Product Description

Not since The Mists of Avalon has there been such a powerful and mesmerizing portrait of goddess-powered womanhood and women's spirituality. In Priestess of Avalon, the legendary Marion Zimmer Bradley once again reaches back in time to create a magnificent prequel to her undying classic of Camelot.

Priestess of Avalon tells the timeless story of Eilan-known to the Romans as Helena-a British princess raised on the holy isle of Avalon as she grows from maiden to mother to wise woman. It is Helena's destiny-at a crucial turning point in Western history-to bridge the pagan world of the goddess and the new Christian empire founded by her own son, Constantine. When Helena embarks on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land she will find the intrinsic truth that transcends both the old religion and the new.

The legions of fans who cherish The Mists of Avalon will find its promise brought to rich fulfillment in Priestess of Avalon. For those new to the series, undreamed-of enchantment awaits.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45349 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-21
• Released on: 2002-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The Mists of Avalon (1982), a feminist goddess-oriented retelling of the legend of Arthur, won acclaim and a crowd of lifelong fans for Bradley, also author of the Darkover series. Now, after Bradley's death in 1999, this prequel coauthored by skilled fantasy writer and friend Diana L. Paxson (Hallowed Isle) completes her story of the women of mystical Avalon and their attempts to influence a world caught in the grip of unavoidable change. In A.D. 296, young British princess Helena goes to the Isle of Avalon to learn the path of the goddess. Helena grows in spirit and wisdom, awaiting the day when her initiation prophecy will become real and she'll meet the man of her dreams. He turns out to be Flavius Constantius Chlorus, fated to become the Roman emperor. Her aunt, High Priestess Ganeda, aims to wed a more biddable girl to the Roman power structure, but when Constantius chooses Helena, Ganeda exiles her from Avalon. Helena gives birth to Constantius's son, Constantine, and counsels her lover through the intrigues of a vast and dangerously unbalanced empire. Separated by civil demands from her family, Helena seeks the answers her troubled soul demands during a pilgrimage through the Holy Lands. The message that all religions call on the same higher power should go over well with fans of Mists. Paxson's own skill at bringing historical characters and places to vivid life enriches Helena's story. This final book in the Bradley canon is sure to please her devotees and win her more. (May 7)Forecast: This title will get an extra boost from The Mists of Avalon miniseries starring Anjelica Huston, Joan Allen and Juliana Margulies, due soon to run on TNT.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Though destined to achieve distinction as the pious mother of Constantine, the young woman once called Eilen or Helena first served as a priestess of the old deities on her native island of Briton. Returning to the alternate version of Arthurian legend created in her best-selling Mists of Avalon, Bradley creates a powerful tale of magic and faith that enlarges upon pagan and Christian traditions to express a deeper truth. Though Bradley died before she finished the novel, veteran fantasy author Paxson brings to completion this last work of a master of the genre. For most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Go back to the second century A.D., when Rome influences all and the "old" religions are struggling to keep their foothold in Britain. The Priestess, who is from the royal House of Avalon, that mysterious island shrouded in mists and magic, marries Flavius Valerius Constantius, who becomes a Roman Emperor, and she becomes the mother of Constantine. As we learn about Roman history, we also see Christianity grasp and then hold sway in the world. Bradley and Paxson add flavor and beauty to this chaotic time in the Roman Empire. Davina Porter tells this first-person tale in voices that alternate between soft and imperial, with slight variations for the men. She brings the magic and mystery to the surface with gentle intonation and fluid narration. As Roman history and Christianity make their marks on the world, Avalon seeks to keep its mists and with them the strength of alternate beliefs about the nature of the world. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Priestess of Avalon is a walk through Ancient Rome
From the best-selling author that brought you The Mists of Avalon, comes another timeless, realistic Roman tale called The Priestess of Avalon, the story of a sacred priestess that leaves behind her religious life to follow a life of love, wisdom, and power. Marion Zimmer Bradley brings to life a world of Roman history, pagan wars, and religious controversy in this soon-to-be-classic.
The spectacular style in which the story is written sends the reader into the body of a young girl. Each chapter is headed with a span of five years ranging anywhere from 259 and 329 A.D. as this epic saga continues. We see the story through Helena's eyes and become one with her and her many complex emotions. We are drawn to this personal point of view because it again gives us the feeling of familiarity and intimacy with the characters as our own sentiments are fused with Helena's.
The dialect isn't very modern but it isn't written in Elizabethan dialect either. It is very simple to understand, except for the slight difficulty a reader may have with the Roman names. Besides that, the words are very common and the dialect is comfortably proper. A helpful tool Bradley provides is a glossary containing all of the names and places in the story and their correct pronunciation. There is also a map at the beginning of the book to tell you how far Helena's travels range.
The situations are quite normal for the belligerent Roman period but very entertaining for the historical yet fantasy-craving mind. Chapters about battles and wars are not uncommon in this text and neither are family disputes and love affairs. The situations are based on real Roman battles, history, and gods so the book could be named some type of historical fiction. I'd also say that Bradley has captured the essence of the ancient Roman government quite well. Despite its historical accuracy, this novel is still considered pure fantasy because of fairy apparitions and such appearances by legendary characters in the book.
The breath-taking setting is definitely one of the elements that make the story so impactful. The lush, green valleys of Britannia and the warm humidity of bustling Rome intertwine with the spice-perfumed streets of Palestine and trade-posts in between the many voyages in the story. The descriptive language that describes each place helps transport the reader do that the events are more understandable. These settings already add some seasoning to the already favorable plot so that it's impossible to want to put this book down.
The characters are very interesting and they vary from angry, power-hungry sons to secretive, mysterious faeries. The characters definitely keep the plot going because of their human and complex personalities which keep the story chopped full of surprises, very similar to real life. Constantine, the power-hungry Emperor that is the son of Helena, keeps the story full of tragedy and murder. Constantius, Helena's devoted lover, gives the story romance and a love for life. Ganeda, the hateful, serious priestess, keeps the tale full of punishment, scolding, and vindictiveness. In other words, the characters keep the story well-rounded.
This story is full of small themes but probably the two strongest themes are: "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" and believe in yourself or trust your own judgment.
I highly recommend this book because of its life-like qualities, situations, and characters. It teaches important lessons that are, again, able to be applied to life. The book is a lifetime in only 298 pages. If you're willing to live another life, then I suggest you read the incredibly realistic The Priestess of Avalon.

