Customer Reviews

Twilight of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde (Twilight of Avalon Trilogy)

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For centuries past the Arthurian legend has been passed down from generation to generation. Thankfully, the myriad of variations of the tale have been keeping modern day authors as busy in the retelling as the ancients bards were.

The latest version to hit bookstores is Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon, the first of what will eventually be a full trilogy recounting one of the earliest known versions of Arthurian legend, that of Trystan and Isolde.

For those aficionados of the genre, it seems only fair that we give you a brief sketch of Elliott's take on the Arthurian soap opera:

King Arthur is not the chivalrous ideal of courtly love here. In a fit of passion, he allegedly rapes his sister Morgan, a woman steeped in the old religion in a time when the encroaching Christian priests are quick to brand any non-converting woman a witch. The accusation usually sticks. Morgan gives birth to Arthur's son, Mordred who later, as heir to Arthur's throne, betrays his father, steals Arthur's wife Gwynefar and begets a girl-child with his step-mother. The child is named Isolde. Arthur and Mordred meet in one last epic battle for the High Kingship of Britain and end up killing each other off, leaving Britain in chaos and ripe pickings for the encroaching Saxons, while Isolde is married off to the next High King of Britain, Constantine.

And this is where Elliott's story begins. King Constantine is betrayed and murdered, leaving Isolde alone to battle charges of witchcraft, political intrigue, and a mythical past. To do so and save Britain from destruction from within, Isolde turns to a former Saxon slave, Trystan. The unlikely pair develop a tenuous friendship in a time when trust and loyalty are rare commodities in the world.

I loved every single word!!

Isolde is one of the most real and heroic characters we've encountered in a long time, a woman fighting for what she believes in within the confines of her gender and time. This is not, we repeat, NOT a love story. At this point in time, there is no room for romance or love in Trystan and Isolde's world. This is a world overflowing in violence, plague and survival. Trystan and Isolde's bond is, at this point in the story, a thread of friendship and mutual respect.

And yet this is not a story of despair, it is a story of hope. A rich cast of supporting characters is the icing on the cake here, providing touches of humor just when you least expect it and sharp insights into the psyche of the time period.

Whether you are a fan of the Arthurian lit or looking for a good introduction to the genre, I wholeheartedly recommend Twilight of Avalon!

Elliott's compelling retelling of the legend of Trystan and Isolde is set in the dark ages of Britain, mid-6th century. The author sets her drama earlier than popular myth, discarding the obvious for a more nuanced and historically grounded interpretation of the story of Trystan and Isolde. In this novel, Arthur has been slain by Modred, Isolde's father; it is through Isolde's perspective that we view the current political landscape. Her husband, King Constantine, dead, Isolde is ripe for the taking. Granddaughter of Morgan, long-rumored a sorceress, Isolde is likewise distrusted, yet a valuable pawn. When, by nefarious methods, Lord Marche becomes High King, he forces Isolde to become his wife. Helpless without a male protector, Isolde is desperate to escape this brutal man. Though not a witch, Elliott's Isolde has known the gift of Sight and sometimes heeds the whispers of the wise ones, those who would guide her through these treacherous times.

When first she comes in contact with a prisoner, a man neither Saxon nor Britain, Isolde seeks only to alleviate his pain. Isolde must trust this battered warrior, Trystan, in order to evade Marche and his designs on her kingdom. On a quest fraught with violence and constant danger, Trystan and Isolde are thrown together in common purpose, one for escape and the other deliverance. A healer, Isolde is comforted by the old ways of those who have walked the earth before her, the vaguely heard murmurings of her long-deceased grandmother, Morgan. But here lies danger and the accusations of witchcraft, the penalty burning at the stake. Alone, Isolde is powerless against Marche, dependent on Trystan's aid, a man with secrets of his own. Incarcerated, pursued and savagely beaten, Trystan and Isolde match wits against their adversaries and enormous odds.

Elliott writes with graceful precision of time out of mind, of magic tales and filth-strewn jails, of the senseless brutality of battle and the haunting ballads that praise the fallen, of mists and myths, the most potent the growing bond between Trystan and Isolde, yet to embrace their fate. Twilight of Avalon is filled with skullduggery and blind loyalty, with Marche's manipulation and the threat of Saxon attack, Isolde braving death in the face of duty. Forget the romantic songs of bards: this is a grueling tale mired in the bloody fields of war and the untrammeled ambitions of those who would exact revenge. Isolde's true test begins with the return of repressed memory, a desperate skirmish against an implacable enemy, Trystan's life hanging in the balance as well in this first volume of the trilogy. Luan Gaines/2009.

