Review of Return to Avalon by Jennifer Roberson

Return to Avalon edited by Jennifer Roberson is an anthology of Arthurian short stories. With the exception of Lady of Avalon(not to be confused with the novel by the same name), none of these stories have anything to do with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon. Lady of Avalon is set some time after the events of The Mists of Avalon and tells the story of the current high priestess being captured and turned into a slave by a Saxon king. It was a pretty good story and I enjoyed reading it. Most of the other stories I'd rate as three stars with some four star ones scattered throughout the book. Of the other stories there weren't any that stood out as particularly good or particularly bad. One thing that was curious is that a lot of the stories in the book I would hesitate to classify as Arthurian fiction. There were many that had more the feel of fairy tales to them and didn't seem to have anything to do with Arthurian legends as far as I could tell. There was also one Shakespearian short story that seemed really out of place. I thought it was a good story and I did enjoy it, but it just really didn't seem like it belonged in this collection. Overall I'd say this book was an ok read and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Arthurian and medieval fiction, though I think I liked the Out of Avalon anthology better. To anyone wanting to read this book just for the Lady of Avalon story, it's probably only worth it if you can borrow the book or get it for a low price unless you are a really big fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series.

Review of Out of Avalon by Jennifer Roberson

Out of Avalon edited by Jennifer Roberson is a collection of Arthurian short stories by various authors. One story entitled The Heart of the Hill is set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's version of Avalon and takes place sometime in the middle of The Mists of Avalon during Morgaine's training to be a priestess. This story was the sole reason I purchased this book and I definitely enjoyed reading it. It should be noted that none of the other stories in this collection have anything to do with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon, which I was aware of before reading this collection. Many of the other stories are retellings of familiar Arthurian tales, though sometimes the focus is on original characters within those tales. Other stories are merely inspired by Arthurian legends and that particular time period.


Of course some stories I enjoyed more than others, but I would rate most of them as three or four stars. Besides The Heart of the Hill, I also particularly enjoyed The Secret Leaves which is about a young girl that becomes Myrddin's(Merlin's) apprentice and lover, and The Mooncalfe which is about a child with strange abilities born of a human mother and an otherworldly father. The only story that I really didn't care for at all was Me and Galahad which was a search for the holy grail story taking place in an American Western setting. I enjoyed this collection overall, but at times it was a bit confusing just because the stories were all written by different authors, and as such there were many details that were inconsistent from story to story. It was mostly things like differences in character's names and differences in how characters were related to each other, but of course there were even plot details that varied from story to story. After the first few stories though, it was easier for me to go with the flow and not worry so much about the details. I'd definitely recommend this collection to fans of Arthurian or medieval fantasy.

Review of The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley is an Arthurian tale told from the perspective of women, including King Arthur's mother, aunts, sister, and wife. The story tells about their lives and their struggles, hardships, and romances both before and after the birth of King Arthur and the various ways they plot and participate in shaping the future of their kingdom. This is a very long and slow paced book, but I didn't find it at all tedious to read, which is more than I can say for other books in this series. I enjoyed nearly every minute of reading this book from start to end, and when it was over I felt such longing wanting to read more. I thought that most of the characters were very well done and had lots of depth to them. I especially connected with the character of Morgaine, the narrator and King Arthur's sister, and felt she was a kindred spirit, or as much of one as a book character can be. I also really connected to the spirituality of this book and many of the pagan beliefs described resonate closely with my own eclectic spiritual beliefs. This is definitely one of my favorite books and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Arthurian fiction or medieval fantasy.

It is not necessary to read any of the other books in Bradley's Avalon series to enjoy this book, though the other books do give a lot of background history to Avalon and even to some of the characters in this book. If you want to read the other books in the series and want to read them chronologically as I did, then The Mists of Avalon should be the last book you read. If you prefer to read the books in publication order, then start with this book and work your way back chronologically.

I re-watched the made for TV movie after I finished reading the book and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the fact that there were many changes. I would say that the movie stayed fairly true to the first half of the book, but the movie changed and left out a lot of things from the second half of the book. Also some of the characters were altered and were nastier than they were in the book and things like that. There were a lot of instances where I could see why things needed to be changed or removed for the movie format, but there were some parts of the book that I really wish had been included in the movie. I suppose if they had included all of the stuff they left out, the movie would have been twice as long as it was. It's still a great movie though and I'm able to enjoy it in and of itself.

