3.5 STARS--Hmm...it's not bad actually. The transitions weren't as smooth as I'd like. But the fantasy feel was nice. I don't think I have read a phoenix shifter romance before. I liked both main characters, damaged dudes together. A great mindless type read. ( )

This had the misfortune of being reread during a long and stressful housemove. So it wasn't that I didn't enjoy the tale of how Kestrel and the Manth girls escape from the klin, or the effects of the passion flies, or the rich grey land of the fat captain, or Bo's discovery of his and his sister's part in all, but I never really got into the book this time through.

I still find this series uncomfortably odd. This is a book about a supernatural apocalypse - the Manth people survive the Wind on Fire which burns the Morah out of the land. [Although it doesn't destroy all the people, as we find out from the epilogue.] Like Philip Pullman, I find books where human passions are dangerous and should be suppressed difficult (although on that point this book is finely balanced, for it is the passion fly that gets Sisi and Bowman together, and it is Bowman's place as the meeting point between the Morah and the Singers which is his strength). And 'following the prophecy, even when it is stupid' is held up as a virtue, and my sympathies are often on the other side. Not to mention the issues of what _is_ a homeland, when none of them have been there before? A place they supernaturally feel is familiar and have been led to? But their lives when they get there are remarkably mundane. Oh well, at least there was no-one there that needed driving out.

Again, the supernatural is never explained, the singer people just exist, and do what they have to do.

The relationships are odd too - mostly one character knows they want another to fall in love with them, and then hangs around for the rest of the series until it happens. Pinto marrying Mumpo is the happy ending at the end of the book, but there is something uncomfortable about this - we know Mumpo loved Pinto's older sister and is mostly transferring because he can't have Kes and Pinto reminds him of her, and we know Pinto has had a crush on Mumpo since she was about 7, and marries him on her 15 birthday. The ending 'That's all I ask, thought Mumpo, not to be alone. That's all I ask, thought Pinto, to love you till the day I die', doesn't seem to bode well for a happy well balanced relationship.

Of course, my husband has just moved to Inverness for a bit, while we pursue our own careers. So I am bound to be bitter against the Manth wedding vow 'where you go, I will go, I will pass my days within the sound of your voice and none shall come between us'. Maybe sometimes it is as simple as we make it. ( )

Marching towards a homeland that they can only sense through Ira Hath's psychic skills, the Manth people are tired, hungry and subject to attack from a buzzing insect that manipulates its victims in a strange way. This is the opening scene in 'Firesong', but events steadily get worse: this is the time of cruelty and civilization has disintegrated into violent factions struggling to maintain their own people and destroy others.

This book recalls the first in the series, 'The Wind Singer', due to its epic journey and episodic structure. This gives the story structure and the flexibility to delve into the lives and situations of these other travelers. However, there are key differences between this story and the earlier one. Events and ideas that have surfaced in the previous books are finally explained fully (the Morah, the Singer people), although the explanations do test your ability to digest the surreal. The main characters, perhaps due to their age, are more interested in the possibility of romance and so loving relationships are given greater prominence, which makes the lives of the people seem more realistic and fully rounded.

The plot is cleverly constructed around a series of mysteries and difficulties: how to rescue some members of the group; what is so strange about Captain Cannobius' feast; how to reach the desired Homeland at last. Each incident is built up then resolved in a manner that fits perfectly with the rest of the story.

As in the previous two books, the characters are engaging because they are multi-faceted and respond in typically human ways to even the strangest situations. There is a sustained focus on Sisi, the escapee princess, and Creoth, the former Emperor, which means that there are few minor characters in the novel. By this stage, all names are familiar and this helps the reader to care about the survival of the characters as a group rather than simply as individuals.

On the whole, this is a fun and engaging read, but you need to be someone who can accept a great deal of fantasy to truly enjoy it. ( )

The concluding book in the trilogy. I think of the three I liked this the least. It did wrap up the second book nicely however with a sad ending. It has all the main characters from book two (Slaves of the Mastery) and continues with the Manth people following Ira Haths prophecies to find their promised land. In the end the journey comes at quite a cost to the Hath family and sadly two members do not make it to the end.

It was an enjoyable series and the best character was the cat who finally does learn how to fly! Similar in some sense to Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. The first book can stand alone and books two and three are their own story some years after book one. Another interesting character was Mumpo and I am glad that he found happiness in the end. ( )

Firesong is book three in the Wind on Fire trilogy. I read the other two in the series earlier this year: Book 2 - Slaves to the Mastery and The Wind Singer.

The Hath family is leading the remnants of the Manth people (with several additions picked up along the way) to the homeland. The promise of the homeland is vague and far away so they are often lured to stay in different places along the road. The temptations and forces are powerful but the call of a home of their own, the ancient land, is even more powerful. The special talents of the Hath family serve the group well from mind communication with each other, to flying cats, and prophecy.

The big twist was easy to figure out. That particular twist has been used an awful lot in conjunction with prophecy of one who will save. Mumpo still loves Kestrel and she does not love him back (in that way). Bowman loves the princess and she loves him even though she feels that her marred beauty has ruined her and he knows he will soon die fulfilling the prophecy. The different groups of people that they pass and the ways that those people have responded to the world are interesting; the characters in those groups aren't well developed but as the Manth people are passing by and will never see them again the strangers give their pointed messages on humanity, the free giving of love, and the way that greed can kill through stricture and then are gone...who needs personality and believability.

(sigh) Do I sound harsh? I thought Firesong was predictable and preachy.