The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Mists of Avalon, as you’ve likely guessed, is a retake on the King Arthur legends, but what makes it different is that it’s written from the women’s perspectives (Morgaine, Guinevere, etc.). The first one was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley in 1983 and this was the first time this feminist technique was used in fantasy literature and it was very successful (I learned that when I took a Modern Scholar course in fantasy literature).
The Mists of Avalon is beautifully written, but slow-paced, and I often wished the story would move faster. Since the women characters are the focus, there’s not much action (except traveling). The chicks themselves aren't fighting a lot of Saxons. Also, there’s a major emphasis on the dissolution of the pagan religi... Read More
Lady of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Lady of Avalon is a set of three sort-of-related stories about priestesses on the Druid isle of Avalon, during the centuries preceding Bradley's stunning Mists of Avalon.
And they're OK, in general. I especially liked Viviane's story; I learned more about what made that complex character tick.
Unfortunately, certain details of the history set up by Bradley in Mists were contradicted in Lady of Avalon. Don't read this if you don't want to get a headache trying to reconcile the two chronologies. The result of the ritual to enshroud the isle in the mists, as well as the backstory of Taliesin, were altered, along with a few other things. I suppose I could theorize that Marion Zimmer Bradley did it on purpose, and we're suppose... Read More
Black Trillium by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, Andre Norton
At first glance, Black Trillium looks like an interesting project: three leading female authors of speculative fiction — Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May and Andre Norton — writing a book together. After having read it, I don't think the result is a resounding success. It still spawned a total of four sequels written by each of the authors individually. I understand there are some continuity issues between those books, making the SAGA OF THE TRILLIUM series a strange one indeed.
Black Trillium is the story of the Kingdom of Ruwenda, ... Read More
The Colors of Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bart Steele has been off at the Space Academy and hasn’t seen his father in years. When he goes to meet him at a Lhari space station, Mr. Steele never shows up. Instead, he sends an agent with a message for Bart. The Lhari, an intelligent alien race, suspect that Bart’s dad has stolen the secret of their warp drive. If so, this means humans will be able to manufacture their own warp drives and the Lhari will no longer have a monopoly on out-of-system space travel. The Lhari are trying to hunt down Mr. Steele and Bart is in danger, too.
Off goes Bart to try to find his father and his father’s secrets. All he knows is that the secret to the Lhari space drive has something to do with an eighth color that humans have never seen before (Marion Zimmer Bradley’s science is a little off here. Well, a lot off, but let’s just ignore that, shall we? Because the idea is so lovely, even if it... Read More
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
I'm not a huge fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but the Trojan War is one of my favourite subjects, and I was curious to see how it could be told from a singular, feminine point of view — in this case, Princess Kassandra of Troy, tragically famous for her accurate predictions of doom that no one believed. The Firebrand is told with Bradley's trademark style; a strong feminist streak (that can become a little too heavy-handed at times), and her fresh spin on an ancient legend, a technique that brought Bradley into the public eye with her best known novel The Mists of Avalon.
The Firebrand follows the life of Kassandra of Troy from childhood to the fall of her city at the hands of the Akhaians, and the details of her life in-between, significantly her relationships w... Read More
More speculative fiction by Marion Zimmer Bradley
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Darkover — (1972-2009) Publisher: When a Terran ship crashed on Darkover, many of the colonists and crew wished to stay and build an Earthlike society on the alien planet. They might be the most intelligent species on that world and could make themselves its lords and masters. They didn’t realize the dangers that lurked until the Ghost Wind began to blow and the powers of Darkover worked to claim them completely…
Claire Moffatt — (1972-1990) Horror. Publisher: The townspeople said Sara Latimer was a witch — just like her Great Aunt Sara before her. All Sara Latimers were witches. And Sara felt the power stirring within her. Would she embrace it, or would her love for Brian drive all darkness from her soul?