Review of A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle is about the quest to stop a South American dictator from initiating nuclear war. Charles Wallace, with the help of his older sister Meg, must travel through time and manipulate events by "going within" other people in order to prevent this disaster from happening. I found the whole "going within" thing interesting and a bit like Quantum Leap. I was also intrigued by how things from different time periods seemed to affect each other. I really love the protection spell that was used throughout the book and I've used it in my own prayers ever since the first time I read this book. The story was ok on the whole, but the main plot really didn't do much for me, though I recall enjoying the book a lot more when I was younger. I'd recommend this book if you enjoyed the first two books in the series, especially The Wind in the Door, as you get to see more of the deep spiritual connection between the characters that you saw in that book. This book takes place after Many Waters even though it was written first, but it's not necessary read the books in chronological order.

Review of Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle

Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle is about twin brothers who accidentally tamper with their father's experiment and get sent back in time to biblical prehistory where people live for hundreds of years and mythological creatures are commonplace. They are unprepared for the extreme desert climate and suffer from extreme sunburn and heat stroke. Some natives, who turn out to be the family of the biblical Noah, help nurse them back to health. After the twins realize where and when they are, they must race against time to figure out a way to get home before the flood waters come.

I really enjoyed this book and especially liked how the author drew from non-traditional religious sources such as The Book of Enoch. I also really liked some of the spiritual themes in this book which seemed universal even if it is based on a Judeo-Christian story.  I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys biblical fantasy or enjoyed the author's other books. Although this book was written after A Swiftly Tilting Planet, it actually takes place before that book. I personally prefer to read these books in chronological order, but I would only recommend that others do so if they don't mind taking a break from the main characters that feature in the first three books of this series.

Review of In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent by Andy Peloquin

In the Days: A Tale of the Forgotten Continent by Andy Peloquin is a story set in Atlantis not long before its destruction. The end of Atlantis is prophesied by a mysterious stranger during a religious ceremony who claims that Atlantis will be destroyed if the people do not mend their ways and turn back to their true god. Not long after this there are repeated attempts on the lives of the Empress and her Chancellor, and it should be noted that the majority of the story is centered around these attacks and trying to find out who is behind them. The impending doom of Atlantis is just something else that happens to be going on at the time.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's certainly not what I was expecting as the end of Atlantis wasn't the main focus of the book, but it's a pretty good story just as a mystery novel. So I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone just based on the fact that they love stories about Atlantis, but if you think you would enjoy a mystery/thriller set in a city similar in many ways to ancient Rome then you might enjoy this story. In some ways it reminds me a bit of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Fall of Atlantis because in that book the destruction of Atlantis wasn't the main focus(in fact it didn't even happen until a sequel was written much later), but it was more of a mystery/romance novel.

Although I did enjoy the story as a whole there were certain things that really rubbed me the wrong way. Just based on the story alone I might have rated this book four stars but it lost a star due to everything I will describe in the following paragraphs. The author made a really weird choice and did a flash forward scene in the prologue. There were also a few other flash forward scenes throughout the book. I'm really not a fan of flash forward scenes at all in TV and movies, but this was the first time I had encountered it in a novel so I tried to keep an open mind about it. By the end of the book I decided that while it was somewhat less confusing to me in a written piece than in a movie or a TV show, I still didn't like it very much and it made me feel like I was reading two different stories. Perhaps it would have been less confusing if the first flash forward scene was done later in the book instead of right at the beginning because there was just too much going on along with too many characters being introduced all at once. I think on the whole I would have preferred it if the author had just combined all the flash forward scenes into a chapter or two and inserted them in where they actually took place in the book.

Another thing I didn't like all that much is that the perspective changed many times in the book. Most of the book was done in first person from the point of view of the Chancellor, but the flash forward scenes were done in third person. It had to be done this way though because the Chancellor was not present in the flash forward scenes. So first person could not have been done unless it was switched to the point of view of another person and in my opinion switching first person between different people is worse than switching between first and third person. I would have preferred it though if the author had just done the entire book in third person. While I do respect the author's creative choice to switch perspectives(even though I don't like it), there are certain areas where it definitely could have been done better. The first chapter starts off with the first person perspective of a gladiator in the midst of a battle who then dies, at which point the perspective changes to that of the Chancellor. This is very confusing and unnecessary. It would have been better to just start off with the Chancellor's perspective and show his view of the fight. Then in the second chapter it switches back to third person for a flash back and it was a bit ambiguous when that flash back ended and it seemed to switch back to first person mid-paragraph.

