 | A re-telling of the Arthurian legend from the point of view of its female characters, primarily from that of Morgaine, a priestess of the pagan cult of the Mother Goddess at Avalon, this lengthy and very well developed story vies with Atlas Shrugged in its complexity of plot and characterization. Not so sexless as Tolkien nor as impersonal as some of the Dune works, this title rates quite high in my personal library, perhaps the equal to Robert Graves' I, Claudius. I have read it three times, and have bought it for more people than I have any other work of fiction except Atlas Shrugged.
This link will take you to the most helpful of the over 850 reviews of this book, rated #3,786 on Amazon, as of this posting.
While a romantic work by Rand's definition (the characters' values and choices determine their outcomes) it is indeed a tragedy, in the sense that most of the characters are pagan, being overwhelmed by the rising tide of Christianity. The fantasy element is treated entirely naturalistically, as in Tolkien, and if anything, is much more realistic a story than is his Middle Earth. Neither should this be seen as a feminist or "woman's" book, but rather simply a book seen through the eyes of a female character in the same way that Atlas Shrugged is viewed largely from the perspective of Dagny Taggart. It is truly moving and suspenseful, and it is one of the few books that I have ever been reluctant actually to finish reading, having enjoyed it so much.
For those who have seen the TV dramatization, there is no comparison. I found the TV adaptation to be an embarrassing disappointment in relation to its source.
Ted Keer |
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
