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Three royal sisters must undertake separate but equally perilous quests in order to defeat the dark sorcery that has ravaged their kingdom in book one of the Saga of the Trillium, an ingenious collaboration by three classic names in fantasy fiction. Peace has long reigned in Ruwenda thanks to the magical protection of the Archimage Binah. The realm's devoted guardian is aging, however, and her magic is weakening. When the kingdom's triplet princesses were still infants, Binah gave each of show more them the mystical power of the Black Trillium. But the unthinkable occurs too soon, and Ruwenda is overrun by the ravaging armies of neighboring Labornok before the sisters, Haramis, Kadiya, and Anigel, have time to learn how to use their great gift. Forced to flee, the young princesses must follow their separate destinies through a dangerous and unfamiliar world of Oddlings and enemies-for only the combined power of three magical talismans can help them defeat the malevolent sorcerer who has brought chaos and death to their once-idyllic home. But it will take new kinds of strength and wisdom to confront the great evil that has descended on the World of the Three Moons. Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, and Andre Norton, three of the most honored names in fantasy fiction, have joined forces to create an extraordinary world and culture in the first book of the remarkable Saga of the Trillium, a breathtaking tale of duty, peril, love, and magic. show lessTags
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I don't think I've ever read a book this long that said so little. What plot there was was incoherent. On top of that the dialogue that made me wince to read it, and the ending was so abrupt it made me laugh. Almost like they'd contracted for 490 pages, and stopped as quickly as they could once that goal was reached.
This trainwreck is proof positive that group written books emerge like Frankenstein monsters as an assortment of ill-fitted parts stitched together. The sad part is there MIGHT have been something here, but what ACTUALLY was put out is about as close to garbage as I've ever seen this side of a self-published work. And those don't typically have the benefit of any editing.
I could say more, but why bother? Enough time has show more been wasted, onward to something better. show less
This trainwreck is proof positive that group written books emerge like Frankenstein monsters as an assortment of ill-fitted parts stitched together. The sad part is there MIGHT have been something here, but what ACTUALLY was put out is about as close to garbage as I've ever seen this side of a self-published work. And those don't typically have the benefit of any editing.
I could say more, but why bother? Enough time has show more been wasted, onward to something better. show less
I was really unsure about this - the book is fairly clearly written for teen girls, and I'm neither :-) The story starts out as looking like it's going to be a standard fantasy epic, with a kingdom overwhelmed by it's hated neighbour with the aid of an evil sorcerer, and the rightful heir forced to flee to the marshlands of her lost kingdom along with her fellow triplets where they have to learn their innate skills in order to win back the kingdom.. Some of the magic they employ, especially the sorcerer, looks to be a lost technology, though, and it's clear that the humans are not necessarily native to this world
I chose this book because I'm a fan of 2 of the three authors (I have never read Andre Norton). I love Bradley's historical fiction, and Julian May writes some of the best science fiction I have ever had the pleasure to read. Thankfully, this is one of those rare occasions where a book written by more than one author is unnoticeable as such. The story-telling is seamless in this fantasy saga of three sisters who embark on a quest to discover themselves and save their country in the process. This novel spawned several sequels written individually by the authors. Great book for YA readers, but sadly out of print.
If read for plot, coherency, and character development, this book is terrible. I read it more as a competition between three female writers as to control of a plot and it was much more amusing.
I was greatly disappointed by this book. MZB has been one of my favorite authors for a long time, and the promise of a fantasy story with not one but three female protagonists seemed too good to be true. Maybe it was. The story was so incredibly predictable. Each of the three sisters went through the exact same things, just with slightly different colorations. I have no desire to read a book three times in a row, no matter how good it might be. Unsurprisingly, the character development was extremely shallow, and the writing did not draw me into the story easily. However, I do think that this would be easy, accessible fantasy to a young woman.
Okay, I tried. I did try to enjoy this book. But the first word to pop into my head when trying to read it was "overwrought" and I had to force my way through it, which isn't good. I'm surprised that three authors with so much experience produced a book that was so flat and predictable.
...The idea behind this novel may have been interesting and the world the authors use as a setting is certainly unusual but that is not enough from saving this book from being a disaster. If you are attracted to it because the book has three female protagonists (rare these days, even rarer in 1990 when the book was first published) or because of the names of the authors, think again. The good thing about buying second hand books is that you can afford to take chances. I never seriously considered putting it down as the story progressed at a fair pace and the book certainly isn't a punishment to read, but when you get right down to it the plot itself is just substandard. I really can't recommend this book to anyone.
