Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic \u0026 New Myths by Jennifer Roberson

Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic \u0026 New Myths Reviews

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  Arthurianmaiden

  The only way I can write a review for this collection of stories is writing mini reviews for each story because the quality is very different. So there will be some spoiler! If you don't want spoiler jump to the end!
  
  1. Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson, "The Heart of the Hill"
  This short (and quite boring) story looks like a post-"Mists of Avalon" story. Morgaine, after Arthur's death, remembers the days of being a novice with her friend Gwenlian. That's the story. There's no real plot, no point, nothing. It is without any doubt an awful start for the collection and the worst story in the book.
  
  2. Katharine Kerr, "The Fourth Concealment of the Island of Britain"
  Myrddin dreams about a mysterious map and he thinks it may be a map that the demons called by Saxon's magic will follow to attack Arthur's Camulodd. To save Arthur and Camulodd from the Saxon's magic, Myrddin decides to create a last spell to rename himself Camulodd, take Camulodd's essence and sigil Camulodd and himself into an oak. An original and new explanation that answers to the questions: why is Merlin locked into a tree? Why is Arthur the once and future king? Definitely an original story but a pity because it was too short.
  
  3. Rosemary Edghill, "Prince of Exiles"
  This story is very confusing. I liked it because of some elements and among those the final spoiler, but I needed to write down the names to understand what was happening. This is the story of a Mordred-like character and the false Guinevere. Janiffer is Ator's wife but she can't have children so she asks the help of her sister Grainne who is Owl Priestess and brings her a magical Cup. To not taint the Cup it's Grainne who sleeps with Ator and has, as a result, the main Mordred-like narrator. When Grainne is sent away by Ator she asks the Cup back but her sister has given it to the priests of Christianism. Grainne then curses her sister's future child and called it Ancel, like a servant. The rest of the story tells us what happens with Ancel, Janiffer and the revenge of the Mordred-like character.
  My favourite sentece was without a doubt: "I called him Saul, and to every Saul there is sent a David."
  
  4. Tricia Sullivan, "The Secret Leaves"
  This is quite long-ish and it is narrated by Nimue, called Nina, cousing of Morgen and enchantress at Arthur's court. Nimue remembers how she was treated during her childhood, how she was called a demon, and how she later met Myrddin. Myrddin is quite an interesting character (young in look, irritated with Arthur, enamoured by the freedom magic gives him) and so is Nimue. The story is an original twist (original as in I have never seen anything like this and it's a splendid idea) in the "trapping Merlin in a tree" theme.
  
  5. Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins, "The Castellan"
  Not an arthurian story, but cute also if not exceptional.
  
  6. Michelle Sagara West, "Lady of the Lake"
  This beautiful short story is a real pearl and I loved it. It's the stort of the nine women of the lake. All nine of them have been taken to the lake from Merlin after they have been abused and raped by the cruel Dragon Lord who goes from woman to woman hoping to have a heir. Morganne is the only who who arrives to the isle pregnant and she decides to kill her baby and send the rests to the Dragon Lord, as revenge. And while Merlin would like to feed their anger and have the revenge, the nine women starts slowly to heal and love the child.
  
  7. David Farland, "The Mooncalfe"
  This story is an original twist on the reason why Merlin is destined to be defeated by a woman. It starts the night when Uther, wearing Gorlois's face, sleeps with Igraine. That same night another woman is seduced by a man wearing a false face. She gives birth to a strange fairy girl and decides to give her no name, so she is called Mooncalfe.The rest of the story follows the life of Mooncalfe.
  
  8. Kristen Britain, “Avalonia”
  This is a special story for me because it talked about a biologist who is very rational and scientific and goes to Glastonbury and finds out that legends are just legends but so much more. But a part from that I'd say that it was only mediocre.
  
  9. Judith Tarr, “Finding the Grail”
  An original story about a lady who decides to leave for the quest of the Holy Grail even if Guinevere disapproves. Beaumanis, even if just a kitchen lad, decides to look for the Grail too and they leave together. They decide to go to Avalon, sure that the Grail is there. But Avalon is just a place for women... and infact Beaumanis is actually a woman. I have mixed feelings about this stort. It started wonderfully but by the end it smelled of sexism (women sees secret things-sexism, like women are not like men etc.) and it was kind of boring.
  
  10. Mike Resnick and Adrienne Gormley, “Me and Galahad”
  A weird story- I am not sure I understood it or liked it. It's western arthuriana.
  
