Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
Gollancz (Hardback), 1984
304 Pages
This book is part of my Popsugar Reading Challenge 2015. The category for this book is ‘a book with magic’.
BLURB FROM THE COVER
Deep within the wildwood lies a place of myth and mystery, from which few return and none remain unchanged…
Byhope Wood may look like a three mile-square piece of woodland in rural Herefordshire on the outside, but inside, it is a primeval, intricate, labyrinth of trees, impossibly huge, unforgettable – and stranger than time itself.
Stephen Huxley has already lost his father to the mysteries of Byhope Wood. On his return from the Second World War, he finds that his brother Christopher is also in thrall to this remnant of forest, wherein lies a realm where mythic archetypes grows flesh and blood, where love and beauty haunt your dreams, and in promises of freedom lies the sanctuary of insanity…
EXTRACT
Edward Wynne-Jones Esq.
15 College Road
Oxford
Edward –
You must come back to the Lodge. Please don’t delay for even an hour! I have discovered a fourth pathway into the deepest zones of the wood. The brook itself. So obvious now, a water track! It leads directly through the outer ash vortex, beyond the spiral track and the Stone Falls. I believe it could be used to enter the heartwoods themselves. But time, always time!
REVIEW
This was my first time reading Robert Holdstock.
Mythago Wood was brilliant. I loved every word and every page. Holdstock offers a very original fantasy novel. I loved the concept behind Mythago Wood, an immense wood that can create creatures of myth and legend from the mind’s of humans. Who wouldn’t love to read a book with such a premise? Can you imagine the crazy shit that could happen? I loved the extracts from the journals of Christian and Stephen’s father. They were intriguing, rambling and fascinating. I loved how Holdstock writes about Christian’s descent into their father’s madness. I loved it when Stephen went running into the woods after his mad brother to save the woman, the mythago he loved. Mythago Wood ticks all the boxes of a great read. Mythago Wood is the first book in a series. I need to read the rest to see what madness spawns from Ryhope Wood next.
RATING
