abhaille's Full Review: Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Forest House
In the prequel to the epic fantasy The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley sets up the back story in the novel The Forest House.
Woven into the background of actual history, The Forest House tells the story of Eilan and Gaius and their ill-starred love for each other.
Akin to Romeo and Juliet, these star-crossed lovers come from incompatible family backgrounds. Ultimately, as their Shakespearean counterparts, they meet their destiny together.
Eilan is the daughter of a druid and granddaughter of the Arch-Druid. Her family is proud and is grounded in the mystic and mythic past of Britannia. Gaius is the son of a native woman and a Roman Prefect who has been assigned to Britannia. Raised as a Roman with Roman values, Gaius still has a strong attraction for his mother's people.
An accident brings an injured Gaius into the care of Eilan's family. He speaks the native language and accepts their care in the guise of a distant tribesman, rather than as a reviled Roman. Gaius gains an appreciation for the family and their customs and beliefs, an outlook that remains with him as he pursues the career of a Roman citizen.
Ultimately, this is a love story with plot twists and turns, passion and obstinacies, duty and honor.
Eilan becomes a priestess at the Forest House which is a refuge for the remnants of a colony of wise women that had been devastated by Romans in the previous generation. She becomes the High Priestess, the incarnation of the earthly Goddess of pagan tradition. She manifests the spirit of the Goddess at festivals and acts as an Oracle for the assembled community where she shares her visions.
Gaius pursues Roman ambition and marries the daughter of a Procurator, setting himself up for promotion and advancement in a world ruled by the whims of emperors. He plays the game, but he's left his heart with Eilan and the son they conceived during the celebration of Beltane.
Bradley is gifted with the ability to write dialog that is believable and not the least pretentious--an issue with many fantasy series. The characters exhibit the gamut of human strengths and frailties. The druids keep faith with their spiritual history and the Romans draw strength from the history of their empire of conquest and expansion.
The advent of followers of Christianity adds a twist to the background of pagan beliefs and the Roman pantheon of Gods. Romans and pagans are both drawn to this new faith that maintains that all other Gods are but faces of the one God.
The language of The Forest House is rich and descriptive.
The story is compelling; it engages the reader and moves along without bogging down. One can feel the issues and intrigues that built Britannia out of many cultures.
From the prologue:
"So many years have passed since the death of the Holy Isle, and though in my dreams ancient voices still cry out for revenge, a hard-won wisdom tells me that the mixing of blood strengthens a breed, so long as the ancient knowledge is not lost."
The Forest House gives us a look at how these cultures came together in a vividly written, compassionate point of view.
The amazing prequel to Bradleys bestselling "The Mists of Avalon." Inside the walls of the Forest House, in a remote part of Britain, a secret sect of...More at HotBookSale
The amazing prequel to Bradleys bestselling "The Mists of Avalon." Inside the walls of the Forest House, in a remote part of Britain, a secret sect of...More at HotBookSale
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