I finished “The Mists of Avalon” this morning and tbh I am surprised how much I liked it. Started out with big expectations, was a bit disappointed at the beginning but towards the middle the story really got hold of me.

What did I expect? Well, I hoped for a book which would re-kindle my love for fantasy and optional historical (medival-ish) storys. I hoped to find kind of an epos in this book, with a rich backstory shining through and complex social relationships and encounters.

:::Spoiler incomming:::

What disappointed me? The sheer number of romantic scenes, and “romantic” is already an euphemism here, baffled me. Sometimes I felt like reading a YA Novel. Romantic involvement is also really a key point in a lot of decisions characters make and generally a main topic. Also a big no no for me was the reveal at the end, that Gwenhwyfars infertility was always a plot of Morgause. It just came so sudden, almost if someone starts a sentence with :“By the way…”.

What kept me reading? Several things really made the book an overall nice experience for me. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the oftentimes mystical scenery and topic of the old, nature bound religion. On the other hand the readers point of view changes inbetween a few characters. This really paints the depicted world in a lot more colours for me. Also, what was lacking in backstory at the beginning, at least in my eyes, was basically written by the author herself and in the middle of the book I found myself knee deep in more complex entaglements, which I really enjoyed.