Mythago Wood

by Robert Holdstock

Book Overview

Myth and Terror in the Forest Deeps

The mystery of Ryhope Wood, Britain's last fragment of primeval forest, consumed George Huxley's entire long life. Now, after his death, his sons have taken up his work. But what they discover is numinous and perilous beyond all expectation.

For the Wood, larger inside than out, is a labyrinth full of myths come to life, "mythagos" that can change you forever. A labyrinth where love and beauty...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765307294
• ISBN13: 9780765307293
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Orb Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A fantastic masterpiece of fantasy.

This is one of the better books I have ever read, and I would say it rates in my personal top ten favorites. It is extremely well written, very visual and moving, and the characters are also excellent and believable. Every step of the way Mr. Holdstock brings this beautiful (and sometimes dark) fantasy world to life, spinning the reader through places that few people even dream of. I recommend this book to any lover of fantasy and adventure.

Imaginative, sometimes scary... an amazing concept

I just re-read Mythago Wood and am further struck by this amazing story of fantasy and, to some extent, horror. The hauntings of Ryhope Wood (the small woodland of the title) emerge from humanity's deepest and darkest senses, and Holdstock presents these "Mythagos" in a manner that excites, intrigues, and terrifies... all at the same time. Having just seen the film "The Blair Witch Project," I recalled the genuine sense of fear I sensed upon my first excursion into Ryhope Wood. After reading the book again, I am further haunted by this magical world of subconscious night-terrors, elusive hopes, and primeval temptations. I highly recommend this book... if you can find it.

A unique and challenging fantasy novel

Robert Holdstock has created a new sub-genre of fantasy with his Mythago Wood novels. They have a haunting, dreamlike quality about them that defies easy description or classification. To attempt to write a straightforward synopsis of Mythago Wood itself is almost to lose the very essence of the novel, to break away from the ethereal feeling which transcends the book. Yet between the fantasy which touches the deepest part of the human psyche, and the gritty realism of Neolithic man and his squalid lifestyle, he creates a vivid and shocking contrast. The clean-cut comicbook concept of modern fantasy is far removed from the stream of racial subconscious and primal lifeforces which seems to suffuse Mythago Wood. Suddenly here is novel which invades its reader's comfortzones and forces them to realise how life 10,000 years ago must really have been, and how profoundly it affected the people who lived then, so that their only defense against the surrounding darkness was to call up champions and defenders from their own subconscious minds. That these mythagos are still able to manifest from modern man's staid and jaded psyches and transform people's lives as they do, is an eloquent witness to the power they represent. This novel and its sequel, Lavondyss, are outstanding modern works of fantasy fiction.

The most sophisticated fantasy of the decade

Readers obsessed with discovering the next "Tolkein" will no doubt be disappointed by this book. Holdstock eschews the traditional themes of "light vs. dark," melodramatic romance, and charming little people (hobbits). Instead, he employs Joseph Campbell's notion of myth and the subconscious to weave an innovative and sophisticated tale new to the genre of fantasy. Mythago Wood is the story of a young man returning to his childhood home and his fascination of nearby Ryhope wood. The wood, he discovers, generates magical creatures, mythagos, rooted the subconscious mythic archetypes unique to each culture. Embroiled in a love quarrel with his brother Christopher, who himself has in way become a part of the wood, the young man embarks on attempt to save the wood and rescue his love, a exotic whose myth dates back to Roman times. In many ways, this work actually is a successor to Tolkein in its genesis. Readers familiar with Tolkein's writings (including the Simirillion and Book of Lost Tales) recognize the importance of Germanic, English, and Scandavian myths in the construction of the history of Middle Earth. Holdstock, who adopts none of epic themes essential to the Lord of the Rings, likewise greatly relies on myth. Anyone in search of a truly revolutionary fantasy will find this book well worth the while.