Marion Zimmer Bradley's Epic Tale of Magic and Mystery: The Mists of Avalon

L. Barrett: Amazing read. Loved it.

United States on Oct 07, 2023

Jim Polikratis: A very well researched and written book that I have mentioned to friends and family over the years. A must read if you are interested in King Arthur. The thing I found most interesting is that the book is written from the woman`s point of view, which gives it a new perspective, especially the sections that are titled; Morgan speaks. It is at this point that Morgan is just not telling a story, she is talking directly to the reader.

Canada on Jul 07, 2023

K 8181: Read it years ago and decided to reread because it was such a wonderful book.

United Kingdom on May 21, 2023

Rachel Stubbs: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Arthurian creation is dreamy, deviant, dangerous and sometimes just plain odd.

The first installation in her Avalon series, The Mists of Avalon focuses on familiar characters from Arthurian legend, detailing their various rises and falls. Bradley models and refashions the legends in her retelling, making it distinctly her own in several ways:

• Narrative perspective: this is famously a feminist perspective on a story traditionally dominated by knights and quests. The narrative is framed by Morgaine’s first-person retrospective narration while the rest is told in first-person. The story begins with Igraine, Arthur’s mother, long before the Round Table was ever installed in the hall, even before Arthur’s conception.

• Character interpretation: Bradley also re-casts the two most notorious women of the story: Morgaine (more commonly known as Morgan le Fay), and Gwenhyfar (Guinevere). Morgaine is the story's heroine who drives the plot’s action as she moves through the major settings of the book from the magical, pagan isle of Avalon to Arthur's court at Camelot and even to fairyland. Gwenhyfar is less sympathetically portrayed...

United Kingdom on Aug 04, 2019

Cliente de Amazon: Excelente felicitaciones es una lectura fácil y sustantiva su conetenido es para la liscrlo a nuestras situaciones personales muchas gracias

Mexico on Mar 04, 2017

Dodo: Als das Buch Mitte der 1980er herauskam, war es ein "muss", es gelesen zu haben. Vergleichbar fast nur mit dem späteren Hype um Harry Potter. Jede Altersklasse, Frauen und Männer, lasen "Die Nebel von Avalon".
Denn damals bot das dicke Buch tatsächlich etwas Neues: Fantasy, ja, das kannte man von "Der Herr der Ringe" oder Michael Ende. Aber Fantasy aus der Sicht einer Frau geschrieben, abseits von Waffengeschepper und Blutsbrüderschaften - das war neu. stattdessen wurden die Helden plötzlich zu Söhnen, Brüdern, Ehemännern, Vätern und damit auf die Erde geholt. Statt eines Kampfes gegen die Dunkelheit des Bösen geht es um den Clash der alten und neuen Kultur, der keltischen Urreligion und dem aufkommenden Christentum.

Morgana ist die Halbschwester König Artus', die in den alten Geschichten eine sehr negative Rolle spielt: meist wird sie als böse Zauberin dargestellt, als schwarzer Gegenpart zum guten Merlin, die zudem auch noch ihren eigenen Bruder verführt und ihren gemeinsamen Sohn dann gegen den Vater aufhetzt, so dass es letztlich dieses Kind aus Artus einziger Sünde ist, was ihm und seinem Reich den Untergang bringt.

Zimmer-Bradley hält sich in...

Germany on Dec 20, 2011

Vincent E. Martin: Bottom-Line: "The Mists of Avalon" is splendid reading, and I highly recommend it. A more in-depth and authoritative recantation of the Arthurian legend is not available.

Like many children, I was raised on the tale of Merlin, Camelot, King Arthur, Excalibur, and the famed Knights of the Round Table. My first introduction to the post-Roman Empire era story was a cartoon in my early youth called The Sword in The Stone, which told the tale of how a teenaged King Arthur was able to pull the magically endowed sword Excalibur from the stone in which it was embedded, and thus win the throne of a newly liberated England.

In later years there would be many a movie made about the boy king and his mystical kingdom that in the end fell into ruin because of human weakness, but none has been as detailed as Marion Zimmer Bradley's, 1982 novel "The Mists of Avalon." Bradley's tome is an ambitious and sweeping interweaving of the oft-told legend of King Arthur and his celebrated Knights of the Round Table; of Merlin and Excalibur; of Camelot; of Gwenhwyfar and Sir Lancelot, all regaled through the eyes and experiences of a heretofore unknown character, Morgaine, priestess of Avalon...

United States on Dec 03, 2010

LCW: The entire premise behind this novel is a good one. It is the legend of King Arthur, Camelot, and Avalon but told from the point of view of the women involved, particularly the priestesses of Avalon. Central to the plot is that Vivianne, Avalon's powerful high priestess, tricks Morgaine, her apprentice (and the novel's main character), into sleeping with her brother Arthur in order to produce a son that has Avalon running through his veins from both sides. Arthur himself is a product of Vivanne's goal of ensuring that Britian has a High King who will remain faithful to Avalon and keep peace between Christians and the follower's of the Goddess of Avalon. Otherwise Avalon is in danger of diasappearing into the mists forever.

When Morgain finds out it was her brother Arthur who she slept with she turns on Vivianne, leaves Avalon, and goes to live with her scheming sister Morgause in the wilds of Lothian. There she gives birth to Mordred but then falls vicitim to her sister's scheme when Morgause finds out Mordred is King Arthur's son. Morgause takes Mordred from her an does not allow Morgaine to form a bond with her son in the hopes that by raising him it is she who will be...

United States on Jul 17, 2008