Rating: 
Summary: Very satisfying and absorbingly enthralling
Review: With the destruction of THE FOREST HOUSE during the first century AD,
Caillean withdraws to Avalon where she raises her grandson Gawen the
Pendragon and Sacred King. At the same time, Caillean also starts a
sisterhood of priestesses and magically protects the island. When Gawen
dies, he leaves behind a daughter whose descendants impact Roman Britain.
Meanwhile, Caillean hides Avalon behind a magical mist.
........ One of Gawen's future progenies Lady Dierna becomes the leader of Avalon
and guides Avalon through treachery. She marries her daughter to the future
emperor of Britannia, but learns that love, including her own, is not an
emotion to control.
In the future, Lady Ana asks her oldest daughter Viviane to return to
Avalon to help prepare the people for the future arrival of the Great King.
Her destiny is to become Lady of the Lake and the Guardian of the grail.
..... This prequel to the MISTS OF AVALON and sequel to THE FOREST HOUSE is a
great addition to Marion Zimmer Bradley's classic telling of the
pre-Arthurian legend. LADY OF AVALON is a fabulous novel adding to the
legend of Ms. Bradley, one of the leading writers of fantasy in this
century.
......Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: be prepared to find your copy of MISTS after this!
Review: Closer to THE MISTS OF AVALON, this is a pretty good read. I found it difficult to stay involved in the story -- a lot of characters get introduced in the last third of the book! But as the real prequel to MISTS, it's not bad. Careful, though, the chapters on Viviane will make you dig out MISTS again
Rating: 
Summary: least enjoyable of the Avalon trio
Review: Having just finished all three of Bradley's Avalon novels, I am hard pressed to recommend her latest, but weakest, contribtuion to the "saga". Composed of three separate but somewhat related stories, they are uneven, rushed, and perilously close to "bodice ripper" plots. After reading "The Forest House," the events in "Lady of Avalon" become repititious and predictable, with a palpable lack of imagination and wit in the story lines. It is "deja vu all over again," and again, and again. I was bored, and I had the distinct feeling that Ms. Bradley was bored, too. One wonders if she could have written this book if her use of the exclamation mark was prohibited. "The Mists of Avalon" stands as the best of these chronicles, and can be enjoyed without feeling obligated to read "Lady of Avalon."
Rating: 
Summary: The weakest of the trilogy but.....
Review: still quite good.LADY OF AVALON does not have the same engaging quality of THE FOREST HOUSE and certainly lacks the grandeur of MISTS OF AVALON but is still a wonderful book. LADY OF AVALON is three stories in one volume. The book opens shortly after the close of THE FOREST HOUSE. Caillean is now the Lady of Avalon in charge of the small surviving band of priestesses. Her story and that of Sianna who succeeds her tell of the establishment of Avalon. The second section is the story of Dierna and Teleri and the sacrifices they make for the Lady. The final section is the story of Ana and Vivanne which lays the groundwork for THE MISTS OF AVALON. If you are a big fan of MISTS OF AVALON this is a must read but be aware that neither THE FOREST HOUSE nor this book quite live up to MISTS. In any event the stories are engaging on their own and this book could be enjoyed independantly of the others.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite like other MZB books....
Review: Okay..I'm sure that most people who read the summary gasped and said," How dare she! It was great!" (Well, some of them, anyways) ;)However, I didn't say that I DIDN'T like it..it's just that I was a bit..dissapointed.Let me just explain myself.First of all, I have to commend Marion Zimmer Bradley for giving the readers some background for what goes on in 'The Mists of Avalon' and continuing what happend in 'The Forest House'.Also, as far as I know, it also seems to be historically accurate. Finally, as some previous reviewers mentioned, it did a good job chroncling(sp?) the reverbratiions that Chirstianity had on it's follower's views towards the Celtic beliefs. You know, first, they weren't quite so fanatic and influential, and then slowly, it start changing the old ways.My only problem with this book is that all three parts were basically the same: the main character introduced, the main character falls in love with someone, and then either the main character or his/her love di
Rating:
Summary: Once again MZB's brilliance shines through!