This is a minor complaint, but something that still bugs me. At the end of the second chapter there is a brief mention of the Chancellor making love to a woman. It doesn't say who she was, but I would assume based on context that she was his wife or girlfriend. What I found very odd was that she was never mentioned again in the entire book even as the Chancellor was lusting after other women. I'm not really sure why that woman was put in the book at all and I sense it might have been something the author forgot to take out.

In general the book could have done with a lot more editing. The entire book is riddled with typos and awkward grammar and in some places there are even words missing. It's not enough to make the book unreadable, but it is annoying and can detract from the enjoyment of the book somewhat. As much as I did enjoy the story, I'm very glad I grabbed this book when it was on sale for free. I think I would have felt cheated considering all the typos and mistakes if I had actually paid for it. As much as I hate to say it, I would not recommend purchasing this book unless a large number of typos don't bother you, it goes on sale for free, or the author puts out a second revised edition. I think this book has a lot of potential and I really hope the author edits and republishes it.

Review of The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman is a satirical romantic fairy tale. A young girl named Buttercup falls in love with the farm hand Westly. After she declares her love to him, Westly leaves to seek his fortune promising to send for her. When Buttercup receives news that Westly's ship was attacked by a pirate that is known to leave no survivors she is inconsolable. When the local prince learns of Buttercup's beauty he orders her to marry him or face death and seems not the least bit concerned that Buttercup will never love him. Shortly after the engagement Buttercup is kidnapped as part of a conspiracy to start a war.

I found the story a bit hard to get into at first but it picks up after the first couple of chapters. I would say that I didn't find the book to be quite as funny as the movie, but I think that's just because the actors really bring out the humor with the inflections of their voices and the way they say the lines. I found it really enjoyable though to read the background stories of some of the characters that they really don't go into in the movie. One thing about the book that's a little annoying is that the author as a narrator often interrupts the story and goes off on tangents. Some of it is amusing and often starts out as sort of relating to what is going on in the book, but tends to end up far off course before you return to the actual story. Overall I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who has seen the movie or anyone who enjoys humorous fairy tale like stories with plenty of action, adventure, and romance.

One final thing I want to mention is that there is no unabridged version of this book. No matter how much the author tells you that he abridged a story originally written by S. Morgenstern, don't believe him. This is merely a humorous plot device and there is no such person as S. Morgenstern(though the author has used it as a pseudonym in other works). Many details of the author's life in the introduction to this book are also completely fabricated.

Review of Lady of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Lady of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a compilation of three novellas, each set in a different time period, and each with a different High Priestess or "Lady" of Avalon. Part one is a direct sequel to The Forest House and tells the story of how the protective mists that separate Avalon from the surrounding land were put in place by Caillean. Part two is about a priestess named Teleri who is compelled to marry a man she does not love in order to tie him to Avalon to ensure the safety of Britain. Part three is a direct prequel to The Mists of Avalon and is the story of Viviane's childhood and training on Avalon and the events that led to her becoming High Priestess of Avalon. Although these are three separate stories, they all contain similar themes which tie them together. I rather enjoyed the first and third parts, but part two I found more tedious and didn't really feel it added much to the series as a whole except to provide some context for certain events that happened in the book Priestess of Avalon. Overall I'd really recommend this book to fans of the Avalon series as it provides some really good background story to The Mists of Avalon.

This book should be read after The Forest House(and Ravens of Avalon before that) and before Mists of Avalon. There are also references to The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon but it is less important that you read these books first. The book Priestess of Avalon overlaps both chronologically and in plot with part two of this book.  There are many options for the order in which to read the two books. You could simply read Lady of Avalon first and then Priestess of Avalon second or vice-versa. You could read Priestess of Avalon anytime after the first part of Lady of Avalon, but make sure you finish reading it before you start part three of Lady of Avalon. My preferred method is a bit more complicated though. First read part one of Lady of Avalon. Second read part one of Priestess of Avalon and up to chapter 11 of part two. Third read part two of Lady of Avalon. Forth finish parts two and three of Priestess of Avalon, and then finally read part three of Lady of Avalon.

