Customer Reviews

The Mists of Avalon

5 star:		(588)
4 star:		(80)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

_The Mists of Avalon_ is one of my top five favorite books
of all time. For me, this has become the true story of the
legend of King Arthur. It is told through the eyes of all
the women, but mostly through the eyes of Morgaine (Morgan
La Fey), Arthur's half sister. Other Arthurian stories make
her out to be pure evil. Here Morgaine presents her point
of view (as well as that of the other major women). And
what a fine job she does of it. The story pulls you in and
the pages just fly by. Bradley draws her characters with
such detail that I felt strongly one way or another about
almost every one of them. I have never been so sad when the
book came to an end and I had to leave this incredible world.
I recommend it every chance I get. It's a magical experience.

This is not a typical Marion Zimmer Bradley book. Although
I've enjoyed all of her books, this is the one I've lost
over 10 times "lending" it out to friends who never returned
it. I have to keep re-buying it, since it stands up so well
to repeated reading. The Arthur legend has been retold so
many times, but never like this. Forget the other versions.

I will simply add to the praise posted here; this book is
wonderful. Like another reader who has posted a review, I
first read this novel in high school. Not only is it a
beautifully written, evocative novel, but in the wider
perspective it contains a valuable lesson about
historical perspective. What would the pre-Christians say,
if we could hear their words today? This book offers an
answer.

Bradley's Mists of Avalon is one of the best novels I've ever read; I've given it to a variety of friends with vastly different tastes in reading and everyone has loved it. Reams have been written about the Arthurian legends, but Bradley spins her tale from a different perspective--that of the women of Avalon--and creates an beautiful, enthralling novel. It's one of the few books I've never wanted to end. Her post-Mists books don't come close to this one

Of the (many) sentences from this book that lodge in the mind so
vividly they seem like personal memories - of the (many) scenes that
interlace and cross-fertilize the plots that illuminate this story
from within - that one has floated close to the surface of my own
the longest.

Ms. Bradley has woven, of intensely personal threads, a mirror as
lucid and evanescent as the waters used by the priestesses of Avalon.
Comparisons with the truly great stories are impossible to avoid: so much
is rendered so convincingly that no summary can do justice to its vision.

There is a church in Paris that was once, or is built on the site of, an
ancient temple to the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis. As I understand it, the
Catholic Church simply incorporated large parts of her symbolism into its
own hagiography. I would be surprised to discover that Ms. Bradley does not
know this, and the details of the history behind it, far better than I do. She
tells the story of the beginnings of the modern world, as the ancient world might
have wanted it told.

I loved this book. I read it when I was 16 and I've never
been the same since. It completely enthralled me with the
Fantasy Genre. Marion Z-B. gives such a beautiful view of
the Arthur legend. She portrays the many sides of power that
exsisted in that time period. The old Pagan ways and the
begining Christianity and how they both worked to stay rooted
in that time. Sacrifice and how it affects the characters is
a large part of this novel. Her female characters are strong
and bring intelligence to the few choices offered them in
that time in history. I learned a lot about motivations and
human feelings from this book.

This is definitely a classic. One of Marion Zimmer Bradley's best books ever. Don't let its length put you off, because you'd miss out. It has a more feminine point of view than most books dealing with King Arthur and Camelot, and that puts some readers off. I suggest giving it a try at least, especially if you like Arthurian legends

Marion Zimmer Bradley brings King Arthur's court to life through the eyes of a woman in The Mists of Avalon. It is by far one of the best novels I've ever read, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in seeing a legend from a different point of view

A friend highly recommended this book to me, and I was expecting it to be much better than it was. Unfortunately, Mists of Avalon did not live up to the hype. It felt like an overgrown romance novel trying (and failing) to be a philosophical, Tolkienesque saga. It came off as overly self-conscious, stilted, awkward, with exaggeratedly lofty language that rings false. The author is clearly striving to be deep, but she's drowning. In spite of the complexities she's trying to construct, there is a heavy-handed simplicity in the tensions and oppositions she sets up, especially between the Christian and Pagan characters. The book takes itself entirely too seriously, some of the main characters lack depth and humanity, and more than anything I wanted to smack Guinevere for being such a whiny, mewling idiot-scaredy-cat-moron (and get her to drop the pretentious Welsh spelling). The idea behind the tale, a retelling of the Arthurian legend from a female perspective, is brilliant and deserves to be done well. The female perspectives that came across here, however, made me embarassed and frustrated. What a letdown. I was not impressed.

I don't read two many books more then once, but I could read this one
over and over again. Great to see a story from the female perspective,
very refreshing.