Bethany's Reviews > Firebird Trilogy

The first time I picked up the Firebird Trilogy, I didn’t expect the ways that it would impact me. I was in my friend’s bedroom, studying her collection of books when the word Firebird in gold lettering caught my eye—I remembered hearing my uncle talk about it. I started reading, and I couldn’t stop.
I didn’t really know how to express how much I loved this series, so I decide to write a list of some things I loved about it:

- Worldbuilding: Extensive and immersive worldbuilding on an epic scale, from cultures to ships to intersystemic travel to politics to architecture. Everything seemed so real, textured, and believable.

- The characters: Agh, this is the biggest one. Firebird, and her deeply flawed but equally loveable self, her battle to prove herself, her growth. Brennan, and his unbreaking faith and perseverance that is somehow laced with doubts and pain. Tel, his loyalty and his fighting spirit (though his physical capacity may not always match :P), Carradee with her compassionate heart, Phoena: Conniving… yet loved deeply. Micahel, with his chilling determination and pleasure in all the wrong things… the list could go on and on but here’s the thing: They all feel like real people. Flawed, with deep, raw emotion, natural motivations.

- Tension. What’s amazing to me is how Kathy Tyres managed to include an all-powerful Creator, and yet keep the stakes high. Much like in real life, she made it clear that the Singer’s plan would come to fruition—but the characters constantly have to ask themselves, what is the plan? How would it fit with the world’s ideas of right and wrong? What would be the consequences? How did they know that they weren’t breaking from his plan and bringing judgment on themselves? What if He asked them to sacrifice their lives? Throughout the story, Kathy keeps the readers on the edge of their seats and the sense of danger high.

- The viewpoint: As a christian reader, I found this trilogy not only entertaining and deeply moving on an emotional level, but edifying. Kathy displays how even the most terrible things can be used for our good and his glory. His timing is perfect. His plan is flawless. His love is boundless. He has a plan for all of our suffering. —But that does require submitting to Him, even when you’re afraid. Even when you want to take action yourself, you must trust Him.
The Sentinels: The whole concept of the Thryians and the ayin and epsilon abilities is so fascinating and adds a whole level of interest that other sci-fi doesn’t have. It’s like the Force in Star Wars… but better.

- The ending: (And yes… in case you hadn’t picked up on this… SPOILER ALERT…skip to the next point if you haven’t read the whole series). Tyres got me with that ending. I don’t even know how to describe the emotional whirlwind I experienced. I could not stop reading and every interruption felt like a heart attack. I realized later that I experienced the same emotional journey as Firebird (That there is beyond exceptional writing… stories that portray emotion so well that you don’t just understand it… you feel it). When Firebird first started having bereavement shock, I denied it. Maybe there was interference! Maybe something happened to her ayin! And then as the bereavement shock is confirmed, and they locate Brennen but don’t go after him yet, and people are trying to comfort Firebird… at that point my brain is screaming, “NO! Nonono no! He’s not dead. He can’t be! Kathy Tyres wouldn’t do that to me! She wouldn’t betray me like that! AHHH! I need my heart!” but then slowly… Shel (another awesome character) and Firebird find him. No perceptible brain activity. I think there might’ve been a glitch with his space suit? He’s been floating in space too long. His mind was almost certainly shattered and destroyed by fielding teams. I’m a writer myself. I can imagine myself doing this to my readers. Slowly, with Firebird, I begin to lose hope. I begin to accept the inevitable loss—it had been prophesied, after all. I begin to process.
And then he’s alive.
(Huh, now that I think about it, it strikes me almost as a picture of Christ: Sacrifice, death, alive again)
And then I want to cry. Because I’m so relieved. (Yes. I know it’s just a fictional character. It’s easy to forget with an author like Kathy Tyres, though.)
But what about the bereavement shock?
Not a plothole! Firebird’s ayin was damaged! (WHAT! I thought of it, considered it… still dismissed it. I was this close! —which is a testament to Kathy’s masterful writing; she convinced me to dismiss the correct solution, and slapped me in the face with something I’d already thought of and still made it into a plot twist! Woah.)

This trilogy was deeply meaningful to me as someone who often wonders why I don’t hear God—where’d he go when I needed him most? Why didn’t he do things differently? Why didn’t he fix things? Why did he let things happen the way they did? And this story is such a strong reminder that He’s been there all along, waiting for the perfect moments to reveal himself in power.