The Mists of Avalon

Rating:
Summary: Reinventing the Arthurian Legends.
Review: There are many women characters established in the Arthurian legends. Up until now there have been authors that have taken on this classic mythology through the males point of view. But this retelling narrates the book from the ladies of the Arthurian legends side of the story....And it's about time.

Marion Zimmer Bradley has created a new, refreshed identity for the Ladies of Camelot and Avalon. The book examines the events of the mythos from the females perspective. Many of these characters have, until now, been portrayed as wives, seductresses, enchantresses, and harlots. But this new take identifies the women of Camelot in different and less derogatory roles; that of mother, daughter, sister, lover, priestess, queen, and friend.

There are several different generations of phenomenal characters that make up the greater tapestry of this book.

Viviane- Lady of the Lake at Avalon, the holy isle dedicated to the Goddess. It is her visions that influence the shaping of the future of Britain in the most unusual ways.
Igraine- Viviane's younger half sister, daughter of Taliesin the Merlin, and wife to the Romanized Duke of Cornwall. She bends her will to whatever her sister asks of her, even if it means to sacrifice her own virtue.
Morgause- Igraine's younger sister and Viviane's half sister. Destined for more than to rot in isolated Tintagel, her ambitions take her to the northern Isles of Orkney where she makes the appropriate sacrifices to affirm her place in this tale.
Morgaine- daughter of Igraine and the Duke of Cornwall. She is taken to serve the Goddess at a young age by Viviane, but renounces her position as the next Lady of the Lake when Viviane's visions prove too much for her to endure.
Gwenhwyfar- Pious and virtuous she longs to Christianize Arthur`s court and purge the followers of the goddess from the realm. But she is unable to reconcile her feelings for Lancelet for what is good for the future of Britain. She longs desperately to give Arthur the heir the country needs and she is unable to produce.
Elaine- Daughter of Pellinore, and Gwenhwyfar's cousin. She is desperate to gain Lancelet's admiration and love, even if she has to resort to "Sorcery" to attain it, or give up her first born daughter to the Goddess.
Raven- Priestess of Avalon and friend of Morgaine, she has undertaken a vow of silence, but always seems to prophesize what is to come at just the right moment.
Niniane- Daughter of Taliesin the Merlin. The successor to the Lady of the Lake and lover to Gwydion. What does one really feel when they know they are second choice to another?
Nimue- Daughter of Elaine and Lancelet. Destined to fulfill her mother's vow and take her place in Avalon under Niniane's teachings, she must give herself up to the Merlin of Britain in order to implement Morgaine's visions, but can she keep herself from losing herself to him as well?

The story is mostly told from Morgaine's perspectives. This character is largely influential on the events that occur throughout the story, either through her premonitions that come by way of the Sight or the enforcement of her unassailable will. Many of the cruxes in the story come from the juxtaposition of Morgaine And Gwenhwyfar, who serve as symbols of the struggles of the two religions in the story, the Christians and the Celts. Both spend the better part of the book applying the men as tools in order to establish their respective religions as the dominant moral force in Britain. Through their struggles the classic events prevalent to the Arthurian tales are expressed in a new manner, many with Celtic twists on them. I don't want to spoil the retelling of the conception of Mordred, the quest for the Holy Grail, or the romantic love trials that came as unexpected surprises to me, even though I have read several different authors takes on this classic mythology. Rest assured, this was the best version I have read to date, one that reinvented the Arthurian legends .

Rating:
Summary: eh...
Review: As you can probably tell by other reviews, most people either hate this book or love it. I'm of the former school. While I acknowledge its importance as a "feminist-revisionist" approach to Arthurian myth, I'm just not a content-over-form type of reader. This book is abominably didactic, not to mention **very** poorly written. The dialogue is horrible. MZB's prose is stilted & amateurish (at best) & the whole thing just reeks of that cheesy neo-Druid goddess-worship that calls itself feminism. And those who accuse MZB of religious bias are correct. The anti-Xian stuff is a given, I think, but expected considering the book's subject matter. I wasn't bothered by it. However, Bradley is also pretty harsh on atheists & agnostics (like myself)-- in fact, she's pretty much harsh on anyone who doesn't subscribe to a very specific sect of paganism... Anyhow, there's better stuff out there, but if you're into all that pagan-"feminism" stuff, this is probably the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Great book...but hardly feminist
Review: I agree with the reviewer below who took issue with labelling this book as a "feminist" retelling of the Arthurian legend. Last I checked, feminism was rooted in female solidarity and sisterhood. I challenge any reader to find a single female character in this book who does a single kind, generous or supportive thing to/for another woman, with no gain for herself. The female relationships are largely shallow or antagonistic, and the male-female relationships take up a far greater chunk of the plot and character development. Just like in the traditional versions.

That doesn't mean it's not great. It's fantastically written. The range of characters Bradley brings to life is nearly unbelievable. I can open it literally anywhere and become absorbed in reading--seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, tasting everything. Definitely Bradley's best work. But be warned: Arthurian tales are always dark (they have to be), but the way the women treat themselves and each other here is just plain depressing.