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Cygnet Duology #2
The Cygnet and the Firebird
Following the novel The Sorceress and the Cygnet, McKillip's characters, the sorceress Nyx and her cousin Meguet, are plunged into the mystery of the firebird, whose haunting cry transforms objects at random. To uncover the identity of the legendary creature who turns into a nameless man at sunrise, they are swept to the edge of the world.
312 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
About the author
Patricia A. McKillip
93 books2,977 followersPatricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
September 2, 2016
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 . 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?
July 4, 2022
Oh, I liked this so much. This is more in the classic fantasy line when compared to the first book: it’s got a mystery which leads to a quest and a foreign country and dragons, and the writing is fabulous, and everything about this just works for me.
There’s something more relaxed about the pacing, I think, and that, combined with McKillip’s writing, gives the book a slightly different approach to a classic fantasy. That’s not to say that other epic fantasies can’t be slower-paced, just that there’s something deliberate, exploratory, and beautifully rendered about McKillip’s story. The ending is conventional - and yet there’s something about the writing that keeps it from feeling too familiar.
There’s something more relaxed about the pacing, I think, and that, combined with McKillip’s writing, gives the book a slightly different approach to a classic fantasy. That’s not to say that other epic fantasies can’t be slower-paced, just that there’s something deliberate, exploratory, and beautifully rendered about McKillip’s story. The ending is conventional - and yet there’s something about the writing that keeps it from feeling too familiar.
April 21, 2016
Is that a pool of water? of the eye of an enormous dragon sleeping in the desert? or an hallucination caused by wandering around an alternate world with no supplies?
January 30, 2018
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Well characterized, poetically written, and surreal. She paints a unique world in bold, elegant strokes without belaboring the point or over explaining.
I am reading the Cygnet (another in the series) and am once again amazed at how good she is. The two main female characters are gracefully and simply drawn in a way that allows the audience to know who these women are. The sorceress routinely walks out of her shoes and forgets to eat. Her motto is better sorry than safe.
The guardian is a woman who gets dressed up in velvets and then has to casually walk over to pick an ornamental sword off a wall display and hide it nonchalantly in her skirt every time trouble strikes. They are amazing, both characters so elusive in their cognitive distance that it's kind of hard to access them, but who are so complete as to be women you do and will know, that you could see in a coffee shop, or in a downtown office. They are your cousin, your best friend. You will see them in the women around you.
I am reading the Cygnet (another in the series) and am once again amazed at how good she is. The two main female characters are gracefully and simply drawn in a way that allows the audience to know who these women are. The sorceress routinely walks out of her shoes and forgets to eat. Her motto is better sorry than safe.
The guardian is a woman who gets dressed up in velvets and then has to casually walk over to pick an ornamental sword off a wall display and hide it nonchalantly in her skirt every time trouble strikes. They are amazing, both characters so elusive in their cognitive distance that it's kind of hard to access them, but who are so complete as to be women you do and will know, that you could see in a coffee shop, or in a downtown office. They are your cousin, your best friend. You will see them in the women around you.
May 15, 2012
I didn't like this one as much as I remembered liking it, possibly because I spent most of my reading time trying to remember the plot instead of just reading it. The Cygnet and the Firebird picks up only a few months after The Sorceress and the Cygnet, when a strange magician slips into the house of Lauro Ro without anyone but Meguet, the guardian, and Nyx, the sorceress, noticing. He's searching for a hidden key that Nyx discovers is linked to the great mage Chrysom, a key that probably opens his missing book of magic. On the stranger's heels comes a magical bird whose scream turns anyone who gets caught in it into jeweled trees. (This is, after all, a Patricia McKillip story.) Both the mage and the firebird are central to the plot, which is, like in The Sorceress and the Cygnet, divided, this time between Meguet and the mage and Nyx and the firebird. As usual, McKillip's writing is lush and evocative, though I think it may not be to many readers' taste; for me, it's as important as the story she chooses to tell. There are also dragons--I like these dragons a lot. Not my favorite of McKillip's books, but still entertaining.
January 9, 2016
McKillip's skill with language is no secret to anyone who's read her. Each of her fantasies weaves poetry into landscape and plot until the book seems as magic as her imagined worlds. Typically her books explore language or music, but The Cygnet and the Firebird, along with the first book in the duology, The Sorceress and the Cygnet, are about harmony.
I loved reading both books: they follow the arc of one of the character's maturation into wisdom, and as we follow that we see the process of harmony both in the personal and in governance. The main characters are women – particularly the struggling and talented mage, Nyx, and her cousin Meguet who carries several mysteries. I was happy to find the mother such a strong and positive character as so many books with young female protagonists kill of or otherwise marginalize the mother.
