Mention Regarding Books The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2)

Title:The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2)
Author:Patricia A. McKillip
Book Format:Paperback
Book Edition:First Edition
Pages:Pages: 309 pages
Published:September 1st 1995 by Ace (first published September 1st 1993)
Categories:Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy. Young Adult. High Fantasy. Dragons. Epic Fantasy
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The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2) Paperback | Pages: 309 pages
Rating: 3.97 | 1253 Users | 50 Reviews

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Patricia McKillip is known for writing mostly stand-alone novels, creating original fairytale realms for each new story. Probably the setting of the Cygnet book was too good to let go and so we get to spend more time in the company of Nyx Ro and her family and friends in a sequel. Nyx is the heir of the Ro Holding, the ancient and respect seat of power in a realm infused with subtle yet powerful magics. At the end of the first book, Nyx returns to the ancient fortress ruled by her mother and protected by the astral constellation known as the Cygnet, abandoning her far journeys and her wild experiments with spells and curses. A 'happy-ever-after' is implied as the sorceress Nyx seems ready to accept her adult role as heir to the Holding. A pastoral peace should be on the menu, but he nexus of power surrounding the Keep built by the fabled wizard Chrysom attracts some uninvited guests. The winds of change blow with a mixture of menace and promise from a distant shore: Meguet heard a snore from one of the back tables. She stifled a yawn. A sudden wind tugged at her light mantle. The air was a heady mix of brine and sun-steeped roses on the tower vines; it seemed to blow from everywhere at once: from past and future, from unexplored countries where wooden flowers opened on tree boughs to reveal strange, rich spices, and sheep the colors of autumn leaves wandered through the hills ... First, a wizard who apparently can control the flow of time breaks into the tower, looking for a secret key fashioned by Chrysom. A few hours later, a glorious firebird alights in the castle's inner court, crying in despair and shedding tears made of precious gems, transmuting people, animals and objects into multicolored crystals wherever its wild gaze settles or its harsh cry echoes. Nyx Ro is thrilled by the chance to fight back against the intruders and to solve the riddles left behind by her mentor Chrysom. With the help of her cousin Meguet she is ready to follow the silver threads of magic and time, wherever they may lead. Well, she said, and met the bird's intent golden stare. Better sorry than safe. The destination is even more fascinating than the swamps and mountain fastnesses from the first book, with more powerful magics and a serious threat to the very existence of Ro Holding : Saphier. Here Be Dragons. How many of us have seen the old medieval maps, carefully inked on pergament, with godlike figures blowing winds from the corners, fantastic beasts swimming in oceans and chimaeras straddling the landmasses, unexplored white spots inscribed with the warning that has set so many ships sailing into the unknown. The magic of the warrior wizards of Saphier has its source in the shifting, red hot sands of the Luxour desert, a place where it is impossible to distinguish between mirage and reality, where powerful beasts loath to be disturbed from their millenial slumber and weave layer after layer of illusion to protect heir nests: They get into your blood. They call you in some secret language spoken by stones. They show you a shadow, they leave a bone behind. And so you spend your life searching for them ... Stay here until you have seen the dragons fly. Until I draw them out of stars and stone, until bone and blood cast shadows instead of dreams. Stay until you have seen the dragons' fire. Nyx and Meguet are both caught up in this dance with dragons, both convinced they fight for the defense of their Hold, both unsuspecting there is an even more subtle assault being launched against their hearts. A different kind of fire is kindled in the bossoms of the young women, and romance might trump the political and military maneuvers. Which brings me to the third reason I love the books of Patricia McKillip: second to her original fairytale worldbuilding and her inimitable lyrical prose("Meguet watched the dawn unfurl like a wing of fire across the Delta."), I believe McKillip writes some of the best love stories in the genre. In the first volume we had the gipsy man ready to walk through fire and blizzard to rescue his sweetheart, and we had a powerful, respected warrior-knight falling in love with a taciturn, low-born servant of the castle (view spoiler)[ Meguet and the Gatekeeper (hide spoiler)] . It is the turn of the rebellious, fiercely independent Nyx to feel the prickle of Cupid's arrow. It's not like she was searching for trouble of this sort. Nyxis a very emancipated woman for a fairytale: "Does sorcery preclude love?" "I take after my mother, who roamed Ro Holding when she was young and found three fathers for three daughters. Sorcery does not preclude curiosity, and I have satisfied my curiosity at times. But ..." "With whom?" Like her mother, she ignored the question. "But you have to stand still for love. I could never stand still. Love is though more unpredictable than magic, and it doesn't wait for the right time or the right balcony under the moonlight. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. With a sigh, Nyx confesses to Meguet with one of the most infamous memes of Facebook : It's complicated! It may be complicated, especially in the middle of a deadly fight for survival against impossible odds, but under the pen of McKillip it is also a thing of undeniable beauty, like the crystal tears of the firebird: "Your eyes have so much color now. What causes them to change like that?" "When I work a spell." She paused, scarcely hearing herself, wanting to reach out, touch a star of water at the hollow of his throat. "When I'm angry. when I find something ... something of overwhelming interest." "And which is now?" "Probably not anger." He swallowed; the star moved. "Probably," he said huskily, "you are casting a spell." She shook her head a little. "I'm not doing it." "You're changing shape." "Am I?" "You used to look like a mage." "What does a mage look like?" "Like a closed book full of strange and marvellous things. Like the closed door to a room full of peculiar noises, lights that seep out under the door.Like a beautiful jar made of thick colored glass that holds something glowing inside that you can't quite see, no matter how you turn the jar." "And now?" she whispered. He came close; the light at their feet cast hollows of shadow across his eyes, drew the precise lines of his mouth clear. "Now," he said softly, "you aren't closed. You're letting me see." <<>><<>><<>><< "The Cygnet" duology may not be as polished as her later novels, but it is a prime example for me of how difficult it is to choose a favorite among McKillip's fairytales: they are all excellent, beautifully rendered and sweet natured without becoming cloying, with just enough darkness to give the reader pause and touches of humour to relieve the tension. I believe the swan and the firebird are popular themes in Slavic folk tales, and I plan to track my old copy of Afanasyev's Russian Fairytales and find out the original source of inspiration. Other recommended authors who explore this rich filon : - Catherynne M Valente - Naomi Novik - C J Cherryh (Russalka) - Ekaterina Sedia ... I wonder who else belongs on my list?

