Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Mists of Avalon

I don't even know where to start with this. For starters, I never leave books unfinished but this book was very close to being the first. I had to give myself a deadline, otherwise I would have abandoned it.
There is no amount of plot or character development that can justify the size of this book. There are huge stretches where nothing is happening, and I swear the same theological arguments were revisited every 50 pages by the same characters, with nothing new added to it and nothing productive coming out of it. Religion is a big part of the conflict of the book, informing characters' decisions and morals, but it was to the point of exhaustion.
Characters were another thing. The plot of the book spans decades, but throughout it they always feel like the children/teenagers they were at the beginning. No one changes in any meaningful way. I don't mind flawed characters, but Jesus this whole cast was getting on my nerves. Most of the men don't seem to have any personality, and as for the women, they are all hypocrites, who are at turns jealous or disdainful of one another, due to what? Ah yes, the attention of men. Someone is either a pious prude or a wanton whore, and the best thing is, they seem to be both at alternating times, woth no reason to it. Morgaine disdains other women as being shallow and only talking of marriages and babes, but her inner monologue seems to also focus on those subjects and on who's sleeping with whom. Gwen thinks Morgaine is a whore, but then commits adultery throughout the entirety of her marriage, and somehow ends up blaming her husband and her lover for it, and them somehow accusing them of being homosexual/queer (?) and having unpure feelings for each other. That was an unexpected ride. Anyway the thought pattern doesn't differ much with other female characters.
Then the nail in the coffin. Around close to halfway through, there were somethings making mr a but uncomfortable. Sexualization of young women, and women over 20 being considered 'old' (being historical fiction does not excuse this, low life expectancy had a lot to do with high infant mortality, and not so much with people not living after 50). Big age gaps in relationships, most of which are not exactly consensual. And then the thought processes to justify incestuous or pedophiliac relationships. Which on its own is heavy, but I believe that in fiction you do whatever you want. Except then I find out its not really fiction and it is reflecting the author's own practices and that sours everything.
So yeah, I powered through the last few hours so as to not leave it unfinished, but I will actively not recommend this ever to anyone. Its a shame, because I read it as part of a challenge to read the oldest book in my TBR and this was it on GR, but it wasn't worth the wait.

Content Warnings

devirnis's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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homebodywitch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

prinsessenora4's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was truly magical! From the first page I was captivated, and pulled into this magical world!
I love the legends of King Arthur, and this retelling is some of the best I have read. We can see the happenings from the women’s point of view, and the story is so sore, beautiful and lifelike that I couldn’t put it down.
I love the feminist and girl power characters, and I love to learn more about the older religions of the British isles. (But I don’t love the rape and incest). This book was amazing, and will stay with me forever <3

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rae_diant's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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jessthanthree's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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