The first book centers on restoring order and harmony into the realm; the second contrasts it with a war-like kingdom. Of course all the fun and often intricate plots develop these themes with lots of journeys, sorcery, and even love. I recommend this book to all McKillip fans and to anyone who enjoys a dreamy, poetic, thoughtful fantasy.
I loved reading both books: they follow the arc of one of the character's maturation into wisdom, and as we follow that we see the process of harmony both in the personal and in governance. The main characters are women – particularly the struggling and talented mage, Nyx, and her cousin Meguet who carries several mysteries. I was happy to find the mother such a strong and positive character as so many books with young female protagonists kill of or otherwise marginalize the mother.
The first book centers on restoring order and harmony into the realm; the second contrasts it with a war-like kingdom. Of course all the fun and often intricate plots develop these themes with lots of journeys, sorcery, and even love. I recommend this book to all McKillip fans and to anyone who enjoys a dreamy, poetic, thoughtful fantasy.
August 26, 2019
McKillip's prose is so beautiful! Nyx Ro is a great character. I'm looking forward to rereading this someday in a more concentrated manner, since this first read-through took me a very long time because I was super busy with RL stuff.
March 29, 2022
It has been at least twenty years since I read The Cygnet and the Sorceress. Two chapters on and I fell back into a wonderfully familiar world. This was just the magical book I needed right now
March 10, 2022
A much more focused and coherent read than the first book in the duology. I was pleased that it focused on Nyx and Meguet and (for the most part) abandoned Corleu (I found him uninspiring in the first book). Probably more of a 3 1/2 for me.
May 27, 2024
I can’t believe I’ve never heard anyone talk about this book. I don’t feel like I was reading it, so much as I was picturing the things she wanted me to see from the story. Cannot recommend enough
January 30, 2026
I know magic is real because it is imbued in the words of this book! Any time I put it down I felt as though a part of me was left spellbound to the pages.
This ended up being a portal to the most exquisite and dreamlike realms I have yet visited. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring them with Nyx and Meguet, and I will be revisiting often.
This ended up being a portal to the most exquisite and dreamlike realms I have yet visited. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring them with Nyx and Meguet, and I will be revisiting often.
October 4, 2022
A wonderful and exciting sequel to the story of Ro Holding
In honor of her passing this year (2022) I've been rereading Patricia McKillip's great works, and finding her stories that I had missed over the years. I didn't remember "The Sorceress and the Cygnet," and I know I'd never read "The Cygnet and the Firebird," before. Both were wonderful. This book was a wonderful and exciting sequel (& conclusion) to the story of Ro Holding and the interesting characters encountered there!
In honor of her passing this year (2022) I've been rereading Patricia McKillip's great works, and finding her stories that I had missed over the years. I didn't remember "The Sorceress and the Cygnet," and I know I'd never read "The Cygnet and the Firebird," before. Both were wonderful. This book was a wonderful and exciting sequel (& conclusion) to the story of Ro Holding and the interesting characters encountered there!
April 7, 2015
This review was originally posted on Hot Stuff for Cool People.
I don’t 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 I’m 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 comes to steal a key. He’s followed by a firebird, who turns into a man, Brand, at night. Rad and Meguet make their way across time and into Rad’s homeland, Saphier, which is mostly a big desert inhabited by the ghosts and memories of dragons. Meanwhile, Nyx tries to solve the problem of Brand’s encorcelling.
It doesn’t sound like much. It sounds like an fantasy story, and maybe a convoluted one, at that. But it’s so much more. The amazing thing about Patricia A. McKillip is the way she writes. Not only is her writing solid, not only does it flow, but it is nearly magical in its ability to make you see and feel exactly what the characters are feeling and seeing, until you actually believe you’re there, in the story. And, I think, in ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird,’ she shows off this talent more than in any other book. Like I said, it’s like a hallucination, a dream that feels real and leaves you wanting more when you wake up. It also has amazingly well-realized characters, and a strong, attention-grabbing plot. It’s never boring. The intelligence and emotion behind the writing are both strong and deep.
There’s a prequel to ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird,’ called ‘The Sorceress and the Cygnet.’ This prequel is good, but for me, it wasn’t as wonderful as ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’ I recommend you read it, but read it after ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’ That’s how I read them, and it works just fine. You’re only going to be missing a few minor points, none of which really have much to do with the plot of ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’
This is the kind of book that you just have to let wash over you. Don’t force yourself to understand everything that's going on from the first page. Just let yourself sink into it. It’s that kind of book.
