The Mists of Avalon

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Summary: A great book - recommended !
Review: Reading this book was a really exciting and beautiful experience : the atmosphere, the characters, the story - all - is totally unique.
IMHO, a real must-have for any fantasy (but not only) lover.

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Summary: Excellent fantasy, historically innacurate
Review: This book was fantastic, and I thoroghly enjoyed the characters as a newly invented Arthurian legend. My only wish is that readers could realize that Arthur's reign was nothing like Ms. Bradley tells; do not except this prose as derivitive of the original myth. Try reading Malroy sometime, or even further with Bede or Eschenbach, or even Geoffrey of Monmouth. Within lies the true tales of the brave king and his quest for the Holy Grail; Bradley lets us know none of this. The true enjoyment of this book is in learning of the Godess as an honorable force of the universe; but was She the One who inspired the myths?

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Summary: Years later I still remember
Review: I remeber reading this book years ago. I loved it then and am buying it again now to share with a young women who is looking for her "power in life".

Rating:
Summary: Mists of Avalon
Review: Mists was the BEST book I ever read. The characters seemed realistic and I found myself wishing that I could go back in time and actually see what was happening in the book. It totally swept me away. i would defintely reccomend it!!!

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Summary: One of the three best books in world I have ever read!!!
Review: This book is filled up with magic, adventure and the ghost of spirit - our great mother, the goddess of life and death. Reading this book you really can feel the power of women - as there was, is and will be...

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Summary: Mists was a watershed in my life.
Review: When I was in high school, I attempted, unsuccessfully, to read Mallory's Le Morte Darther. I finally returned to the book when I was in my 30's and began to consume everything on King Arthur I could find. Happily, this included Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon. The charactor's ceased to be myths and fantasy as I read, and I could hardly believe that I was not reading a historical text instead of a work of fiction. The misty British Isle of old was so vividly described that I had to wrap myself against the chill of the dark foggy Summerlands as I read. I reread the book almost immediately as I could not bear to leave so soon, a world that felt so real and comforting. My interest in England and Ireland grew from that reading and I have since read many books of them, and learned from each. But it was years later that I learned just what a wonderful gift I had been given by Ms Bradley through her book. In the Mists of Avalon, I found my way to a spirituality which had eluded me since childhood. This book and the Forest House and Lady of Avalon are three of the most entertaining books I have ever read. Having done so, I feel that I have at last come home.

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Summary: This is a book that I couldn't put down. A must read!
Review: After reading T.H. White's "THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING", I stumbled across THE MISTS OF AVALON. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. The perspective of the women in Arthur's tale kept me mesmerized and asking for more. If you haven't read this, read it. If you have, you understand what I mean.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST!!!
Review: This book transported me like no other book has. I could not put it down. Highly recommended!

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Summary: Every woman's story and one that every woman should read.
Review: I would have to say that this book made me see things about how women are depicted in today's Western, Christain society and say "That's where that idea came from." The ideas and idologies presented in this book finally show a way of thinking, not linked with Christianity, that are so much a part of how most people look at things. I think all women need to see that there was once a different way of looking at the world that involved them as not being the ones in the wrong but the ones with all the power.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother--not worth it!
Review: I have long loved Bradley's 'Darkover' novels, but as an Arthurian scholar I was sorely diappointed in her treatment of my favorite legends. Rather than retelling the legend from a feminine (ie: Morgana/Viviane viewpoint) she has produced a pointless soap-opera of pseudo-Arthuriana and bad paganism. If you are into good Arthurian fiction try Mary Stewart's "Crystal Cave" series or Gillian Bradshaw's "Hawk of May"/"Kingdom of Summer." If you are a budding neo-pagan and you want "real druids" (as so many fans of this book seem to think it has) try a history book or face the fact that this is both bad history and bad fantasy. Try Parke Godwin or Persia Woolley for good fantasy with good historical background. Go back to Darkover, Marion, and try again--this book was not worth the paper it was printed on and the best hope for those who liked it is they may grow up eventually and discover real Arthuriana.