Customer Reviews

Priestess of Avalon (Avalon, Book 4)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The title of the book is a bit misleading, Elian, or Helena as she's know for most of the book, isn't just a priestess of Avalon sent out into the world to do the work of the goddess. In fact, the book deals mostly with her life outside of Avalon, first as the wife/concubine of Constantius, and later as the mother/empress of Constantine.

The book is carried out in the same style as the other Avalon books, although I can detect a bit of Paxton's writing as well. All in all, it's not a bad book, if you take it from the view that it doesn't center around Avalon, but on a priestess who makes a life for herself after losing the blessing of Avalon. If you're looking for another novel about Avalon, King Arthur, or the Forest House, you're out of luck. In fact, the book fits into the time line around the time of the high priestess Dierna and Teleri's marriage to a man not of Avalon in Lady of Avalon.

I wouldn't recommend this book to people who aren't familiar with at least Mists of Avalon, unless they have plans to read it. It's not the same type of book as Mists, it's more like The Forest House, which struck me as a totally different kind of book than mists, a historical romance instead of a retelling of a legend. All in all though it's not a bad book, and if you've read the other three books, you should probably read this one as well.

I glanced at a few of the reviews here before buying this book, and had low expectations. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed it as much as I did.

Contrary to previous comments, I thought this book provided fans of the series with some fascinating scenes regarding the making of a priestess, and Eilan's training. And latter two-thirds of the book, although not taking place in Avalon and focusing on Eilan's life in the Roman Empire, still addressed the Goddess and pagan religions and the spread of Christianity, which gave a wonderful historical perspective.

As a life-long fan of "The Mists of Avalon" and a non-Christian, I found the domination of Christianity depicted in this book to be oppressive, as did other reviewers. But it is historical, after all, and I would rather explore how such a thing came to pass and better understand it, in any case.

Let's face it, MZB fans: nothing in this series was ever going to be as great, as magical, as special as "Mists". It's a once-in-a-lifetime book, and it touched a lot of our lives. I though "The Forest House" was disappointing, and "Lady of Avalon" less so, but the comparison to "Mists" is what doomed both of them, for me at least. This book, "Priestess of Avalon", was from such a different perspective that I was less inclined to compare it to the progenitor of this series, and therefore I enjoyed it more, on the whole. Give it a chance, if you haven't read it yet, and just go in with an open mind.

Priestess of Avalon is a rich story of color, flavor, and texture. The details given make it so I felt that I had seen and heard as the main character did. The story is told in first person--a change from the rest of the books in The Mists series--that I find effective, and somewhat more insightful. I could almost feel myself age with her, as she was a girl in the beginning, growing through her life, then as mother, and finally as crone.

The placement of this book is rather tricky in "The Mists of Avalon" series. I tried very much to figure out whether I should be reading this book before "Lady of Avalon", after, or before "The Forest House." I found that it actually falls in between the first and second sections of "Lady of Avalon." The whole series starts with "The Fall of Atlantis," then continued in "Ancestors of Avalon," a break of time then, but the following novel is "The Forest House" which is immediately followed by the first part of "Lady of Avalon." The story in "Priestess of Avalon" starts the story that is continued in the second part of "Lady of Avalon" which actually follows Dierna's story once she becomes a priestess. I hope that helps others figure out the order if they are trying for a chronology as I was.

From the best-selling author that brought you The Mists of Avalon, comes another timeless, realistic Roman tale called The Priestess of Avalon, the story of a sacred priestess that leaves behind her religious life to follow a life of love, wisdom, and power. Marion Zimmer Bradley brings to life a world of Roman history, pagan wars, and religious controversy in this soon-to-be-classic.
The spectacular style in which the story is written sends the reader into the body of a young girl. Each chapter is headed with a span of five years ranging anywhere from 259 and 329 A.D. as this epic saga continues. We see the story through Helena's eyes and become one with her and her many complex emotions. We are drawn to this personal point of view because it again gives us the feeling of familiarity and intimacy with the characters as our own sentiments are fused with Helena's.
The dialect isn't very modern but it isn't written in Elizabethan dialect either. It is very simple to understand, except for the slight difficulty a reader may have with the Roman names. Besides that, the words are very common and the dialect is comfortably proper. A helpful tool Bradley provides is a glossary containing all of the names and places in the story and their correct pronunciation. There is also a map at the beginning of the book to tell you how far Helena's travels range.
The situations are quite normal for the belligerent Roman period but very entertaining for the historical yet fantasy-craving mind. Chapters about battles and wars are not uncommon in this text and neither are family disputes and love affairs. The situations are based on real Roman battles, history, and gods so the book could be named some type of historical fiction. I'd also say that Bradley has captured the essence of the ancient Roman government quite well. Despite its historical accuracy, this novel is still considered pure fantasy because of fairy apparitions and such appearances by legendary characters in the book.
The breath-taking setting is definitely one of the elements that make the story so impactful. The lush, green valleys of Britannia and the warm humidity of bustling Rome intertwine with the spice-perfumed streets of Palestine and trade-posts in between the many voyages in the story. The descriptive language that describes each place helps transport the reader do that the events are more understandable. These settings already add some seasoning to the already favorable plot so that it's impossible to want to put this book down.
The characters are very interesting and they vary from angry, power-hungry sons to secretive, mysterious faeries. The characters definitely keep the plot going because of their human and complex personalities which keep the story chopped full of surprises, very similar to real life. Constantine, the power-hungry Emperor that is the son of Helena, keeps the story full of tragedy and murder. Constantius, Helena's devoted lover, gives the story romance and a love for life. Ganeda, the hateful, serious priestess, keeps the tale full of punishment, scolding, and vindictiveness. In other words, the characters keep the story well-rounded.
This story is full of small themes but probably the two strongest themes are: "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" and believe in yourself or trust your own judgment.
I highly recommend this book because of its life-like qualities, situations, and characters. It teaches important lessons that are, again, able to be applied to life. The book is a lifetime in only 298 pages. If you're willing to live another life, then I suggest you read the incredibly realistic The Priestess of Avalon.

