The Firebird Trilogy
Not too long ago, I wrote an article about my favorite novel(s) for YCN. I chose to write about the Firebird Trilogy by Kathy Tyers.
For a brief overview of each books, you can read that article. I’m going to focus more on things I love about the series here.
1. It is the first good-quality Christian Science Fiction that I ever found.
2. The Old Testament (which if you’ve never read it completely through, you should, just for the stories that are in there) turned into Science Fiction? Um, yeah!
3. Telepaths. With morals. Okay, not all of them have morals, because the bad guy is a whole bunch of these telepaths without morals, but the good guys still make enough mistakes to actually be believable.
4. Political intrigue. Honorary suicide. Galactic war.
5. The imagery. Kathy Tyers has a way of making absurd science fiction items and scenery scene normal, and she easily paints the canvas of your mind with her scenes.
My favorite part?
~
She desperately wanted that assurance, but she couldn’t ask for it dishonestly. If she wanted death benefits, she felt she had to commit herself unconditionally, whether or not she lived past sunrise.
But I don’t know enough to decide, she railed at the night. An answer came out of her memory: Sometimes, it takes only a glimpse of His majesty.
She lay still for several minutes, trying with all her might to imagine that kind of a person. She picture huge, but not that huge. She could imagine old, but agelessness eluded her. And what about that hidden cost, that death Brennen had finally admitted as the final price?
She gave up. It was impossible. Unless . . .
Show me, she begged.
For an instant, nothing happened. Then an imaged flashed through her mind, of a vast, primal, and unending intelligence. It made a sudden music so incomprehensibly magnificent that the universe exploded into existence, every particle and energy wave singing praise at all frequencies, an exultant harmony that condensed into billions upon billions of brilliant stars and their attendant worlds. He was the ultimate otherness, the omniscience beyond any Sentinel’s probing ability.
~
The Annotated Firebird
Kristy Carey (@Kristy_C)
August 15, 2011 at 10:18 am
I’ve read two of those. Years and years ago. I wanted to get more into it, but had some trouble personally. I really enjoyed the first one however.
Rebekah Loper
August 16, 2011 at 1:20 pm
The first one is my favorite. I enjoy the second two because she builds on so much that was hinted at in Firebird, but the first one is definitely my favorite out of all three. Not all books speak to all people, though
The_Cake_Adventures
December 29, 2011 at 7:08 pm
I read this series earlier this year and became a social hermit because I didn’t want to put the books down. Have you gotten a chance to read the 4th one in the series? Looking forward to devouring it when I can commit some real time into it instead of reading into the wee hours of the night. Who was your favorite character from the first book?
Rebekah Loper
December 29, 2011 at 7:41 pm
I haven’t read the 4th one yet, last I looked into any info on it, it wasn’t published yet. I’ll be sure to add it to my list!
My favorite character from the first book . . . I love the main characters, but I am particularly fond of Tel. I just feel so sad for him, he genuinely wanted what was right, but was so confused as to what that actually was.