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Summary: Bradley writes of Avalon and Camelot as places that do exist
Review: As I read this book I became more and more aware of the empowerment the women in this book came to accept for themselves. It is not about women's issues, and yet the women were real people who struggled and found their own power, good and evil, which effected the course of history. I found myself believing that when the morning mist cleared I might actually see the stones on Tor and call the barge to Avalon. I also came to believe the God/Goddess approach makes more sense than what we are handed as a religious belief system. It is a more holistic approach than our catagorical approach. This is a book I will push many people to read
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Summary: Great Story - No so Great Writing
Review: I just finished reading this book. I think it's a great story and a fascinating perspective. I have to agree, however, with the lone reviewer who criticizes the writing. I found the character development very erratic, as if Bradley suddenly tires of a character and decides to move on to someone else. Other than Morgaine, most of the characters do not evolve, although some of them suddenly veer off into an entirely new personality with no little or no explanation at all. (Igraine and Kevin, for instance). Gueneviere, who is throughly detestable, displays occasional, but inexplicable, flashes of humanity, only to instantly revert to her standard sullen peeveishness. Characters commit the most egregious affronts to one another, then appear as old friends at the next feast. Expectations are not met - we are set up to anticipate plot deveolpments which never occur, and there are several contradictions and inplausibilities which I found annoying. I thought that the end of the book was hurried through while Bradley tried to cram in the rest of the Arthurian legend ( and every character ever remotely associated with it). That may be part of the problem with this book - she had too much material to fit in. Still, she had a great idea here and I wish she had taken more time to develop it. I thought she was at her best when writing about the 'old faith' and she did a admirable job weaving that spell and making you feel the emotions of it. This could have been a great book rather than a good read. I'll still take T.H. White or Mary Stewart for my dose of the Matter of Britain
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Summary: A new look at the Arthurian legend.
Review: The Mists of Avalon is a fantastic book that makes you think. In most books on the legends of King Arthur, only the men get credit for anything. The women are only background, and they never seen to do anything worthy. Guinevere is portrayed in most books as being the cause of the downfall of Camelot. Morgan, or Morgan le Fay, is shown as an evil sorceress. It was nice to read a book on Camelot with the women playing important, good roles
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Summary: Morgaine speaks.....
Review: Knights in shining armor fighting heroic and daring battles in the name of God and their beloved king.........and the women sitting alone in their chambers, weaving and darning (and doing a whole lot of other 'womanly' things) who really deserve a great deal more credit than they actually get- and which they never would have gotten if it hadn't been for this book. For once, the women speak out! There has never been a female character so strong in any other book I've read, than Morgaine of the faeries. the Mists of Avalon completely contradicts the very popular Christian myth back in those days which states that women do not have any feelings
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Summary: An excellent book but it has a few flaws
Review: It has taken me a almost a month to complete this book, and I must say that it often felt like I was trying to wade my way through the swamps of the Summer Country described within. I often had to go back and reread sentences because of the convoluted constructions she used. I also wish that she had presented a list of characters and a map of locations at the beginning of the book (as she did in The Forest House), because I often found myself confusing characters and locations. Also, I found that some of the characters' motivations and personalities were very difficult to decipher. However, I would still recommend this book. First of all, it is an excellent and unique perspective on the Arthurian legends, portraying the famous and the infamous characters in a different light. In addition, although some of the characters are somewhat lacking in dimension, there is an incredible depth in others, especially Morgaine, Viviane, Igraine, and Gwenhwyfar. Although I do not care for most of the fantasy genre, I feel that this is one of the exceptions
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Summary: Excellent different perspective of Arthurian legends.
Review: I have read this book twice now, slowly, so I could savor both the stories and the way they are written. I refer to this book frequestly in my English Literature classes, and several students have also read it. They also give it exellent reviews. This book has been invaluable to me in many ways; some of these ways are inexplainable. It is one of those books that is an enriching experience
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Summary: This is Avalon!
Review: "Or thought he saw, the speck that bare the King,
Down that long water opening on the deep
Somewhere far off, pass on and on, and go
From less to less and vanish into light."
(From: The Passing of Arthur, Idylls of the King, Tennyson)
And there, in the folds of time is where Marion Zimmer Bradley, found Avalon. An island lost from the memories of man. An island engulfed by the distances of time. An island cast adrift in the mist.
Avalon is hidden from the clouded eyes of modern man, sinking ever deeper and deeper into the mind's forgetfulness. Yet Avalon is there to those who look beyond.
In this book, MZB manages to take us to that place where Avalon exists. She resurrects the past, she recreates forgotten futures.
This is the ultimate Arthur.
This is Avalon.
An unforgetable book.
Mike Mathews
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Summary: I wept for hours when I had to say good bye.
Review: The friends I had aquired through Avalon, the births and deaths I had witnessed, the struggles, the intertwining fates and destinies of the characters and mankind. How does Marion accomplish so much with her work? I was introduced to Morgaine, Vivian, and Arthur when I was fourteen. Every winter my mother would bring out her large, well-worn hardback copy and I would watch her reading and weeping and smiling. One spring I asked to see for myself what she found so enthralling, and on Beltaine I found myself saying goodbye through tears of sadness, regret and love. But the wonderful world of fantasy allows us far more freedom than our own mortal world, because, like my mother, I revisit Avalon every chance I get
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Summary: After the first page, I was deaf to the world.
Review: My English teacher, a fellow "anglophile", reccommended this treasure to me after a long discussion on King Arthur. This book is one of the greatest sagas I have ever read. Bradley's characters are all excellent, and are not the usual "perfect fantasy people" that exist in many other inferior novels. Everyone has their own weaknesses, especially Morgaine, the central character. I have to say that I was reluctant to read a book that contained so much paganism in it, but I quickly came to understand exactly what paganism is. I can assure you it's not what most people tell you. Bradley is not afraid to portray these legendary people as merely human
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Summary: Huh? Did you say something to me? Sorry I was reading.
Review: I don't think I need to fall into the throes of prose to describe this book. It was, simply said, all the things I love about reading wrapped up into one; a story of fantasy, though not true, incredibly credible, a long enough tale in which to get totally involved & not feel cheated by unresolved issues(or the price of the book), and most of all great writing. The highest compliment I can pay the author is that 2/3 of the way through the book I put it down for a number of weeks because not only did I want to do the book justice by not tearing through it, I was really sad I'd passed the halfway point.
By the way, I don't think this book is about "women's issues" per se, it's just a book with a lot of women in it.
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