Even though the "young archer" spends a lot of time "weeping bitterly" and the "Horse of Power" has a bit of a monopoly on common sense, The Firebird was a fairly decent retelling. The illustrations, however, left a lot to be desired: apart from highly stylized onion domes and the characters' clothing, nothing of Russia's art or culture really comes across. Demi certainly has a particular style, but I think that style would hardly have been compromised by a bit more Russian flavor. ( )

After reading "The Firebird," I thought that it was an interesting book. The way that the author told the story about the young archer and his journey with Tsar Ivan was incredible. The story took me through a journey, and it was a magical story. Being an adult reading this book I know that everything that happened in this book isn't real, but the story still captured me because of the illustrations. The story shows that evil never wins, and good will always prevail in the end. The Archer finds a feather from the Firebird, and his magical horse told him to leave it alone, but he didn't listen. Tsar Ivan made him get things for him by threatened him that he was going to kill him. At the end when the archer has to get the Princess, and she finds out what the Tsar has been doing she gets very mad. Tsar Ivan tries to kill the archer, but the princess turns him into a beautiful prince. When Tsar Ivan say that he transformed into a prince he wanted to do it to be young again. When he jumped into the pot, he disappeared. The story shows how greedy people get what they deserve in the end. The author did a fantastic job telling the story. I have never read the original, but it did an excellent job telling the story in a way that kids can easily understand it. ( )

This is a fairly tale about an archer (Dimitri), Tsar Ivan, and princess Vassilissa. The Tsar Ivan makes Dimitri get the princess so that the Tsar can marry her. In the end, the princess uses her magic to save Dimitri from the boiling pot the Tsar said he needed to be in. After he is saved from this by the princess, they trick the Tsar into the pot, allowing the princess and Dimitri to "live together for many years in love and happiness."

The pages of this book had a shiny metallic look, and to me, made it feel more like a fairly tale. The artwork was so great that it kept pushing me to read through it more. I liked that the story line wasn't focused on just one feat that Dimitri accomplished, but on a few that lead up to the "big event." I also liked that the author repeated he phrase "the young archer bowed and, weeping bitterly, returned to his house." It actually forced me to read with emphasis on these phrases because of the commas in the phrase. ( )

This book is spectacularly beautiful. Demi's illustrations are magical. They pull in traditional Russian folk arts and blend them with Asia traditions and attention to detail. The paint used in the printing of this edition literally makes the pages glow. It would make a spectacular gift. ( )