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kmmcdono's review against another edition
4.0
I would say I enjoyed this book! I wish there were a pronunciation guide for the names, because a lot of them turned to mush in my head. A lot of the historical and political stuff in the book got really dull for me after a while, and I couldn’t keep a lot of it straight. However, the adventure and excitement picks up around halfway through.
The depiction of early Christianity spreading out through northern France, the UK, and Ireland was really interesting to me. I thought it was a nice twist how Branwen had the connection to the old ways and Esseilte didn’t. The “romance” of Drustan and Esseilte is shown as this destructive passion and lust that I think fit really well, but man did I hate those two. I did not quite understand Branwen’s love for Marc’h, but maybe because a lot of the politics were over my head.
I definitely think the rape scene and relationship that develops needs mentioning. It didn’t ruin the book for me the way it did for others, but I do wonder about it’s inclusion. Branwen needed something to drive her to finally reveal D&I to Marc’h, but she has a lot of sex with K after he rapes her. Relationships are complicated and abuse is complicated but I just didn’t understand it’s inclusion. And trust me— I wanted Branwen to get laid!! But I do not understand the author’s full intent behind the way that chapter is written.
The depiction of early Christianity spreading out through northern France, the UK, and Ireland was really interesting to me. I thought it was a nice twist how Branwen had the connection to the old ways and Esseilte didn’t. The “romance” of Drustan and Esseilte is shown as this destructive passion and lust that I think fit really well, but man did I hate those two. I did not quite understand Branwen’s love for Marc’h, but maybe because a lot of the politics were over my head.
I definitely think the rape scene and relationship that develops needs mentioning. It didn’t ruin the book for me the way it did for others, but I do wonder about it’s inclusion. Branwen needed something to drive her to finally reveal D&I to Marc’h, but she has a lot of sex with K after he rapes her. Relationships are complicated and abuse is complicated but I just didn’t understand it’s inclusion. And trust me— I wanted Branwen to get laid!! But I do not understand the author’s full intent behind the way that chapter is written.
katymvt's review against another edition
2.0
2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge-a book based on mythology
This book was OK. Until you got to the part where you learn that if a man rapes a woman enough times she will come to enjoy it.
This book was OK. Until you got to the part where you learn that if a man rapes a woman enough times she will come to enjoy it.
slimikin's review against another edition
1.0
Reading this at 14 is probably the reason for my hatred of love triangles, and absolutely the source of my sensitivity to and intolerance for rape-her-til-she-likes-it scenes. Nope. Nopity nope nope nope.
autumn_plum's review against another edition
I feel like those who gave the book a low rating because of THAT SCENE stopped reading it altogether and thereby completely missed the point of that entire segment of Branwen's character arc, not that I can blame them because it IS hard to read. However that being said, I have to say that although the book isn't an incredible masterpiece, it does get rated a little unfairly on the basis of that one scene, even though ironically the whole point of that arc is for Branwen to realize that whether or not she eventually gave consent, she was still a victim of violence and did NOT deserve any of it-along with a 10-mile list of other things. That out of the way, it was much better than I thought it would be based on the ratings and reviews, though I would give it a hefty trigger warning. Which goes without sayign when you're talking about.....pretty much any book explicitly inspired by Marion Zimmer Bradley's work.
For those of you who haven't read Mists of Avalon or any other book with a predominantly Celtic setting I offer this caveat: There's always a weird, incredibly uncomfortable sex or r*pe scene with dubious consent or incest that usually has an overtone of this odd "above good and evil" mentality, tossed in with some weird, faux Celtic mysticism evoking some "goddess," possession type thing to give you the idea that Celtic spirituality is all about sexy festivals and mystical female empowerment, even though from what little I know, the ancient Celtic were a fairly diverse and pantheistic lot-but I digress. Short story: Novels about Celts always have a squeaky sex scene even while they purport to sell you the idea of Celtic "paganism" as female sexual liberation... It's a weird genre in which Marion Zimmer Bradley was a pioneer who was touted for her "feminist"take on figures from Arthurian legend- but that was before she was posthumously outed as a violent abuser. So throughout the 80's and 90's, many authors were writing series set in the Arthurian age British Isles that clearly took their cues from her. So....yeah. Read with a few servings of salt (if you want to read a good book set in the time of the Celtic British Isles that hasn't been inspired by Mary Zimmer Bradley's work, Morgan Lewyllyn is AMAZING).
For those of you who haven't read Mists of Avalon or any other book with a predominantly Celtic setting I offer this caveat: There's always a weird, incredibly uncomfortable sex or r*pe scene with dubious consent or incest that usually has an overtone of this odd "above good and evil" mentality, tossed in with some weird, faux Celtic mysticism evoking some "goddess," possession type thing to give you the idea that Celtic spirituality is all about sexy festivals and mystical female empowerment, even though from what little I know, the ancient Celtic were a fairly diverse and pantheistic lot-but I digress. Short story: Novels about Celts always have a squeaky sex scene even while they purport to sell you the idea of Celtic "paganism" as female sexual liberation... It's a weird genre in which Marion Zimmer Bradley was a pioneer who was touted for her "feminist"take on figures from Arthurian legend- but that was before she was posthumously outed as a violent abuser. So throughout the 80's and 90's, many authors were writing series set in the Arthurian age British Isles that clearly took their cues from her. So....yeah. Read with a few servings of salt (if you want to read a good book set in the time of the Celtic British Isles that hasn't been inspired by Mary Zimmer Bradley's work, Morgan Lewyllyn is AMAZING).
angela_juniper's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my all-time favorites! Wonderfully gripping story - the only book that ever twisted my heart to the point of weeping.
tresdem's review against another edition
3.0
This was a very 80's book and there was a lot of melodrama involved. It doesn't make it necessarily bad and the characters behaved more or less realistically. I do like the integration of the magic because it felt wild and dangerous but absolutely part of the story and time period. The only one that was annoying was the love potion because plot device! I just didn't like it or what they did with it
For me it's a well made story and an interesting story and great if you like torrid romances and oh we can't be together sort of thing. It wasn't exactly my thing. But there are some more triggering aspects to this book that are approached in a very 80s way.
cw for rape, but man I am tired of seeing rape being part of a woman's narrative. There was no reason for Branwen to go through that unless there was some 'erotic quota' to be met and it's never really addressed. Do I expect it to be addressed in a novel written in the 80s? No. That doesn't mean it's good or necessary. And the fact that she uses it at the end to be like Oh look I learned things. How ironic. Isn't exactly as uplifting as the author seems to think it might be
Will I read this again? Eh, maybe. And then again...maybe not.
For me it's a well made story and an interesting story and great if you like torrid romances and oh we can't be together sort of thing. It wasn't exactly my thing. But there are some more triggering aspects to this book that are approached in a very 80s way.
Will I read this again? Eh, maybe. And then again...maybe not.
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