  11. Jennifer Roberson, “A Lesser Working”
  A very short story. The son of an innkeeper meet Merlin the night Igraine conceives Arthur. It was nice, but I think it would have been better if Merlin had told us the name of the guy he was talking to because it felt like that was the point... obviously it wasn't.
  
  12. Laura Resnick, “Grievous Wounds”
  Arthur is diying at Camlann and he is full of regrets. Merlin gives him the possibility to see himself younger, to meet a hopeful Igraine pregnant with him and finally to meet his friend Lancelot just before the boy left for Camelot. An amazing story which truly made me cry. A real gem. The book would be worth buying just for this story alone.
  
  14. Eric Van Lustbader, "Marwysgafn (Deathbed Song)"
  Err. I don't know what to say. The story is about a race of creatures that come from Avalon and lived from a time before humanity. Igraine is one of these creatures and so are her daughters Morgana, Morgause and Elaine and so is Merlin. Igraine hates humans but wants to mix her own race with them to spread her own race and she asks Merlin to bring Uther to her. The part that I found interesting was the story of Elaine who is usually forgotten in arthuriana, but the story was a bit boring.
  
  15. Nina Kiriki Hoffman, "The Mouse’s Soul"
  A poem about... I don't even know.
  
  
  There were some very good stories and some very bad stories.
  In particular I'd say that The Heart of the Hill, Me and Galahad and The Mouse’s Soul were quite bad. Truly bad.
  The Castellan, Marwysgafn (Deathbed Song), Avalonia, Finding the Grail, A Lesser Working were okay.
  The Fourth Concealment of the Island of Britain, The Mooncalfe, Prince of Exiles were quite good and with some nice twists.
  Instead Lady of the Lake, The Secret Leaves and Grievous Wounds were the real starts of the collection. In particular, Grevous Wounds was TRULY good and, in my opinion, worth the all collection.
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  Kara

  
  Excellent collection of King Arthur stories in all shapes and sizes, some funny, some sad, and most with so very cool twists to the tales.
  
  Loved, loved, loved, seeing all the writers take the exact same cast of characters and all present them completely differently.
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  Kythe42

  Out of Avalon edited by Jennifer Roberson is a collection of Arthurian short stories by various authors. One story entitled The Heart of the Hill is set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's version of Avalon and takes place sometime in the middle of The Mists of Avalon during Morgaine's training to be a priestess. This story was the sole reason I purchased this book and I definitely enjoyed reading it. It should be noted that none of the other stories in this collection have anything to do with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon, which I was aware of before reading this collection. Many of the other stories are retellings of familiar Arthurian tales, though sometimes the focus is on original characters within those tales. Other stories are merely inspired by Arthurian legends and that particular time period.
  
  
  
  Of course some stories I enjoyed more than others, but I would rate most of them as three or four stars. Besides The Heart of the Hill, I also particularly enjoyed The Secret Leaves which is about a young girl that becomes Myrddin's(Merlin's) apprentice and lover, and The Mooncalfe which is about a child with strange abilities born of a human mother and an otherworldly father. The only story that I really didn't care for at all was Me and Galahad which was a search for the holy grail story taking place in an American Western setting. I enjoyed this collection overall, but at times it was a bit confusing just because the stories were all written by different authors, and as such there were many details that were inconsistent from story to story. It was mostly things like differences in character's names and differences in how characters were related to each other, but of course there were even plot details that varied from story to story. After the first few stories though, it was easier for me to go with the flow and not worry so much about the details. I'd definitely recommend this collection to fans of Arthurian or medieval fantasy.
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  Brenda

  I only read the story by Diana Gabaldon in this book of 15 short stories. Hers is called The Castellan. This is proof she CAN write a short story. LOL. Only 26 pages. I did like it. She can write magical dragon stories too.
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  Carla

  This review is only for Diana Gabaldon's story (The Castellan). I really enjoyed this story. It was interesting to see what she can do in a different genre. I think it is really cool that she wrote this story with her son, Sam--he has since been published on his own under the pen name Samuel Sykes.
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  Angie Curtis

  Great book new myths created from the old. There is even a story about Morgaine ( from MZB Mists of Avalon). It takes place in she is still in training, her relationship with raven and a new trainee. I really enjoyed the book and I hope others will too.
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  Georgene

  An anthology of short stories all based on the myths and legends of King Arthur. Some were better than others as is almost always true of anthologies. It kept my attention and I enjoyed the stories and the views of the different authors.
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  Dana

  Includes stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Gabaldon, among other writers. Enjoyable, particularly for medieval/fantasy/King Arthur buffs.
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  Abigail

