Kassandra is known from Greek mythology as the woman cursed with having foresight about fateful events but never believed, and she is therefore powerless to thwart disaster. In this retelling of the classic version of events surrounding the Trojan War, Bradley breathes life into Kassandra, daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, fleshing out her story and giving her a vibrant and purposeful life of her own.

From her youth spent with the Amazons to her service as a priestess of Apollo and her supporting role in the Trojan War, Kassandra's story is well-developed, inspiring, disturbing and mostly satisfying. A story in which a woman, otherwise relegated to the background of history, is depicted in sharp focus — is welcome. I've read a number of retellings from the Classical World in recent years. While this title is less well-known, I'd rank it on par with or nearly as good as Circe and The Song of Achilles. ( )

Como hizo con la leyenda del rey Arturo, la autora recrea la caída de Troya, de una forma nueva y audaz, desde el juicio de Paris, el rapto de Helena y la convocatoria de los ejércitos griegos por Agamenón, el encolerizado cuñado de Helena, hasta la trágica destrucción de la ciudad decretada por los dioses... y por el extremado orgullo de sus líderes. La heroína de esta historia es Casandra, la bella y atormentada princesa de la casa real de Troya, que se enfrenta a una terrible lucha interior contra su lealtad dividida: la que debe su padre, el rey, y a sus hermanos, y su creciente fidelidad a la vieja fe del matriarcado y la Madre Tierra.

At the time when I read this book, I was also reading a lot of non-fiction about Goddess worship in the ancient times. In a different copy, I had written in the margins all of the factual references that concurred with this work of fiction. I gave it to my friend who had named her daughter Cassandra. I wish I had it now.

Cassandra had been a priestess who had rejected the advances of the diety, Apollo and he cursed her to fortell the future, but noone would believe her. She knows that war is coming to Troy, and all of the dread of that long conflict. But Bradley adds so much more to this story as she had done with The Mists of Avalon. ( )

Ive always been a little leery about this book and her other works. In this for example a character spoiler: has an incestous relationship with his daughter. >_ ( )

Narrated by the ill-fated priestess Kassandra, The Firebrand is a unique, feminist retelling of the Trojan War. Marion Zimmer Bradley takes some artistic license in her version of Greek mythology and the writing is not without its flaws. But I give kudos to the story for being one of the first to give voice to the women of the Iliad. Since its publication, there have been a number of Trojan War retellings--The Penelopiad, The Song of Achilles, For the Most Beautiful, The Silence of the Girls--that seek to accomplish the same. However, I found The Firebrand to be more enlightening than most with regards to what quotidian life was like for a woman during those times. ( )