Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon

Rating:
Summary: i truly wanted to love this book
Review: as a fan of the mists i was anticipating a great read. i have loved the past books, although The Mists remains my all time favorate. this book was tedious to read. had a rating less than one star been available i would have taken it. as much as i have loved the series it is time to drop the cord and allow it to be complete as it stood before the 'ancestors' of avalon was released. This book does NOT deserve to be included in the saga.

Rating:
Summary: It was good, BUT, It could have been better!
Review: I loved The Fall Of Atlantis, if you really wanted to understand a lot of this book, you need to read it first! Yes, some of the names are DIFFERENT, but some of the names came from MZB's other books, it wasn't just Paxton who came up with them! But the names of the characters in Avalon have always been different, and interesting, right? =) I know that MZB worked on this, and her son did too, and that Paxton had worked with her in the past, but I think that if it would have been longer, it would have been better. I think it should have had a little bit more of the HISTORY of Avalon, and maybe even a little more of The Fall Of Atlantis in it.

The ending could have been better, while this book did fill in some things, I think it should have filled in a lot more than it did, I think that the end needs to be added onto, so we know more about the true start of Avalon... it'd be nice to be able to see that! While it is good, I think if you're about to read any of the books from the Avalon series, you need to start elsewhere! This will only confuse you I think unless you read some of the others first! If you HAVE read them, then I suggest you do read it, but it's not nessesary.

Rating:
Summary: Another Adventure to Avalon
Review: I enjoyed the book very much, unfortunatly MZB wasnt around to write the book in completion herself you can still see her sense of style throughout the entire book... Although it wasn't her best work I am always willing to dive into another adventure in avalon.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps Miss Paxson should have Waited
Review: I love Marion Zimmer Bradley's self written Avalon books. Their mixture of the conflicting pagan and chirstian religions, history, and fantasy were nothing short of to/die/for. I was astounded when I saw this book was being released (awhile ago). I saw that it was actually written by Bradley's protege: Diana Paxson. I haven't read any full novels by her (are there any?) but I have read many short stories and for the most part they range from good to excellent, so I was sort of expecting Marion Zimmer Bradley quality, unfortunately I expected too much.

The feel I got while reading this was that of the pulpy fantasy books ala Dragonlance series and the such. You know the ones, where an author spews out 3 or 4 books a month in the series and the stories are all similar. That's how I felt with this. Plus the names, gods the names! Some of them were okay, but Tiriki?! Come on! And I hate those hyphenated names, so pulp fantasy! Feel free to add some realism to fantasy, it makes is so much better. Another complaint was the believability of characters, especially between the Priest Micail and Preistess (groan) Tiriki. They are husband and wife, lovers. It is very unrealistic that they would always agree on every single issue of everything *lovingly*! That never happens. People are different and disagree! Gah! Those characters and other just seemed to be cardboard cutouts and you really didn't care about them (unlike in The Mists of Avalon).

And my! Final! Complaint!!!! !!! Guess what it is! It seemed about every other sentence of dialogue had an exclamation mark. That is way to much and out of place. It was horrific.

Other than that it was a decently average read. I'm not going to throw it out or disown the author. I'm a completist and want to have all the Avalon books. Plus I would read it again if I want to read the series in chronological order (again). I know Miss Paxson has the ability to write great fiction, lets just hope this was the runt of her herd.

Rating:
Summary: 3 stars for some effort
Review: I'm a huge MZB fan, so I had to get this. I'm really discouraged by Paxon's work. The effort to make a storyline was a good one, the result was not.

There are too many characters and it's difficult to tell them apart, they're so similiar! Part of the cast ends up in one place, the other in another. While there is a list of characters and a brief, one-line description at the beginning of the novel, it's just not nearly enough. I was reading about one girl, and I was asking myself, "Who is this? Elara? Cleta? Damisa?" They're really that indistinguishable.

The characters are also very static. The good ones do No Wrong. the bad ones are Suspects From the Start. What I enjoyed about MZB's books is that the characters were like real people--they made some bad choices, some good, some totally uncomprehensible.

AoA does explain the transition from Sun-worship (masculine) to Moon-worship (feminine), and I'll give Paxton credit for that.

