The Mists of Avalon

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Summary: Studied and taught 'Mists' in school.
Review: This book is so much more than a feminist perspective on the Arthurian legends. It explains Morgaine's actions and humanizes her. In fact, it makes the whole legend plausible. Because of this book, I returned to graduate school to study the Arthurian legends. Also, I taught this book to my college freshman composition classes, and they loved it! For me, 'Mists' was and continues to be a spiritual experience.

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Summary: Great!!
Review: I loved this book! I have recommended it to every person who is looking for a good book! Marion Zimmer Bradley puts a hole new look on Avalon and King Arthur! READ THIS BOOK

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Summary: Absorbing, well-written gripper . . .
Review: This book is a wonderful book to read. It's length allows for wonderful character development. Each person is amazingly human with human talents and faults. I've read other MZB books and I thinks this is her highest accomplishment. I'd recommend this for anyone with an interest in sci-fi, Celtic, or Arthurian literature.

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Summary: The book isn't 'LIKE THE REAL THING?' It is
Review: The Mists of Avalon was a very good book- perhaps the best that I have ever read...I LOVE THE BOOK!!! It was great, and it made you feel like you really know the characters and have feelings towards them. I could never put it down!! MZB did a WONDERFUL job!!!

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Summary: Don't grasp so tightly to your "isms"
Review: The Mists of Avalon has been criticized by those clinging to their feminist beliefs and political veils of b.s. This is a fictional story--it is not supposed to be an exact account of Camelot and all of the legendary characters that we have come to know and love. So relax! This is a fun, colorful, mystical, whirling adventure that allows the reader to escape to lands filled with mystery, love, family, magic--all from a woman's perspective. Whether or not that perspective jives with the latest buzz word or idea in feminist thought is irrelevant. This book is an escape--a journey to a time and place that no longer exists. It fulfills the promise of fiction. If you have any imagination, you will truly enjoy the escape to Avalon!

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Summary: The very best book I have read!!!
Review: I read about 10 - 20 Novels a year. I enjoy sci fiction and fantasy. This novel is truly the best one I have read and it left be breathtaken in the end!

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Summary: Awe-inspiring and life-changing writing
Review: This is by far the best book, and the one with the most impact, I've ever read. While portraying detailed characters and places, MZB also delves into the issue between the old worships of Britain and the new Christian phenomenon. She shows what it may have been like to be a woman in those male-based times, rather than many other fantasy/Arthutian stories, which talk mainly of how the battles were fought, the castles secured, and the dragons slain, all male issues. I must say, 'Mists' did change my life. Though there were many elements to the 'old religion' that were inaccurate or a mix of many beliefs, the book sparked my interest in the Druid beliefs, enough to make me search out as much information as I could. I would also recommend this book, to anyone, because the characters, while perhaps not quite real, are easy to love one minute and hate the next, They are strong-willed, or strongly non-willed, and the growth from childhood to adulthood to death of several characters is fascinating to watch. I hope everyone can find something to enjoy in this excellent novel.

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Summary: Just Plain Excellent!
Review: I had an opportunity to borrow this book from a friend of mine YEARS ago, and I declined. What a mistake that was!! I should have read this book long long ago! The characters are wonderfuly developed, and the story is excellent! A few liberties are taken with the Arthurian legends, but if you follow Arthurian legend at all, you know everyone that has written anything on them has taken their own liberties. This book is a MUST read!

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Summary: One of the best books I have ever read.
Review: The Mists of Avalon captures the imagination from the first pages and is a "must read" for anyone interested in the Artherian legend and the Druid lore. It is a book that, once begun, cannot be put down. I found myself reading it at every opportunity. Probably the best Ms. Zimmer-Bradley has written.

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Summary: What I think of this book...
Review: I'm eleven years old, and probably blind to this book, but I think some people have been too picky. I think it's very well-written in it's own way, and it's gratifying and refreshing to have a dose of females actually <b>doing</b> something. I think, however, that Mrs. Bradley could have done a better job introducing Lancelet and Gwenhwyfar. I always like the thought that Gwenhwyfar would be a bit more understanding, instead of being so blind and pious as the author describes her. Lancelet is simply annoying to me, for some reason, and Morgause actually seems a realistic character with realistic faults. i like Morgaine very much, though, but most of that is only through a sense of pity. Though she was torn apart when Viviane used her, she used Nimue in much the same way. I don't want to critisize, and I think this is a good way of making the characters mortal. Good job, Marion, but the mystery of the book can drag the reader down and make all the character's beliefs a bit overwhelming. Still, it's great to see an Authorian legend book have so much depth. Anopther thing that people were complainig about was historical following. That's a hard way to critisize the book, becasue we know precious little about Celtic mythology and history, and this book, I think, was meant for the reader's pleasure trather than for the historian's desperacy for historical accuracy. So pick this book up and read it. I don't really sufggest it for other 11-year-olds (I'm an advanced reader), and it has some mature content, but forget all that and look to the good part. Pick this book up today! : )