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Summary: The Mists of Avalon
Review: Do not let 876 pages scare you away from reading one of the most interesting accounts of the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The most intriguing aspect of this book is that this era is depicted through the eyes of the women who lived it. I loved this book. A friend loaned me a copy to read and I have just finished purchasing my own copy. Usually I need instant gratification by reading shorter novels, but I received gratification every time I picked up The Mists of Avalon.
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Summary: If there was ever a book worth readeing, this is it.
Review: While most modern retellings of Arthurian legend focus on the better known aspects of the tale (ie: the battles or the later search for the holy grail), Marian Zimmer Bradley had done something very different, she had created motivation behind the traditional characters that we know and love so well. And anybody that reads extended amounts of fictions will realize, motivation is often times the most important aspect of any given story!The characters in "The Mists of Avalon" are in no way the cardboard half-lives that too often happen when somebody is trying to retell a myth as complicated as Arthurs, but the characters that personally interest me the most are those of Lancelot, Arthus's bestfriend and the man who eventually steals his wife away from him, and Morgaine, Arthur's "evil" sister that is always plotting his downfall. For the woman who have always said, this does seem right, Morgan le Fay is evil without reason, this is the story for you; for those of you that have always wondered why a man that obviously loves Arthur as much as Lancelot does could steal his wife, you will also finally get your answers. At times Marion Zimmer Bradley's characters are so mulit-dimensional that they are too good to be true; in fact they are REAL! As human beings, nobody is all good or all evil, and this is the thing that has been captured the best in the novel. All in all, a must read, number one on a very long list for me. And this book only gets better the more times that you read it, I have read it at least ten times and each time I walk away from the reading with a completely different message...there is that much to look for and understand within the novel. In a way it is a mirror, reflected the infinite aspects of human experience: love, hatred, envy, revenge, peace, war, religion, atheism...it is all there, if you wish to see it.
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Summary: I loved it!
Review: I've now read two of Bradley's books, and both I've loved and adored. This one was filled with mystery and the familiar legends of "A Once and Future King"....from a different perspective. I caught myself looking ahead, trying to find when Morgana came back into the picture, and I hated it if she was gone for more then a chapter. You end up not caring for Gwyne and wishing the ending was different, even though you know how it'll end. I prayed it wouldn't end up the way it did, but that's the way the legend goes. It made me laugh, cry, excited, awed, and all around....this was an awe-inspiring book.
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Summary: Believe me, it wasn't boring!
Review: I first heard about The Mists of Avalon from my mom, because she and all of her women friends were reading it at the same time. I was curious to know what the book was about, but I was far too young at the time to have understood it. But just recently, I was searching the library for books on Arthur and Camelot and all of that sort of thing. Then I remembered The Mists of Avalon, and decided to give it a try. I must admit I am not completely finished reading it yet, but I have to say that I have never read a book like it. It tells the story of King Arthur, but from the women's point of view. I had always thought of Morgan as the evil sorceress, but now I see her only as a woman fighting to protect her religion, and way of life. However, even though this is a wonderful book, I find it hard to sympathize with any of the characters except for Arthur. Morgaine is certainly my favorite character, but even she seems somewhat cold and harsh. Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) is a pathetic, whiny girl; Viviane is a heartless woman thinking only of herself and of Avalon; Lancelet is just plain icky; and none of the other characters were that great. But even so, the story is enthralling, and each day I look forward to reading it in the evening. So if you like Arthurian legend, I would recommend you read this straight away. It is definitely worth reading, and I can't see why anybody would want to give it less than 5 stars.
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Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is a modern day classic. Don't miss it.
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Summary: Excellent but Boring
Review: I have read both Mists of Avalon and Forest House. Both have excellent character portrayal. You really feel you are living in the time with all the conflicts between ancient and "modern" British civilization. The viewpoint from the women's perspective is very good. I particularly liked the portrayal of the mysticism surrounding the ancietn Celt Goddess. However, the book was tedious and very slow moving. I had to work up a mindset to read it. It was not one I longed to get back to and couldn't wait to start up after laying it down.
