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The Shining Falcon
While his sorcerer cousin plots a takeover of his kingdom, a wounded prince who has taken the form of a falcon is nursed back to health by a banished noblewoman who does not suspect his true identity.
341 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
About the author
Josepha Sherman
216 books69 followersJosepha Sherman was an American author, folklorist, and anthologist. In 1990 she won the Compton Crook Award for the novel The Shining Falcon.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 7, 2022
Saw this at a library book sale and was completely drawn in by the cover - Slavic folklore AND a bird of prey? Count me in.
This is the story of shapeshifting Prince Finist, who must outwit his traitorous cousin Ljuba as she seeks the crown for herself. He'll have some help from a powerful magical forest and Maria, daughter of a boyar, who wins his heart.
This wasn't anything too spectacular, but I did like the magic and it succeeded in distracting me from my still-raging COVID symptoms AND the sweltering July heat, especially since our power was out all day today. 😣
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
This is the story of shapeshifting Prince Finist, who must outwit his traitorous cousin Ljuba as she seeks the crown for herself. He'll have some help from a powerful magical forest and Maria, daughter of a boyar, who wins his heart.
This wasn't anything too spectacular, but I did like the magic and it succeeded in distracting me from my still-raging COVID symptoms AND the sweltering July heat, especially since our power was out all day today. 😣
Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!
May 6, 2017
(A solid 3.5) Picked up from Busy Bee's solely on the strength of the cover (Kinuko Craft, appropriately Slavic-influenced) and a vague desire to collect pre-90s fantasy by women writers. Paid off, in that it's basically an extended fairy tale with a sweet romance element set in a milieu that's still unusual in fantasy.
July 31, 2022
2.5 stars.
This is the re-telling of a fairy tale (or possibly more than one mashed together) and stretched out to (short) novel length. Finist, Prince of Kirtesk, is the shape-shifting falcon of the title. His cousin Ljuba is a scheming enchantress of small power who wants to seize the throne. While Finist is dealing with her wiles the story switches over to follow the tale of Maria, the daughter of an exiled nobleman, who is banished with her family to the forest, the home of the magical leshy and the malevolent rusalki. She is, of course, the true love and the story must be about them coming together and having a Happy Ever After.
This was what I think of as a 'meh' book. It was okay; just okay, no more. It might have worked better as a short story; it felt a bit stretched and drawn out for me. The characters were pretty basic types, not complex or well-drawn: Finist is the noble prince, Ljuba is the scheming evil sorceress, Maria is the love interest... they're pretty one-note, no more.
If you like fairy tale retellings with a strong romantic story line, you may enjoy this. For a similar story that I preferred, I would recommend Prince Ivan.
This is the re-telling of a fairy tale (or possibly more than one mashed together) and stretched out to (short) novel length. Finist, Prince of Kirtesk, is the shape-shifting falcon of the title. His cousin Ljuba is a scheming enchantress of small power who wants to seize the throne. While Finist is dealing with her wiles the story switches over to follow the tale of Maria, the daughter of an exiled nobleman, who is banished with her family to the forest, the home of the magical leshy and the malevolent rusalki. She is, of course, the true love and the story must be about them coming together and having a Happy Ever After.
This was what I think of as a 'meh' book. It was okay; just okay, no more. It might have worked better as a short story; it felt a bit stretched and drawn out for me. The characters were pretty basic types, not complex or well-drawn: Finist is the noble prince, Ljuba is the scheming evil sorceress, Maria is the love interest... they're pretty one-note, no more.
If you like fairy tale retellings with a strong romantic story line, you may enjoy this. For a similar story that I preferred, I would recommend Prince Ivan.
September 28, 2018
This was one of the books I saved from my younger days, I remembered it as a favorite. Ding some re-reading as an adult, it was disappointing. The characters are really wooden, the action is strangely paced, and the romance is really unbelievably sketched. Reading in the afterword that it was a folktale inflates to a novel makes sense. Just not great.
