'mists of avalon'

I read "Mists of Avalon" about ten years ago, and I honestly wish I had saved my money and my time. In addition to Zimmer Bradley's routine misportrayal of Christianity and paganism, and in addition to her ridiculous sexism, I thought the story completely failed to do anything that would make it work. Ygraine's characterization was inconsistent; the plot meandered and went nowhere, even as it sometimes promised to bring significant events; and the characters were so effing extreme they completely failed to be believable.

The idea was sound -- tell a story about the transition from Celtic Britain to Christian Britan -- but it failed to be fair, accurate or representative. The other idea -- tell the Arthurian Cycle from the POV of the women -- also failed, since Zimmer Bradley shunted the women off to the sidelines throughout her whole book. There was a little promise of intrigue, but so little happened with it.

One of the finest contemporary retellings of the Arthurian legend I've ever read is Gillian Bradshaw's Gwalchmai trilogy -- "Hawk of May," "Kingdom of Summer" and "In Winter's Shadow." Mary Ellen Stewart's Merlin trilogy also is good, and her sympathetic portrayal of Mordred in "That Wicked Day" is fascinating, though the book lacks the appeal of the trilogy.

Zimmer Bradley's book? I'm amazed it was published. It's even worse than "Jane Eyre."