I was thrilled to see this book in the bookstore. Marion Zimmer Bradley passed away last year, and the world lost a fabulous writer. I've always been a bigger fan of her Darkover series than the Avalon books. All told, though I love Mists of Avalon, I found it dark and depressing. This story, though it is not as overtly pagan as Mists, attempts to connect the historical elements of paganism succumbing to Christianity. And, it asks an interesting question that spiritual folks have been asking themselves for years...how does one live a life of "spirit" in the real world? Bradley's Elian (or Hellene) recognizes, as we all should, that all gods are one, and all goddesses as well. She takes the spiritual lessons learned at an early age from paganism, and carries that sacredness throughout all the days of her life. The book ends on a high note as the lead character realizes that this is the case, that from a spiritual perspective, she has never left Avalon. And truly, Avalon exists for all of us who wish it so.

Diana Paxson, an awesome writer in her own right, was thoughtful enough to complete Zimmer-Bradley's final work, a true friend's gift. And, of the Avalon novels, I believe this final one is the strongest. If you've loved the Avalon novels, definitely, this is a book you should get. And, if you've never read the Avalon novels, this book is a wonderful starting point.

Boy was I excited when I saw there was a new entry in this series. Then I learned that MZB was dead and a co-author had worked on the book too. It shows. I almost quit this one in the middle, but persevered to the end. It had its ups and downs, and it was better than lots of stuff out there, but I did not like it as much as the other MZB Avalon books. It felt formulaic at times, but it also differed from the other books in some bad ways. I missed the Avalon setting, and the legendary feel that made the other books so good. Set in the cold light of the Roman empire, the story lost its sense of fantasy. And there was just not enough adventure going on. Even the big romance left me kind of cold. To rank the four books in this series: Mists is by far the best, then Lady, then Forest, then Priestess.

Reading this book was like reading Anne Rice's 'Pandora.' Like Pandora, Priestess's pace was quick and we are swiftly ushered from one stage of Helena's life to the next, and like frogs hopping across lilypads, we follow Helena through her triumphs and ordeals.

This book is also written in the 1st person, which I thought added an element of intimacy and warmth. This was, after all, the story of a woman's journey through life. It's a story of the lessons she's learned and losses she's had to bear. It's also very Helena-centric, so it only makes sense to write in the 1st person to more easily convey her thoughts.

Probably for the reasons others didn't like this book, I loved it. It didn't meander about and dilly-dally, taking its time to tell its story. It got straight to the point and whirlwinds you through Helena's life, which adds a cyclonic, dramatic element, which is appropriate. The love story Bradley and Paxson write for Constantius and Helena is passionate, endearing, and bittersweet.

A lot of what Marion Zimmer Bradley must have been dealing with- her attitudes, opinions, and regard for religion- is very evidently written into the story. Instead of presenting the final chapter of Avalon, we instead get a story with a main character that seems to say, "Hey, this isn't about Avalon. This is about me, and I have something important to tell you that's more important than Avalon, so listen close." Helena, in my opinion, is the voice of Bradley, making her peace with the religions of the goddess and that of "the Christ," and telling us what she's learned through Helena's story. Whereas 'Mists of Avalon' was meant to weave history and myth together into an epic hybrid, the conception of 'Priestess' seems to have served a different purpose. From what I can see from reading this story, it wasn't out of a need to pen another 'Mists of Avalon' that drove this story, but rather a more philisophical need to get the message out that all religions ultimately lead to the same place.

There is an underlying tone of urgency to convey this seemingly all-important message throughout the novel, and one can't help but wonder if that effect was placed there by Bradley.

