The Forest House

This book, a prequel to Bradley's more reknown Mists of Avalon, reminds me of a little sister of the Mists of Avalon. The story is not as epic, the characters are not as interesting, but it's an overall well-written novel and honestly if you liked Mists, you'll enjoy this read.

Bradley, at least in this series, does not write in typical fantasy style. I believe I would characterize it as tragic fantasy. Most fantasy novels develop flawed, human characters that persevere despite their flaws and end up saving the world/themselves (i.e. Hobb). Still another motif is to create a practically flawless character and just pit them against extraordinary circumstances to have fun watching them eventually kick ass (i.e. Goodkind, Jordan). I'm show more convinced that Bradley (at least in the Avalon series) creates good characters, spends the first third of the book getting you to like them and showing their point of view, and then breaks them down. She does this through not only plot movement but also strange unexplained character shifts. Her characters tend to be not just complex, but also fickle. So you spend most of the novel watching this downward spiralling train wreck that usually leads up to some ultimate tragedy. Then in the end you are left crying not bittersweet tears, but just bitter ones. This novel follows that formula to a T; the end of the novel is characterized by a series of seemingly random, unfortunate incidents that result in disaster, for very little moral or world gain.

I find it likely that I will read more of her, but I definitely will have to mix it with some books that don't take such a bleak outlook on the outcome of life. show less

Ancora un altro capitolo della saga di Avalon, sempre estremamente affascinante. Mi piace davvero molto come la Zimmer Bradley riesce a unire storia e leggenda alle sue personali invenzioni. I suoi personaggi sono sempre ricchi, complessi e imprevedibili, insomma, incredibilmente vivi. Le sue storie sono sempre permeate di ingiustizia e ineluttabilità del fato, ma non sono deprimenti, o almeno io trovo in esse alla fine anche molta serenità e speranza.
Mi dispiace però che i libri di questo ciclo li ho letti tutti in disordine, per esempio ho già letto quello che viene dopo di questo, quindi avevo in testa un po’ di confusione su ciò che doveva succedere dopo e ciò che invece era già successo… Prima o poi rileggerò tutta la show more saga, ma in ordine!
Peccato solo per una cosa, per quanto riguarda questo libro: il titolo italiano, come spesso succede, è piuttosto stupido, non avendo nulla a che fare non solo col titolo originale, ma anche con il romanzo stesso!
http://www.naufragio.it/iltempodileggere/3049 show less

Although this book is ostensibly a prequel to Mists of Avalon, it's set pretty far back in the past, and would certainly work okay as a stand-alone. This book mainly serves to give the historical backdrop of events in Arthur's time, namely, the mixing of Briton and Roman blood in Arthur's ancestors, and the founding of Avalon. Knowing why these things are important later gives this book more weight, but it would be understandable and enjoyable without them as well. While I enjoyed reading this book, I do agree with other reviewers that it's fairly slow moving - it certainly lacks the scope and sweep of Mists, and its narrower focus stretches out over more pages than it really needs. However, I found the slow pace to be tranquil rather show more than boring, really allowing me to fall into Bradley's world. I also found all of the characters very empathetic, especially in the beginning (everyone - but especially the two leads - becomes a little unlikeable in the last 50 pages or so). Overall, this book isn't a barn-burner, and it's a little uneven, but I thought it was a nice, meditative, enjoyable read. show less

Well, what did I think... It took me forever to read this book, even though I generally liked it. At last I think I know why: for a character centric book, this doesn't really go into characters heads. I mean the plot gave so much to work with, but in the end the characters were just kind of distant. I loved the beginning, when we really saw Eilan and even Gaius and why they did what they did, but then it just kind of became a history book. Yes: a history book of these characters, but still (I guess there is a reason I prefer autobiographies).

I think the ending sort of saved a lot, but still there was so much that she could've done with Eilan and Gaius, And not to mention the secondary characters, like Dieda and Cynric, Senara, and show more Caillean. And Julia, of course. In the end it was all about plot, but then this kind of book is not really plot driven either. I just wish Eilan's experience as a High Priestess would've been explored a bit more from her point of view. In the end I didn't really care about anyone, maybe Eilan and Gaius, since at least in the beginning you got to see them a bit better, but also the whole friendship turned to resentment between Dieda and Eilan: so much potential totally wasted.

In the end I'm not sad I read it and I would say it was more than ok and I did like it, but it was kind of tough to finish. show less

Eilan is the daughter of a rebellious druid, and destined to become a priestess of the Goddess. Gaius is the son of a high official with the occupying Roman forces. But when chance brings these two together, they are struck with a mutual passion that will change the destiny of Britannia and zzzzzzzzzzzz…

Marion Zimmer Bradley can write, and this is a well composed epic handling a large cast and a changing country. But there is not a single thing in this book you, me and the neighbor’s donkey haven’t seen a hundred times before. Your mileage will vary, but I’m officially bored.

Another one of those 'forbidden romance' sort of books, Forests of Avalon manages to be better than most by being incredibly richly described and very readable, along with being the beginning of a compelling retelling of the Arthurian myths.

There's a reason TMoA has so many more ratings than this book, and I wish I had remained in ignorance too. Poorly written, inconsistent, and with flimsy and unsympathetic characters, this was a massive disappointment to me. I won't be going anywhere near the other prequels.