The Atlantean Chronicles (Web of Light) — (1982-1983) Publisher: Before there was Avalon, there was Atlantis. Domaris, disciple of the Temple of Light, was wrenched from her peaceful life by the arrival of Micon, the Atlantean prince, whose powers over wind and sun, earth and fire, are coveted by the sorcerers of the dark who would harness his gifts for their own evil ends..Soon, out of a tender, earthly passion, would rise forces that might decide the final victory. For soon Domaris would bear Micon a son — but Deoris, her sister, would be enthralled by the forces of darkness.
Lythande & The Gratitude of Kings — (1986, 1997) Publisher: She was pledged by sword and spell to forever fight the forces of chaos..; a Pilgrim Adept of the Blue Star, she had mastered all the true magic of the world, but the power of an Adept was always bound to a Secret, and whoever discovered this sorcerer’s Secret could steal away the Blue Star power, leaving the Adept defenseless, fit only for death; and her secret was perhaps the most dangerous of all, setting the magic apart from all humanity, forcing her to war against spell beast, sorcerer, thief, swordsman, and the magic of the gods themselves.
Light — (1995-1998) Publisher: What is the Truth? Truth Blackburn’s father thought he knew what it was. Thorne Blackburn and his followers settled at Shadow’s Gate, a magnificent old house in upstate New York, and sought the Truth about life through ritual and magic. One night, something went badly wrong during Thorne’s most powerful ceremony. When the chaos had passed, Thorne had vanished, and Katherine, mother of Thorne’s young daughter Truth, was dead. Thirty years later, Truth Blackburn searches for smaller truths: what really happened that night at Shadow’s Gate? Did Thorne truly have magical powers? And what happened to her half-siblings, a boy and girl Truth last saw that horrible night when her mother died? Available for download at Audible.com
Falcons of Narabedla — (1957) Publisher: Mike Kenscott is having a really bad vacation. One minute he’s camping in the Sierra Mountains with his brother Andy, and the next minute he’s on a different world — or in a different time — or both. He’s also in a different body. Now he’s Adric, Lord of the Crimson Tower, of the Rainbow City of Narabedla. He has to cope with his fellow Narabedlans: the Dreamer Rhys, the mysterious veiled Gamine, the dwarf Idris, his brother Evarin the Toymaker (whose Toys are deadly), and Karamy, the golden witch, who is either his lover or his greatest enemy – with most of both his and Adric’s memories gone, he’s having trouble knowing what she is. Then there are the people outside the city, led by the man called Narayan. Mike/Adric knows that they are important to him, but he desperately needs to remember why.
Night’s Daughter — (1985) Publisher: Since time immemorial, when the Serpent-lord coupled in the Great Rite with the Priestess of the Night, the Kingdoms of Light and Dark, of Sun and of Moon have been at war. Now Pamina, daughter of the Starqueen, supreme symbol of the Night, and of Sarastro, King of the Royal House of the Sun, has to choose which of her parents she will follow, in custom and in principle. And together with her lover, the princely Tamino, she must face her Ordeal at the Court of Wisdom, Ordeals of Earth and Air, of Fire and Water, from which none can flinch and none can escape.
By Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton
Tiger Burning Bright — (1995) Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton. Publisher: Three acclaimed, bestselling authors — three extraordinary fantasists — unite talent and vision to create a noble dynasty and a remarkable realm of spirit and substance. The House of the Tiger has skillfully ruled Merina in times of peace. But now the indomitable armies of the Emperor Balthasar stand poised to crush the vulnerable city/state. And in the enemy’s midst is the gray mage Apolon — foul necromancer who serves the Dreadful Dark… and whose mission it is to satsfy his Master’s terrible hungers with living souls, the Heart of a Goddess, and the blood of a Princess.For Adele, aging Dowager Queen; for ruling Queen Lydana; and for Princess Shelyra, lithe, impetuous, ingenious Designated Daughter, the battle seems hopeless — for they possess no defense, save for their wiles and weapons of the spirit. But the Tiger is a cunning beast, not to be underestimated. And when corered, she bares her teeth… and strikes.
(1930-1999)
Edge: Eowyn Ivey's "The Snow Child"
Ilario: Fantasy with a heart and a mind