I loved the character of Helena. Hers was a rich, passionate, and human character. The story wonderfully portrays how as youths, we set out on life with a mission, only to realize looking back that the journey and the ultimate destination we've tread towards is nowhere near where we initially believed we were heading. So stubbornly (or desperately) Helena grasps onto her purpose as mother of Constantine, placing her son on a pedistal even before he's born, that he inevitably disappoints her and goes on to break her heart by becoming power hungry and manipulative- which is obviously not what she thought her son would become. I think we've all placed people on pedistals and depended on others too much.

Here is a story of a woman, a priestess who is expelled from her order for the love of a man. This man eventually leaves her to secure his right to the throne. She is also a woman who has placed all her hope on a son that fails her. Both men in her life love Rome more than they love her, so she ultimately learns by the end of her life to love herself. Eventually, she manages to return to Avalon, and by abandoning everything she's strived to help build for the men she loved, she takes the dice and puts it back in her own hand.

There's a beautiful symbolism between the feminity of Avalon and the masculinity of Rome, and how Helena/Eilan returns to herself by returning to Avalon.

Helena lives her whole life for others- for her order, for Avalon, for her husband, for her son, for her goddess- but she finally chooses to die for herself on her own terms, in her own native land.

I don't think any the Avalon characters managed this feat. The other characters that come to mind live and die for Avalon, in service towards Avalon. Theirs are more stories of Avalon than the characters. By the end of their stories, Morgaine is still trapped by ghosts of her past, Viviane is slain in service of Avalon, and the first Eilan had little power over her fate and destiny. Helena, on the other hand, rises beyond the politics of Avalon, the fate of the men in her life, and ends the story on her own terms, and determines once and for all that her story isn't about Avalon, it's about her and her life. She isn't going to be used as a vehicle for Avalon to tell its story, rather, she's going to use Avalon as a vehicle to tell hers. I think that's what many fans of the Avalon series had a problem with, but I found it to be truly refreshing. This was a character bigger than Avalon.

My only problem with the book is that too much is written off as "the will of the goddess." That was one of my big gripes with 'Mists,' as well. What exactly is the will of the goddess, and why does she think this way is better? What has the suffering the characters undergone achieved in the big scheme of the gods? That, of course, is a question hard to answer, but enough of the story hinges on the "will of the divine" that to not know what exactly is the will of the deities above leaves an empty feeling. Why exactly do these characters need to suffer? What exactly is the 'will of the goddess' they dedicate their lives to preserving and carrying out? That is the missing element that I was hoping would be addressed, because if this final chapter answered that question, then all my questions for the previous novels would have been answered.

Unfortunately, it seems that Avalon, for the time being, will continue to be shrouded in mystery and its secrets will still be kept, since with the passing of Ms. Bradley, we'll never know what her goddess had in mind.

Of course, Priestess of Avalon isn't really part of the lot. For the most part, it's a story tangential to the Avalon epic. I also suspect Diana Paxson did a lot of the filling in of Marion Zimmer Bradley's dream of the tale. Take it in this context--as a book about Avalon but not really part of any series--and perhaps this novel will have a different meaning.

The idea proposed to us the readers is that Eilan (Helena in the Roman world), a priestess of Avalon, falls in love and runs away with Constantius, a Roman. He existed, by the way. Somehow through her travels in the Empire (after all, her patroness is Elen of the Ways), Helena gains a wisdom and an understanding. She gives birth to Constantine, the Roman emperor who embraced Christianity. Eilan, through it all, begins to see where all religions and paths are reflections of a greater truth. Sometime after the book ends this Eilan/Helena is canonized as Saint Helena. In short, it's a detailed autobiography of a fascinating figure of a woman.

I can see where Mists devotees would be disappointed by this book. After all, only a small part of it actually takes place in Avalon. But does Eilan need to have spent her entire life on the island to be a priestess of Avalon? It seemed to me that she spread and shared the wisdom she learned on Avalon with people all over the Empire. If that doesn't make her a worthy heir to the Avalon legacy, nothing does.

It has been a while since I have read "Mists," "Forest House," and "Lady," so I only vaguely recalled those stories. However, that did not diminish my pleasure in reading this book. The characters from the other books are mentioned, but are not pivotal. The title is a little misleading, as Helena does not remain in Avalon throughout the book. I loved how the legend of Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, was woven into the Avalon legend. That must have required a lot of research and effort.

I thought that the characters were well written and interesting, except for Constantine. I found him to be whiny and egotistical. This book allowed me to see the evolution of the Roman Empire and the evolution of the acceptance of Christianity in a whole new light. There were times I cried and times I laughed. But at no time did I not want to continue reading the book.

Enjoy!

If you're a fan of the Mists of Avalon series, you'll want to read this latest addition. Even though The Priestess of Avalon was co-written with another author, none of the Bradley style or quality is missing. Truthfully, I enjoyed this book as much as The Forest House and more than The Lady of Avalon. I look forward to reading it again in the future. (And I don't reread many fiction books.)