Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Firebird and the Crone, July 12, 2003
Reading "In the Forests of Serre" is like walking into someone else's dream. You enter a rich forest of metaphor, sometimes only partially glimpsed but always beautiful. A standard fairy-tale plot is overgrown with jeweled birds and foxes with little golden crowns--Kinuko Y. Craft's cover art is a perfect match for McKillip's writing--but the story's end might still come as a surprise.The prince and princess both have some growing up to do through the labyrinthine course of the book. I picked the wrong villain, someone very like the villain in McKillip's "Song for a Basilisk" but who is redeemed in this book by his love for the kingdom of Serre. Speaking of villains, see if you can guess whose heart was enclosed in a casket inside the ribcage of a dragon---you also need guess where it went after the wizards Gyre and Unciel opened the casket. Many hearts go missing throughout the story and not all of them are returned to their true owners. The Baba Yaga-like witch, Brume and her walking hovel, and her chickens, and her stewpot full of human bones form a striking counterpoint to the beautiful firebird-woman who flies through the Forest of Serre and steals men's hearts with her song. Are either or both of them evil? Are they two faces of the same wild magic? McKillip doesn't give a direct answer to these questions (at least none that I could discern) so you'll have to decide for yourself as you read her story. Both Prince Ronan and Princess Sidonie have to face their own worst fears in Brume's hut, and they are different people when they finally emerge. The firebird seems to enter and escape the Crone's hut at will--another of McKillip's symbols for death and rebirth, or change? Incidentally, only the men in this story are seduced by the nameless firebird. "In the Forests of Serre" is one of McKillip's loveliest and most mysterious fantasies. Even if you don't care for all of that la-de-da love-lost-and-found stuff, or for the book's dense symbolism, you might still enjoy the goings-on of the Wizard Unciel and his bumbling-but-honest scribe Euan Ash. None of this author's characters do quite what you expect of them. I'm not even sure there was a villain.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"... where nothing is predictable.", June 20, 2003
Patricia McKillip has gained a reputation as one of the few truly original fantasy authors out there. With her exquisitely ethereal prose and haunting stories, she is on top form in "In the Forests of Serre." Princes, princesses, witches and wizards, firebirds and black jewels are all spun together by a master.Prince Ronan of Serre lost his wife and child, and now he tries to die by going off to fight in wars for his tyrant father. When returning from a battle, he accidently kills a chicken belonging to the witch Brume; the old woman curses him, but Ronan doesn't take it seriously. Yet when he returns home, his father reveals that he's betrothed Ronan (the only heir) to Princess Sidonie of Dacia, a small but magical kingdom. While Ronan broods about this, he sees a beautiful firebird pass by the castle, and is enspelled by it. Princess Sidonie is no happier about being married off in a barbaric land, but she has to marry Ronan to keep Dacia from being invaded. She travels to Serre with a wizard, and encounters Ronan wandering in the forest without knowing who he is. When she comes to Serre, she finds that her future husband has vanished -- Ronan is searching for the firebird, because he can't find his way home until he gives it to Brume. But things have become more complicated -- because a wizard has taken Ronan's identity... Like all McKillip's books, this novel is deceptively simple and intriguingly written. She uses simple concepts (witch, wizards, scribe, prince, princess, firebird, a country's magic, and talking animals) and spins her unique prose around them. This is not a book for people who like all the usual elements used in the same old way. McKillip's prose is detailed and lush, bringing to mind the best of medieval tapestries and Loreena McKennitt music; when Ronan is in the woods, McKillip describes moths clinging to him, and spiderwebs covering rips in his clothes. The dialogue is more flowing and natural than in some of her other books; the sentences are longer and less flowery. At the same time, her descriptions of things like transformation into a firebird are exquisite. Ronan is a slightly less vivid character at the beginning, compared to his faded mother and half-nuts father; he becomes more interesting as he stops moping and starts obsessing on the firebird. Princess Sidonie is a likable heroine, not gung-ho but very interesting and determined. The wizard Gyre adds an element of mystery to the plot, while the witch Brume will creep you out. Venture into "Forests of Serre," where "nothing is predictable." It's haunting, beautiful and magical, not just for fans of fantasy.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Prince and the Firebird, August 5, 2003
In the Forests of Serre is a fantasy novel with a Slavic style. Prince Ronan has lost his wife and child and, after burning their bodies on the funeral byre and scattering their ashes in the river, he has ridden away to war with rebels in southern Serre, hoping to die in battle. His father, King Fergus, sends a messenger and a troop of soldiers to order him to come home. Ronan obeys his father, returning with the wounded warriors and escorted by the troop of soldiers. As he crosses a wasteland, his horse steps on a white hen. Ronan is soon made aware by the witch Brume that the crushed bird is hers and she bids him to pluck the chicken for her pot and invites him and his companion to enter her house and drink the broth. Ronan refuses her bidding and invitation three times and is then informed that he will have a bad day.When Ronan reaches his home, the king wastes no time telling him that he will marry Princess Sidonie in four days. Although Ronan tries to demur from this wedding, saying that he is still grieving his lost wife and child, the king refuses to delay the wedding and, when Ronan continues to deny his command, the king puts Ronan under guard prior to the ceremony. Ronan's mother is sympathetic but is powerless to change the king's plans. While Ronan is in his guarded room, he sees the Firebird in the forest and hears her singing. Ronan leaves his room, walks down the staircase and, while the guards are following him at a slower pace, slips out of the castle gates and down the cliff to the forest. There he follows the Firebird, running and running, then standing still to watch and listen, and then running again. He is soon lost in the woods, enthralled by the beauty and song of the Firebird. As he follows, the prince is asked by various distressed animals to help them with their troubles, which he does in an absent-minded way. In Dacia, Princess Sidonie is told of the impending marriage and runs to Unciel, a formerly powerful wizard, to convince him to urge her father to change his mind. The king is relentless, however, and soon persuades Sidonie and Unciel that the marriage must occur to preclude an invasion of Dacia by King Fergus. Unciel suggests that a wizard should accompany the marriage party to protect against the wild magic of Serre. He is still too weak and powerless from a long and strenuous battle against a mighty foe to provide such protection, but he calls upon the wizard Gyre, who owes him a favor, to accompany Sidonie's party. After many long and hard weeks of travel, Princess Sidonie and her escorts finally enter the forests of Serre. While playing with her bow and arrows in the forest, Sidonie comes upon a wild and ragged looking man following the Firebird. She talks to the confused and somewhat incoherent man for a while and gives her bow to him as he starts to run after the Firebird. When they reach the Castle in Serre, Sidonie soon determines that the deshelved man must have been Prince Ronan. This novel is a story of wizards and witches, princes and princesses, kindness and cruelty, and warm passion versus cold intellect. The witch Brume is devious, but can sometimes be fooled. King Fergus is powerful and determined, but has only limited perception. The story is full of light and mystery and ends with a hint of still other secrets not quite seen. Highly recommended for McKillip fans and anyone else who enjoys adult fairy tales written with a light and fanciful touch.
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by Patricia A. McKillip
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