A review by sarah_writes
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

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. 
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