Anna Elliott has crafted a powerful and romantic tale of Trystan and Isolde, one that puts aside the chivalric notions of the Middle Ages and places it squarely in the age in which they would have lived. Elliott fills her story with believable characters and a compelling plot. This is a book I know I'll find myself reading again and again . . .

The strength of the novel lies in its scenic descriptions. (The choice of cover art is also good.) The language is very evocative in some places. Unfortunately, the rest of the book falls far short of it. The plotting made no sense and the characterizations were weak. I didn't feel like the book got moving until past page 200. And then the events just didn't make much sense. There is a major revelation late in the story involving Isolde's memory that by the way it was handled felt very anticlimactic. The character of Isolde was unrelentingly "good", which made her a little bland. The villains were totally "bad", which made them predictable.

It was hard to finish the book, but I did primarily because of my interest in Arthuriana. I would advise anyone interested in reading this to get it from the library.

I have to say right off the bat that this book wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was expecting (and maybe dreading, a bit) a fantasy-ish retelling of the Trystan and Isolde story. But what Anna Elliott does here, to my delighted surprise, is combine elements of the legends with what is known about the early Middle Ages--in this case, the invasions of the Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries. Most of the Trystan and Isolde stories are based on those written down in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, and are therefore done in the tradition of courtly romances. Anna Elliott's rendition is much more realistic.

The story opens just after the death of Isolde's husband Constantine, the High King of Britain. Immediately, Lord Marche begins jockeying for power, quickly becoming the High King. Isolde escapes marriage with him; becoming acquainted with a prisoner named Trystan. At first he called himself , or stranger, is an appropriate description; he' half-Briton and half-Saxon, yet neither at the same time. The novel, which is the first in a trilogy, is told primarily from the point of view of Isolde, but I suspect further books in the series will tell the story from Trystan's side, too. This book is not a straight romance, as the relationship between Isolde and Tystan is just beginning to evolve here. I expect much more to happen in further books.

As I've said before, I went into the reading of the book as a skeptic--not only because I thought it would be more fantasy, but also because I was skeptical of the idea of the whole healer aspect. I also thought that there would be a lot more magic here, and there isn't--Isolde has lost her powers, but they're really still there, hiding underneath the surface. I was a bit out of my comfort zone; I don't usually read novels based on the Arthurian legends. But this book was a completely unique one. It's interesting how the author managed to use written versions of the Trytan and Isolde story in order to return it to the way the stories were originally told--orally. I loved how the author incorporated the historical elements into the story, grounding it in reality while at the same time stay more or less true to the oral tradition of storytelling (which is a major theme of this novel).

Not only is the setting very real, but the characters are, too. For a trilogy to work properly, you have to make it so that the reader is drawn into the lives of the characters enough so that they want to read on. I definitely will be reading more in this trilogy; the next book, Dark Moon of Avalon, comes out in May, and I can't wait! All in all, a really strong start to what promises to be an exciting trilogy.

I thought this book was pretty good. Overall, it is the tale of Isolde, whose husband High King Constantine has died. Isolde, left with out husband, brother, or father, is forced into a marriage with King Marche. She agrees to this to save herself but steals off into the night. She is captured, so to speak, by a band of man lead by Trystan. Marche's men are after Isolde and Trystan and his men. Much of the story consists of them fighting Marche's men or being captured and subsequently escaping from Marche's dungeon.

The was in fact a good book, and Ms. Elliots writing style is nice and easy. However, this is the first in a trilogy...and I am not sure why. IMO I didn't think the over all plot of this book was strong enough to be its own book. She maybe should have just combined them all to make one book. I will buy the other two to read because she is a good writer but the end of this one just dropped off.

The wonderful thing about Arthurian legends is they're all so different. Some versions want to approach characters, that are by now well familiar to many of us, from a historical perspective, as if they really existed. The creative license to execute such a fiction is left to assembling their dialogue, their mannerisms and behaviors--the idea that Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, and Morgan le Fay need only the imaginative coaxing of an Author's talent to be released once again into a world they inhabited long ago. Other versions take great advantage of the legend as a fairy tale, something that at one point may have been based in reality, but has now risen above the mundane and into the powerfully magical and fantastical.

