R. Garcia Y. Robertson, Firebird

Firebird

R. Garcia Y. Robertson

Tor, May 2006, $24.95, 320 pp.

ISBN 0765313561

In the North Woods lives the Bone Witch and her slave Aria who can use magic to become invisible until she moves. She never goes out at night because dark creatures roam the area, including troll-bears, lycanthropes, sprites and wild animals. One day she happens upon a wounded knight, Sir Roye, and gets him to safety in a nearby cave. The Markovites are after him because he stole the Firebird's egg when the king was killed, and his brother tried to take the throne from the young Prince Ivan.

The Bone Witch knows all about Aria and Roye's attraction for one another, and the need to get the egg back to its nest on Burning Mountain in the Iron Woods, a place more frightening than the North Woods. Aria is freed from slavery, and she and her knight start for Burning Mountain but they are captured by Tartars. Roye fixes it so Aria escapes and he joins the Tartars in their conquest. Aria, thinking her love is dead, finds herself rescued by Persephone and Eros, when the powers that be want to take her into custody so they can find the egg. She has many adventures, and so does Sir Roye before the two are finally reunited in the Kremlin where the Firebird Egg is kept. Somehow they must steal it and put it back where it belongs without getting killed by their many enemies.

This stand alone fantasy epic is one of the best quest books written in some time. The storyline takes place in a land that would be considered Russia in our world, except for creatures of myth and legend. R. Garcia Y. Robinson has written a wonderful romantic fantasy that will appeal to the fans of Mercedes Lackey and Judith Tarr.