I don’t 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 I’m 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 comes to steal a key. He’s followed by a firebird, who turns into a man, Brand, at night. Rad and Meguet make their way across time and into Rad’s homeland, Saphier, which is mostly a big desert inhabited by the ghosts and memories of dragons. Meanwhile, Nyx tries to solve the problem of Brand’s encorcelling.
It doesn’t sound like much. It sounds like an fantasy story, and maybe a convoluted one, at that. But it’s so much more. The amazing thing about Patricia A. McKillip is the way she writes. Not only is her writing solid, not only does it flow, but it is nearly magical in its ability to make you see and feel exactly what the characters are feeling and seeing, until you actually believe you’re there, in the story. And, I think, in ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird,’ she shows off this talent more than in any other book. Like I said, it’s like a hallucination, a dream that feels real and leaves you wanting more when you wake up. It also has amazingly well-realized characters, and a strong, attention-grabbing plot. It’s never boring. The intelligence and emotion behind the writing are both strong and deep.
There’s a prequel to ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird,’ called ‘The Sorceress and the Cygnet.’ This prequel is good, but for me, it wasn’t as wonderful as ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’ I recommend you read it, but read it after ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’ That’s how I read them, and it works just fine. You’re only going to be missing a few minor points, none of which really have much to do with the plot of ‘The Cygnet and the Firebird.’
This is the kind of book that you just have to let wash over you. Don’t force yourself to understand everything that's going on from the first page. Just let yourself sink into it. It’s that kind of book.
December 13, 2025
I guess this was a sequel?? Oh well, I wasn’t too confused.
I’m unsure between three and four stars but giving it four initially (maybe I will return and change it later) because the prose was so truly, gorgeously excellent, and I liked it so much for the first seven-eighths. But it lost some magic for me with the climax, unfortunately.
I really don’t know why. “Power-hungry villain who insists on waking something TOO powerful and gets destroyed by forces he can’t control after all” is usually one of my favorite things???
Anyway, I love how quiet but real the cousins’ love for each other is written, and I love how the magic makes sense without having explicit rules, and I love how beautiful so much of it is (the Cygnet’s eye, the breath of the dragons across the desert, the firebird’s despairing cry and its spells that turn whatever they touch to jewels). I also love how fantasy it is, how the world that’s home and familiar to the characters is full of unfamiliar magic to us but still becomes home and familiar by contrast with the even wilder land at the edge of the world where they find themselves. I love how the longing for knowledge is written. I love how you don’t know quite what’s going on or who to trust for so long, just like Meguet (but you always FELT something was significant about that rose).
I also love Meguet and the Gatekeeper. Together, but also as their respective roles. Vocation-based magic, you might call it. Delicious.
I’m unsure between three and four stars but giving it four initially (maybe I will return and change it later) because the prose was so truly, gorgeously excellent, and I liked it so much for the first seven-eighths. But it lost some magic for me with the climax, unfortunately.
I really don’t know why. “Power-hungry villain who insists on waking something TOO powerful and gets destroyed by forces he can’t control after all” is usually one of my favorite things???
Anyway, I love how quiet but real the cousins’ love for each other is written, and I love how the magic makes sense without having explicit rules, and I love how beautiful so much of it is (the Cygnet’s eye, the breath of the dragons across the desert, the firebird’s despairing cry and its spells that turn whatever they touch to jewels). I also love how fantasy it is, how the world that’s home and familiar to the characters is full of unfamiliar magic to us but still becomes home and familiar by contrast with the even wilder land at the edge of the world where they find themselves. I love how the longing for knowledge is written. I love how you don’t know quite what’s going on or who to trust for so long, just like Meguet (but you always FELT something was significant about that rose).
I also love Meguet and the Gatekeeper. Together, but also as their respective roles. Vocation-based magic, you might call it. Delicious.
January 31, 2021
I categorized this book as a fantasy and a romance and a mystery, for it is all those things and more.
The book starts innocently enough--a mysterious mage appears in the tower of the mage Chrystom in Ro Holding, the heart of the power of the Cygnet. He ensocerelles all within it in a time spell--except its defender Meuget and its sorceress and Cygnet heir Nyx. Meuget holds her sword against his throat, and he steps around her in time. Nyx follows him to Chrystom's library and confronts him there.
He seeks a hidden book of Chrystom. He looks beneath a hearthstone, but it won't move. He struggles with Nyx and vanishes. Nyx, solves the puzzle and looking beneath the stone, finds a golden key.
That is the beginning of the mystery. The next day the firebird flies over the walls and turns things to crystalline jewels with its heartrending cries. That's the beginning of the romance.
Read the whole book and you'll discover the whole joy of it.
