The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Since The Mists of Avalon holds a special place in my Top 5 Favorite Books Ever, I had little doubt but that I would enjoy the first of its prequels, and I was not disappointed. This is another feminist novel, set many years in Avalon's past--so far back, in fact, that there are yet no priestesses on Avalon, and the women instead live in a place called Vernemeton, or the Forest House, established by the Romans to isolate and protect the priestesses after their sanctuary at Mona was cruelly invaded (by the Romans themselves, of course). The main character, Eilan, dreams of being a priestess one day, then falls in love. I really admire the way MZB made the men's control of the women, especially their sexuality, not just an inconvenience or a metaphor but a central part of the plot. The priestesses of the Forest House are only permitted sexual contact with a man if that man is the chosen Year-King, symbolic sacrifice for his people. Eilan must struggle with her choices and few around her believe that she has made the right ones.

Unlike Mists, The Forest House has a male POV character. At the beginning he is rather heroic and quite likable. However, as the novel progresses, he is shown to be more and more flawed and toward the end he really becomes a big jerk. He is redeemed somewhat, and manages to remain sympathetic for a time, but it would be nice to see a more relatable male character. (I do think we get that in the next book.) Besides that and some repetitiveness, though, I have nothing to complain about in this book.

My favorite character is Caillean, the Assistant to the High Priestess who is later sent to establish a house of priestesses on Avalon. I see in her Raven, Morgaine, Niniane, and especially Viviane--it's easy to find the beginning of a long legacy of manipulative High Priestesses of Avalon. The Merlin also makes an appearance, though not in the guise you might expect, and I'm intrigued to see how the perception of that role changes.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who didn't like The Mists of Avalon, and probably not to anyone who hasn't read it--it's a decent stand-alone novel, I think, but gains more depth if you know its future. To anyone who loved Mists as much as I did, though, I definitely recommend The Forest House!

Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood

I stopped reading this book (featuring an incredibly obnoxious sixteen-year-old narrator) after a talking horse named Samhain was referred to as "Sam."

The word "Samhain" is Gaelic, and it's pronounced "Sah-win." There is in fact no "m" sound in it at all.

...yeah.

That's an error I can forgive in ordinary people or new pagans, but not in authors, especially ones who have theoretically researched ancient Ireland fairly extensively in order to write the book. It sounded very promising; long hair, Ireland, faeries... and I really did want to find out the connection of the other world to this one. But after that, I couldn't read any more. Maybe if the narrator had been more interesting and relatable, I would have been able to stand it, but as it is, I couldn't.

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

In the ballad of Tam Lin, the daring Janet is warned not to go to Carterhaugh (which she or her father owns) but does anyway. There she meets Tam Lin, who takes the promised pledge and leaves her with child. She learns that he is to be a sacrifice of the Faerie Queen, but she can and does rescue him.

Pamela Dean's retelling of this classic story is set in a small college in the Midwest in the early seventies. The role of the novel's main character is clear: her name, after all, is Janet Carter. The rest of the story, however, unfolds with intriguing slowness. She does meet a boy named Thomas Lane, but they are both dating other people, and her relationship with Nick Tooley seems so perfectly ordinary it's hard to question. Other things aren't so perfectly ordinary, such as the mysterious Fourth Ericson ghost, the strange behavior of many members of the Classics department, and the fact that Janet can't seem to think about them when she's on campus. The plot, moving through the four years of Janet's college attendance, moves so slowly that at times it seems not to be moving at all, but the characters and situations are so wonderful that it doesn't matter.

Finally, in the fall of Janet's senior year, everything falls into pace. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that everything I expected to happen does happen, in a perfectly wonderful and wholly unpredictable way. The verdict? An exquisite book that every lover of fantasy and English major should read ASAP. I'll certainly be rereading it when I get a chance.

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi

What a delightful little series! I'm a huge fan of Holly Black, and as usual she didn't disappoint, with a thrilling tale of true-to-life (and -legend) faeries and children. I was delighted that they took a classic story, unhappy kids moving into a strange new house, and--well, didn't exactly turn it on its head, but created an engaging and original tale. The protagonist, Jared Grace, is a well-drawn and very sympathetic little boy whose parents' divorce has led to anger issues as well as a move to a house owned by his Great-Aunt Lucinda, where hides a very special book. His twin brother Simon and their older sister Mallory are also unique and fun characters, and the interactions between the siblings are quite believable--they squabble a lot, but when it's important (and when they have to hide things from their mother) they stick together. The story is also populated by faeries of all types and sizes--a brownie, some goblins (and one hobgoblin, thank you very much), a griffin, a phooka, elves, and more. I was happily surprised by some of the story's twists and gleefully predicted others. I really look forward to the movie. Of course, it will be lacking Tony DeTerlizzi's delightful illustrations, but I'm sure it will be wonderful anyway.