisters blossom into beautiful young women, neighboring Labornok use a dark magician to sunder Binah's protection. As invaders pour into Ruwenda, the Archimage orders the princesses to flee-and changes them to search for three magical talismans which when brought together will be their only chance to regain their kingdom and free its people.   Each must accomplish her task separately-and to succeed, each must also confront and conquer the limits of her own soul.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three masters of science fiction and fantasy collaborated on this mildly diverting quest novel, their failure to produce a more compelling tale demonstrating the pitfalls of writing by committee. The kingdom of Ruwenda is attacked by neighboring Labornok, whose king has long been jealous of its wealth and prosperity. Ruwenda's rulers are brutally slain, but their daughters--the three Petals of the Living Trillium, prophesied to save their country in a time of peril--flee to the Archimage Binah, who directs them to their magic talismans. Each accompanied by a childhood companion, Oddlings of the area's aboriginal races, the girls must conquer their weaknesses: the eldest, her intellectual arrogance; the middle sister, her tendency to act before thinking; the youngest, her great timidity. Their enemies pursue them, led by a sorcerer seeking ancient secrets hidden in the abandoned cities. Throughout appear intimations that some of the magic is a relic of an old technology, possibly ours. The three princesses are little more than a collection of attributes, the love story is a bore and the many races of Oddlings are barely distinguishable.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-- When three such distinguished ladies collaborate, we ignore them at our peril. Nevertheless, this is a slight work, only hinting at the depths of which these authors are capable. It is, however, a fairy tale that will be highly enjoyable to young women, with the princesses providing a surrogate for almost any temperment, and a busy plot.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; hardcover edition (January 17, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246137177
• ISBN-13: 978-0385261852
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,445,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Witch, the Warrior and the Woman, December 19, 2001

By 

"wujasmine" (Melbourne, VIC AUS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Trillium (Paperback)

Okay, maybe not exactly but it sounded good and they all began with W. The three triplet girls are revered by their people as the 'Living Trillium'. The Witch is the Princess Haramis (eldest triplet) whose interest in books, learning, magic and the command of power may become her downfall. The Warrior is Kadiya (middle sister) who discovers that she is not as tough as she thinks. The Woman is Anigel (youngest daughter) who is more prone to dancing and clothes. They live in peace for 18 years before trouble strikes at the heart of their family. The sisters are separated and each mus follow a different path to reach their final destination and it may still be longer before they can reunite to destroy the evil sorceror Orogastus. He seems to control Prince Voltrik and is the way to destroy him. Haramis must journey to visit the Archimage and find her talisman (a wand) before accepting a great burden. Kadiya ventures into the lands of the Oddlings, creatures of different races who inhabit the swamps. She must find a sword and accept a different kind of burden. Anigel is captured by Voltrik's son Antar and with the help of a servant escapes. She must draw on strength she didn't know she had to find a circlet and complete her quest. Meanwhile, Antar has fallen in love with this beautiful princess and the more he is forced to pursue and capture her, the more he loves her. Orogastus can see their every move and the sisters grow desperate. How can they defeat one who can counter every plan and thought? Good read. One thing I didn't particularly like was the way the story jumped around. I have a feeling that each writer (there's three) chose a different princess and wrote solely about them. Therefore, sometimes I found myself a litte off-balanced.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth It., December 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Black Trillium (Paperback)

The trio authors Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, and Andre Norton have created a world so enchanting that I had to read non-stop from beginning to end. Action began from the first page as the triplet sisters are forced to split up and embark on their own journeys, and conquer themselves.

The story is fun, beleivable, and full of mystery surrounding the ancient citizens of the planet, the vanished ones. It is fairly easy to read because the authors did not add too much description, or confusing topics, which often take away the pleasure of reading.

The charcters came to life for me because their personalities were so human. Also, although I am not a feminist, I enjoyed the fact that the main characters Kadiyah, Haramis, and Anigel are women, which is a good change from many other fantasy stories that have either men as the lead characters or super-strong and unrealistic women running around and beating everyone up, (*cough*Xena-wannabees*cough), excuse me.

Black Trillium has all the elements that make an excellent story. The only problem that I had with it is that the ending seemed to be a little slapped together because it was so short.
This is when all three sisters confront The bad guy, Orogastus, together for the first time. About two short chapters later, the story ends. This dosen't create any loose ends, but it does take some of the momentum that the story had built up.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tad to non-original...., August 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Black Trillium (Paperback)

You would think with three different authors that the book might have a chance of developing a good plot centering around these three women. Though after the first couple of chapters I found myself liking the bad guys a whole lot more than the whiney or "I'll protect you all" or "I'm a wuss" princesses. Sure as the story moved on they got a bit better but still they were very chiche as was the evil omnipotent bad guy who "advises" the deluded king. Oh well, you can't always win.