The book starts innocently enough--a mysterious mage appears in the tower of the mage Chrystom in Ro Holding, the heart of the power of the Cygnet. He ensocerelles all within it in a time spell--except its defender Meuget and its sorceress and Cygnet heir Nyx. Meuget holds her sword against his throat, and he steps around her in time. Nyx follows him to Chrystom's library and confronts him there.
He seeks a hidden book of Chrystom. He looks beneath a hearthstone, but it won't move. He struggles with Nyx and vanishes. Nyx, solves the puzzle and looking beneath the stone, finds a golden key.
That is the beginning of the mystery. The next day the firebird flies over the walls and turns things to crystalline jewels with its heartrending cries. That's the beginning of the romance.
Read the whole book and you'll discover the whole joy of it.
August 1, 2022
This is the first time that I reread it so close to a reread of the first one. I'm glad I did! We get to see evidence of how much Nyx has changed and is changing, and we (and Meguet) learn more about Meguet's powers, as they are pulled into lands beyond the Cygnet's eye...
May 22, 2018
I actually loved this one more than the Sorceress and the Cygnet. It's beautiful and perfect. It's also very bizarre, but somehow manages to work anyway. There are dragons. They aren't nice dragons. There's also time travel and true love.
June 29, 2018
Better than The Sorceress and the Cygnet, but still not particularly great.
My main complaint is that during the first half of the book, McKillip’s 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 which the overall narrative ought to be the focus, I don't want to have to spend the same kind of time unpacking the meaning of a sentence as I would in order to read a lyric poem. That problem did get better as it got along, however, perhaps because once you are midway through the book you are familiar with what kinds of spells and magics exist in this story and are able to sort through what is literal and what is metaphorical with a bit less effort.
Once you start to get a bit further into the story and see all the pieces to the puzzle, but not yet how they all fit together, the story takes on a faintly mystery-like atmosphere, as the characters and reader struggle to figure out who it was that cast the spell on the young man who spends most of his time in the shape of the firebird.
The ending was somewhat deus-ex-machina-ish, but again, not as bad as this book’s predecessor, and I thought it struck a reasonable balance of neither simply giving the villain what he deserved nor letting him off the without any consequences.
Overall, it is a book in which women are the movers and shakers in the world (at least in Ro Holding) and can do everything that men can. The male characters in this book are often important, but in this book it is usually the women who rescue them, not the other way around. Unfortunately, Meguet, who was extremely formidable in the previous book, spends an inordinate amount of time in this one completely helpless. However, overall, the women are very capable, they make their own decisions, and they do not need men to give their lives meaning or the story resolution.
My main complaint is that during the first half of the book, McKillip’s 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 which the overall narrative ought to be the focus, I don't want to have to spend the same kind of time unpacking the meaning of a sentence as I would in order to read a lyric poem. That problem did get better as it got along, however, perhaps because once you are midway through the book you are familiar with what kinds of spells and magics exist in this story and are able to sort through what is literal and what is metaphorical with a bit less effort.
Once you start to get a bit further into the story and see all the pieces to the puzzle, but not yet how they all fit together, the story takes on a faintly mystery-like atmosphere, as the characters and reader struggle to figure out who it was that cast the spell on the young man who spends most of his time in the shape of the firebird.
The ending was somewhat deus-ex-machina-ish, but again, not as bad as this book’s predecessor, and I thought it struck a reasonable balance of neither simply giving the villain what he deserved nor letting him off the without any consequences.
Overall, it is a book in which women are the movers and shakers in the world (at least in Ro Holding) and can do everything that men can. The male characters in this book are often important, but in this book it is usually the women who rescue them, not the other way around. Unfortunately, Meguet, who was extremely formidable in the previous book, spends an inordinate amount of time in this one completely helpless. However, overall, the women are very capable, they make their own decisions, and they do not need men to give their lives meaning or the story resolution.
January 26, 2021
Après La Sorcière et le Cygne qui m’avait enchantée, je n’ai pas traîné pour lire Le Cygne et l’Oiseau de feu ! L’intrigue démarre en effet peu après la fin des événements survenus dans La Sorcière et le Cygne. Il ne s’agit cela dit pas à proprement parler d’une suite, puisque l’histoire principale n’a pas de lien avec celle du tome précédent.
Cette fois, seules Meguet et Nyx forment les principaux personnages, à ma grande joie (j’aime beaucoup Meguet, ainsi que le couple qu’elle forme avec Hew, je vous l’avais dit ?). Alors que la forteresse voit affluer les différents maîtres des Tenures auprès de la Tenante, pour un grand et ennuyeux conseil, un mage s’infiltre pour dérober une clé. Mais il est mis en déroute avant de pouvoir la trouver. Peu de temps après, un oiseau de feu surgit, un oiseau au cri déchirant et qui sème sur son passage des sorts chaotiques. Nyx parvient à le rendre muet et à canaliser cette magie incontrôlée. Quelques heures par nuit, l’oiseau devient homme, un homme nommé Brand qui a oublié une bonne part de ses souvenirs.
