Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

13 reviews

caterwaul's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

I greatly enjoyed this book. I've always loved King Arthur and was super excited to read this book when I got it as a gift. However, I highly recommend you read the content warnings because it is not a happy-go-lucky, unproblematic read. The overall story combines a lot of different stories from Arthurian Legend, but I think it's most similar to Le Morte D'Arthur for much of the plot. There's a lot of politics, a lot of religious back and forth between goddess worship and Christianity, and a lot of ethics/morality questioning. Like I said though, highly enjoyed! It primarily focuses on the women of Arthurian Legend- Igraine, Morgaine, and Gwenhwyfar, along with some others- and their POV on the events, which is definitely a fresh take on the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Religious bigotry, and Infertility

Moderate: Abortion, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault and Adult/minor relationship

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

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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

micaelabrody's review against another edition

2.0

i downgraded this rating from my original 5, but couldn’t bring myself to go to the 2 it actually deserves just bc it was so important to me when i was younger. i had actually never intended to read this again, but i did bc i had no other books on hand after finishing my previous read and this was on my ipad.

but man has it not aged well. even setting aside mzb herself (which i do only for this review. that’s why i’d never intended to reread this), it is 500-700 pages too long (based on the ebook at a whopping 1700!). there’s a lot of arthurian legend to get through but you reach the point when morgaine marries uriens and it feels like that really should be closer to the end but there’s STILL so much more to go! and honestly the ending is such a cop out. morgaine spends the entire book raging on behalf of avalon and the cultural genocide of her people (and she’s right) just to say “oh actually violent christian dominance is good bc they worship mary”? the characters are broadly consistent but moment to moment contradictory - does she love lancelet or not? morgaine switches off even in her own internal monologue with no acknowledgment of the change! - and the pacing is iffy at best.

it’s still okay, but the towering work of fiction i remember is simply not here. it’s just a kind of overwritten historical reimagining and sits nicely on a shelf with outlander. i will always love the version of morgaine she created but i wish that morgaine had been in a better book written by a less gross person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape