The Cygnet and the Firebird

by Patricia A. McKillip

Book Overview

At the edge of the world in the Luxour Desert, invisible dragons cast shadows over ruined castles and Meguet's fate depends upon a secret locked away in a tower for centuries. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0441002374
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: Ace
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 1.0" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Better than the first one??

I reread the Cygnet and the Firebird every other year or so. It was so magnificently done. Each character in there is unique. First, you have Nyx Ro, the land-heir to Ro Holding, who is an eccentric soceress/bog witch/mage and who tries to help Brand, a man that was turned into a firebird for mysterious reasons. And then you have Nyx's cousin--strong and honor-bound Meguet--whose natural powers allowed her to overcome the time-stopping spell of a strange mage who had come to steal something from Ro Holding. I guess you just have to read it yourself to see what I'm talking about. It might mean more to the reader if she had read the "Sorceress and the Cygnet" first, where you see more character development of Nyx, Meguet, and Corleu (the main character of that book). This book focuses on the mysteries surrounding Brand, the strange and powerful mage, and the whole different world that they come from. Whenever I read one of Mckillip's work, I am always amazed at how people are missing out on her stories. They're always so original and beautifully written--this one is no different. So buy it and read it before it goes out of print like the first one!

one of her best

This is undoubtedly one of her most poignantly written books. McKillip has a sensitivity to the human mind that is simply unparalleled. She explores that part of ourselves we see only glimpses of in dreams, and realizes them in this novel. The stories are real to life--there is no happily ever after, yet still there is closure to all of the conflicts that develop throughout the book. Her prose is both beautiful and surreal; often times I felt like I was reading an archaic composition of music or an enchanted poem. If you have not read one of her books start with this one; it will blow you away.

I loved it!

It was a bit confusing at first to swallow all the details. I found it discarded on a "free table"; it other words, its previous ower had not wanted it and simply tossed it away... I will never understand just WHY. It is magnificent. The characters seem to have a maturity that I have not found in McKillip's other works (or maybe this is just because the kingdom was described differently than in McKillip's other masterpieces--I can't quite put my finger on the EXACT reason). I loved it! It got me into Patricia McKillip's other books, and I am an avid fan now, trying to get my hands on McKillip's latest "Song for the Basilisk." I don't EVER get bored of McKillip's books. The second book of this wonderful author's that I read was Winter Rose, which is just as bewitching (is that the right word...?--maybe enchanting fits better...). Buy it. Read it. Or don't, and know that you are missing on something BIG

Mckillip wins again!!!

My, my, my. What are publishers thinking when they reprint a sequel but not the first installment? When I brought this book home I was literally scorched by the words "Mckillip returns to the world she created in The Sorceress and the Cygnet" Not that I wouldn't have bought it anyway.(Trust me, if you ever see ANYTHING by Mckillip, buy it!) But I decided right then and there that I wouldn't read this book until I found the first installment. I thought it would be years but luckily it only took a couple of months until I found The Sorceress and the Cygnet buried in the back of a used book store. To those of you who will read this novel without reading it's predecessor first: you have my pity. She explains nothing, but OH what a payoff! Although two distictively different stories, this series serves as a literary one two punch. Some of Mckillip's most magical and entertaining work can be found here, and I recommend both books to readers of every age. Once I started reading I was stuck. The rest of the world did not exist for me. (A warning for students: don't read these books around the time you should start studying for Finals. You will fail miserably!)Even if not all can be as lucky as I have in finding the first book, you should definitely read The Cygnet and the Firebird. It is a story unto itself. Sorceress... adds more texture and history to the story, but is not needed to make this novel a success. Either way, this is one book not to be missed!!

Wonderful!

I was a bit confused to see that this book was not listed as the sequel, or at the least, continuation of the book "The Sorceress and the Cygnet". I thought this book was a wonderful and vivid picture of the people who live under the cygnet, and a book well worth a second reading.