I enjoy reading both types of Arthurian legends. Each side has something to offer, something new to share, some other perspective to explore, or some new twist to alter the way we may have thought about the turn of events or the roles we've come to expect of the characters. Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon, the first in a new Twilight of Avalon Trilogy, is a book that takes its cue from the historical, and one might say cynical, perspective. Like every other author, Elliott shows us a new way to spell everyone's names (although Arthur's is woefully always the same): Mordred is Modred; Guinevere is Gwenyfar; Merlin, like most versions, is a title, the real name being Myrddin. This, though, is a novel about Trystan and Isolde. As we are reminded several times in the narrative, "Camlann was over. Arthur and Modred, Myrddin and Morgan and Gwynefar lingering now only as voices in the wind. One age is ended...And another, perhaps, begun." (p. 425)

Camlann, mind you, isn't referring to Camelot (albeit here is Camelerd). It's the rumored historical site of the battle between Arthur and Mordred--Arthur's final resting place. When the narrative begins, it's been seven years since Arthur and Camelerd's demise. Isolde, daughter of Gwynefar and Modred--Arthur's son with his half sister Morgan--is mourning the sudden death of her husband, and Arthur's heir after Modred, Constantine. Britain is without a leader and in danger of being overrun by Saxons eager to take over the countryside. Stuck in the middle is Isolde and Camelerd, all that she has left of her family. War is ongoing and now, thrown into the bid for power is Isolde and her land. As the smaller kings fight amongst themselves to win the High Kingship, Isolde is fearful of the man who may win the battle. Even worse than Marche's temperment and penchant for torture, is the easy way he has with his soldiers. Marche's ability to persuade and to lead are dangerous when combined with his ambition: Camelerd is not safe, nor does he have its best interests at heart.

Twilight of Avalon is a dark, brooding novel. The magic that's come to be understood as an integral part of Arthurian legend is instead the stuff of stories. As Coel relates to Isolde, "There are plenty of tales about Arthur these days. But I doubt any of us who knew the man himself would find much to recognize in the stories you hear told and retold." (p. 138) Magic and witchcraft and very feared things and the people of Britain are nothing if not terribly superstitious here. There are frequent references from the characters themselves to the tall tales already being told of people they once knew, of what they would delight in having said of them when they are gone.

The land has changed and so has Isolde. She has lost her Sight, her ability to see into the past and future at will--oddly enough, this is the only magic that's even remotely referred to as real. Instead her visions come to her sporadically and function narratively to fill in the gaps of a willed amnesia that has blocked out a good portion of Isolde's painful past. Elliott's writing is enchanting and lyrical, the kind that slows a reader down to absorb the pages in at length and gorge on the richness and beauty of the narrative. Nothing particularly happens, except one or two things, over and over again: Isolde runs free and is captured, twice; Isolde is held on trial for witchcraft, twice; Trystan is beaten, many times.

I felt pretty bad for Trystan. He was never without bruises, lash wounds, or blood. Isolde was constantly referred to as the "Witch Queen" and made to suffer under the obstinate ignorance of the men around her who used her as a scapegoat for many deaths, and accusations of witchcraft over what they could not do or did not understand. Like always, Isolde's "witchcraft" is presented as a very feminine thing woven tightly together with healing. For all intents and purposes to the men of Constantine's remaining army, the two are inseparable; Isolde's bedside ministrations are a highly suspicious thing to behold under the utmost scrutiny and wariness. These characters clearly had their assigned roles and little would be done to tear them free, until the end of the novel that is. In less than the course of a week, so much despair and frustration made Isolde's mission appear hopeless. Combined with her inability to cope with the tumult of misfortune she's experienced in a short period of time, save for pushing it all to the back of her mind, there's something depressingly urgent fueling the momentum of the story. We want to see Isolde succeed, if only to allow her time to breathe, time to mourn.

While she isn't a terribly dynamic character, I have to remind myself this is the first in a trilogy. Isolde has to go through her trials here in order to--hopefully--grow in the next book. She heals others and tells stories now to push back the time when she has to remember to heal from her own stories. She's a wounded animal. I think with the novel being as dark and despairing as it is, there's still a beauty found in Isolde and the other character's efforts to continue fighting for a cause greater than themselves as everything dies off around them. In their perseverance is found something of the grandness of Arthur's court. There is hope.

I do want to say one last thing, before anyone walks away wanting to pick this up. The jacket copy refers to this book in passing as something of a romance novel. Let me clear this up for you: it's nowhere near a romance novel. If there is romance, it waits on the other side, in the pages of the second or third book, but not here.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this novel. Plus, the cover is a gorgeous John William Waterhouse painting (Boreas; he also did the infamous Lady of Shalott painting). Who doesn't love John William Waterhouse? His artwork is so hauntingly beautiful and this one in particular fits the novel well. But of the book, I think Anna Elliot has a talent suited well for this type of historical-mythological novel and I can't wait for The Dark Moon of Avalon and Sunrise of Avalon to be released. Arthur, Mordred, Morgan, and Merlin are all larger than life figures that loom out of their place in history to affect even the characters they once walked alongside, lingering like ghosts. While Elliott did approach Twilight of Avalon from a historical perspective, she also pays tribute to the fairy tale. For that, I think, she did a wonderful job! My thanks go out to Ally Glynn at Simon & Schuster UK for generously providing me with this review copy.