Pour Nyx, cela ne fait aucun doute : les deux événements sont liés. Mais alors qu’elle s’efforce de défaire le puissant sortilège qui condamne ainsi Brand, Meguet se trouve emportée par le mage en une contrée désertique, inconnue, et infestée des spectres des dragons.
Point de constellations qui prennent vie dans ce tome, mais une débauche de magie et de dragons (même s’il s’agit de leurs fantômes) qui m’a tout autant ravie ! 🙂
Je déplore la quatrième de couverture qui déflore l’intrigue et notamment la romance entre Nyx et Brand, car elle apparaît assez tardivement – vu le caractère de Nyx, elle n’allait pas craquer aussi rapidement ! C’est dommage, car à ce sujet, le récit laisse vraiment leur histoire se tisser à son rythme, entre Nyx qui est concentrée sur l’étude d’une magie qu’elle ne connaît pas (et Nyx est fascinée par ce qui lui échappe) et Brand qui voit en elle son seul espoir d’être libéré du sortilège.
Le suspense quant au responsable de ce sortilège n’est pas très marqué, mais ce n’est pas pour cela que j’ai dévoré ce livre. Je l’ai dévoré parce que j’aime ses personnages, j’aime la plume de Patricia A. McKillip, à la fois simple et poétique, j’aime son univers magique si original (ses dragons !).
Je pense que je vais aller regarder du côté du marché de l’occasion (cette autrice n’est plus traduite en France depuis) pour découvrir d’autres romans de Patricia A. McKillip, car j’ai bien pris goût à sa plume !
Cette fois, seules Meguet et Nyx forment les principaux personnages, à ma grande joie (j’aime beaucoup Meguet, ainsi que le couple qu’elle forme avec Hew, je vous l’avais dit ?). Alors que la forteresse voit affluer les différents maîtres des Tenures auprès de la Tenante, pour un grand et ennuyeux conseil, un mage s’infiltre pour dérober une clé. Mais il est mis en déroute avant de pouvoir la trouver. Peu de temps après, un oiseau de feu surgit, un oiseau au cri déchirant et qui sème sur son passage des sorts chaotiques. Nyx parvient à le rendre muet et à canaliser cette magie incontrôlée. Quelques heures par nuit, l’oiseau devient homme, un homme nommé Brand qui a oublié une bonne part de ses souvenirs.
Pour Nyx, cela ne fait aucun doute : les deux événements sont liés. Mais alors qu’elle s’efforce de défaire le puissant sortilège qui condamne ainsi Brand, Meguet se trouve emportée par le mage en une contrée désertique, inconnue, et infestée des spectres des dragons.
Point de constellations qui prennent vie dans ce tome, mais une débauche de magie et de dragons (même s’il s’agit de leurs fantômes) qui m’a tout autant ravie ! 🙂
Je déplore la quatrième de couverture qui déflore l’intrigue et notamment la romance entre Nyx et Brand, car elle apparaît assez tardivement – vu le caractère de Nyx, elle n’allait pas craquer aussi rapidement ! C’est dommage, car à ce sujet, le récit laisse vraiment leur histoire se tisser à son rythme, entre Nyx qui est concentrée sur l’étude d’une magie qu’elle ne connaît pas (et Nyx est fascinée par ce qui lui échappe) et Brand qui voit en elle son seul espoir d’être libéré du sortilège.
Le suspense quant au responsable de ce sortilège n’est pas très marqué, mais ce n’est pas pour cela que j’ai dévoré ce livre. Je l’ai dévoré parce que j’aime ses personnages, j’aime la plume de Patricia A. McKillip, à la fois simple et poétique, j’aime son univers magique si original (ses dragons !).
Je pense que je vais aller regarder du côté du marché de l’occasion (cette autrice n’est plus traduite en France depuis) pour découvrir d’autres romans de Patricia A. McKillip, car j’ai bien pris goût à sa plume !
March 24, 2024
Probably 4.5 stars.
TBH, I did love it, and I’m only comparing it to the author’s other books. In a couple of places I wasn’t 100% sure who was speaking and the start was particularly dense (if that’s the right word). In fact, I was about 60 pages in and someone asked me what the book was about - to which I had no answer. Having said that, it ended up as supremely satisfying. I particularly enjoyed the fact that not too far from the end neither the main characters nor the reader knew who was trustworthy. A special bonus is the underwritten and enigmatic Gatekeeper, Hew, who, though having so little page time, plays such a pivotal role and anchors one of the two main characters.
