Firebird
A Novel
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4.4 • 43 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In Mercedes Lackey's Firebird, Ilya, son of a Russian prince, is largely ignored by his father and tormented by his larger, older brothers. His only friends are three old people: a priest, a magician, and a woman who toils in the palace dairy. From them Ilya learns faith, a smattering of magic, and the power of love--all of which he will need desperately, for his life is about to be turned upside-down.
The prince's magnificent cherry orchard is visited at midnight by the legendary Firebird, whose wings are made of flame. Ilya's brothers' attempts to capture the magical creature fail. When Ilya tries to catch the Firebird, he sees her as a beautiful woman and earns a magical gift: the speech of animals.
Banished, the young man journeys through a fantastical Russia full of magical mazes, enchanted creatures, and untold dangers. As happens in the best fairy tales, Ilya falls in love with an enchanted princess, but to win her freedom will be no easy task.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Taking a vacation from the Vale, the setting of her popular fantasy trilogies (Last Herald-Mage, Mage Winds and Mage Storms), Lackey draws inspiration for her resonant new novel from classic Russian folktales. Ilya Ivanovitch is the middle son of a self-proclaimed "tsar" who has put off selecting an heir, preferring to let his eight sons thin their own ranks through constant, sometimes brutal, fighting. Ilya's luck takes a fateful turn the day he sees the legendary firebird, a beautiful magical hawk with a woman's face and feathers made of flame. The old stories say that once you've seen the firebird, you can never forget her, and you will never be satisfied with a common life. Ilya realizes the truth of this when he begins to have strange dreams and then discovers he can understand animal speech. Driven by curiosity, surviving by his wits (and through the help of a few friends made along the way), he begins a journey that will bring him face to face with the mysterious creatures of Russian folklore. Lackey's first standalone novel since Sacred Ground (1994) is a charming coming-of-age tale filled with earthy wit and magic.
