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A review by smoores415
Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
2.5
I'll fully admit that I didn't know what this book was about when I picked it up. I bought it probably a decade ago when I was going through my King Arthur phase and when I saw Avalon, I assumed it was about King Arthur and bought it. I also was going through my "go into books blindly" phase and didn't read the back. Obviously, had I done that, I wouldn't have picked this up.
So from the beginning, I was disappointed to discover that not only does the story not revolve around King Arthur, it actually takes place after he died and it instead revolves around Isolde. I've only watched the 2006 Tristan & Isolde once, so I don't have much of a frame of reference, but figured I was in for a super dramatic, sweeping romance. I sure wasn't.
I didn't enjoy Isolde as a character. I'll also say that historical fiction isn't my go to because of how women are treated. In the beginning, it felt like it was a lot of things happening to her and Isolde not really making a lot of decisions. Also the book is ridiculously slow. The whole thing takes place in just a week or two (I wasn't keeping exact track), but things don't even start coming together until the 50% mark, which is way too long for me to begin to get invested.
Then when Trystan is introduced, I started getting excited that things were going to develop between them. Instead we get these weird conversations where so much is left unsaid, but I was willing to see it through. Then for the part that made me the most angry. So angry in fact, I went back to pull receipts word for word.
When telling Isolde of his plan to pretend to trade her for Hereric, Trystan says, "I'll give you my word that you'll not be actually taken by Marche's guard--and that I'll see you find your goldsmith." Then later when she doesn't believe him because he literally told her that he'd trade her for his freedom, he gets butthurt, gives her a knife, and says, "If I break our agreement and let you come within reach of Marche's guard--or even leave you on your own before you've found your man--you can cut my throat."
Can you guess what happened? He either on purpose or on accident left her alone to get taken by Marche's guard even though he told her that she'd likely be raped by them (she wasn't), thrown into a prison cell, attempted to get raped again (the man was impotent and got called away), got beaten, got put up on trial as a witch, and was sentenced to death. Oh, and he never helped her find the goldsmith, which is what she's trying to do for a good portion of the book. I'd say he broke his vow pretty fucking thoroughly.
And the author only wrote that she wasn't raped so that Trystan can still be a good guy because nothing actually happened. Sorry, but that shit does not and will never fly with me. Then later when they're escaping he doesn't kill the guards because he's just such a good and moral guy. I was rolling my eyes so hard. I guess everyone has their line, but putting a woman in a situation where she will likely get raped and put to death is mine. I don't care how many nameless men you save.
Then later he has the absolute AUDACITY to be offended when she thinks he gave her up on purpose. Like, he said that he wouldn't leave her, then tells her that he saw her get captured, so obviously she's going to assume he had something to do with it since he did absolutely nothing to try to help her. Then after he's captured also, he doesn't apologize or try to explain and says that they're even.
Like, the fuck? She only sold him out because he left her alone. If he'd kept his promise, then there wouldn't have been anything to get even with. Finally, at the end when Isolde asks why he left her alone to get captured, he says, "I thought you'd made up your mind already what I'd done." Literally grow the fuck up bro. You're not cool or mysterious or morally gray because you don't want to explain your actions. Just be a fucking adult and communicate.
I have absolutely zero interest in Trystan as a character and even less in the supposed "romance" happening between them, of which there is none in this book. They actually both refer to the other as being like siblings and this book doesn't set up them working together in the next book, so I'm not really sure what the basis for the romance is or how it's supposed to grow.
I know that I'm a heavy sleeper, but on THREE separate occasions, Isolde woke up to a knife to her throat or being surrounded, once where she was tied up in her sleep. I just don't see how that's possible without being drugged. It was very annoying and made Isolde hard to root for if she can't even have the most basic survival instincts.
Also, there was way too much talk of rape in this book. I know that it happened in that time, but it didn't have to be talked about or alluded to or threatened throughout the whole book. It just felt like a big looming thing and I didn't like it.
I bought the rest of the books in this series, so I will finish it out, but if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't continue it and I don't see myself reading another book by this author, but that's because I don't do historical fiction much. I know that people do like this book, but I can't see myself recommending it because it's such a weird mix of history and different myths that I don't know anyone in my life that would like it.
So from the beginning, I was disappointed to discover that not only does the story not revolve around King Arthur, it actually takes place after he died and it instead revolves around Isolde. I've only watched the 2006 Tristan & Isolde once, so I don't have much of a frame of reference, but figured I was in for a super dramatic, sweeping romance. I sure wasn't.
I didn't enjoy Isolde as a character. I'll also say that historical fiction isn't my go to because of how women are treated. In the beginning, it felt like it was a lot of things happening to her and Isolde not really making a lot of decisions. Also the book is ridiculously slow. The whole thing takes place in just a week or two (I wasn't keeping exact track), but things don't even start coming together until the 50% mark, which is way too long for me to begin to get invested.
Then when Trystan is introduced, I started getting excited that things were going to develop between them. Instead we get these weird conversations where so much is left unsaid, but I was willing to see it through. Then for the part that made me the most angry. So angry in fact, I went back to pull receipts word for word.
I have absolutely zero interest in Trystan as a character and even less in the supposed "romance" happening between them, of which there is none in this book. They actually both refer to the other as being like siblings and this book doesn't set up them working together in the next book, so I'm not really sure what the basis for the romance is or how it's supposed to grow.
I bought the rest of the books in this series, so I will finish it out, but if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't continue it and I don't see myself reading another book by this author, but that's because I don't do historical fiction much. I know that people do like this book, but I can't see myself recommending it because it's such a weird mix of history and different myths that I don't know anyone in my life that would like it.