As all this author’s books, top class world-building without any apparent world-building at all. It’s a gift few fantasy authors possess. And of course, a great book for anyone looking for really strong female characters.
A lovely follow on to The Cygnet and The Sorceress.
TBH, I did love it, and I’m only comparing it to the author’s other books. In a couple of places I wasn’t 100% sure who was speaking and the start was particularly dense (if that’s the right word). In fact, I was about 60 pages in and someone asked me what the book was about - to which I had no answer. Having said that, it ended up as supremely satisfying. I particularly enjoyed the fact that not too far from the end neither the main characters nor the reader knew who was trustworthy. A special bonus is the underwritten and enigmatic Gatekeeper, Hew, who, though having so little page time, plays such a pivotal role and anchors one of the two main characters.
As all this author’s books, top class world-building without any apparent world-building at all. It’s a gift few fantasy authors possess. And of course, a great book for anyone looking for really strong female characters.
A lovely follow on to The Cygnet and The Sorceress.
June 12, 2024
Wow. This book has been the most adventure filled of all the Mckillip's books I have so far read. It was a tantalizing read with all the mysteries and magic and wonder. I do love Mckillip's stories and how she writes, although I will grant you I don't always understand what is going on very clearly. I AM getting better though. Maybe by the time I finish her last, I'll be an expert on her style, metaphors, imageries, and symbolisms.
Favorites: Meguet. I love Meguet. I love her whole character and how sensible she is. I loved Rad almost upon his first entrance. And I do love Hew the Gatekeeper, but I was still quietly regretting Meguet's firm relationship with him. I wanted her with Rad.
Not so favorite: Nyx. She grew on me a bit more in this book, but something about her still sometimes irritates me. Also, did not care for Brand all that much and was happy to see them get together. Lol
Favorites: Meguet. I love Meguet. I love her whole character and how sensible she is. I loved Rad almost upon his first entrance. And I do love Hew the Gatekeeper, but I was still quietly regretting Meguet's firm relationship with him. I wanted her with Rad.
Not so favorite: Nyx. She grew on me a bit more in this book, but something about her still sometimes irritates me. Also, did not care for Brand all that much and was happy to see them get together. Lol
November 26, 2024
This book is an instance where the sequel is much better than the first book. It's a great story, with some of the coolest fantasy concepts I've read in quite a while (the dragons!). It's not perfect, but the very ending is lovely.
March 13, 2026
Magical and more action-packed than the Sorceress and the Cygnet, and a wonderful companion to it. Cannot figure out the perfect alchemy of having an ending be perfect and make you wistful to see it continue.
September 26, 2022
dads 👎
November 4, 2022
Lyrical and enchanting
June 1, 2024
I liked this one much better than the first book of the duology.
July 26, 2019
Liked it, but not in a couldn’t put it down sort of way.
July 25, 2021
I have great respect for the author: Patricia McKillip is known for her strong characters and vivid scene writing in both serial and stand-alone novels, with carefully built worlds for each story or grouped stories. This particular book fits in that category, with several characters that were previously introduced in a kingdom (holding) that has a previous adventure shared to the public.
However, there was too much detail that was left out in this, the second book in the Cygnet series, making it occasionally difficult to follow a storyline that depended on past knowledge to continue the tale. It seems to pick up as the previous novel ended, letting the reader fill in the blanks with their knowledge of the worldview. As someone new to this series, that failed to work for me.
I did like the overall picture, with strong female characters who were happily building lives and future plans. I liked them as well as approve of them - mage Nyx Ro is not only female, but the Holding's Heir, and works closely with her mother, the Holder, and her cousin, Meguet, the Guardian for the family. You see the depth of caring, oftentimes expressed as frustration when a person does something unconventional, but that is how families work sometimes. Very well done.
I didn't like that the characters seemed to be uncertain of what they were looking for in the people around them, although they had strong familial links. I liked that Meguet had a relationship with the Gatekeeper, who was more thank just the man who operated the gate. His role was never fully explained, but that was okay, as it was left as a mystery not just to the reader, but to the Holder and all those within the hold.
I liked the introduction of the firebird, a mystical creature which often appears in stories as the savior or defender, but in this instance he was both an attacker and an ensorcelled being. He became a human under certain conditions, but the strange and subtle powers that Nyx controls don't seem to be able to make headway in the curse upon him.
