I was recently reminded, in a conversation online, how much I love this book and it led me to pick it up off the shelf and start reading. After a couple of hours, I put the book down and though it's not the same 15 years after the first reading, it is still a book close to my heart.

I always felt that Cassandra, Princess of Troy, was somewhat left out of the stories of the battle. Her story is a tragic one, but she is portrayed here, by Bradley, as a strong and determined woman and it is this portrayal of her that I enjoy the most.

Definitely a book I would recommend reading if you love the myths of Troy.

I am aware that many are boycotting the books of Bradley because of recent revelations made about her by her daughter, I would say that here is a point where you need to separate art from artist and enjoy the book for what it is, not what the writer was.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!

It was an absolutely riveting account of the Trojan War. I was so engrossed with the book and I only put it down to sleep!

One of the best books I've ever read (hands down)!!!!!

I’ve already read quite a few books by Marion Zimmer Bradley, including most of the Avalon and Darkover series. I always liked her writing style and how she manages to tell a vivid, historical believable and deep story.
I wasn’t disappointed with The Firebrand. The book is a retelling of the fall of Troy, told from Kassandra’s point of view. Kassandra is a princess of Troy. When she was still a child, she was claimed both by the Goddess and by Apollo. She spent some time in her youth among the Amazon tribes and learned to fight. Later she became a priestess to Apollo. Since her early childhood she had visions of what was to come and was doomed not to be believed.
There are always to kinds of historical books for me: Those that get boring soon because they either lack in detail and are unbelievable or because they lose themselves in detail so the story itself drowns in it. And there are those stories that are brilliant, captivating narratives that make history real. The Firebrand belongs to that second category. The story at once made me feel like I know the time. There was not too much description but also enough to paint a vivid picture of the time and place. It’s easy to sympathize with Kassandra and although I often get easily bored by long travels in books or battles, I didn’t get bored in The Firebrand (there were both travels and battles).
In-between the story itself Kassandra asks herself some thought-provoking questions about the gods that are worshiped in different parts of her world and about the standing of women in society.
The only reason it took me so long to finish this book was the simple fact that my edition had a very small font size, so I couldn’t read much of it in the evenings and I sometimes had to squeeze in a book with larger font so my eyes wouldn’t protest too much (this is one of the reasons why I love my e-readers so much; always the perfect font size).

I can't recommend this book with a clear conscience. I tried re reading and knowing what I now know about the author it wasn't possible. But when I was a baby reader ( I had to be like 14? Maybe older maybe younger) this book opened my eyes to a world of possiblity. Today I'm enjoying my feminist fantasy but back then I thought all fantasy series where LoTR. The fact that it made me question so much about a world that until then was defined by male written literature makes it an important book for me.