Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's a Space Opera AND It's a wonderful love story!, September 10, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Firebird (Paperback)
I'm giving this five stars not because it's some academically thought out review, nitpicking every sentence--almost nothing would get five stars that way--but because once I got several pages into it, I was totally swept into the story of Firebird and her world(s). In terms of holding my interest, making me adore the lead characters (who are fiercely courageous, honorable, unselfish people with some aching needs that make them vulnerable), making me want to know more about these cultures that Tyers has created, making me hate putting down the book when I wanted to read MORE.....on these terms, I'm giving it the full rack of stars. For romance fiction lovers, there is a really beautiful love story. For action lovers, there are air battles and sieges and special operations risking all. For those interested in spiritual matters, there are religions, and they actually affect the characters' choices. There is palace intrigue. There is family dysfunction. There is redemption and hope.For those who object to anything that smacks of Christian or Jewish theology, well, this book is published by a religious publisher. Be open-minded. Just because the writer has taken elements from the Judeo-Christian belief system to form one of the two main religious systems in the story, this is not sufficient cause to dismiss the novel. Let's beware of dismissing legitimate archetypes from our own world being used in speculative fiction. Yes, she chooses to use the terms "Father God", an "Eternal Speaker" and "The Path". So what? Does that make the action scenes less intense, the machinations less interesting or the characters less well-drawn?Anyway, I've long loved SF. Be it the more accessible forms such as Star Wars and Babylon Five or the more intellectual type such as Gene Wolfe or Delany or Sturgeon. And I am also an avid reader of genre romance. I like a good head story and a good heart story. I found a happy few hours here and hope Tyers has a sequel planned.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good if not extraordinary, June 5, 2001
This review is from: Firebird (Paperback)
The original Firebird was a good plot and interesting characters somewhat marred by a beginners writing style. The rewrite comes back and cleans up a lot of those faults. Unfortunately it adds several new ones, leaving us with a book essentially about the same quality as the old one. Ms. Tyers gives us more depth on Netaian culture and religion, which was welcome. She cleans up Phoena's character a bit, which is the original wavered between spoiled brat and true evil plotter. She moves the start of the romance between Firebird and Brennan closer to the end of the book, which is more feasible. She removes several improbably trusting moments from the book - I mean really, the Federates allowing the slaughter of most of their negotiating team? All of these are good things. On the down side, without the attraction to Brennan so visible, Firebird becomes rather insipid in the middle section of the book, the religious questing might have taken the place of the romance in providing drive, but somehow doesn't. Instead she's barely gotten started questioning when she has a huge epiphanal moment, and now she believes, even if she doesn't quite know what. Ummm - if God had given me a great epiphanal moment right at the start, I wouldn't have had any problem believing either. Things are usually more subtle than that. The Ehretan religion is a bit of a problem too. For a pre-Messianic religion they seem to know an awful lot about what this Messiah is going to be like, and it bears a suspicious resemblance to our Christ. After all, Jesus wasn't at all what the Jews of the day had in mind. There are some other minor quibbles. Ellet Kinsman is more ethical in her behavior in this version, but somehow less likeable. The old Ellet would do the virtually unforgiveable, but she was doing it out of great emotions and desires which we understood, and could understand even if we disagreed. The new Ellet does less horrible things, but we're given less reason for why she does them, so she seems very dry and remote. All in all, I call it a wash, it was a pretty good book before, it's a pretty good book now, just different in emphasis.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Firebird Series Returns flying New Cover/Publisher, May 24, 1999
This review is from: Firebird (Paperback)
Welcome back to Netaia and the "Firebird" Universe. That's correct, I said 'Netaia' and it's not a typo for those, who have read the first 2 books in the series. This version of "Firebird" has been revised and some words in the original version that were unpronounceable have been rewritten so you can now pronounce it. The story of the book hasn't changed much from what it was in the original but the revisions has made a great book better. The flow of the story is much easier to follow now since everything is pronounceable. The main characters are fairly the same with the exception of Ellen, who is much more likable or at least you'll understand why she acted the way she has. The plot of the book tells the tale of a 'wastling' daughter of the Royal Family of Netaia. Some people would say why should I go out and buy this book due to the fact that I have read the original and the sequel to it, "Fusion Fire." That reason is due to the major rewrite to the book makes things more clearer than what it was in the first book. Also, the rest of the series has been rewritten along the same lines as "Firebird" and they will be published as well. It will included 'Fusion Fire,' the 2nd book in the series and the 3rd book, 'Crown of Fire,' which was never released. Depending of how well the first three books do in sales for Bethany House, there is the strong possibility that the series could be expanded by 2 more books. For Bethany House, the publication of a science fiction book is an adventure into the unknown for them. This is the first total pure science fiction book ever published by them and they couldn't have picked a better vehicle to use than Kathy Tyers' Firebird series as the standard bearer of that adventure. After searching though the net for a fan club for Kathy Tyers, or any information on what she was doing couldn't be located, I had just about given up on locating any information until I ran across a message in one of the UseNet newsgroups that she had replied to. I took a chance that it was Kathy and got back an almost instant reply from her. Since then, I have setup a place where her fans can call home and invited her to join her fans there. She has graciously accepted the invitation and now her fans can actually ask her questions to what she is up to nowadays. Everyone who enjoy her work and consider themselves fans of hers are invited to join her club. You can reach us at onelist.com and all you need is a valid email address.
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