May 4, 2020
A shape-changing prince, a magic-fearing noblewoman, a jealous princess, and an unscrupulous courtier find their destinies inextricably linked by the forces of love, hate, and magic. Drawing heavily on Slavic mythology for her first adult fantasy, Sherman creates a richly detailed novel with all the charm and readability of a fairy tale. 1990 Compton Crook Award.
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April 18, 2022A solid fantasy tale grounded in the Slavic mythology of medieval Rus. Some similar themes to those later developed by Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy, though not as deeply developed/explored in one book. While there is a romance grounding the plot, this is more of a fairytale retelling than a fantasy romance.
February 14, 2017
A romantic fantasy novel based on a Russian fairytale. The writing doesn't rise much above competent but the plot was engaging and incident filled enough to hold my attention. A light read.
June 15, 2013
Those of you who like retold fairy tales may like this one. Or maybe not since the odds are good that you haven't read The Feather of Finist the Falcon. (Then, you can fix that. 0:)
But it opens with Finist having to deal with his lovely royal cousin Ljuba, out to magically seduce and control him for power -- somewhat complicated by being in the forest, where the leshy live -- and with Maria's father being slandered by a protegee, so that she, he, and her older sister barely manage to escape to live a wretched life on a peasant's farm, made all the more wretched by the sister's all but losing her wits in their distress and her fear of the forest and its "demons".
Finist stumbles on them there, and is instrumental in restoring them to life as a boyar and his daughters. And goes home to be wretched because of his magical abilities and her father's hatred of all magic. An adviser urges him to consider whether she agrees with her father, and he sets out to woo.
Unfortunately, her sister takes him as one of the forest demons, and Ljuba takes advantage of it to return to her plotting. There are considerably more complications before the end, involving a riddle game, an enchanted pin, a caftan stained with blood that can't be washed out, a return for a good deed, a monk who can become an eagle, bandits, and lots and lots of forest.
But it opens with Finist having to deal with his lovely royal cousin Ljuba, out to magically seduce and control him for power -- somewhat complicated by being in the forest, where the leshy live -- and with Maria's father being slandered by a protegee, so that she, he, and her older sister barely manage to escape to live a wretched life on a peasant's farm, made all the more wretched by the sister's all but losing her wits in their distress and her fear of the forest and its "demons".
Finist stumbles on them there, and is instrumental in restoring them to life as a boyar and his daughters. And goes home to be wretched because of his magical abilities and her father's hatred of all magic. An adviser urges him to consider whether she agrees with her father, and he sets out to woo.
Unfortunately, her sister takes him as one of the forest demons, and Ljuba takes advantage of it to return to her plotting. There are considerably more complications before the end, involving a riddle game, an enchanted pin, a caftan stained with blood that can't be washed out, a return for a good deed, a monk who can become an eagle, bandits, and lots and lots of forest.
February 9, 2017
Pretty flat characters and lots of clichés, but it was a fun story with some nice folk tale elements. Good atmosphere.
November 22, 2012
A definite good read. I loved the story, the way you really feel like you were in the magical forest with the leshy, the plot itself is too interesting to resist, with the battle for power and love. I particularly liked how Prince Finist and Maria save each other and sacrifice for each other. :) Awesome read!
December 19, 2019
All’s well that ends well. A fairytale expanded into a wonderful story. A bit too much time in the early chapters spent on Alexei and his machinations. But keep reading and the story settle into a tale that cannot be put down.
March 20, 2012
Beautifully rendered version of a Russian folk tale.
June 6, 2013
A delightful mix of folklore and good old fantasy. I loved the heavy influence of Slavic mythology and cultural elements; this is no bread-and-butter fantasy, it is unique. Very readable.
February 23, 2014
Beautiful retelling of a Russian fairy tale.
July 17, 2008
It has a very nice Russian fairytale feel.
August 25, 2012
Josepha's first novel and still a wonderful read today.
August 28, 2012
Amazing. The book itself is out-of-print, but I was lucky enough to be gifted a copy.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews