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nerysatis's review against another edition
0.25
I can think of few days more heartbreaking than the one I learned a book foundational to my love of fantasy (and reading in general) was written by a monster.
Marion Zimmer Bradley raped and abused her own children, and supported her (later convicted) husband in doing the same and victimizing many others.
While in many cases I do support, even advocate, separating the work from the creator, this is not a case where death of the author can apply: it is impossible to ignore that, given the author’s proclivities, the depiction of young girls being involved with much older men was not so much an attempt at acknowledging the norms of the time period as a very intentional glorification. Framing a blatant love letter to child abuse as a feminist retelling of Arthurian lore is simply a bridge too far.
Marion Zimmer Bradley raped and abused her own children, and supported her (later convicted) husband in doing the same and victimizing many others.
While in many cases I do support, even advocate, separating the work from the creator, this is not a case where death of the author can apply: it is impossible to ignore that, given the author’s proclivities, the depiction of young girls being involved with much older men was not so much an attempt at acknowledging the norms of the time period as a very intentional glorification. Framing a blatant love letter to child abuse as a feminist retelling of Arthurian lore is simply a bridge too far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Violence
btrz7's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
0.25
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.
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
Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, War, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
sarah_writes's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
This book has been recommended to me again and again and again. The truth about the author is well known, and it only takes a quick google search to find out the truth. However, since it has been recommended to me so often, and I was assured that there was very little in the book to suggest that the author was anything other than perfectly normal, I decided to read it anyway. That was a mistake, I found The Mists of Avalon to be a deeply nauseating read and I deeply regret picking it up. I actually gave up after about 500 pages, after two rape scenes occurred in a relatively short space of time. I understand that this is still a very important book to a lot of people, particularly those who read it before the truth about MZB was revealed. Reading it today with the prior knowledge of the author's sickening crimes makes it difficult to appreciate the novel as the original Arthurian inspired feminist fantasy. This novel is full of incest and rape, described quite explicitly. I believe that MZB used her version of paganism to justify her own sick way of thinking, and it saddens me to think that someone would use any religion in this way. The debates between Christianity and paganism were interesting at times, but most of the time it felt like the author was just continuously bashing Christianity. Gwenhwyfar is the most religious of the Christian characters, and she was often used as an example of how repressed the Christians are in the novel. Archbishop Patricius is apparently supposed to be an example of Saint Patrick, but in reality although Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland he was much more liberal than the character described in this book. There is also a lot of talk in this novel about virginity, as well as fertility, sometimes to the point where it felt a bit obsessive. The 'feminist' aspect of this book was completely lost on me. There were few female characters in this book with bodily autonomy. There was also very little sisterhood. Characters who are friends for a few chapters begin to hate each other soon after when they're getting too much male attention. On a less disturbing level, I did not like the writing style of this book. It felt overly long and drawn out. The way that the characters speak felt unrealistic and over-complicated, for the sake of sounding old-timey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Incest, Infertility, and Pedophilia
morganrie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
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