This was a great read, I loved how it picked up from where the first book "The Fall of Alantis" ends.In the first book "The Fall of Alantis" (Known as the Ancient Land - Alantis is of made up of many islands) it is foretold that the City of the Circling Snake (capital of the Ancient Land)will fall into the sea and the evil power will spread unto the other islands and they will sink into the sea as well.Now in this second book, the City of the Circling Snake and many of the other islands have fell into the sea and some of its survivors have made their home in Ahtarrath the last of the standing islands. The story begins with the actions that are taken when the on-coming and the start of Ahtarrath is falling into the sea and how the people prepare and strive to survive the horror and escape upon ships that will take them to a new land where a prophecy is to be fullfilled.Without giving the story away - I will tell you that some of the characters from the first book make it to the new land/world. A hard lesson is learned and I leave you with this quote (page 351)in which the newcomers learn at the end. "From childhood we knew our homeland faced destruction. But there was a prophecy that my husband would found a new Temple in a new land." "But I did not understand," Micail said heavily. "I thought it must be a great and splendid building such as we had on Ahtarrath and in the Ancient Land. But I was mistaken. I think now that what we are meant to establish is a tradition-" "A tradition," said Tiriki, completing his thought,"in which the wisdom of the Temple of Light-and it is great, though we have given you little reason to think so until now- is joined with the earth power of those who live in this land."There is a quote that I thought was very real in our own lives and I want to share it with you -- "Of all things we mortals are called upon to do, the most difficult is forgiveness; in order to truly do it, you will probably have to behave as if you already have forgiven for quite a while before you have actually done so."Mental note to selfChedan - a old wise Adept that carries a staff, Micail is Chedan's heir and Chedan passes his staff onto Micail - The Marsh People called Chedan "Sun hawk" or sometimes "Merlin" - both names are native for falcon.The Alkonath who survived have given Micail a new name "Falcon Banner" - meaning to lead The Marsh people call Tiriki "Morgan" - the woman from the sea
This novel was inspired by Marion Zimmer Bradley's series on Avalon, of which I read Mists of Avalon years ago and loved. I put this book on my list several years ago, and finally got around to reading it. It is a kind of prequel taking place many years before the Avalon books.I read another book in this series by Paxson, Ravens of Avalon some time ago as well and enjoyed it. This novel begins with the fall of Atlantis and the destruction of several islands that made up the empire. The main characters are Tiriki and Micail, wife and husband, priestess and priest, princess and prince. As they arrange to leave their dying empire, events separate them and while they both survive, they are not together. There are several other strong characters here. Damisa is an acolyte that ends up with Tiriki. She is also a princess and her expectations of what her life will bring undergoes several changes as the book progresses. There are several other acolytes, priests and priestesses, sailors and princes that also survived, and the struggle to survive and move forward is what drives this story. Different groups have different expectations, some wanting to recreate what was lost, and others wanting to make a new way in the new country they have come to, learning how to live with the native peoples.It was an interesting take on the Atlantis legend.
What do You think about Ancestors Of Avalon (2005)?
People seem to slag this one, but seeing as how I haven't read the original book written by Bradley so I don't have the perspective most of those people seem to have. I can't compare the writing styles or the content of the books so I'm reviewing this book with that in mind.I enjoyed this one. I really love books about Atlantis, so when I discovered that this series starts with this book I was really excited to read it. It's an interesting take on the origins of Stonehenge. Having seen it in person, and standing in front of it, it's easy to imagine it having magical properties. It's well written and was interesting. There were only a few parts where it felt a little slow. The main characters were developed well, although the romances in the book were bland. I wouldn't recommend this to people looking for a romantic element to their stories because it's not really there.I'll be reading the rest of this series because I'm looking forward to reading the final book (it actually was the first written in the series, and the other books are prequels)
—Lauren
This book was OK. In light of the fact that I only bought it because I loved "The Mists of Avalon", it was a terrible disappointment. The dialogue didn't seem to fit the time period and seemed the same from person to person, despite personality, nationality or caste. The character names were odd and too hard to keep up with and I never really got attached or could relate to any one in particular. On top of it all, the writing was pretty mediocre and descriptions were lackluster. With that said, there were some aspects of the story itself that I found interesting enough to keep reading, just to see how they all turned out, even though most of it was pretty predictable. If you like the random, quick-read fantasy novel, pick it up but if you like "Mists", skip this one.
—Lauren
Not impressed. MISTS OF AVALON, despite being totally bogus in its 'historical' aspects (guess what? 'Celts' didn't worship some prime Mother Goddess, nor were they a particularly peaceable people)at least had the 'right' feel to it, enough to convince a LOT of readers that this was indeed what ancient Britons were like. Now in ANCESTORS we have Atlanteans building Stonehenge. Gee, heck, I guess those dumb old Britons were nothing but stupid savages who couldn't figure out how to raise a monument on their own and needed some outsider to help them along (this goes right in with the old antiquarians believing that Romans, Danes, and Greeks had a hand in the building of Stonehenge--all wrong of course.) I know this is a fantasy novel, and I love fantasy, but whereas MISTs seemed firmly in the historical/fantasy genre, this was dipping over into pure fantasy and not working.
—J.P. Reedman