Review of Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson

Priestess of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson is the story of a priestess named Helena who was forced to leave her home at Avalon and live an entirely different life from what she was used to. The story follows her life and her pseudo marriage and tells of the different places that she lived in the Roman Empire.  The story tells about her relationship with her children and her grandchildren and also about her feelings in regard to the rise of Christianity in the Empire and how it relates to her own spirituality. There are some parts of the book that were enjoyable for me such as Helena's time on Avalon and reading about how her spirituality evolves in her time away from Avalon, but I found much of the story to be very tedious to get through and I'd have to say that this is probably my least favorite book in the Avalon series. I'd probably only recommend reading this book if you are also reading Lady of Avalon because the story of Priestess of Avalon overlaps, both chronologically and in plot, with part two of Lady of Avalon, though I'm not sure it's entirely necessary.

There are many options for the order in which to read the two books. You could simply read Lady of Avalon first and then Priestess of Avalon second or vice-versa. You could read Priestess of Avalon anytime after the first part of Lady of Avalon, but make sure you finish reading it before you start part three of Lady of Avalon. My preferred method is a bit more complicated though. First read part one of Lady of Avalon. Second read part one of Priestess of Avalon and up to chapter 11 of part two. Third read part two of Lady of Avalon. Forth finish parts two and three of Priestess of Avalon, and then finally read part three of Lady of Avalon.

Priestess of Avalon(along with Lady of Avalon) takes place after The Forest House, so you might want to read that book first as well as Ravens of Avalon which provides some of the background story to The Forest House. There are also some references made to The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon, but I'd say it's less important to have read those books prior to reading Priestess of Avalon. One last thing I'd like to comment on is that this book is written in first person while the other books in the series are all written in third person(with the exception of some introduction passages). I'm not a big fan of first person perspective, but I have to say that it was done well enough in this book that I didn't really notice too much.

Review of The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of the books in her Avalon series. The story is set during the Roman occupation of Britain about a generation after the uprising of Boudicca. Much of the story is centered around the Forest House, which is the sanctuary for the Druid priestesses that was established after the destruction of the Druid complex on the isle of Mona by the Romans, and the woman who serve there. All of the books in this series have elements of romance, but it is a particularly strong theme in this book and a major plot point is the forbidden love between Eilan, a Druid priestess of the Forest House, and Gaius, a half-Roman soldier. The story follows their lives parallel to each other and the few times they are able to meet. Although they can never truly be together, in their own ways they both work to try to keep the peace between their two peoples as certain British factions vie for revenge against the Romans for the atrocities they committed years before.

This book takes place after Ravens of Avalon and I would strongly suggest reading that book before reading The Forest House. Ravens of Avalon provides much of the background story for The Forest House and I definitely felt less confused about events mentioned in The Forest House on this read than on previous reads before having read Ravens of Avalon(despite some minor inconsistencies between the two books). You might also want to read The Fall of Atlantis before reading this book in order to understand certain references, but it's not wholly necessary. I wouldn't say that The Forest House is my favorite book in the series, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other fans of the series and to people who enjoy British history.

Review of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson is about the Roman conquest of Britannia and their oppression of the Druids and the Celtic/British people in general. The story follows the lives of the Druid priestess Lhiannon and the Iceni princess Boudica and how they worked to fight back against the Romans. If you are familiar with the history behind this story, then you probably already know how it ends, but even so I think the story is worth reading because it's more about the journey than the destination. This book is slow paced like others in the series but I can enjoy a slow pace if the writing is good which it is for the most part. There were some parts in the middle that I found myself wondering what the point of the chapter was as it didn't seem to add anything to the story, but things did pick up again and got more exciting. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Avalon series or fans of Celtic/British history.

This book takes place after The Sword of Avalon, but it's not necessary to read that book(or any of the books that take place before it) prior to reading Ravens of Avalon. Ravens of Avalon does take place before The Forest House though, and I would recommend reading it before reading The Forest House as it provides a lot background story to what is going on in The Forest House.

