Skip it. Just read The Mists of Avalon. It doesn't get any better than that.

A satisfying prequel to the Mists of Avalon that sheds light to the Mists central themes.

Of the three Avalon books I have read ("Mists of Avalon", "Forest House," and "Lady of Avalon,") I have to say this ranked third in terms of my enjoyment.

This was the second prequel to "Mists of Avalon," the best in the series and one of the best things I've ever read. Of course Marion Zimmer Bradley's vivid imagery continues to shine, but I think the reason "Lady" was less enjoyable, was that far less happened in this book than in either of its predecessors. Often years (or hundreds of years) would elapse between events, removing and replacing characters, and often there were descriptions of battle outcomes involving people and tribes with names I didn't recognize and whose importance to the story I didn't understand.

I would have rated it 2 stars, except for the final section ("Daughter of Avalon,") in which Viviane (Lady of the Lake and key character in "Mists") is finally introduced. Her story reads very quickly and is exciting and intriguing, and I read the final part of the book exponentially faster than I read the rest.

This is a well-written book that suffered from the lack of movement in the plot. The final chapter alone would have sufficed as a prequel to "Mists." As it stands, I really enjoyed the end, and the epilogue, and am happy to have completed the saga before "The Mists of Avalon."

I don't really like any of the sequels or prequels as much as the original, or Priestess of Avalon, but this one wasn't too bad.

Interesting, to know more of the world the author built, but not as enticing as I had hoped.

Edit second reading: read it slowly, taking my time. As most readers, the middle part was a bit boring, but the first and third were actually really good if you let yourself get sucked into it, really live the lives, see the birds, feel the rain.

I cannot finish this book, which I have in audiobook form.

Three stories make up this book. The first I found unremarkable. I gave up halfway into the second.

I really wanted to read this book, because I loved the Mists of Avalon and Zimmer Bradley is very well renowned as an author.

It’s a tomb on my shelf sitting unread so I hoped an audiobook would make it more accessible. It wasn’t

The reading is by a well spoken woman who follows the steady tone of the book faithfully. This is a problem with the book—very heavy and not very exciting.

I couldn’t finish because I lost interest in the characters. Teleri, the main character ceased to be likeable to me. She lost everything she was when she agreed to leave Avalon.

The high priestess Caillean asks her to marry a powerful Roman general placed in Britania. Caillean agrees and leaves Avalon only to be miserable that’s she not there. Above that she become bitter at Avalon for sending her away.

Frankly I can’t pull much sympathy in this situation. Take responsibility for your choice in the matter, lady. I’m sure it sucks to be booted from a magical temple, but if you really don’t want to, don’t go.

For all her whining about leaving Avalon, Teleri is a really lame priestess. Aside from communicating with the temple every once in a while she does nothing magical. She neither performs rituals nor appreciates nature like the Druids would have. Disappointing

As for the high priestess Caillean, she becomes older and places more of the world’s concerns on her shoulders.

From her earlier work, I know Marian Zimmer Bradley is not afraid to kill important characters.

Everyone seems pretty doomed.

Bail.

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Nice, thick, satisfying read if you're a fan of Zimmer Bradley's. Otherwise, it's not Mists of Avalon.

(very mild spoiler) While I loved the continuation of Avalon, this book has three sections, each set hundreds of years apart. Bradley deftly introduces and ties in the new characters but for me there is a sadness in leaving the characters in each section. I didn't enjoy this as much as Mists of Avalon or The Forest House but a good read just the same.