Isolde, brave and mystical also possessed that intangible gift of courage that many other people are drawn to. Like moths on a lamp it seemed almost everyone could not help but be drawn into her but many found out if you get too close you might get burned. Isolde was alone in this life everyone she ever knew or cared about was dead. Isolde was the granddaughter of Morgan, friend of Myrddin, daughter of Gwynefar, and so many others who were lost to her. The pain still continued and was started anew with the loss of her husband Constantine. When her husband Con died it started a domino effect in the Kings council. Now that Constantine the high king was gone it was now time for the council to vote for a new high king. Refusing to remember the past Isolde buried it deep inside her with the gift of sight that her grandmother Morgan her was the gift that came from the ancient ones. They never really left her and when the wind shifted she could her them, Morgan, Arthur, Gwynefar and Myrddin.

Some considered her a witch because even though her grandmother had been gone for some time it does not mean that the past had not been forgotten. People knew Isolde had been raised by Morgan and that her grandmother had taught her everything she knew of the old ways. It was how she became a healer, Morgan made sure that she was taught the many secrets of using the earth's natural remedies for treatment. She made sure to put it to good use and since Brittan was constantly at war with the Saxons it was a calling of Isolde to heal the sick and wounded the best she could. They still called her a witch even while she cleaned and dressed their battle wounds. The king's council that consisted of all the kings of the surrounding areas ran into so major problems when the vile Lord Marche King of Cornwall started traitorously climbing his way over other to win exalted position of high king where Con once had sat. He forced Isolde into marriage by blackmailing her and after less than one day with him she had no other choice but to run while she still could.

On the run Isolde had no one to turn to for help, no one she could trust and it seemed like everyone close to her was slowly being eliminated. During her first night alone in the woods she was startled to awake to her hands tied with a man and a child saying they needed a "healer". The curious pair of outlaws led her eventually to who really needed her help. Coincidence as it was it was one of the escaped Saxon prisoners she had treated at the castle before she ran. I think it was fate that Isolde was brought to him because Arthurian legends are anything but simple and nothing ever went as planned. As fate would have it the Saxon escapee Trystan became her only hope of survival.

I had a hard time rating this book. It is a 3.5 for me so rounded it up. I love reading about this era, and this is taking up the legends of Arthur along with the legend of Tristan and Isolde but with a different twist - actually several different twists. This is Isolde's story but in this book she is the daughter of Modred and Gwnefar (that is a change!), and this begins seven years after Arthur and Modred killed each other. Some of the Arthur legend remains intact and some is different. Knowing that we don't even know if Arthur or any of the players in his story ever even existed, I have only a slight discomfort with this.

Isolde is, or was, the wife of Constantine, Arthur's heir and High King of Britain. The book begins three days after Con has died in battle. Isolde is thrust into the intrigue and dangers of the choosing of a new High King. She is a healer and at one time had "the sight" but lost that ability when her father was killed. She is still perceived as a witch by many and often hated for being the daughter of Modred and Arthur's queen. In her role as healer she goes to the prison to help two Saxon prisoners, one of whom is Trystan, injured and beaten but not as seriously as his companion.

I am not going to do spoilers here, but this is a story of intrigue and extreme danger for Isolde, her forced marriage to the evil King Marche and subsequent escape to try to find evidence of his treachery and her belief that Con was murdered. During her flight she again meets up with Trystan and three of his friends. This is not a romance although through the book the reader keeps thinking one will develop between Trystan and Isolde (after all that is a legend of romantic tragedy). There is some kind of bond between them, but it is vague.

There are some things in the writing of this book that kept it from being a great story for me. Isolde became very real and a good heroine for me. Many of the other characters seemed kind of hazy and I really didn't get a good feel for them. I think Trystan would have fit into this category if I had not automatically pictured him as James Franco in one of my favorite and many times viewed movies, Tristan and Isolde. I didn't mention above, but Isolde has no memory of her life at all prior to seven years ago. There are hints of things along the way but somehow they just don't fit in smoothly for me. Several times Trystan who is a stranger, calls her Ise and if I picked up on it, why didn't she? I kept expecting her to question him on it. There are just some inconsistencies to the story that kept it from being a captivating read. That said, if you like the Arthur legend and stores of that time, it's worth reading. At the end, I finished it far past my bed time without putting it down, so it's not a book that doesn't draw you in.

I have to agree with another reviewer who stated that the trilogy might have been better as one great book. The plot was at times fast-paced and other times it grinded to a halt and could have easily snipped the 20 or so pages that followed. I loved the new twist in the Arthurian Legends and the overall story of what happened to the people who remained when Lyonesse and the Magic of Avalon was no longer. I would have loved to see more of "Myrddin" and the other classic characters.