katreadsalot's review against another edition
5.0
Another beautifully-written, romantic, unputdownable novel from Susanna Kearsley. I'm so happy that Kearsley continued the story of Anna in this novel! Similar to The Winter Sea, I found the historical story more compelling than the contemporary, though I appreciated Nicola's growth. I enjoyed the Russian setting!
mm676's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic! I can't wait to read another book by this author. The amount of historical detail is amazing, even more so when you realise how it was woven into the storyline. One of my favorites!
mm676's review against another edition
5.0
The Firebird was the first Susanna Kearsley book I read and it made me fall in love with her writing. Making my way through her books (slowly, so I won't finish them all too quickly!) I recently read The Winter Sea (aka Sophia's Secret.) It is an incredible read, one of my favourites, and left me wondering at the end what happened next to these beloved characters. It then dawned on me that some of the characters sounded familiar and I remembered The Firebird. Slains#2, it said when I checked it in Goodreads! And I had just left Slains Castle in The Winter Sea!
Rushing to my bookcase I took The Firebird down and opened it where I immediately saw Colonel Patrick Grahame's name and Anna's! I had to be-read it! It was like reading the book for the first time. I now knew what those sly looks meant between the nuns in Ypres and more about people like Captain Gordon and Mrs. Ogilvie and I had the whole history of Anna's family to guide me through. Obviously The Firebird is a stand alone book or I never would have enjoyed it so much, but really it's SO much more if you read The Winter Sea first. Please do read that one first if you can. It will make The Firebird even better for you.
PS - if you'd like to read a book with a young Rob in it, then pick up All the Shadowy Horses. I love how the author takes the characters we know and has them pop up in different books.
Rushing to my bookcase I took The Firebird down and opened it where I immediately saw Colonel Patrick Grahame's name and Anna's! I had to be-read it! It was like reading the book for the first time. I now knew what those sly looks meant between the nuns in Ypres and more about people like Captain Gordon and Mrs. Ogilvie and I had the whole history of Anna's family to guide me through. Obviously The Firebird is a stand alone book or I never would have enjoyed it so much, but really it's SO much more if you read The Winter Sea first. Please do read that one first if you can. It will make The Firebird even better for you.
PS - if you'd like to read a book with a young Rob in it, then pick up All the Shadowy Horses. I love how the author takes the characters we know and has them pop up in different books.
reyes_sf's review against another edition
2.0
I'm ready for Susanna Kearsley to join the John Green Club in my read shelf: this is my third book by her, and I truly cannot tell any of her books apart. They all feature a strong, independent woman in the present that has an intense connection with a strong, independent and mysterious woman in the past as she tries to unveil the past-woman's story, always with a touch of supernatural stuff (having visions in 'The Winter Sea', seeing ghosts in 'Marianna" and in this case, seeing the past of a person when she touches an object belonging to that person). I loved the first book, enjoyed the second and barely liked this one.
It's not only that the story follows exactly the same pattern as the other two books. I liked the story in the past ok, but I didn't care at all about the story in the present, and as SK jumps from one to the other constantly it felt disruptive and annoying and in the end I couldn't enjoy either story. Rob is annoyingly perfect and totally bland. He's written to make you swoon, but he only bored me to tears, and the vibe I got from Nicola is more 'damsel in distress' than 'strong independent woman'. Also, I enjoyed the supernatural touch in the other books, but here is just too cheesy and overdone. There's a particular scene at the end that annoyed me to no end.
Not to mention the writing in Scottish/Russian accent thing. Seriously, I'm perfectly capable of imagining the accents in my head - also, I couldn't understand half what the Scottish people in this book said, and I live in Scotland :/
Basically that's it, I'm not saying that I won't read any more SK books, but it will definitely be a while until I pick the next one.
It's not only that the story follows exactly the same pattern as the other two books. I liked the story in the past ok, but I didn't care at all about the story in the present, and as SK jumps from one to the other constantly it felt disruptive and annoying and in the end I couldn't enjoy either story. Rob is annoyingly perfect and totally bland. He's written to make you swoon, but he only bored me to tears, and the vibe I got from Nicola is more 'damsel in distress' than 'strong independent woman'. Also, I enjoyed the supernatural touch in the other books, but here is just too cheesy and overdone. There's a particular scene at the end that annoyed me to no end.
Spoiler
Both Nicola and Rob have supernatural abilities, but Rob is like the Hulk of the psychics and the guy is perfectly comfortable with everyone knowing about it, while Nicola prefers to keep her abilities a secret because she's had some bad experiences in the past. So in this particular scene she learns (through her gift) that a painting that she's about to purchase for a client it's actually a forgery, and she plans to let the current owner know by suggesting there's something dodgy about the painting, but when Rob learns this he goes crazy because she won't admit she has a gift, and when she tries to explain that she could lose her job and her credibility if she tells how she actually found out about the forgery somehow he turns it into 'you'd tell the truth if you'd love me'. HEL-LO?? That's a perfectly valid explanation! And also, it's HER CHOICE if she wants or not to tell the world about her gift! What an asshole... So in the end she confesses what she can do in the middle of a super important exhibition with all the bosses in the art dealing business in attendance, but it's ok because all of them believe her and love her!! So Rob was right all this time, and now she's ready to leave her glamorous job in London to move in with him to a tiny but charming town in the Scottish borders, and isn't life just wonderful??Not to mention the writing in Scottish/Russian accent thing. Seriously, I'm perfectly capable of imagining the accents in my head - also, I couldn't understand half what the Scottish people in this book said, and I live in Scotland :/
Basically that's it, I'm not saying that I won't read any more SK books, but it will definitely be a while until I pick the next one.