Read it in one sitting & loved the 1st person perspective
Reading this book was like reading Anne Rice's 'Pandora.' Like Pandora, Priestess's pace was quick and we are swiftly ushered from one stage of Helena's life to the next, and like frogs hopping across lilypads, we follow Helena through her triumphs and ordeals.

This book is also written in the 1st person, which I thought added an element of intimacy and warmth. This was, after all, the story of a woman's journey through life. It's a story of the lessons she's learned and losses she's had to bear. It's also very Helena-centric, so it only makes sense to write in the 1st person to more easily convey her thoughts.

Probably for the reasons others didn't like this book, I loved it. It didn't meander about and dilly-dally, taking its time to tell its story. It got straight to the point and whirlwinds you through Helena's life, which adds a cyclonic, dramatic element, which is appropriate. The love story Bradley and Paxson write for Constantius and Helena is passionate, endearing, and bittersweet.

A lot of what Marion Zimmer Bradley must have been dealing with- her attitudes, opinions, and regard for religion- is very evidently written into the story. Instead of presenting the final chapter of Avalon, we instead get a story with a main character that seems to say, "Hey, this isn't about Avalon. This is about me, and I have something important to tell you that's more important than Avalon, so listen close." Helena, in my opinion, is the voice of Bradley, making her peace with the religions of the goddess and that of "the Christ," and telling us what she's learned through Helena's story. Whereas 'Mists of Avalon' was meant to weave history and myth together into an epic hybrid, the conception of 'Priestess' seems to have served a different purpose. From what I can see from reading this story, it wasn't out of a need to pen another 'Mists of Avalon' that drove this story, but rather a more philisophical need to get the message out that all religions ultimately lead to the same place.

There is an underlying tone of urgency to convey this seemingly all-important message throughout the novel, and one can't help but wonder if that effect was placed there by Bradley.

I loved the character of Helena. Hers was a rich, passionate, and human character. The story wonderfully portrays how as youths, we set out on life with a mission, only to realize looking back that the journey and the ultimate destination we've tread towards is nowhere near where we initially believed we were heading. So stubbornly (or desperately) Helena grasps onto her purpose as mother of Constantine, placing her son on a pedistal even before he's born, that he inevitably disappoints her and goes on to break her heart by becoming power hungry and manipulative- which is obviously not what she thought her son would become. I think we've all placed people on pedistals and depended on others too much.

Here is a story of a woman, a priestess who is expelled from her order for the love of a man. This man eventually leaves her to secure his right to the throne. She is also a woman who has placed all her hope on a son that fails her. Both men in her life love Rome more than they love her, so she ultimately learns by the end of her life to love herself. Eventually, she manages to return to Avalon, and by abandoning everything she's strived to help build for the men she loved, she takes the dice and puts it back in her own hand.

There's a beautiful symbolism between the feminity of Avalon and the masculinity of Rome, and how Helena/Eilan returns to herself by returning to Avalon.

Helena lives her whole life for others- for her order, for Avalon, for her husband, for her son, for her goddess- but she finally chooses to die for herself on her own terms, in her own native land.

I don't think any the Avalon characters managed this feat. The other characters that come to mind live and die for Avalon, in service towards Avalon. Theirs are more stories of Avalon than the characters. By the end of their stories, Morgaine is still trapped by ghosts of her past, Viviane is slain in service of Avalon, and the first Eilan had little power over her fate and destiny. Helena, on the other hand, rises beyond the politics of Avalon, the fate of the men in her life, and ends the story on her own terms, and determines once and for all that her story isn't about Avalon, it's about her and her life. She isn't going to be used as a vehicle for Avalon to tell its story, rather, she's going to use Avalon as a vehicle to tell hers. I think that's what many fans of the Avalon series had a problem with, but I found it to be truly refreshing. This was a character bigger than Avalon.

My only problem with the book is that too much is written off as "the will of the goddess." That was one of my big gripes with 'Mists,' as well. What exactly is the will of the goddess, and why does she think this way is better? What has the suffering the characters undergone achieved in the big scheme of the gods? That, of course, is a question hard to answer, but enough of the story hinges on the "will of the divine" that to not know what exactly is the will of the deities above leaves an empty feeling. Why exactly do these characters need to suffer? What exactly is the 'will of the goddess' they dedicate their lives to preserving and carrying out? That is the missing element that I was hoping would be addressed, because if this final chapter answered that question, then all my questions for the previous novels would have been answered.

Unfortunately, it seems that Avalon, for the time being, will continue to be shrouded in mystery and its secrets will still be kept, since with the passing of Ms. Bradley, we'll never know what her goddess had in mind.

Not the same calibur as Mists of Avalon.
I enjoyed reading this book only because of its relation to the larger novel, The Mists of Avalon. I believe this book was also co-authored and was just not as engaging as the first novels.