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theaurochs's review against another edition
3.0
Has intriguing ideas but is at the end of the day held back by cold, distant narration and a meandering feeling plot in the latter half of the book.
There are a few problematic elements within the narrative that Holdstock hurts himself by not addressing in the slightest.
So interesting but not really fun or massively engaging.
There are a few problematic elements within the narrative that Holdstock hurts himself by not addressing in the slightest.
So interesting but not really fun or massively engaging.
ltobin's review against another edition
3.0
The plot for this book was pretty good, but the plot overtook the book. The characters had absolutely no depth, we don't know why they do what they do. I often prefer character development (which was non existant in this novel) to plot development, so I didn't enjoy most of this book. I give it three stars because the plot was pretty good, and at some points in the book I felt suspense and wanted to read on. For most of the book, though, it was a chore.
joshuaperry's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
rompcat's review against another edition
3.0
Brooding and self-absorbed main character, character’s father, and character’s elder brother all lose themselves—psycho-sexually—to an earthy, prepubescent girl shaman-warrior of their own creation.
Ugh.
Gross and self-involved. Real “shadow of the eye (I)” vibe. Could have been some good stuff here, but the build up is so overblown and the payoff is sooo juvenile. The too-young girl is described in unhurried sexual terms and it’s filled with imbued chauvinist conceits. It’s not like the author was writing outside of the norm of the time, but it’s really hard to overlook it’s so flagrant.
Still, much worse out there and still being made.
Ugh.
Gross and self-involved. Real “shadow of the eye (I)” vibe. Could have been some good stuff here, but the build up is so overblown and the payoff is sooo juvenile. The too-young girl is described in unhurried sexual terms and it’s filled with imbued chauvinist conceits. It’s not like the author was writing outside of the norm of the time, but it’s really hard to overlook it’s so flagrant.
Still, much worse out there and still being made.
pebbles1984's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked the concept of this book, the mythagos. This could be really cool. However, the story itself was a bit slow for me, and I didn't feel like I always fully grasped what was going on.
irrelivant's review against another edition
2.0
it was going somewhat okay until it wasn’t. i was just starting to get into some of the lore and concepts of this book when i got blindsided by this man’s sudden lust and objectification of a young girl as well as his blaring narcissism… could not take the rest of the book seriously. i even had to listen to the audiobook for the majority of it while i did something else because i didn’t want to give my full attention to it lol
agus_gm's review against another edition
2.0
Ha sido raro y me ha costado un huevo terminarlo. La impresión que me ha dado es que iban sucediendo las cosas y los encuentros sin ningún orden, algo así como... se me acaba de ocurrir esto, pues aquí que lo pongo... total, el bosque de los mitagos funciona de esta manera, así que puedo hacerlo. Es cierto que ha tenído algunos momentos interesantes, pero otros han sido totalmente prescindibles, incluso absurdos, por lo que se he ha hecho bastante pesado y aburrido y de ahí que me costase tanto terminarlo.
Es una novela que comenzó como relato ganando importantes premios y al convertirse en novela volvió a ganarlos, por lo tanto tenía grandes espectativas con este libro. Además, había leído que era algo diferente a todas las historias de fantasía y se había convertido en una obra de culto. Y digo yo... menos mal que es diferente y no hay mas como esta, porque menudo tostón. ES MI OPINIÓN y puede que no coicida con la tuya, ahí está la gracia de estas cosas.
El libro tiene una segunda parte traducida al castellano llamada Lavondyss y hasta 5 entregas más, llegando a los siete libros, pero ese es un chicle que no voy a estirar más. Con este ya me duele la mandíbula de tanto mascar y ha perdido totalmente su sabor.
Nos leemos!
Es una novela que comenzó como relato ganando importantes premios y al convertirse en novela volvió a ganarlos, por lo tanto tenía grandes espectativas con este libro. Además, había leído que era algo diferente a todas las historias de fantasía y se había convertido en una obra de culto. Y digo yo... menos mal que es diferente y no hay mas como esta, porque menudo tostón. ES MI OPINIÓN y puede que no coicida con la tuya, ahí está la gracia de estas cosas.
El libro tiene una segunda parte traducida al castellano llamada Lavondyss y hasta 5 entregas más, llegando a los siete libros, pero ese es un chicle que no voy a estirar más. Con este ya me duele la mandíbula de tanto mascar y ha perdido totalmente su sabor.
Nos leemos!
fallingletters's review against another edition
2.0
Discussion originally published 8 June 2018 at Falling Letters.