Rating:
Summary: Atlantis and Arthur
Review: The Booklist review of this book brings up a good point. It says: [Ancestors of Avalon is] one that telescopes the evocative notion that the otherworldly forces supporting Arthur were remnants of Atlantis.

There is another series of books that supports the Atlantis/Arthur connection. The Pendragon Cycle books by Stephen R. Lawhead are a series of well-written books that Zimmer Bradley fans would also enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, but not that great
Review: The things that compelled me to read this book were: 1. I was hoping another masterpiece like "Mists" would come along in the series (which of course didnt happen... but that was truly special book), and 2. This series is just SO fascinating... how could i NOT read it? It's REQUIRED reading! :)

It was an enjoyable read overall, but not superb..some parts made me not want to put the book down, some parts were slow..and unfortunately, the ending was disappointing. I enjoy both authors' works, so writing style wasnt a problem. After reading some of the other reviewers thoughts on that subject... I have to say not all of MZB's novels were perfection, and Ms. Paxson has written some amazing books. They are equally good writers. But, the story was sort of just a repeat of some of the other themes of the Avalon series...like the relationship between Tiriki and Micael.. it felt like we've already heard that story.

However, what reader of the Avalon series could NOT read this book? It would be like a Star Wars Fan refusing to see Episode I. I would have given this book a 3.5, rather than a 3.

Rating:
Summary: Unnecessary may be the kindest thing I can say for this book
Review: The world of fantasy lost a great voice when Marion Zimmer Bradley died. Her protégé and collaborator, Diana Paxson, deserves credit for trying to keep that voice alive.

Now please, don't ever do it again.

There is so much wrong with "Ancestors of Avalon" I don't even know where to begin. How about the fact that the book is entirely unnecessary? From veiled hints and glimpses of past incarnations, astute readers will have already managed to piece together a pretty good idea of how the vows of Deoris and Domaris, the two sisters from "Fall of Atlantis," shaped the world and lineage of Avalon. Why, then, do we need to hear the specifics of how the Atlantean refugees built Stonehenge, or settled at the Tor? Short answer: We don't. Long answer: We don't, and thanks a lot for boring us with it anyway.

Then there's Paxson's writing style, which is unfortunately so inferior to MZB's that I had to go back and read "Fall of Atlantis" just to cleanse the bad taste out of my mouth. Every sentence is either ridiculously expository or hopelessly vague. And the exclamation points! So annoying! Like a ninth-grader's email! Furthermore, the story just DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. I'm sorry, but Micail and Tiriki end up the equivalent of three towns over from each other, but they don't find each other for FIVE YEARS?

Speaking of the characters, most are so poorly drawn that at times I literally could not remember whether certain characters were even male or female. And far from MZB's wonderfully nuanced and conflicted portrayals of, say, Riveda or Lancelot, here all we get are cartoons. In Paxon's Avalon, anyone who was rich and privileged in Atlantis will invariably become a power-mad egomaniac bent on exploiting the British natives, while her "good-hearted" characters love their savage brethren and rail against the injustices of their countrymen. Oh no! Damisa thinks. Will I join the clearly delineated forces of evil and enslave the natives so I can keep wearing silk and drinking decent wine, or will I become a force of truth, justice, and the Atlantean way by painting myself blue and grubbing in the muck in a thinly veiled attempt at atonement for my race's arrogance? Boooring.

If you're a fan of "Mists of Avalon" I know you think you need to read this book, but honestly, you don't, and you shouldn't. Sometimes certain things are better left unsaid, and this story is one of them.


Rating:
Summary: Disappoitingly average
Review: This book could have been much better if it had been longer, perhaps. With such a large cast of characters we needed more time with them to really care. But years flit by between chapters, and everyone ends up looking the same by the end.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Good
Review: When I entered the book store and saw this on the shelf, I had to buy it immediately -- though the fact that it was written by Diana Paxson frightened me a little... could she possess the essence of Bradley's characters? The answer, in my opinion, is yes. Ancestors of Avalon is a charming, fanciful book -- full of everything everyone has come to love and adore from Bradley's works. I highly recommend it for any other enthusiasts.