Review of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson is the tale of how the Sword from the Stars(Excalibur) was first created long before it ever came into the hands of King Arthur, and the life and ordeals of the man destined to wield the sword as he unites the tribes of ancient Britain against an evil warlord. This story takes place about a thousand years after Ancestors of Avalon and two of the characters are specified as being reincarnations of characters from the previous book, though it is indicated that they had reincarnated multiple times in the intervening years. It's not necessary to read The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon before reading this book, but it will help in understanding the history of these characters.

While I did enjoy reading this book, it was unfortunately not as good as Ancestors of Avalon and I only rated it three stars. It was slow paced like the previous two books that I had read, but in this case the slow paced bits were rather tedious and at times I wasn't sure what they added to the story. After reading The Fall of Atlantis and Ancestors of Avalon I had this strong craving to read more and I just didn't get that feeling with the Sword of Avalon. It's really a shame because the story idea is an excellent one and could have been done so much better. I would still recommend this book to fans of the series, but just don't expect it to be quite as good as the previous books mentioned.

Review of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson

I really enjoyed reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson. In this story the combined kingdoms of Atlantis are destroyed by a cataclysm and the survivors must make their way to new lands to preserve their knowledge and traditions. The story kept me engaged despite being slow paced and when it was over it left me craving more. There are more books in the series, but not with the same characters(unless you count reincarnations that aren't even mentioned in the books for the most part). This book is the direct sequel to The Fall of Atlantis and takes place about 30 years later. The Fall of Atlantis was not originally part of the Avalon series, but Ancestors of Avalon connects it to the rest of the series. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical type fantasies with spiritual themes or anyone that is fascinated by the legends of Atlantis and Avalon.

Review of The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley is the story of two sisters who grow up in the temple of light in the Ancient Land and tells about the difficult decisions and struggles they face and how their relationship is strained as they go down different paths. The story does contain elements of romance and mystery, but it is ultimately about the struggle between the light and the dark, good and evil. Romance isn't really my thing but I did not feel that the romantic elements in this story were overwhelming and I enjoyed the story overall even if was a bit slow paced at times. The only small peeve I have is that the title is misleading.

The story really isn't about Atlantis being destroyed and in fact most of the story doesn't even take place in Atlantis. A better title might have been "The Events Leading Up to the Fall of Atlantis", but I suppose that title would be too long and awkward. The Fall of Atlantis was not the original title though. It was originally published as two separate books, The Web of Light and the Web of Darkness, and then republished as one book under its current title. Another thing that people might not know is that this book is actually a part of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series. Originally it was only connected to the series by one minor detail that most would overlook, but then the book Ancestors of Avalon was published which is a direct sequel to The Fall of Atlantis. I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other books in the Avalon series.

Review of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell is an enjoyable albeit a challenging read. My first impression of the book is that I think I would have had a very hard time getting into it if I had not seen the movie first. This is mostly because the beginning of the book to be rather slow paced and because it took place in the 1800's the language was often hard to follow(many words the built in dictionary in my Kindle didn't even recognize). I think though that anyone who has had a lot of experience reading classic literature shouldn't have too much trouble with it. Ironically I had hoped that reading the book would help me understand the movie better, but in reality the fact that I had seen the movie helped me understand what was going on in the book better than I would have otherwise. If I had not seen the movie first, I believe I would have given up before I finished the first part. However since I knew what I had to look forward to, I pushed on and really enjoyed later parts of the book.

For those not familiar with the movie, Cloud Atlas is a series of interconnected stories that all take place during different time periods. Three stories take place in the past, one story takes place around the present, one story takes place in the future, and one story takes place far in the future after the fall of civilization. For those that have seen the movie I would say that much of the content is the same, but of course there are differences. One major difference is with the formatting. The stories in the book do not go back and forth nearly as much as they do in the movie. In the book you are presented with the first half of the first five stories, then the sixth story is told in full, then you have the second half of the first five stories told in reverse order. There is a reason it is done this way and I think it's a very interesting literary device. The only annoying thing is that once I got to the second half of each story I'd have to go back to the end of the first half and reread a few pages to remind myself where the story left off.

Overall I think I really enjoyed the book even though it was a challenge for me and I would say that my favorite parts of the book matched my favorite parts of the movie. I really enjoyed reading about the stories in greater detail than was shown in the movie and I thought that the themes of reincarnation and overthrowing oppression were just as strong in the book as they were in the movie. The only thing that disappointed me somewhat is that the endings of each story didn't seem to be as powerful as they were in the movie.