Reviews - Anna Elliott
Dawn of Avalon (Anna Elliott)
Dawn of Avalon is a short story based on Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon trilogy, available for free download in a range of formats here. A friend of mine is very enthusiastic about her work, and with that and since I can't get hold of Twilight of Avalon just now, I decided to read this now. I wish there'd been more of it: it was a world and interpretation I definitely enjoyed, but I wanted to know Merlin and Morgan even better. I don't know how much they might come into the books themselves, since this is a prequel.
Anyway, it's an enjoyable story, and the writing is nice -- a touch archaic in some of the phrasing, but not in an obtrusive way: it faded into the background after a few pages. Just enough to make Morgan's voice work and not feel too modern.
Looking forward to getting hold of the books sometime.
Twilight of Avalon (Anna Elliott)
Twilight of Avalon was sent to me when I won a giveaway done by a friend, and I've been meaning to read it for quite a while before that. It's a version of the story of Tristan and Isolde, with a mostly historical background -- based on bits from Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, and the few snippets we may know about the "real" Tristan -- and with a few hints at what may or may not be magic. It's very different to most other Arthurian interpretations I've read, starting with the family tree. Isolde is the daughter of Mordred and Guinevere. Mordred is the son of Morgan, after she was raped by Arthur. Isolde's husband is Constantine, Arthur's successor -- or was, since as the story opens, Constantine has already died.
The story mostly focuses on Isolde's attempts to get away from the traitor in the council, who forces her to marry him. The plot is kind of repetitive, in that sense: she has to escape, gets caught, has to escape, gets caught... Still, it flows along smoothly and is easy to read -- I'd read two hundred pages without stopping, when I first picked it up.
Tristan is not a fully developed character in this book, with only Isolde really clear as a character to me, I think. There are certainly glimpses at others, both bad and good, but Isolde is the only one who is really developed. It's a pretty interesting process, as she has caused herself to forget a part of her life, and therefore in a way she has to learn herself as well.
One warning: rape is a plot device here. If there's a woman, she's probably been raped, going to be raped, or threatened with rape. Which may well have been true enough, historically, but it can grate and/or be upsetting.
Dark Moon of Avalon (Anna Elliott)
I was given this by a friend who really loves Anna Elliott's work, at the same time as I got the first book, Twilight of Avalon. I'm glad I got round to reading them. It's a retelling of the Tristan and Isolde story, but one that inclines toward something that is at least basically plausible historically (though there's fantasy elements as well). As such, it doesn't have all the trappings of the usual Tristan and Isolde stories: for example, Isolde is only briefly married to Mark, and Mark is Tristan's father, rather than his uncle, and there's never any love between the two.
The thread of the romance between them is more developed in this book than in the first, ending quite well. There's a happy ending, too, in a sense, although it remains open for the third book of the trilogy.
Several secondary characters from the first book remain: Kian and Hereric, and men from the council. I felt quite drawn to Madoc; I was a little sad that there wasn't more time spent with him.
Despite it being four hundred pages ish long, I didn't find it a long/difficult read at all. I read it within a day -- if I hadn't had other things to do, I'd likely have read it all in one go.
For those who were wondering about the theme of rape from the first book: it remains in the background as a threat, here, which I think is realistic enough. There's nothing gratuitous. And Isolde doesn't just magically get over what Mark did to her -- it takes her time and effort.
The Witch Queen's Secret (Anna Elliott)
The Witch Queen's Secret is a short story set in Anna Elliott's Avalon series, and available for free as an ebook here. It's a very short story, really, and better taken as part of the series than alone -- otherwise it's hard to know why one should care for Isolde and especially for Dera, a secondary character who was invented by Anna Elliott, and hard to know the significance of the appearance of one character in particular -- but as a part of the series, it's enjoyable and fills in a bit of a gap you might well be curious about. It's not specifically Arthurian, apart from the names in the background and Isolde, so if that's the cause of your interest, I suggest you try out Dawn of Avalon and Twilight of Avalon first.
The narration is pretty fun -- it's third person, but also in Dera's voice, so that you get some impression of what she's actually thinking and the words in which she's thinking it. It's a bit less formal than the Isolde-focused narration in Twilight of Avalon.
Looking forward to reading more of Anna Elliott's work.
Stuff here is posted first to Dreamwidth. I won't disable comments here, but I prefer to receive comments on DW. Go here to do so. If you need a DW invite, ask. There is a tutorial on how to set up your OpenID here. If you comment anonymously, please sign your comments!