There is also a mage, Rad Ilex, who invades the holding in a subtle time shift, passing by the protectors in a dream state, to enable him to search the hold. Part of the tale is the firebird attacks the invading mage, and both lose. The magic holding the one is unable to effect or affect the other, although the firebird sheds tears of gems for his loss even as the mage tries to persuade the holding to hand him the key.
The key to what? He doesn't know, only that he must find it. Ever curious, Nyx dives in to find it, but that is only part of the tale, bringing with it another returning character, the master mage Chrysom, who appears as a memory. Nyx and Meguet are someone bound together in this tale, where they cross between kingdoms on roads of silver thread, missing each other by a simple spell, crossing space and time in a subtle heartbeat.
They emerge separately in a strange desert kingdom, where the populace searches for dragons or maybe shards of dragons, while strong magical winds blow and sometimes hide and sometimes conceal the mages and their charges, as each group moves around hunting mysterious people and objects, determined to discover what the connection is between Ro Holding and this unknown kingdom of Saphier.
Nyx, her charge the firebird, and Meguet, her charge the mage, are both caught in the deadly dance in the desert storms, with hints of peril for their home hinted at as they run from and to various places and groups. Their is an air of romance, with Nyx falling for the firebird and Meguet interested but not following through with the mage, both stories bringing interesting possibilities. However, both women are strong and their characters are not the type to chase after love.
Interesting, well written, but not one on my to reread list, as I prefer a little more action than description and although the ending was good, it was somewhat vague. The reader just falls into the ending, not realizing that it is imminent, and there are many possibilities left often. A good book, but not my favorite.
However, there was too much detail that was left out in this, the second book in the Cygnet series, making it occasionally difficult to follow a storyline that depended on past knowledge to continue the tale. It seems to pick up as the previous novel ended, letting the reader fill in the blanks with their knowledge of the worldview. As someone new to this series, that failed to work for me.
I did like the overall picture, with strong female characters who were happily building lives and future plans. I liked them as well as approve of them - mage Nyx Ro is not only female, but the Holding's Heir, and works closely with her mother, the Holder, and her cousin, Meguet, the Guardian for the family. You see the depth of caring, oftentimes expressed as frustration when a person does something unconventional, but that is how families work sometimes. Very well done.
I didn't like that the characters seemed to be uncertain of what they were looking for in the people around them, although they had strong familial links. I liked that Meguet had a relationship with the Gatekeeper, who was more thank just the man who operated the gate. His role was never fully explained, but that was okay, as it was left as a mystery not just to the reader, but to the Holder and all those within the hold.
I liked the introduction of the firebird, a mystical creature which often appears in stories as the savior or defender, but in this instance he was both an attacker and an ensorcelled being. He became a human under certain conditions, but the strange and subtle powers that Nyx controls don't seem to be able to make headway in the curse upon him.
There is also a mage, Rad Ilex, who invades the holding in a subtle time shift, passing by the protectors in a dream state, to enable him to search the hold. Part of the tale is the firebird attacks the invading mage, and both lose. The magic holding the one is unable to effect or affect the other, although the firebird sheds tears of gems for his loss even as the mage tries to persuade the holding to hand him the key.
The key to what? He doesn't know, only that he must find it. Ever curious, Nyx dives in to find it, but that is only part of the tale, bringing with it another returning character, the master mage Chrysom, who appears as a memory. Nyx and Meguet are someone bound together in this tale, where they cross between kingdoms on roads of silver thread, missing each other by a simple spell, crossing space and time in a subtle heartbeat.
They emerge separately in a strange desert kingdom, where the populace searches for dragons or maybe shards of dragons, while strong magical winds blow and sometimes hide and sometimes conceal the mages and their charges, as each group moves around hunting mysterious people and objects, determined to discover what the connection is between Ro Holding and this unknown kingdom of Saphier.
Nyx, her charge the firebird, and Meguet, her charge the mage, are both caught in the deadly dance in the desert storms, with hints of peril for their home hinted at as they run from and to various places and groups. Their is an air of romance, with Nyx falling for the firebird and Meguet interested but not following through with the mage, both stories bringing interesting possibilities. However, both women are strong and their characters are not the type to chase after love.
Interesting, well written, but not one on my to reread list, as I prefer a little more action than description and although the ending was good, it was somewhat vague. The reader just falls into the ending, not realizing that it is imminent, and there are many possibilities left often. A good book, but not my favorite.
August 27, 2014
Most reviews that I've read of Patricia McKillip's Cygnet duology seem to express a strong preference for either The Sorceress and the Cygnet or the The Cygnet and the Firebird. This should not be surprising. Despite sharing characters and a fantasy world, they have separate plot lines and widely varying tones. When you come down to it, The Cygnet and the Firebird is more a companion novel than a sequel, although without having read The Sorceress and the Cygnet first, certain things won't make sense.
