Firebird (Hardcover)

~ R. Garcia y Robertson (Author) "Once upon a time, deep in the north woods that circle the world, a witch-girl gathered fungus for the Bone Witch's supper, when she heard..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sir Roye, Bone Witch, Firebird's Egg (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Garcia y Robertson (White Rose) opens his dazzling stand-alone with the words "Once upon a time" and spends the rest of the book crafting a true fairy tale. In the cursed land of Markovy (which resembles medieval Russia), Aria, a "witch-girl" raised to young womanhood by the powerful Bone Witch, is out gathering herbs when she hears the fire jay calling her name. Following the call, Aria sees an injured knight riding away from the burning town of Byeli Zamak. By ministering to the knight's wounds, Aria begins a wondrous journey that will take her far from her quiet sylvan abode. To remove the curse on Markovy, Aria and her knight, Sir Roye de Roye, must return the "Firebird's Egg," which was stolen by the late King Demitri, to its nest atop Burning Mountain deep in the Iron Wood. Bawdy and bloody, magical and mythic, this joyous novel is sure to please heroic fantasy fans. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A rollicking adventure yarn, by turns stirring, touching, undignified, funny, raunchy, and grim. A whirlwind of a tale that races the reader along on the quests and misadventures of Aria and a knight of many accomplishments. Anyone who remembers childhood hero tales of dragonslayers and explorers finding wonders in fantastic unknown lands with nostalgia will love Firebird: here's a NEW hero tale!”—Ed Greenwood

“Like Philip Pullman or George R.R. Martin, Rod Garcia has created one of those genre-transcending works that will thrill and move even readers who don't normally care for this sort of thing. It's one of the few heroic fantasies I've read which takes notice that we're not living in the 19th Century any more, a sophisticated, often erotically charged story about adult human beings in a harsh world. This was my first Garcia novel, but it won't be my last.”
--Spider Robinson, author of Very Bad Deaths on Firebird

"Full of marvels, and irrepressibly joyous, it is an exhilarating fantasy story.” --Yves Meynard on Firebird

"A rollicking adventure yarn, by turns stirring, touching, undignified, funny, raunchy, and grim." (Ed Greenwood )

"Like Philip Pullman or George R.R. Martin, Rod Garcia has created one of those genre-transcending works." (Spider Robinson )

"Full of marvels, and irrepressibly joyous, it is an exhilarating fantasy story." (Yves Meynard )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (May 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765313561
• ISBN-13: 978-0765313560
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,418,191 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, October 28, 2006

By	Brian Martin (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked up this book from a recommendation from Realms of Fantasy magazine. I rented it from the library just in case it was less than stellar.

The book actually is pretty good. I was close to not giving it a chance from the wistful writing at the begininng. It's primarily told through the eyes of a seventeen year old girl and it was reading like a teen novel. I gave it a chance and it got more adult in nature, right down to the gratuitous sex scenes. It was nothing too vulgar or graphic, but some of the scenes read like a romance novel.

The main characters are engaging and likeable, and the story is solid. While there isn't a real concrete villian, the story is more about the journey of the main charatcers to deliver the firebird's egg. They go through enough trials to make up for the lack of a real engaging storyline and a hated villian.

I wouldn't recommend a full purchase at 30 dollars though. The story is short, and not very epic. It's worth a price at paperback or a rent from the library though.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not my usual fare..., September 14, 2009

By	Bookish Buffet (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firebird (Tor Fantasy) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'd bought a copy of this book on a whim at a library sale, not really expecting anything other than a typical fantasy story. Before I started reading it, however, I looked through the reviews, which gave me something of an idea of what I was getting myself into.

(Proceed with caution: Spoilers ahead)

The writing itself is actually really good, and before long I was flying through the pages and surprising myself at how often I'd laughed. Still, once I got to the sexual parts, my enjoyment was taken down a few notches.

That's not to say I'm prudish, but the way it was portrayed in the book seemed silly to me. I realize the sex was supposed to be a big part of what the author wanted to write about, but it would have been perfectly fine without much of it, I think. And it wasn't only how often it came up, but how consistently great it was. Sure, this is a fantasy novel, but having it be a bit more realistic wouldn't have hurt. (And of course, at the end, the heroine loses her virginity and it was nothing short of amazing. In a perfect location, no less.) That sort of thing yanks me out of my suspension of disbelief and sends my eyes rolling almost out of their sockets.

The plot was also sort of meandering, especially around the middle, and the ending felt somewhat rushed. It came as no surprise that Aria was a missing princess, or that she'd be reunited with her long-lost lover, or that she wouldn't end up becoming a sacrifice and instead was saved by Persephone and almost got laid by Eros. The actual nitty-gritty parts of the story were great, but it seems like, as a whole, it was only a so-so book.

And for some reason I thought that the author was a woman the whole time I was reading Firebird. It actually wasn't until I had finished the last page and flipped to the author bio that I realized otherwise. At least all the stuff about the sex makes more sense now.

A pretty fun read overall, but not really satisfying.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars will appeal to the fans of Mercedes Lackey and Judith Tarr, May 20, 2006

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the North Woods lives the Bone Witch and her slave Aria who can use magic to become invisible until she moves. She never goes out at night because dark creatures roam the area including troll-bears, lycanthropes, sprites and wild animals. One day she happens upon a wounded knight Sir Roye and gets him to safety in a nearby cave. The Markovites are after him because he stole the Firebird's egg when the king was killed and his brother tried to take the throne from the young Prince Ivan.

The Bone Witch knows all about Aria and Roye's attraction for one another and the need to get the egg back to its nest on Burning Mountain in the Iron Woods, a place more frightening than the North Woods. Aria is freed from slavery and she and her knight start for Burning Mountain but they are captured by Tartars. Roye fixes it so Aria escapes and he joins the Tartars in their conquest. Aria, thinking her love is dead, finds herself rescued by Persephone and Eros when the powers that be want to take her into custody so they can find the egg. She has many adventures and so does Sir Roye before the two are finally reunited in the Kremlin where the Firebird Egg is kept. Somehow they must steal it and put it back where it belongs without getting killed by their many enemies.

This stand alone fantasy epic is one of the best quest books written in some time. The storyline takes place in a land that would be considered Russia in our world except for creatures of mythos and legend. R. Garcia Y. Robinson has written a wonderful romantic fantasy that will appeal to the fans of Mercedes Lackey and Judith Tarr.

Harriet Klausner