Dawn of Avalon is a short story based on Anna Elliott's Twilight of Avalon trilogy, available for free download in a range of formats here. A friend of mine is very enthusiastic about her work, and with that and since I can't get hold of Twilight of Avalon just now, I decided to read this now. I wish there'd been more of it: it was a world and interpretation I definitely enjoyed, but I wanted to know Merlin and Morgan even better. I don't know how much they might come into the books themselves, since this is a prequel.
Anyway, it's an enjoyable story, and the writing is nice -- a touch archaic in some of the phrasing, but not in an obtrusive way: it faded into the background after a few pages. Just enough to make Morgan's voice work and not feel too modern.
Looking forward to getting hold of the books sometime.
Twilight of Avalon (Anna Elliott)
Twilight of Avalon was sent to me when I won a giveaway done by a friend, and I've been meaning to read it for quite a while before that. It's a version of the story of Tristan and Isolde, with a mostly historical background -- based on bits from Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, and the few snippets we may know about the "real" Tristan -- and with a few hints at what may or may not be magic. It's very different to most other Arthurian interpretations I've read, starting with the family tree. Isolde is the daughter of Mordred and Guinevere. Mordred is the son of Morgan, after she was raped by Arthur. Isolde's husband is Constantine, Arthur's successor -- or was, since as the story opens, Constantine has already died.
The story mostly focuses on Isolde's attempts to get away from the traitor in the council, who forces her to marry him. The plot is kind of repetitive, in that sense: she has to escape, gets caught, has to escape, gets caught... Still, it flows along smoothly and is easy to read -- I'd read two hundred pages without stopping, when I first picked it up.
Tristan is not a fully developed character in this book, with only Isolde really clear as a character to me, I think. There are certainly glimpses at others, both bad and good, but Isolde is the only one who is really developed. It's a pretty interesting process, as she has caused herself to forget a part of her life, and therefore in a way she has to learn herself as well.
One warning: rape is a plot device here. If there's a woman, she's probably been raped, going to be raped, or threatened with rape. Which may well have been true enough, historically, but it can grate and/or be upsetting.
Dark Moon of Avalon (Anna Elliott)
I was given this by a friend who really loves Anna Elliott's work, at the same time as I got the first book, Twilight of Avalon. I'm glad I got round to reading them. It's a retelling of the Tristan and Isolde story, but one that inclines toward something that is at least basically plausible historically (though there's fantasy elements as well). As such, it doesn't have all the trappings of the usual Tristan and Isolde stories: for example, Isolde is only briefly married to Mark, and Mark is Tristan's father, rather than his uncle, and there's never any love between the two.
The thread of the romance between them is more developed in this book than in the first, ending quite well. There's a happy ending, too, in a sense, although it remains open for the third book of the trilogy.
Several secondary characters from the first book remain: Kian and Hereric, and men from the council. I felt quite drawn to Madoc; I was a little sad that there wasn't more time spent with him.
Despite it being four hundred pages ish long, I didn't find it a long/difficult read at all. I read it within a day -- if I hadn't had other things to do, I'd likely have read it all in one go.
For those who were wondering about the theme of rape from the first book: it remains in the background as a threat, here, which I think is realistic enough. There's nothing gratuitous. And Isolde doesn't just magically get over what Mark did to her -- it takes her time and effort.
The Witch Queen's Secret (Anna Elliott)
The Witch Queen's Secret is a short story set in Anna Elliott's Avalon series, and available for free as an ebook here. It's a very short story, really, and better taken as part of the series than alone -- otherwise it's hard to know why one should care for Isolde and especially for Dera, a secondary character who was invented by Anna Elliott, and hard to know the significance of the appearance of one character in particular -- but as a part of the series, it's enjoyable and fills in a bit of a gap you might well be curious about. It's not specifically Arthurian, apart from the names in the background and Isolde, so if that's the cause of your interest, I suggest you try out Dawn of Avalon and Twilight of Avalon first.
The narration is pretty fun -- it's third person, but also in Dera's voice, so that you get some impression of what she's actually thinking and the words in which she's thinking it. It's a bit less formal than the Isolde-focused narration in Twilight of Avalon.
Looking forward to reading more of Anna Elliott's work.
Stuff here is posted first to Dreamwidth. I won't disable comments here, but I prefer to receive comments on DW. Go here to do so. If you need a DW invite, ask. There is a tutorial on how to set up your OpenID here. If you comment anonymously, please sign your comments!