I read the two books back-to-back over a weekend, and because the ending of the first book disappointed me, I was a little wary when I started the second, because at first it seemed like it might be more of the same. However, new mysteries and threats begin appearing in Ro Holding very quickly. First, a mage who can stop time steals into the castle searching for an ancient magical key that none of the royal family even knew existed. Not long after, a firebird appears in the sky above the castle, whose cry chills the heart and turns whatever it touches into precious stones. For a few hours each evening, he turns into a young man, but is unable to reveal anything about himself or the enchantment he is under. Nyx and Meguet, the heroines of the previous book, begin searching for answers. The mage, Rad Ilex abducts Meguet and takes her with him to his world, Saphier, which is ruled by a warlord-sorcerer named Drakken Saphier and is mostly taken up by a desert that is haunted by the memories and rumors of dragons. Nyx must find some way to get the firebird-man named Brand to tell his tale, and track Meguet into Saphier, a country that does not appear on any map she knows.
The Publishers Weekly review states that "this sequel lacks the vitality of its predecessor," but I couldn't disagree more! Instead, I find it to be an unusually fast-paced McKillip novel, and probably the closest she's come to writing a fantasy adventure since the famed Riddle-Master trilogy. Her prose may not be quite as beautiful here as it is elsewhere, mostly because she doesn't take the time to luxuriate in the language, but the plot is among her strongest. It reminds me a bit of the Axis-Kane backstory from her later novel Alphabet of Thorn, which is wonderful, because their story was my favorite part of that book.
This book has it all: Dragons! Traveling between worlds! Mages! Deserts! Firebirds! I found myself grinning quite a bit at various parts, just because my inner fantasy nerd was so satisfied, and as the climax approached I grew breathless.
Meguet and the Gatekeeper are as wonderful as ever in this book, but the real joy and surprise is Nyx, who was such a shadowy figure in the last book but here becomes human. I like the newcomers, Rad and Brand, as well. There is a beautiful scene between Nyx and Brand in an abandoned dragon's lair filled with waterfalls—well, I'll just let you read it. The ending is perfect too ... I think it's similar to what the movie Thor tried to accomplish, but McKillip does it better.
Recommended to all McKillip fans. Read Sorceress first for the background, then read Firebird for the world-building, the characters, and the rollercoaster of a story.
I read the two books back-to-back over a weekend, and because the ending of the first book disappointed me, I was a little wary when I started the second, because at first it seemed like it might be more of the same. However, new mysteries and threats begin appearing in Ro Holding very quickly. First, a mage who can stop time steals into the castle searching for an ancient magical key that none of the royal family even knew existed. Not long after, a firebird appears in the sky above the castle, whose cry chills the heart and turns whatever it touches into precious stones. For a few hours each evening, he turns into a young man, but is unable to reveal anything about himself or the enchantment he is under. Nyx and Meguet, the heroines of the previous book, begin searching for answers. The mage, Rad Ilex abducts Meguet and takes her with him to his world, Saphier, which is ruled by a warlord-sorcerer named Drakken Saphier and is mostly taken up by a desert that is haunted by the memories and rumors of dragons. Nyx must find some way to get the firebird-man named Brand to tell his tale, and track Meguet into Saphier, a country that does not appear on any map she knows.
The Publishers Weekly review states that "this sequel lacks the vitality of its predecessor," but I couldn't disagree more! Instead, I find it to be an unusually fast-paced McKillip novel, and probably the closest she's come to writing a fantasy adventure since the famed Riddle-Master trilogy. Her prose may not be quite as beautiful here as it is elsewhere, mostly because she doesn't take the time to luxuriate in the language, but the plot is among her strongest. It reminds me a bit of the Axis-Kane backstory from her later novel Alphabet of Thorn, which is wonderful, because their story was my favorite part of that book.
This book has it all: Dragons! Traveling between worlds! Mages! Deserts! Firebirds! I found myself grinning quite a bit at various parts, just because my inner fantasy nerd was so satisfied, and as the climax approached I grew breathless.
Meguet and the Gatekeeper are as wonderful as ever in this book, but the real joy and surprise is Nyx, who was such a shadowy figure in the last book but here becomes human. I like the newcomers, Rad and Brand, as well. There is a beautiful scene between Nyx and Brand in an abandoned dragon's lair filled with waterfalls—well, I'll just let you read it. The ending is perfect too ... I think it's similar to what the movie Thor tried to accomplish, but McKillip does it better.
Recommended to all McKillip fans. Read Sorceress first for the background, then read Firebird for the world-building, the characters, and the rollercoaster of a story.
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