Review: Having recently read this amazing book, I wish to share my thoughts with those who have not yet been lucky enough to read it.There are few authours in the same class as MZB, and this book was well worth its pricetag.The book begins by contuning the story of Callean, priestess of the "Forest House". Bradley does well to weave this book in to her cloth of Avalon tales, and it fits snugly into place between the "Forest House" and "The Mists of Avalon". This book comes highly recommended to any fan of her work, and is a fantastic means of escapism. The characters are deeply rooted in Celtic and Roman beliefs and come to life before your eyes on the pages of magically worded text. This trilogy of books is sure to be regarded as some of the best writing of this gendre.
Rating:
Summary: Second-best in the series
Review: I disagree with those who think this is the weakest in the MISTS trilogy. I believe THE FOREST HOUSE is the weakest of the three---although I love all of them. WHat may be causing a problem for some is the fact that this novel refers heavily to one of MZB's early, little-read novels, THE FALL OF ATLANTIS. I recommend everyone read THE FALL OF ATLANTIS (it's recently come back into print) before reading LADY OF AVALON; the plot will be a lot more interesting and make a lot more sense if you have the Atlantean background given in FALL OF ATLANTIS to make sense of a lot of the ancient Avalon lore, as well as the understanding that the three souls that keep getting reincarnated in each era (The Son of Kings, Isarma, Dierna) are actually traceable back to FALL OF ATLANTIS.
Rating:
Summary: Not as Compelling as Mists
Review: When I read the Mists of Avalon a few years ago I was mesmerized. A huge tome of over a 1000 pages, this earlier novel relates the story of Arthur and his Camelot from the perspective of the three women closest in his life: his mother Ygraine, his sister, Morgaine and his wife, Guinevere. believe me this is a novel to be savored and reread many times. That being said, I was excited when Zimmer Bradley came out with her two prequels, firstly, "The Forest House" and "Lady of Avalon". Sadly, neither of these two books are worthy enough to complete a trilogy, but if you, like myself, were intigued by the idea of a closed society of people using magic to effect the early history of Britain, you will also grudgingly like these.
"Lady of Avalon" starts off where "Forest House" left off. In order to span the gulf between the time sequence of Forest House and Mists of Avalon, Bradley scrambles a bit and tells the story of three different generations of Avalon high priestesses. How disappointing . . . each of these vignettes would have made a wonderful more fully fleshed out novel of its own. Granted, each of the women are strong and they all have their particular mission with regard to Avalon with respect to the outside world. However detailed certain acts of magic are within storyline, Zimmer Bradley's own sparkling brand of magic so evident in "Mists" is unfortunately missing. But one postive note: however disappointing this trilogy of tales is, it still continues the tradion of Zimmer Bradley's brainchild and it is supremely better than Diana Paxson's sequel called "Priestess of Avalon" which cannot hold a candle to Zimmer Bradley's work.
I both read the book and listened to the audio performance; the abridged version leaves far too much out to be considered serious.
Recommended to all those who simply love Zimmer Bradley's interpretation of the Arthurian tales and must have more.
Rating:
Summary: The weakest of the trilogy but.....
Review: still quite good. LADY OF AVALON does not have the same engaging quality of THE FOREST HOUSE and certainly lacks the grandeur of MISTS OF AVALON but is still a wonderful book. LADY OF AVALON is three stories in one volume. The book opens shortly after the close of THE FOREST HOUSE. Caillean is now the Lady of Avalon in charge of the small surviving band of priestesses. Her story and that of Sianna who succeeds her tell of the establishment of Avalon. The second section is the story of Dierna and Teleri and the sacrifices they make for the Lady. The final section is the story of Ana and Vivanne which lays the groundwork for THE MISTS OF AVALON. If you are a big fan of MISTS OF AVALON this is a must read but be aware that neither THE FOREST HOUSE nor this book quite live up to MISTS. In any event the stories are engaging on their own and this book could be enjoyed independantly of the others.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: IF YOU LIKED THE MISTS OF AVALON THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. EXCELLENT STORY WISH IT WOULD NEVER END.
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