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Summary: A glimpse into Druidic Britain and the Arthurian Legend
Review: I must have read three or four novel series based on the Arthurian legend (Mallory of course, T.H. White's Once and Future King, Bernard Cornwell's series and of course seen films like Excalibur and First Knight.) Do I love Arthurian legends or what? So I couldn't put Bradley's The Mists of Avalon down for a moment. It was riveting. Marion Zimmer Bradley is a respected fantasy writer and highly skilled. Her version of Arthur's birth and reign are from the Druidic or Pagan viewpoint. So we get a glimpse of Arthur's birth and his relationship to his sister Morgaine through pagan rituals. The "fairy" side of the story (Morgan le Fay or Morgan the Fairy, The Lady of the Lake, Avalon) are developed beyond what anyone else has done in other versions of Arthur and Camelot. I enjoyed Mists of Avalon and thought the characters are well-drawn. The mysteries of Britain in post-Roman times before the first crusades are intriguing. My only criticism is that the Pagan religion as Bradley writes it is imbued with modern Wiccan beliefs, which archaeology and history tell us are rather different than how the ancients worshipped. Still, this is fiction, and so it's good to remember that how Arthur originated, and how the Pagans revered him is still shrouded in the mists of time.
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Summary: An Epic
Review: I read this book a couple of years ago and I loved it. I felt every emotion that the characters went through. It seems really long when you first pick it up, but once I started reading it I didn't want it to ever end!
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Summary: Camelot's downfall no longer Guinevere and Morgana's fault
Review: I get really tired of books that "re-write" the story of Camelot. Every year brings a new slew of them. But "The Mists of Avalon" transforms itself into a classic worthy of being grouped with "The Once and Future King". Mists of Avalon's biggest strength and flaw is that it goes head to head with the morality of the original legend of King Arthur. 13th century society gave us our most lasting legends of Camelot, but those stories are laced with that period's sensibility, namely that women and sex bring the downfall of mankind. Mists re-writes the legend with a modern perspective. Morgana is no longer the evil woman bent on the destruction of Camelot, but instead a priestess of the Druidic religion trying to defend her beliefs against Christianity. This perspective is interesting because it is true that in the 5th and 6th centuries Christianity was settling into England and facing off with the woman-centered Druidic religion. Camelot would have existed during a time of immense social change, dealing not only with the constant invasions of the Saxons, but also with new ideas of morality. Some people may dislike this book because of its bias towards the Druidic religion, and its portrayal of Christianity as being dogmatic and anti-woman. But this book is not the feminist, anti-christian pocketbook everyone seems to think it is. King Arthur is still the noble, ahead-of-his-time man we always loved. He is not destroyed by Guinevere's affair, instead he is a man destroyed by the littleness of humankind (both men and women). Morgana is a woman trying to keep the dignity of women intact. All are searching for ways to do the right thing. This book is unfair in that it puts a 21st century view head-to-head with 13th century Christianity. We are no longer the Christians who pay money to be forgiven of our sins. Our bishops don't go around impegranating hundreds of women. The reformation came and went, and women are not considered so evil anymore. But the legends of Arthur we learn in school are based on this previous version of Christianity. This book stands in response. Mists may not be fair to Christianity as it exists today, but it is fair to it as it existed during the age of the Inquisition. It reminds us that Camelot should be remembered in legend as a place where women as well as men strived for nobility and grace. The littleness of both is what destroyed it. Gracefully written and thought-provoking. A book you can't put down. (8 out of 10)
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Summary: Great reading, but also flawed
Review: I was reccommended this book by many enthusiastic people, and it has been a wonderful read, but I have some problems with some people's comments. True, one of the positive aspects of the books is the female focus, but it is also the source of its faults, too. It makes the male characters sadly one-dimentional (even Lancelet, who is given a facinating new character) and it results in the conflict of religions being not-so-subtly slanted toward the paganistic tradition of Avalon. I think the point of that part of the story is to show two seperate sides who are devoted to their faith blindly condemn the opposing side, although the book focuses too much on how ignorant and oppressive Christianity was (though the Middle Ages was not a wonderful time for Christianity) and how wise and natural the Goddess religion is. The main fault seems to be in the delivery, not the message itself. The best part of the book, the reason you *should* read it despite its flaws, is the way it weaves together the characters and themes into a larger, striking pattern.
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