Define Books Conducive To The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2)

Original Title: The Cygnet and the Firebird
ISBN: 0441002374 (ISBN13: 9780441002375)
Edition Language: English
Series: Cygnet Duology #2
Literary Awards: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Adult Literature (1994)


Rating Regarding Books The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2)
Ratings: 3.97 From 1253 Users | 50 Reviews

Write-Up Regarding Books The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet Duology #2)
Better than The Sorceress and the Cygnet, but still not particularly great. My main complaint is that during the first half of the book, McKillips writing style is so densely metaphorical, and the subject matter she is writing about is so fantastical, that it is often extremely difficult to tell whether something is happening literally or metaphorically. The writing style is even more frustratingly dense in The Sorceress and the Cygnet than in this book, but I find that when reading a novel, in



Brilliant. A world so real I could see the dragons! It was good to find Nix settled into her role as Holder's heir and the magic is so natural you don't notice it. It belonged.I love the idea of constellations having a life of their own.Again McKillip is talking about more than the adventures of some interesting people in a fascinating place. The intelligent reader gets plenty of ideas to think about.

This review was originally posted on Hot Stuff for Cool People.I dont even know where to start with this review. This book is such a beautiful, frightening, vivid hallucination. After I read this book, I have weird dreams. I feel like Im walking around in a fog because this book is so realistic, it leaves the real world looking a bit drab. The Cygnet and the Firebird, by Patricia A. McKillip, is a fantasy story about two cousins, Nyx and Meguet. The story starts with a magician thief, Rad, who

Patricia McKillip is known for writing mostly stand-alone novels, creating original fairytale realms for each new story. Probably the setting of the Cygnet book was too good to let go and so we get to spend more time in the company of Nyx Ro and her family and friends in a sequel. Nyx is the heir of the Ro Holding, the ancient and respect seat of power in a realm infused with subtle yet powerful magics. At the end of the first book, Nyx returns to the ancient fortress ruled by her mother and

Despite its uninspiring surface, I liked The Sorceress and the Cygnet for its minor details and supporting characters. Its sequel, The Cygnet and the Firebird, retains all the surface and loses all the charm.The problem is Nyx Ro: she's a delicious character, but she's a lousy point of entry for the poor reader. She's self-absorbed and inward-focused, but The Sorceress and the Cygnet overcame her alienating aspects by making her a figure of interest, not empathy. (More conventional characters

A re-read after some 15-17 years. And it got another star this time.The first time I read the book, I had the drawback of having read the first one a few years earlier - they really are more suited to be read more back-to-back (even though they are, very much, two separate stories). I also found the story a bit confusing, especially (view spoiler)[the dragons and whether they were real or not, and how they could be there and not there and.... well, have you read the book, you will know what I'm