Fires of Spring [Mass Market Paperback]

Mary Mackay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

In prehistoric Europe, Keru, the son of the Queen of Shara, has been kidnapped by a nomadic diviner wishing to turn him against his own people. A band of warriors led by Keru'; s sister Luma and her best friend Keshna--who is passionately in love with Keru--set out to find him before his soul is completely corrupted by the nomads.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this third installment, Mackey (The Year of the Horses; The Horses at the Gate) continues to chronicle the life of her fifth-century heroine, Marrah, Queen of Shara and the matriarchal Motherpeople. Attention is shifted in this version from the adventures of Marrah and her nomadic lover, Stavan (of the bellicose patriarchal Hansi), to those of their children. The story opens with the kidnapping of Keru, Marrah's son, by her Hansi nemesis, Changar. The boy is spirited away and raised by Changar to live as a Hansi?the nomadic, bellicose, patriarchal enemies of the Motherpeople. When Luma, Keru's twin sister and Keshna, Keru's cousin, reach puberty, they make it their mission to train as warriors and bring Keru home. But their impetuous designs lead to danger that could cost all three of them their lives. In the end, it's Marrah's love and her skill as a visionary that save those she cares for most. While Mackey often seems too caught up in the feminist/New Age theories of late archeologist Marija Gimbutas, she still offers plenty of historical detail and a bountiful array of vibrant characters, drawn from two very diverse cultures.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Mary Mackey has published eleven novels and four books of poetry. Her works, which include A Grand Passion, The Year The Horses Came, The Horses At The Gate and The Fires of Spring, have sold over a million copies and been translated into eleven foreign languages. She writes comic novels under the name ?Kate Clemens.? To learn more, visit: www.marymackey.com. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451195892
• ISBN-13: 978-0451195890
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,208,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Related through her father's family to Mark Twain, Mary Mackey graduated from Harvard and received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. During her twenties, she lived in the rain forests of Costa Rica. Her published works include thirteen novels and six collections of poetry.

For a number of years, she has been traveling to Brazil and incorporating her experiences into her fiction and poetry. Four of her novels (The Widow's War, The Year The Horses Came, The Horses At The Gate, and The Fires of Spring) incorporate some of the rituals of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble. In 2005 she took a boat up a tributary of the Amazon, traveling over two thousand miles through flooded jungle. In June 2009, she made another trip to one of the headwaters of the Amazon on the Rio Tocantins

Her works have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and been translated into twelve foreign languages including Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, Russian, and Finnish. A screenwriter as well as a novelist and poet, she has sold feature-length screenplays to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. John Korty directed the filming of her original award-winning screenplay Silence. The film rights to her comic novel The Stand-In were recently optioned by director Renee De Palma of OneMotion Pictures. Three times, Garrison Keillor has read her poetry on The Writer's Almanac.

At present, she lives in northern California with her husband Angus Wright, and is Professor Emeritus of English at California State University. To learn more about her you are invited to visit her webpage at: http://www.marymackey.com You can also find her on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/marymackeywriter?sk=info

For more biographical information about Mary Mackey, also see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mackey

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was captured by this depiction of prehistoric Europe!, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fires of Spring (Mass Market Paperback)

The Fires of Spring was an incredible trip for my imagination. Sprinkled throughout are aspects of love, war and laughter. Marrah's story, which consisted of the first two books, has become the story of her daughter, Luma, and Keshna, the daughter of Arang and Hiknak. Keru, Luma's twin brother, has been captured (yet again) by the Hansi who desparately need a legitimate Great Chief. Keru is the acknowledged heir, although he is born of the neighboring lands of peace. In this story, Luma and Keshna, two young women who are different, a combination of the Motherpeople and the Steppes, set out on an enchanting but dangerous quest to rescue Keru. Many surprises lie in store if you read this book. Along with the expereince comes the reminder that life is not perfect and that people must grow and change. This book depicts two adapting cultures- one that is trying to fight and the other that begins to lose its sweet innocence in the face of the fires of spring.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Completely enjoyable, August 12, 2000

By 

Marianne "Marianne" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fires of Spring (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book, the third one in the Earthsong trilogy. It wasn't quite as stunning and amazing as the first two books in the trilogy (The Year the Horses Came and The Horses at the Gate) but it was close. It kept me turning pages and was full of plot twists and turns. I enjoyed seeing how the ancient world slowly changed due to the advent of the nomads.

I have only two complaints about this novel. First, I wanted more follow-up on some of the characters from the previous two books in the trilogy. There were a few characters, such as Dalish, who played fairly significant roles in the previous books but who get barely a mention in this one. Secondly, I think the author has used a tactic too often in the trilogy----you're led to believe that a main character has died, only for them to miraculously survive. Each one of the three books has this tactic used, and by the time I read The Fires of the Spring, I knew that the character we were told was dead was going to re-appear. And I was right.

Despite these few minor flaws, an excellent read and a great finish to the trilogy. Actually, I hope Mackey writes a sequel to this one as well!