[polgara]

I have recently read the Mists of Avalon and thouht it was exellent,
Does anyone else have any views on this subject or have any suggestion for me

[Barbarossa]

I read MoA many years ago, when it first was published, since then I rearead it two or three times. I liked that book, it was entertaining, in some ways original.

But it has quite a few weaknesses, too. It's too much new Age for my taste at times. But my main problem with it is that in a way it didn't go far enough in its feminism (and that's me being a man talking).

You know the original thing about the whole book in my opinion was that it took one of the major villains of the Arturian legends,
Morgaine le fey, and made her the heroine.
Unfortunatly MZB didn't have the courage to go all the way. Instead she split the character in two, Morgaine the narrator/ heroine and Morgause the villain.
I wonder what kind of book it would have been if she had rewritten the legend so far, that an unplit Morgaine would have been the heroine.

Another sad part surrounding the book, are the prequels, I couldn't get into any of them, in my opinion they were a cheap moneygrabbing exercise.

As for reccomendations: I know you read Katherine Kerr already, or I would reccomend her as an example of celtic fantasy avoiding new age cliches.

If you want more Arturian stuff, did you read Bernard Cornwell's "Warlord trilogy" yet (Winterking, Enemy of God, Excalibur), an attempt to base Artur on the original Wesh legends rather than the medival versions.

(interesting enough MZB based MoA almost completely on the medival authors like Cretienne d'Troyes (sp?) and MAllory and infused new age celts later)

Another interesting attempt of a "historical"
Arthur is Rosmary Sutcliff's "swords at sunset".

Sutcliff is most famous for her YA historical novels, and "SaS" is actually the sequel to one of her YA books "The latern bearers" but SaS itself is definatly adult in content. Not that senile old me is above reading YA stuff, from Lloyd Alexander, Harry Potter to Phillip Pullman.

[Bardos]

There is a review in Sffworld about MoA, here (http://www.sffworld.com/authors/s/solinas_la/articles/evaporatingthemists1.html).
This guy thinks it's crap.

Personaly, I haven't read it. Is it worth it?...

[azaz]

I've heard quite a bit about this series, but have never read it. So as Bardos said is it worth it?

[Barbarossa]

I would say it's worth it, if only as a stuff for discussion even if you don't like it. A lot depends as what you read it, the reviever at Bardos link read it as a historical novel, as such it's real crap, but we are a fantasy board, and as fantasy, it's interestingenough even with a lot of faults.

[lior]

Didn't read any prequels, but Mists Of Avalon was an excellent book about one of my favourite stories ever, the legend of King Arthur, and told from the lady's point of view, especially morgan le fay which is referred here mainly as morgaine.
It is highly researched and detailed, I think it would entertain primarly people who like celtic folklore and King Arthur tales.

[azaz]

Well I've never read an Arturian book before, I've watched films or T.V programs but not read a book. Is this one you would recommend for one who hasn't read an Arthurian book before, or are there better ones?

[e-Morgana]

I've read quite a few Arthurian novels because I just love the tale (as you can tell from my name). Mists of Avalon, I read ages ago and am having trouble remembering the details - I'd love to ask a question to narrow the possibilities down, but can't without "spoiling" if I'm wrong. I haven't come across one I haven't liked though, so I must have enjoyed it.

Now I know that no-one will believe me that this is purely incidental to the topic. For all you Authur fans out there, did you know that Sara Douglass (yes that name again) has written a book called Betrayal of Arthur? I actually thought this was another novel, but it is in fact a study of the origins of the tale and who the main protagonists were based on; whether an Arhtur did, in fact, exist; and which parts were added later on. A very interesting read for those who love this story and want to find out more about the background.

[Barbarossa]

Azaz, I wouldn't reccomend MoA as yout start into the Arturian legends. It's too much of an interpretation to be a good introduction.

Most later versions are more or less based on Malory's " mort d'Artur", but this is 15th century and admittedly hard to read.

My personal favorite would be "the once and future king" by T.H. White, a timeless classic, that should be on everyonce to read list. While following Malory it's full of originality. The childhood of Artus is the best ever written. It's also quite funny, and sort of a satire of Britain at the time it was written (the 50s). At the same time it's fairly serious and dark in parts. All in all one of the best books ever.

[Lady Fox]

I've never read MZB's Mist of Avalon, but I absolutely love her Darkover series. Anybody else read these books?