The Firebrand
core novel 1987 The Firebrand
Record
| First published | 1987 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.07 (11,602 ratings, collected 2026-09-29) |
| Page count | 608 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780671641771 |
Synopsis
Kassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy and twin to Paris, is given the gift of prophecy by the god Apollo, and when she refuses to become his lover he sets his curse on the gift: she will see truly, and no one will believe her. Sent as a girl to spend a year among the Amazon warriors of her mother's kin, she returns to the city to be consecrated a priestess of Apollo, only to find Troy drifting towards the war she has foreseen, as her brother brings home the Spartan queen Helen and the Greek ships gather. Bradley retells the story of the Iliad from inside the walls and from a woman's eyes, following Kassandra through the long siege, her struggle between the sun god and the older goddesses of the earth, and the fall she has always known was coming.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Firebrand
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
Notes
- Simon & Schuster, October 1987. A retelling of the Iliad from Kassandra's viewpoint; Bradley's only novel set in ancient Greece, and a separate world from The Mists of Avalon.
Sources
← The Firebrand dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.