Tiger Burning Bright [Hardcover]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author), Andre Norton (Author), Mercedes Lackey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

Abdictating when their realm is threatened by an all-conquering emperor, the three ruling women of Merina secretly plan a powerful counterattack that takes the form of deception, misdirection, and magic. 20,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Three fantasy giants--the "others" are Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey--join forces to produce this tale of three women who rule a city. A priestess grandmother, a reigning queen mother, and a warrior princess daughter must use all their skill and strength in both open and secret battle to defeat an evil emperor and his truly odious, not to mention potent, sorcerous henchman. None of the troika has ever told a bad story on her own, and they do not when collaborating. The only possible caveats are that the three writers blend so well that this is not the book to start an acquaintance with any one of them individually and that the plot is so stock that some may find it lacking in interest. Interest will not, however, be lacking in any book with these three mighty fantasists' names on the cover. Roland Green

About the Author

Over a celebrated career that has already spanned six decades, ANDRE NORTON has written many highly regarded works of fantasy and science fiction, including Scent of Magic, Mirror of Destiny, The Hands of Lyr, Brother to Shadows, and the popular Witch World and Beast Master series. She has received lifetime achievement awards in both science fiction and fantasy, the most prestigious honors in her field. Ms. Norton presently resides in Tennessee. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 504 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; First Edition edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688143601
• ISBN-13: 978-0688143602
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,287,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, once it got started...., July 4, 2000

By 

Laura - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tiger Burning Bright (Mass Market Paperback)

For the first hundred or so pages, this book was extremely boring. The characters were 2-dimensional (Wise old queen, impetuous young princess, etc.),it was somewhat hard to follow, and it was impossible to tell WHY anyone did what they did. After that, however, the plot picked up rather nicely, and, by the middle of the book I could not put it down. The romances were, in my opinion, predictable, but sweet anyway. I would say read it, it IS pretty good after the beginning, but be prepared to wade through a few hundred pages first.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent and then some, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tiger Burning Bright (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a truely amazing book no matter where your taste lies. It is interesting, descriptive (without becoming boring), and has the ability to compell readers to read this beautifully wrought novel. Though it is told mainly through feminine views, it is not a story which the only reason the hero is not male is because the author likes the novelty of female heroines and thus gives the heroine infinite powers. Instead it is a story which contain both the upsides and downsides of human personality. However, since it is a fantasy novel and not a "real-life" story (in which someone gets cancer and the parents are divorced), something unusual has to happen to seperate it from the afforementioned category. The result is one of the best books I have ever read.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a few good details, December 29, 2000

By 

Amy (texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tiger Burning Bright (Mass Market Paperback)

this book had me bored to tears. i literally threw this book down a few times wondering when things were going to culminate? everything is tediously described three times by three different characters. three generations of a royal family are seen through three women of this royal house; the old queen, the middle aged heir and the young princess. in that it's pretty standard but instead of moving this story, which at its heart is wonderful, every scene is retold through each character's eyes with barely any variance.

this story of a kingdom threatened by an invading emperor who lusts for conquest sounded pretty interesting to me. his son, who the reader finds quickly is really loving and wishes for peace, is in this kingdom to help conqueror it. the three main characters, through who the story is told, are the queen, the heir and the young princess. the queen is aging and must pass on the throne but cannot when they are all forced to flee into hiding by the invaders. this summary is brief but the story is closely connected with the characters and i don't want to hand out to many teasers.

at the begginning of the book i was intrigued by the idea of this mystical kingdom with hidden secrets and mysterious rituals but by the third chapter i was wondering when something was going to happen to already. "tiger burning bright" hints that angels may play a very important role but then abruptly ignores the subject leaving the reader wondering why the lengthy description if they play no real role?

chapter after chapter is devoted to what every character is thinking, feeling, wearing and what they plan to do but never actually do. build up is all well and go and i am a never ending fan of suspense, holding it as critical part of a story but between three authors one would think that all this suspense was leading somewhere.

the long awaited ending was something i wouldn't call overly original, reading instead like some trashy romance novel. i knew who would end up with who by the fifth chapter and kept wondering when it would happen already. though many like the story line and i found i liked certain scenes or detail/ideas in the book overall i found it a dissappointing if not completely tiresome read.