Patricia McKillip's lush prose is enough to make her an accomplished fairy tale spinner. Wonderfully, her tales contain so much more than beautiful language -- a keen sense of family relationships, both good and bad, as well as the subtler side of seeking magic, and a simplicity at the heart the stories make them all memorable.
The Sorceress and the Cygnet, together with its sequel The Cygnet and the Firebird, was one of the first books I read by McKillip, and I was utterly blown away. Not only was it full of strong characters, but it also had a mysterious plot which, although complicated, never felt difficult to follow. She is one of very few authors who tells true fairy tales, full of archtypes and familiar surroundings, and yet consistently remakes them into something new and haunting.
Here I've taken my favorite characters from this duo and brought them to life: Meguet, the warrior; her sister Nyx, the sorceress; the Gatekeeper, steady and enigmatic; and the firebird.
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