abhaille's Full Review: Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson - Priest...
I love fantasy and I love historical fiction. This book blends the two together in the story of Eilan, a priestess of Avalon and daughter of Old King Coel. She becomes Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine.
The novel is engaging. I love all things to do with Arthurian legend. I've not yet read the other books by Marion Zimmer Bradley, but I am inspired to do so by reading this one. This volume was published posthumously with the collaboration of Diana L. Paxson.
This book encompasses the ancient pagan religion of Britain and superimposes the rising Christian faith. The character of Helena seems to see the spiritual power of each as belonging to the same source. She feels no true conflict between them.
The novel spans 70 years and begins as Helena is returned to the home of her mother--the legendary island of Avalon. She is brought there to train as a priestess. She hopes to find her mother's family, but also finds jealousy and suspicion. She is strong in the power of prophecy which gives her joy and sorrow.
Helena's power to foresee puts her in the path of Constantius, a Roman who becomes a Caesar. Their child, Constantine becomes the Emperor who embraces and legitimizes Christianity.
Helena's role changes in the course of the novel. She gives up Avalon for the man that she loves and is swept into the history books by her powerful son.
Told in first person narrative, one understands Helena very well, what her motivations are, what her passions are. She is a strong woman, at times fearless, often kind and compassionate and willing to serve.
The dialog is believable and flows very naturally without pretension or affectation. Sometimes in this genre, the author can get carried away by flowery verbiage. This novel is free from that.
The narrative gives enough description of locations and situations to advance the story line without getting bogged down in details.
The most vivid descriptions are of people that Helena loves. She says about Constantine, "He was twelve now, leggy as a young hunting dog, the big bones out of proportion,and the superb co-ordination that had carried him through childhood likely at odd moments to let him down."
It's apparent that this character loves fiercely and I admire that a lot.
I think what I enjoyed most are Helena's "spiritual encounters." She feels the source of spiritual power that is tied to specific locations. The source of a spring or a grove of trees or even Golgotha fill her with a sense of a spiritual connection that transcends the ages. She consistently relates this with descriptions of light and a sense of otherworldliness.
About halfway into the book, I pulled up the character on the Wikipedia. The article is basically a plot summary of this novel. Pretty much all the high points mentioned in the article are the high points in the book. This made me wonder how long the Wikipedia has been around as this novel was published in 2000.
A mixture of myth and legend, Priestess of Avalon tells an epic story of spiritual passions and human love and frailty.
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