Customer Reviews

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At the end of the Bronze Age on the Island of the Mighty off the western coast of Europe, traitors kill the royal rulers of Ai-Zir; burning to the ground the village of Azon. Fearing for her nephew the rightful ruler and believing in a vision that once the mists clear he will be king, pregnant Anderle the Lady of Avon flees with young Mikantor before he is assassinated. Although she regrets having to do so, she leaves him with others to raise. Anderle gives birth to Tirilan before returning to Avalon with sadness in her heart.

After being sold into slavery. Mikantor eventually works for blacksmith bastard Prince Velantos whose father is the King of Tiryns on the Achaea Peninsula in the Middle Sea. Meanwhile back home in Avalon, while evil sorcerer Galid tries to take control of the kingdom with only Anderle opposing him, rumors abound that the rightful heir to the throne is returning so killers are sent forth to find and assassinate him without understanding the fulfilling prophecy they start. Tirilan, who loves Mikantor, assumes he is dead in spite of her mom's belief so she becomes a celibate priestess.

The latest Avalon fantasy is a super prequel that will grip fans of the saga and should lead newcomers to seek the backlist. The story line is fast-paced throughout while the cast is as strong as Excalibur. This is a winner as Diana L. Paxson provides a strong tale that will surely leave the late great Marion Zimmer Bradley smiling with joy with this entry in her beloved saga.

Harriet Klausner

I have all the 'Avalon' series. The 'Sword of Avalon' is a quick read for it's 400+ pages. It answers some questions which, for me at least, lingered from earlier stories but left several unanswered.

I cannot speak to the Celtic influences in this story, however I find many Asatru parallels: Ragnarok represented as the battle between Britons with Hope and those without Hope; the formation of a Warrior Band/Commitatus around a hereditary hero (Son of a Hundred Kings); a foreign-born smith who forges the Sword of Power; initiation of the Warrior-King.

As a hand-spinner, myself, I appreciated the appearance of the Three Queens with their spindles 'spinning glistening threads from the flowing streams of light that swirled across the land...'. However, it is the drafting motion of the spinner's fingers which pulls the fibers down, not the weight of the spindle as described in the story.

A problem I have with most of the 'Avalon' series is that I find it creepy to see Marion Zimmer Bradley's credits without also acknowledging that she passed in 1999. I suppose that is an issue for the editor or publisher more than the author. We are fortunate that she had collaborated closely with someone so that the stories could continue with some consistency.

I have read several books in the Bradley/Paxson "Avalon" series and found them to be good but deep reading, so I chose "Sword of Avalon" as my first download to my Kindle. It is set in the late Bronze Age and describes how Excalibur, the Sword of Avalon, was crafted -- one of the first swords to be crafted in bronze rather than steel. We see the Priestesses of Avalon, we see ancient Celtic celebrations, and we see a fast-paced story, just as we would expect in this series.

Those who know the series are aware that there are many pages of front matter (lists of characters, places, and other information) and often back matter describing how and where the author found the facts to back the tale. Though this book was good, its complexity coupled with mastering the usage of the Kindle make it a less than the best choice for a first-time Kindle user. It kept my interest well enough, however, for me to want to keep it in my Kindle and try again after I've mastered the usage of the Kindle better and read a few less complex works with it.

look, there are people that can continue to write a series after the author has died, and there are those that can't. I know they were super friends and all but dear Manoah who let this woman take over the series? granted MZB took some serious liberties and fun in the fictional yet historical and metaphysical world...DLP...blow it outta the ocean. Makes no sense, yes I've read them in order, there are so many glaringly obvious dissents with the MZB established things that make it just hard to read and not go 'huh wha?'
if you don't read the MZB books first, its okay. its sorta well written, but the writing of the characters makes them seem very flat and dull.

This was the last book i was missing from the Avalon series of books, however the book bought new had a great deal of imperfections on it, with excessive glue causing the pages to stick and tear.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a worthy book in the Avalon series. I especially liked the characters Mikantor and Tirilan, who are reincarnations of Micail and Tirki from Ancestors of Avalon. I also liked following the story through various geographical areas, including ancient Greece. I hope there will be more books in the series.

Sword of Avalon offers another contribution to the ongoing Avalon series begun by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and will find its place alongside any of her Avalon novels. Here the Lady of Avalon flees traitors who threaten herself and her unborn child, a heir of Avalon, only to find the traitors suspect the lost heir is still alive. Anderle loses track of the boy - but her visions tell her he will return, and will be faced with a dangerous dual world challenge in this powerful fantasy, packed with strong twists and turns of plot.

This is not too bad, but it seems plot and storyline were rushed if there was no spark of some kind of romance occurring. This in contrast to Mists of Avalon, where plot and storyline were supported by relationships between characters.

Marion Zimmer Bradley is a great write. I have not read any of her books that I did not like.