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Un roman agréable, bien mené, avec trois héroïnes attachantes et une histoire pas trop basique. C'est du conte de fées, mais de haut niveau. Les trois auteures ont chacune leur style, ce qui empêche la monotonie, et le souffle de l'aventure est là. Un seul regret : passer d'une histoire à l'autre sans cesse amène parfois un sentiment de frustration...
added by Ariane65
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Missing Books
46 works; 1 member
Epic Fantasy of the 90s
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al.vick-series
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A Rainbow of Books: Colors in the Title
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Author Information
408+ Works 98,838 Members
Marion Zimmer Bradley is a science-fiction and fantasy writer, novelist, and editor. She was born in Albany, New York on June 3, 1930. Bradley attended the New York State College for Teachers from 1946 to 1948. She earned a B.A. from Hardin Simmons University in 1964. Bradley did graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley from 1965 show more to 1967. Bradley sold her first story to Fantastic Amazing Stories as part of an amateur fiction contest. She sold her first professional story to Vortex Science Fiction in 1952. Her novels include The Sword of Aldones and The Planet Savers. Both novels were set on Darkover, the setting for more than 20 subsequent Bradley novels. Bradley also wrote The Mists of Avalon, a reworking of the King Arthur legend with more emphasis on the female characters. She used the same approach with The Firebrand, which was based on The Iliad. In addition to writing more than 85 books, Bradley was the editor of an annual anthology for DAW Books, as well as the editor of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. Bradley died in 1999. (Bowker Author Biography) Marion Zimmer Bradley was the bestselling author of "The Mists of Avalon", "Lady of Avalon", "The Forest House", & "The Firebrand", as well as the popular Darkover series of science fiction novels. She died in 1999. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
178+ Works 20,954 Members
Julian May was born on July 10, 1931. She writes under her own name and several pseudonyms including Lee N. Falconer and Ian Thorne. Her first published work, a short story entitled Dune Roller, appeared in 1951 under the name J. C. May. She sold one more short story entitled Star of Wonder in 1953 before taking a break from the science fiction show more field. Starting in 1954, she wrote thousands of science encyclopedia articles for Consolidated Book Publishers. After finishing that project, she wrote similar articles for two other encyclopedia publishers. In 1957, she and her husband founded Publication Associates, a production and editorial service for small publishers. During this time, she wrote and edited two episodes of the Buck Rogers comic strip and a new Catholic catechism for Franciscan Herald Press. Between 1956 and 1981, she wrote more than 250 books for children and young adults. They were mostly non-fiction works dealing with the subjects of science, history, and short biographies of modern-day celebrities. She returned to the world of science fiction in the 1980s with such works as the Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
436+ Works 76,394 Members
Born Alice Mary Norton on February 17, 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton in 1934. She attended the Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve) for a year then took evening courses in journalism and writing that were offered by Cleveland College, the adult division of show more the same university. Norton was a librarian for the Cleveland Library System then a reader at Gnome Press. After that position, she became a full-time writer. She is most noted for writing fantasy, in particular the Witch World series. Her first book The Prince of Commands was published in 1934. Other titles include Ralestone Luck, Magic in Ithkar, Voorloper, Uncharted Stars, The Gifts of Asti and All Cats are Gray. She also wrote under the pen names Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston She was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and the Nebula Grand Master Award. She has also received a Phoenix Award for overall writing achievement, a Jules Verne Award, and a Science Fiction Book Club Book of the Year Award for her title The Elvenbane. In 1997 she was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. She died on March 17, 2005. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Heyne Allgemeine Reihe (9698)
Science Fiction Book Club (17364)
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Black Trillium
- Original title
- Black Trillium
- Original publication date
- 1990
- People/Characters
- Haramis; Anigel; Kadiya; Orogastus; Voltrik of Labornok; Antar (show all 10); Archimage Binah; Jagun; Immu; Uzun
- Important places
- Ruwenda Citadel, Ruwenda; Trevista, Ruwenda; Noth, Ruwenda; Thorny Hell, Ruwenda; Tassaleyo Forest, Ruwenda
- Dedication
- To Uwe Luserke
Who planted the seed of the Black Trillium - First words
- In the Eighth Hundred after those of Ruwenda came to rule over the swamp wilderness called the Mazy Mire (though not, completely, for they never mastered the intractable Oddlings), legend and history both awoke to record one ... (show all)of those great changes which now and then alter the very balance of the world.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Thousands more of the trilliums remained, spreading their petals beneath the light of the Triple Moons.
- Publisher's editor*
- Jacques Goimard
- Disambiguation notice
- The Authors co-wrote this story, each taking one of the sisters. Later the authors each wrote another story centering on the sister they had created, remaining true to the story they had created.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 1,776
- Popularity
- 12,319
- Reviews
- 16
- Rating
- (3.36)
- Languages
- 10 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil)
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 26
- ASINs
- 17