Firebird by Kathy Tyers: A Re-write of a Classic Sci Fi Novel
The rulers of Netaia decide to invade a nearby planet which is part of the hated Federacy. Lady Firebird Angelo hopes to die honorably while leading the attack. But during the battle she is captured by Federate forces. Her captor and interrogator is Colonel Brennan Caldwell, a member of a race of telepaths who are members of the Federacy, although the Federate leaders don’t completely trust them because of their powers. Caldwell offers Firebird political asylum within the Federacy. She tentatively accepts, while still hoping for an honorable death.
When news of Lady Firebird’s survival reaches Netaia, Carradee (the oldest sister, and the new queen) is relieved, but Phoena, the middle sister is enraged . She demands that the Federacy return Firebird to her homeworld to stand trial for treason, and plots to have her sister assassinated. Firebird regains her will to live, and in the process, falls in love with her captor. She and Brennan travel to Netaia to thwart her sister’s plan to develop an environmental weapon to use against the Federacy. Phoena is stopped, although she does survive to fight another day, and Firebird accepts Brennan’s proposal of marriage or pair-bonding.
Tyers followed up Firebird with a sequel, Fusion Fire, in 1988, continuing the story of Lady Firebird. During the mid-1990’s, Kathy Tyers took a sabbatical from writing. She had already been a born-again Christian for many years, but now she decided that her writings would somehow reflect her faith. In the process, she ended up re-writing some of her earlier novels including Shivering World and both of her Firebird books. The re-written Firebird was released in 1999 by Bethany House, a Christian publisher. The original storyline remains, but Tyers had added a spiritual quest. The people of Netaia have a very strict, legalistic belief system in which positive human characteristics have been elevated to god-like status and worshipped as “The Powers.”
The heir limitation policy which condemns Firebird to death is intertwined with Netaia’s political and religious laws. The telepaths are made to resemble the Jews of the latter centuries of the Old Testament era: exiled from their home, living out the cycle of sin and repentance that Israel had gone through, and awaiting the arrival of their Messiah. They serve a god known as the “Eternal Speaker,” who in many ways resembles the God of the Jewish and Christian faiths.
Tyers also uses some interesting musical metaphors to describe this god as well, referring to him as the “Master Singer” who sang the universe into existence. The messianic prophesies also indicate that their Messiah – the “Blessed Word to come” – will be born from Brennan Caldwell’s bloodline. Brennan introduces Firebird to a loving god who wants the best for her life. She finally accepts the Eternal Speaker and gives herself to him as she in held captive by her sister and awaiting execution.
Firebird was already a great science fiction novel, and Tyers’ re-write has made it even better. This is a space opera tale which can be enjoyed by all science fiction fans, regardless of what they believe. Christians are sure to love this book, but non-Christians can also enjoy it without feeling as though they are being preached to or beaten over the head and told what to believe. One does not have to be a Christian to appreciate this novel. It’s a great space opera tale to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone who loves science fiction or even just a good story.
Kathy Tyers published a third Firebird novel, Crown of Fire, through Bethany House in the fall of 2000. I still have yet to read that installment, but I am eager to do so and see how Tyers concludes this trilogy. I would love to see Firebird adapted for the big screen, although I am more than a little bit concerned. A Christian filmmaker could keep the movie faithful to the Judaeo-Christian themes of the book, but it would only be available to the Christian market.
And a major Hollywood studio could turn out a movie with dazzling special effects, and it would be out in the mainstream market, but I’m worried that the story and the spiritual themes would be lost in the mix. Perhaps if Andrew Adamson (director of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) took the helm, he could create a film worthy of Tyers’ novel. Altogether, Firebird is a book which I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading good science fiction or any good story, and I look forward to more exciting science fiction from Kathy Tyers.