My sister and I both gave this book ★★. The mythical wood premise appealed to us, but we found the plot lacklustre and portrayal of the female protagonist disturbing.
I found the book disappointing and in fact a bit disturbing. I was introduced to Mythago Wood at a meeting of a young adult and children’s literature club and so I assumed the book was geared toward youth. It is not – Steven’s sexual comments about Guiwenneth and other characters shocked me, because I was not expecting them. Once I came to accept they were part of his character, I found them dull and gross. Here is a man who can think of little else but sex. His relationship with Guiwenneth is depicted in a one-sided manner, as Steven narrates the story and (oh yeah, this is important) she is literally a figment of his imagination – an archetypal ‘sexy warrior woman’ from the depths of consciousness, wholly defined by a male’s vision. Both Steven’s brother and father’s imagined versions of Guiwenneth into being and went mad when they lost her. Guiwenneth tears apart Steven’s family. To directly quote Ash: “I thought it was gonna be cool adventures in a mythical forest…I did not expect a book that was not for feminists”. I had the same expectations. This premise did not appeal to us at all. We thought it was a poor way to explore the idea of mythagos and the wood in which they inhabit. Ash and I would have enjoyed the story more is there was less Guiwenneth, more adventuring in ‘Mythago Wood’.
That being said, we did enjoy some parts of the book that are set in Ryhope Wood. We liked the descriptive passages of the wood (“Yeah, it was like oh good we don’t have to talk about Gwen anymore, now we can talk about trees”). The climactic in which Steven finally confronts Christopher was tense. Ash liked the retroactive narrative style, that gives it a particular tone and allows for some ominous foreshadowing. I liked Harry’s small story line, but not enough to pursue the sequel, which is apparently about his younger singer looking for him.
We talked about this a bit but really there’s not much more to say. I found myself giggling a lot when recapping. Mostly we talked about the notes I made in my ebook and how 80% of them could be boiled down to ‘wth’ (the ending + whenever Steven made a sexual comment).
We hate the word 'urscumug’. Try saying that out loud. (I seriously contemplated inserting the audio of us pronouncing it in ridiculous ways…)
The bottom Line: Whatever value Mythago Wood may have contributed to fantasy writing was largely lost on us due to Guiwenneth’s role as male fantasy fulfiller.
My sister and I both gave this book ★★. The mythical wood premise appealed to us, but we found the plot lacklustre and portrayal of the female protagonist disturbing.
I found the book disappointing and in fact a bit disturbing. I was introduced to Mythago Wood at a meeting of a young adult and children’s literature club and so I assumed the book was geared toward youth. It is not – Steven’s sexual comments about Guiwenneth and other characters shocked me, because I was not expecting them. Once I came to accept they were part of his character, I found them dull and gross. Here is a man who can think of little else but sex. His relationship with Guiwenneth is depicted in a one-sided manner, as Steven narrates the story and (oh yeah, this is important) she is literally a figment of his imagination – an archetypal ‘sexy warrior woman’ from the depths of consciousness, wholly defined by a male’s vision. Both Steven’s brother and father’s imagined versions of Guiwenneth into being and went mad when they lost her. Guiwenneth tears apart Steven’s family. To directly quote Ash: “I thought it was gonna be cool adventures in a mythical forest…I did not expect a book that was not for feminists”. I had the same expectations. This premise did not appeal to us at all. We thought it was a poor way to explore the idea of mythagos and the wood in which they inhabit. Ash and I would have enjoyed the story more is there was less Guiwenneth, more adventuring in ‘Mythago Wood’.
That being said, we did enjoy some parts of the book that are set in Ryhope Wood. We liked the descriptive passages of the wood (“Yeah, it was like oh good we don’t have to talk about Gwen anymore, now we can talk about trees”). The climactic in which Steven finally confronts Christopher was tense. Ash liked the retroactive narrative style, that gives it a particular tone and allows for some ominous foreshadowing. I liked Harry’s small story line, but not enough to pursue the sequel, which is apparently about his younger singer looking for him.
We talked about this a bit but really there’s not much more to say. I found myself giggling a lot when recapping. Mostly we talked about the notes I made in my ebook and how 80% of them could be boiled down to ‘wth’ (the ending + whenever Steven made a sexual comment).
We hate the word 'urscumug’. Try saying that out loud. (I seriously contemplated inserting the audio of us pronouncing it in ridiculous ways…)
The bottom Line: Whatever value Mythago Wood may have contributed to fantasy writing was largely lost on us due to Guiwenneth’s role as male fantasy fulfiller.
littlemegs's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-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
3.0