The Mists of Avalon: Avalon Book 7

I almost embarrassed at how long it took me to read this book. I've started it half a dozen times. It has been lent to me by multiple friends, all of whom I was forced to give it back to before they started charging me overdue fees. I think partly, I was intimidated with the size of the book, never having been lent it during a time when I had sufficient reading time to tackle it. Partly, it was the weight of the words that require a slow, deliberate read. Partly, it was just the knowledge that as a female fantasy fan, it was something of a crime that I hadn't read this.

However, as always works for me, I have a list, and I got to this book on the list, so after much effort in between my work schedule, I can finally say that I both read and enjoyed “Mists of Avalon.” It definitely lived up to its fanbase, and I don't really feel qualified to review it (it sort of feels like reviewing “To Kill A Mockingbird” or some other accepted piece of literary greatness), but as part of my resolution to read critically, I will try.

Despite being based on Arthurian legend, every chapter presents something to be spoiled, so I'll just spoiler warn from here on in.

The word "Epic" gets tossed around a lot, and very few books truly live up to the title. This is an epic novel. The sheer time-span makes you feel you've lived these women's lives with them. We watch babies grow up, grow old (or more frequently not) and die. We watch lifetimes slip by and by then end, we remember the young women at the beginning of the novel as we remember ourselves as little girls playing princess. This scale is what impresses me most about the book, As Morgause reminisces about little Morgaine spinning finer thread than she, I have to look back in my own memory, though only a little over a week has passed since I read that chapter. Bradley weaves this timeline masterfully, never letting the memories feel too much like flashbacks or the foreshadowing take away the suspense.This last if more impressive when you consider this work is really one of the single greatest pieces of fanfiction of the modern literary world. I myself, have only a passing (read: Disney and Monty Python) familiarity with Arthurian legend, so I'm sure there are dozens of references I didn't catch. Still, Bradley takes the tropes we know best (The sword in the stone, the Lady of the Lake, Lancelet's betrayal with Gwenhwyfar, Morgan le Fey) and she changes our perspective just enough to make this a brand new tale. On a simple story-telling level, the book is genius. She breathes personality into characters that have always had life. I think I'm most impressed with Gwenhwyfar who is introduced as someone in stark contrast to the powerful priestesses of Avalon, the only women we've gotten to know. In this way, Bradley gets us comfortable with those outside the norm, so that the norm seems bizarre. Gwen is raised to be a terrified, shamed nun, and indeed states that a convent is the only place she feels safe. I spent the book as exasperated with her as Morgaine, yet pitying her in the end, forced to deny her freedom when she finally found it. I respected Viviane, and had to reread her death several times because the shock was as great for me as for the court watching. I was perplexed by Igraine, who was always a deeper mystery than she appeared. I was wary of Morgause from the moment of her introduction to her ill-fated scheme of the end. And the men were not flattened by this not being their story. Arthur is a real person, not a legend. Lancelet is tortured on more levels than Bradley has time to address directly, and you feel the weight of his burden in his love of Arthur, all the more reason to pity Gwen. Kevin is another character, like Igraine, who always has another secret layer. I feel I know everyone in the story, and every death cut at me as it cut at those who loved them.There are dozens of themes in here from the ties of blood to gender roles to the meaning of sin, but the one I've heard most about and so am choosing to bring up here is the Pagan/Christian dynamic. All the criticism I've ever heard comes back towards this book being too hard and critical of Christianity. This makes sense seeing as our primary perspective is Morgaine. She goes from devout to denier to zealot, and it's her we are meant to sympathize with. If you never finish the book, then yes the Christianization (spellcheck says that's not a word, but I'm going with it) of Britain is a harsh and sometimes terrible thing.However, stick with Bradley till the end. Even while we are as outraged as Morgaine at Arthur's betrayal of Avalon, Kevin's theft of the Holy Regalia, Gwenhwyfar's narrow-minded piety, we are brought back to Taliesen's words in the end. The Holy Grail manifests in Arthur's court and some see it as the Virgin Mary and some see it as the Goddess and nobody is wrong. All Gods and Goddesses are One in this book, and Morgaine realizes her true purpose is not to win dominance of Avalon, but to see the protection of beauty, knowledge, music, and spirituality from those who would destroy it (the Saxons before the peace is made). Once Saxon culture merges with the Britons, that Holiness is preserved by any name. The merging of Pagan and Christian traditions is one I've always found fascinating, and I don't believe there are really any heroes or villains in either the story or the history. Avalon and Camelot don't fall so much as evolve into the next stage of history. The gods never die.Besides, Wikipedia could tell you this book wasn't going to end happily for either side. This may be the longest review I've ever posted here, and I feel a bit silly about it. I mean everyone already knows this is a good book, and Bradley doesn't need me trumpeting her success, but it's a book that left me wanting to talk about it. Makes me wish I'd read it back when people first told me to read it. Serves me right for having a bookshelf that refills before it ever empties.