_unknown_bibliomaniac_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
cozylittlebrownhouse's review against another edition
2.0
I just couldn't get into this story about a family that becomes obsessed with a world they have created and is now out to destroy them. Up until the final 1/4 of the book I was thinking 3 stars, but I just really lost interest towards the end. Sign. Another Modern Library book that just wasn't too great.
santirv's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lokster71's review against another edition
4.0
This is my third read of Mythago Wood. I was inspired to pick it up after reading In Parenthesis by David Jones, because something about In Parenthesis reminded me of Mythago Wood. The stories within stories perhaps? The allusions to a mythical past.
I first read this shortly after it was first published. I enjoyed it then and much admired Holdstock's imagination. But this time I found it absolutely impossible to put down. I binge-read it. The story of a father, two brothers divided over a woman they both claim to love, and an impossible, ancient woodland. Yet it is also a book about Britain, its mythology, and the power of stories as memory.
I saw someone on Twitter call it anti-Tolkien, which seems to me to entirely misunderstand both this book and Tolkien. They are, in some respects, the same story. Tolkien's LOTR is built on the same foundation of British myth and memory as Mythago Wood. Tolkien's starting point for his journey was language, but Holdstock's seems to have been the landscape and archaeology.
This is fantasy, but there isn't much fantasy out there like this. A book that does have echoes of it though, which I read in 2019(?) is Lanny by Max Porter. But I can't think of another fantasy novel like it. It seems to have faded from the fantasy fan 'must read' list in recent years. I rarely see it mentioned on fantasy Booktube, for example. Perhaps because it skirts nearer to the more obvious literary side of the fence than more trad fantasy?
Holdstock's writing is superb though and the characters, who are both real humans and mythical archetypes, have a solidity to them. Even the ostensible villain has become what he has become from a genuine feeling place.
Well-worth a read.
I first read this shortly after it was first published. I enjoyed it then and much admired Holdstock's imagination. But this time I found it absolutely impossible to put down. I binge-read it. The story of a father, two brothers divided over a woman they both claim to love, and an impossible, ancient woodland. Yet it is also a book about Britain, its mythology, and the power of stories as memory.
I saw someone on Twitter call it anti-Tolkien, which seems to me to entirely misunderstand both this book and Tolkien. They are, in some respects, the same story. Tolkien's LOTR is built on the same foundation of British myth and memory as Mythago Wood. Tolkien's starting point for his journey was language, but Holdstock's seems to have been the landscape and archaeology.
This is fantasy, but there isn't much fantasy out there like this. A book that does have echoes of it though, which I read in 2019(?) is Lanny by Max Porter. But I can't think of another fantasy novel like it. It seems to have faded from the fantasy fan 'must read' list in recent years. I rarely see it mentioned on fantasy Booktube, for example. Perhaps because it skirts nearer to the more obvious literary side of the fence than more trad fantasy?
Holdstock's writing is superb though and the characters, who are both real humans and mythical archetypes, have a solidity to them. Even the ostensible villain has become what he has become from a genuine feeling place.
Well-worth a read.
roxanamalinachirila's review against another edition
3.0
„“This is the Island where Dreams come true.”
“That's the island I've been looking for this long time,” said one of the sailors. “I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here.”
“And I'd find Tom alive again,” said another.
“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before;”
The above isn't a quote from "Mythago Wood" - it's a quote from C.S. Lewis's "Voyage of the Dawn Trader", a book I read a long time ago, but the dark island of dreams is still something I remember as well as if I'd read about it yesterday. And it sprung to mind while reading this because "Mythago Wood" is about the place where myths come true. And no matter how wonderful that sounds, one has to remember that fairy tales and myths were a lot darker than we tell them now, a lot bloodier, and much more dangerous. It's not all fun and magic, on the contrary.
After the second world war, Stephen Huxley returns home from France, expecting to find his brother, Christian, happily married, living in their old family home after the death of their father. When he does, he finds a greatly changed man whose wife has vanished and who now shares their father's obsession with the small wood outside their home.
Christian claims that their father discovered mythagos - or incarnations of myths - inside the woods, and that the two of them have seen them as children. Thus, he goes into the wilderness, bidding Stephen to stay behind as he searches for the myths of mankind, created and recreated from the subconscious racial memory of those who come into contact with the woods.
Strange things start happening - odd people appearing around Stephen's house, the forest turning him around when he tries to enter it. But the oddest of all is finding Christian's wife buried in a shallow grave next to the chicken coops, while Christian insists she'll return again, since there have been many of her, and there will be many of her again.
The story has a strange, mythical horror feel to it, and the atmosphere is wonderfully chilling and eerie.
It's hard to explain what I didn't like, but I don't feel like I recognize any mythagos - if they truly are from the depths of the human mind, shouldn't some of them feel more familiar? I'm not so sure about the way characters act and react, either - why is Stephen so madly in love with G., aside from the story demanding him to be? Are these mythagos really myths, or did they spring from these men's subconscious somehow?
But otherwise, it's a strange and unusual story and worth a read.
“That's the island I've been looking for this long time,” said one of the sailors. “I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here.”
“And I'd find Tom alive again,” said another.
“Fools!” said the man, stamping his foot with rage. “That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams—dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before;”
The above isn't a quote from "Mythago Wood" - it's a quote from C.S. Lewis's "Voyage of the Dawn Trader", a book I read a long time ago, but the dark island of dreams is still something I remember as well as if I'd read about it yesterday. And it sprung to mind while reading this because "Mythago Wood" is about the place where myths come true. And no matter how wonderful that sounds, one has to remember that fairy tales and myths were a lot darker than we tell them now, a lot bloodier, and much more dangerous. It's not all fun and magic, on the contrary.
After the second world war, Stephen Huxley returns home from France, expecting to find his brother, Christian, happily married, living in their old family home after the death of their father. When he does, he finds a greatly changed man whose wife has vanished and who now shares their father's obsession with the small wood outside their home.
Christian claims that their father discovered mythagos - or incarnations of myths - inside the woods, and that the two of them have seen them as children. Thus, he goes into the wilderness, bidding Stephen to stay behind as he searches for the myths of mankind, created and recreated from the subconscious racial memory of those who come into contact with the woods.
Strange things start happening - odd people appearing around Stephen's house, the forest turning him around when he tries to enter it. But the oddest of all is finding Christian's wife buried in a shallow grave next to the chicken coops, while Christian insists she'll return again, since there have been many of her, and there will be many of her again.
The story has a strange, mythical horror feel to it, and the atmosphere is wonderfully chilling and eerie.
It's hard to explain what I didn't like, but I don't feel like I recognize any mythagos - if they truly are from the depths of the human mind, shouldn't some of them feel more familiar? I'm not so sure about the way characters act and react, either - why is Stephen so madly in love with G., aside from the story demanding him to be? Are these mythagos really myths, or did they spring from these men's subconscious somehow?
But otherwise, it's a strange and unusual story and worth a read.
jmconway's review against another edition
2.0
5/10 - Interesting, original story that clearly inspired other books I have read in this kind of magical realism/speculative fiction genre. Definitely shows its age when you read though, particularly in language and descriptions of the main female 'love interest'. The last 50-100 pages or so are a little confusing as well, I feel like this book really emphasises when an author has a fantastic plot idea but doesn't quite flesh out the characters and motivations. For this reason I struggled to connect with the characters and understand the choices they made.
allzbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Manic pixie dream girl element really soured this for me.
mwatts74's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fearthefish's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kelleydoesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75