Rating: 
Summary: The real Helena wasn't a British princess
Review: I enjoyed Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mist of Avalon years ago and saw the TNT miniseries. Pretty good. However, I was keen to read "The Priestess of Avalon" until I researched the main character's real history. I do understand why MZB wrote this Helena character as a fantasy and a closure to her great Avalon series. The real Helena (St. Helena) was nothing like MZB's Helena in her last novel. In fact, she was not even a British princess. Helena originally came from Bithynia (northern part of Turkey) or near the Black Sea region, her father was an innskeeper and may have been a prostitute. The rest of the story with her relationship with Constantius Chlorus is true and gave a son who would change the world forever: Constantine the Great.This is a fantasy of MZB's desire to associate the great St. Helena with the Avalon series and the relationship with the Goddess in nature. The historical Helena never even set foot in British Isles. Sorry to rain on the fans of MZB over this. "The Mist of Avalon" still stands as one of the greatest Arthurian classics. "The Priestess of Avalon" goes nowhere near that.
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Summary: Preistess of where?
Review: If you're a great fan of Mist's of Avalon the first book, I wouldn't waste my money on this one. I was exited about a new book by Ms. Zimmer. To my surprise this
Book was a complete disappointment! I'm sorry I wasted my money on it. If you would like to still read it, I suggest going to the library!
Rating: 
Summary: Priestess of Avalon is good, but not the best in the series
Review: I was amazed to see this book; knowing that Ms. Bradley had died, I assumed the Avalon series was complete. I enjoyed the other three books to the point of distraction, and this one was no different. I read it in a day, ignoring everything else around me. It is a good read, but I did not care for the first person POV. This book is worth buying if you are a hard-core Avalon fan, as it does complete the series of four. It probably wouldn't do, however, for those who haven't read the other books to buy it. It can be read as a stand alone, but I feel it means more with the other books as a backdrop.
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Summary: Historical Fiction and Fantasy
Review: I absolutely love Marion Zimmer Bradley. All her stories are filled with love and magic. In The Priestess of Avalon Bradley mixes fantasy and historical fiction. Anyone who knows European history knows of Constantine, the first emperor of Rome to be christian. Bradley tells the life story of Constantine's mother, Helena who grew up on the island of Avalon and who has to struggle to keep Rome united with the christians and the believers of the old ways. I like the way bradley takes old stories and puts her own twist on them, just like in the Mist of Avalon. I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and historical fiction.
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Summary: Mediocrity at its best!
Review: While I am a fan of the Avalon series, Priestess failed to live up to my expectations. I felt like this was a last ditch effort to tie the Mythical Avalon to the destiny of the world. I really enjoyed the writing style.
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Summary: Not What You Think It's About
Review: If you liked the "Mists of Avalon" for its portrayal of powerful female characters, you will undoubtedly enjoy "Priestess of Avalon." If you are looking for the prequel to Zimmer's classic of Camelot, you will be disappointed. "Priestess of Avalon" has nothing to do with the story of Camelot. In fact, halfway through the book we finally find out whose story this really is. Will Eilan, the main character, become of the High Priestess of Avalon? She seems to be traveling that road until she assumes the identity of Helena, the wife in name only of a Roman officer. She then transforms into St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, the founder of the Cross of Christ and eponym of the volcano and island. Zimmer's mixture of fact and fiction is truly remarkable. The extensive chronicle of the battles of the Roman campaign will have most readers, whether familiar with Latin or not, thankful for the comprehensive glossary of places and characters. Your enjoyment of this book will depend on whether you can transcend some of the obvious fiction-St. Helena as the title Priestess of Avalon for one-and savor Zimmer's astonishing and complex tale of the possibility.
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Summary: Different than expected
Review: I began this book sitting in Borders and would anxiously go back to there to read it do to limited funds -- the book, unlike "The Mists of Avalon" and its prequels, was still quite good. Its title is not inappropriate -- though misleading because of the afforementioned works. Who knows, maybe I enjoyed it so much because I am studying Latin and saw many connections with what I was learning, but I enjoyed it none the less.
Rating:
Summary: Dull, not like Mists at all
Review: I am a huge fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but this book was very different from Mists of Avalon, and its prequels. There is very little involving Avalon at all, it is inappropriately titled because the main character Helena is not in Avalon barely at all, let alone a priestess of it. I found the novel difficult to get through and I was reluctant to pick it up and read it. While Mists of Avalon I read hungrily, excited to pick it up and read more, relating to the characters, and truly sad when it ended, Priestess of Avalon is actually boring. There is barely any dialogue, I don't really like the character Helena that much, and it just isn't about Avalon! It took me about 3 months to read the whole thing because I kept putting it off. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Diana L. Paxson, whose writing I don't particularly like, co-wrote this novel. I gave it 2 stars because of the first 1/6 of the book is interesting since it's based on Avalon. Read The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, and Mists of Avalon to get a true perspective of Marion Zimmer Bradley's writing.
Rating:
Summary: amazing but difficult
Review: if you are reading this amazing series first off let me give you a huge round of applaus for picking an absolutely terrific read. so here we are on the second book in this unique series the priestess of avalon. this book is amazing and once you read it you will never be able to look at books the same way again. the depth to which mrs.bradley went with these characters is astonishing. truthfully this book is a series of stories told over many years of different people with the same souls. vivane and igrane is the last story and a beautiful, heartwrenching story. while i have so much praise for this book beware reader! there are many sections where mbz bogs you down with details and boring tendium. some stories just not interesting and all you can do is sit through it waiting for the great writing to continue. if you can stand a lengthy book with a few patchy spots of boredom and tedium you will be greatly rewarded with several sparkling gems. beware though you are in for a long haul read.
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Summary: Repeat
Review: Marion Zimmer Bradley illuminated my world when I was a teen, when I read Mists of Avalon. I've read all the books of the serie, in french and english (I speak french). After reading the Avalon Cycle serie, I've realized that every stories Bradley wrote was the same: She changed names and places in Britain, but the story is always the same. Always a foreign Savior in love with a priestess that will bore their child of the Prophecy.
I think Bradley was obsessed and fascinated with Arthurian myths, so am I. But she never did serious researches for her writings about them, until the last decade. So I believe she began to be interested by the 'real' history much later in her life, after The Mists of Avalon.
And The Priestess of Avalon is her final cut, with too much of history (names, places...), probably because scholars didn't think Bradley was a serious writer and discredited her. I think she was obsessed now with the credibility of her stories and she loses all the magic... and the mists! So, shortly, as a fan, Priestess of Avalon doesn't worth the buying. But if you fall on it, read it. But nothing is new and I've guessed everything from the beginning to the end.
I'll read and read and read The Mists of Avalon again and again. P.S. The TNT special series was pathetic and didn't look what I thought. Too bad.
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