  Short story compilations. *sigh* Some were pretty good others were horrible. At least it was entertaining. Would make an excellent airplane book.
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  Kim

  Such a lovely anthology of stories! I loved almost all of them! The authors, for the most part, did really well, and Roberson chose well in how she put the collection together.
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  Dena

  Enjoyable, bunch of short stories about Avalon mainly from a female perspective.
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  Jeri

  I feel utterly bereft of words to properly describe my complete delight in this book.
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  Rita

  Good stories. I like the 'wild west' story.
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  Katerina

  Out of Avalon è una raccolta di quindici racconti, scritta da vari autori che includono Marion Zimmer Bradley e Diana Gabaldon.
  Dare un voto ad una raccolta non è mai semplice, perché per sua natura questo tipo di libro ha una qualità altalenante visto che non viene scritto da un'unica persona, e poiché alcuni racconti mi sono piaciuti molto più degli altri ho finito per dargli tre stelline.
  
  Ho dato la caccia a questo libro per anni: costava sempre moltissimo (a quanto pare è fuori catalogo nel mondo intero), per cui quando alla fine sono riuscita a trovarlo ad un prezzo accettabile l'ho preso subito, e pazienza se si vede che ha circa mille anni.
  Ovviamente avevo alte aspettative, che sono state in parte disattese non perché il libro non sia bello ma appunto perché le raccolte di racconti non sono proprio il mio genere preferito.
  La cosa più interessante è che i vari autori hanno approfittato di questo progetto per andare ad esplorare gli episodi meno conosciuti del mito arturiano, momenti della vita degli eroi che però non si sono mai visti prima. C'è persino un personaggi inventato, che a rigor di logica avrei dovuto detestare perché sul serio ma quando mai... eppure è stato uno dei racconti che mi sono piaciuti di più perché, tanto per cominciare, tramite i suoi occhi si vedeva tutta l'ambientazione storica e mistica di questo particolare mito, ma soprattutto perché riusciva nella rara impresa di essere interessante per i fatti suoi e - allo stesso tempo - mostrare a pieno la crudele ambiguità di uno dei personaggi più conosciuti (Merlino, per la precisione).
  Si tratta di un volume che riesce ad essere molto classico e, allo stesso tempo, fonte di quindici retelling (anche se quello di Marion Zimmer Bradley è più che altro una novella de Le Nebbie di Avalon con protagonista Margana ai tempi del suo addestramento ad Avalon) che è già un successo di per sé, ma ci tengo a sottolineare che a mio avviso si sente in pieno quando è stato scritto: al di là dei nomi coinvolti, è proprio il tipo di storie, lo stile di scrittura, a renderlo perfettamente identificabile come un prodotto della fine degli anni '90- inizio 2000, e suppongo sia per questo che è finito fuori cataologo: non essendo i retelling dedicati ad Artù un filone di grido, questo librino qui è destinato a diventare una piccola chicca per noi appassionati più che qualcosa da tenere negli scaffali sperando che faccia il botto.
  È il classico libro che puoi trovare nella libreria della nonna, che per me non è una descrizione negativa (fosse solo per i ricordi che mi tornano alla mente) ma quella che uso per i libri un po' antiquati, che hanno vissuto il loro tempo metaforicamente e fisicamente, che però trovo tanto bellini e che mi lasciato tante belle sensazioni.
  
  Insomma, Out of Avalon non è un capolavoro e - a mio modesto avviso - neanche una lettura imperdibile. Ma se come me siete dei fan del ciclo arturiano, può rivelarsi una piacevole sorpresa... oltre che un buon recupero nella lista dei fuori catalogo.
  
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  Amélie

  In "Lady of the Lake" by Michelle Sagara West a lord wishing to have a child rapes young women. Merlin gathers them and bring them to the Isle of the Lake.
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  Freyja

  All of the short stories are engaging and hard to put down. This will be another re-read. This had so many takes on Camelot, Avalon, and magic.
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  Ginger Vampyre

  A collection of stories focusing around Avalon and mostly Merlin. Instead of retelling of the common stories, these authors are showing their alternative ideas featuring characters from the common mythos. It was interesting reading various AUs of Merlin, Camelot, and the families, I found them to be a little too modern romance for the way I think about Camelot. Not bad, but not really to my taste.
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  Kayleigh

  A very bad book.
  Some stories are lovely others are just strange.
  Still I love the cover. ;)
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  Kendra

  Short stories based out of Arthurian myth.
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  Heide

  Years ago
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  Edina Ribeiro

  Gostei muito
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  Patrick Bättig

  Roman von Ihr wird weitergesponnen