swissmunicipal's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this one as a sequel to the first. This author does tend to give more historical exposition than I probably care about, but I can definitely see the value in it.
gregoreads's review against another edition
3.0
Much better than The Winter Sea, in my opinion! I liked both of the romances better and the psychic stuff was dealt with better, too.
gretski's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jennfgarcia's review against another edition
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Just like the first in the series, it had dual story lines: one present and one past. Set in Scotland, England, and Russia made for great history lessons with the plot still based around getting King James on the throne. Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed this even more, if possible, if I had listened to it. The accents were written out not just skimmed over and that makes for a great listen when the narrator does them all.
This book sort of continued the "past story" from the first in the series. Have I confused you? Well, the characters in the "present story" are new but the ones from the "past story" are not. And it answers so many questions and I'm so grateful for it. But I'm greedy and want more still.
Kearsley has this seamless way of jumping from past and present without making it confusing. It's very enjoyable and tends to leave one on the edge of their seat waiting to get to the next part of one of the story lines. I love the supernatural elements of ESP and psychometry, it made it possible for us to see the past.
I hope there will be more from this series as I'm dying to find out what happens with Anna, Sophia, and John.
I recommend this to anyone that loves historicals, real characters from history, supernatural elements, and great love stories without the obvious romance.
This book sort of continued the "past story" from the first in the series. Have I confused you? Well, the characters in the "present story" are new but the ones from the "past story" are not. And it answers so many questions and I'm so grateful for it. But I'm greedy and want more still.
Kearsley has this seamless way of jumping from past and present without making it confusing. It's very enjoyable and tends to leave one on the edge of their seat waiting to get to the next part of one of the story lines. I love the supernatural elements of ESP and psychometry, it made it possible for us to see the past.
I hope there will be more from this series as I'm dying to find out what happens with Anna, Sophia, and John.
I recommend this to anyone that loves historicals, real characters from history, supernatural elements, and great love stories without the obvious romance.
sytaylor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
kaulyjo's review against another edition
4.0
When all is said and done, I'm not really sure how to review "The Firebird." Susanna Kearsley tells a good story. Her writing is good: her images lively and her use of dialect spot on from what I can tell. Her characters are interesting, and the locations are exotic. And yet, I still feel somewhat duped by the jacket description of the book and what I got.
Nicola is an assistant to an art buyer, and when an elderly woman comes in to sell a prized possession that she's been told was given to her family but Catherine I of Russia, Nicola can see that it's real through her psychic abilities, but she's unable to prove it through conventional means. Drawing on her past relationship with another psychic, Rob, the pair eventually make their way to Russia, all on the hunt for The Firebird's provenance.
I say that I feel duped because when I read the jacket description, I assumed (rightly or wrongly, though either way apparently incorrectly) that the majority of the novel would take place in Russia and that The Firebird would play a key role. Instead for the first half of the novel Nicola and Rob venture through western Europe, and The Firebird's real provenance isn't revealed until the penultimate chapter. Had Kearsley made it a real mystery, that long, slow reveal might really have worked - a final "a ha!" to end the story. Yet instead she focuses on the woman to whom The Firebird was supposedly originally given, and it becomes her story, which also begins in western Europe and takes a long time to get to Russia. Perhaps I was most disappointed because I have a keen interest in Russian history and culture, and I felt like I had been "promised" more of Russia and the Empress.
However, for all of that, I can't completely discount the novel. As I said, the writing is good, and at the end of the novel there is an explanation by the author that an overwhelming majority of the characters in the book are based on real-life individuals. The amount of research involved is what really saves the book for me. Knowing that, I appreciate the backstories involved that much more, and it actually makes me wish that there was more to read about these specific characters, without a vague plot manufactured around them.
Nicola is an assistant to an art buyer, and when an elderly woman comes in to sell a prized possession that she's been told was given to her family but Catherine I of Russia, Nicola can see that it's real through her psychic abilities, but she's unable to prove it through conventional means. Drawing on her past relationship with another psychic, Rob, the pair eventually make their way to Russia, all on the hunt for The Firebird's provenance.
I say that I feel duped because when I read the jacket description, I assumed (rightly or wrongly, though either way apparently incorrectly) that the majority of the novel would take place in Russia and that The Firebird would play a key role. Instead for the first half of the novel Nicola and Rob venture through western Europe, and The Firebird's real provenance isn't revealed until the penultimate chapter. Had Kearsley made it a real mystery, that long, slow reveal might really have worked - a final "a ha!" to end the story. Yet instead she focuses on the woman to whom The Firebird was supposedly originally given, and it becomes her story, which also begins in western Europe and takes a long time to get to Russia. Perhaps I was most disappointed because I have a keen interest in Russian history and culture, and I felt like I had been "promised" more of Russia and the Empress.
However, for all of that, I can't completely discount the novel. As I said, the writing is good, and at the end of the novel there is an explanation by the author that an overwhelming majority of the characters in the book are based on real-life individuals. The amount of research involved is what really saves the book for me. Knowing that, I appreciate the backstories involved that much more, and it actually makes me wish that there was more to read about these specific characters, without a vague plot manufactured around them.