Mists of Avalon Sucks... Or Does It?

So, after many years of other people talking about how much they just loooove The Mists of Avalon, I finally picked up a copy at Half Price Books last year. I had never felt the slightest urge to read it before, but after reading Stephen R. Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle over the winter of 2009, I found myself wanting to compare and contrast how the authors had chosen to weave the mythology together. So. Cheap copy of "Mists" procured, I settled in for what I expected to be an epic read.

Except that it sort of sucked.

1) The character development seemed half-assed. The behavior and motivations of the characters wouldn't always follow from circumstances, or would seem contrived.

2) The pacing... dear god, the pacing. I've noticed that this tends to be a problem in stories that cover decades and decades in a single volume, but the last 150 pages of this book just dragged. By the time I got through them, I felt like the story had ended ages ago and Bradley had just kept rambling for the heck of it.

3) There were some chronological inconsistencies that kept my brow furrowed through much of the book. I felt like Bradley had gotten confused by the length and complexity of her own story and couldn't get it worked out in the editing process. I really don't think she had any clear idea of her own timeline.

4) Much of the dialogue seemed to make no point, and do nothing to further the plot. It was as if it was there just to be there.

Anyway, by the end of the book, I couldn't wait to sell it back to Half Price Books and forget this whole incident ever happened. I left it at that for another year. But one day, I will become self-aware enough to know that if I start a series, I can't be satisfied until I've read the whole thing. So, library card in hand, I came back for more.

The Forest House was tolerable; the underlying story was good but the relatively shallow, unrealistic character development got me again. And I almost could not manage to force my way through Lady of Avalon. It took me eight weeks to read the book. I didn't think I could continue with this series. I was sure I had to quit. And then I found out something I hadn't been aware of before... Marion Zimmer Bradley died before the fourth volume was finished, and the book was completed by Diana L. Paxson.

And guess what? It was good. Paxson was able to do with Bradley's ideas what Bradley herself had not been able to do, which was to make a good story out of them. Paxson brings to the table all of the things Bradley lacked in writing style. Yes, I know there are some rabid Marion Zimmer Bradley fans out there, but as far as I can see, the woman was filled with great philosophical and metaphysical thoughts, but couldn't write worth a crap. Now that I'm into the volumes penned by Paxson instead, though, this series has taken on new life for me. I'm actually enjoying it. My advice to folks is to just skip the early volumes and start with Priestess of Avalon and go from there. While a couple of the books do overlap each other in timeline and characters, all of the stories stand alone. If you pick up "Mists" and find you can't stomach it, just skip ahead and read the good ones. If, on the other hand, Bradley's writing doesn't bother you... well, then, don't listen to me.