Ancestors of Avalon
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Review
‘Delightful … richly-detailed characterisation’ SFX
‘An absorbing read’ Starburst
Praise for the Avalon series:
‘A most original interpretation of the matter of Britian by way of Celtic religion and the Great Mother… a remarkable feat of imagination’
Mary Renault
‘I loved the book so much I went out and bought it for a friend, and have told many people about it. Why did no one ever think before to tell the story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women!’
Jean Auel
‘A pillar of the fantasy field, Bradley here combines romance, rich historical detail, magical dazzlements, grand adventure and feminist sentiments into the kind of novel her fans have been yearning for’ Publishers Weekly
‘The best retelling of the Arthurian saga I have ever read. Completely compelling’ Isaac Asimov
Review
Praise for the Avalon series:
‘A most original interpretation of the matter of Britian by way of Celtic religion and the Great Mother… a remarkable feat of imagination’
Mary Renault
‘I loved the book so much I went out and bought it for a friend, and have told many people about it. Why did no one ever think before to tell the story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women!’
Jean Auel
‘A pillar of the fantasy field, Bradley here combines romance, rich historical detail, magical dazzlements, grand adventure and feminist sentiments into the kind of novel her fans have been yearning for’ Publishers Weekly
‘The best retelling of the Arthurian saga I have ever read. Completely compelling’ Isaac Asimov
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I awaited this book with bated breath! And I was not at all disapointed, it follows the story of Tiriki and Micil, high priest and priestess of Atlantis. It tells of the fall ofatlantis and how the altlanteans came to Britan to found the Tor (featured in the other avalon books) and stone henge. It contains many of the things that all the other avalon books had, love,magicand the strength of mankind when faced against a tough moment. If you loved all of Marion's other avalon books, READ this. I promise you won't be dissapointed, it answers all of the questions you may have wondered during the other four books. This Marion and Diana L Paxson at their best.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
32 reviews
57 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Unnecessary may be the kindest thing I can say for this book
22 Oct 2004
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
54 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Ancestors of Avalon Should Have Stayed Buried In The Past!
21 Aug 2004
Format:Hardcover
When I learned that a new installment in the Avalon series was published, I was thrilled. "The Mists of Avalon" is one of my favorite novels and I have read all of Bradley's other novels in the series. Diana L. Paxson who collaberated with Bradley on one of the Avalon books, decided to take on the prequal and link Bradley's Avalon series with Bradley's Atlantis novel. She should have left both alone.
Paxson cannot write. I would go as far as to call her work drivvel. It was terrible. The chacters were unsympathetic and hollow. They contained no substance whatsoever and as a reader I could not connect with them. Their speech was all wrong as well. Paxson had the characters swearing and using modern day slang! The whole novel was contrived, poorly written and not at all inline with Bradley's previous writings.
I cannot advise anyone to read this novel, it was so poor.
Paxson cannot write. I would go as far as to call her work drivvel. It was terrible. The chacters were unsympathetic and hollow. They contained no substance whatsoever and as a reader I could not connect with them. Their speech was all wrong as well. Paxson had the characters swearing and using modern day slang! The whole novel was contrived, poorly written and not at all inline with Bradley's previous writings.
I cannot advise anyone to read this novel, it was so poor.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
3 stars for some effort
29 Aug 2004
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
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