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nwhyte's review against another edition
4.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2827113.html
I really enjoyed it, a great intense exploration of inner space and myth in English wilderness, with a rite of passage combined with quest for lost relative and connection with mythic figures from the collective unconscious. Anyone who has ever loved a woodland will connect with this. Quite a remarkable book.
I really enjoyed it, a great intense exploration of inner space and myth in English wilderness, with a rite of passage combined with quest for lost relative and connection with mythic figures from the collective unconscious. Anyone who has ever loved a woodland will connect with this. Quite a remarkable book.
ianbanks's review against another edition
4.0
I never enjoyed this book as much as the first in the series, but this time around I think it is the superior book. Like the parent volume this feels like a work of bits but it has a more uniform feel: only the sections detailing the creation myths and the generation of the mythagos feels like it was taken from a different text. The story of Tallis is probably more accessible to the reader than the tale spun by the scientist's son in Mythago Wood. Tallis feels things a lot more viscerally and naturally than Steven and the reader feels more of a connection to her story, bizarre though it becomes in the second half: we go from Alan Garner/ Phillipa Pearce domestic/ urban fantasy to a full-blooded weird tale out of Clark Ashton Smith. All informed by the work of Jung and Campbell. It shouldn't work and the structure of the story with its turning back upon itself and recapitulation of significant events told again - or "timey-wimey shenanigans" as I like to call it - and the ambiguity of the ending makes it a difficult and challenging read at times. But worth it. Totally worth it.
thecommonswings's review against another edition
5.0
I had significant issues with Mythago Wood and especially how it leapt through several dramatic shifts quicker than I thought it needed to. Lavondyss seems to be that weird aberration, a sequel that absolutely surpasses the original book in every way. It’s paced better, it’s more moving and powerful and human, it’s got more ideas in it and it’s far more haunting and sad and angry than Mythago Wood ever prepared me for
It helps that Tallis is a child when the narrative starts, so elements of her discovery of the nature of the woods are far more carefully done. I was not expecting Vaughan Williams to be a reasonably major - and surprisingly touching - character and to be the main reason for how affecting the childhood passages are. And the scenes in the wood are this time far more focused and strange, probably because the existence of a certain character only given by name in the original book allows for the actual existence of the area to be discussed far more philosophically than the first book did
And it’s also just more interesting. Tig is a genuinely troubling antagonist, and there are sequences that crackle with a strange energy that the former book never even hinted at. Holdstock absolutely and consistently resists easy resolutions and is basically here to challenge the reader as much as the reader wants to be challenged. And the book itself is a kind of a metaphor for the Mythago concept: it is stronger to a reader who brings more references and understanding to the text. If you know, for example, Machen’s fiction then the childhood sequences have a really weird and profoundly fascinating echo of the White People for example. The more you know of the histories and worlds that the book is weaving into its tale, the more rewarding the process is. And that’s basically the same for the characters in here too
It’s an astonishing work, building on the first novel’s promise and basically becoming a philosophical kick around about rebirth and tradition and folk narratives and so much more. It’s bursting with ideas and I think I only understand about half of it. But that half is so bloody impressive I feel that I have just read a significant work of a fiction not just a great fantasy novel. It’s genuinely extraordinary
It helps that Tallis is a child when the narrative starts, so elements of her discovery of the nature of the woods are far more carefully done. I was not expecting Vaughan Williams to be a reasonably major - and surprisingly touching - character and to be the main reason for how affecting the childhood passages are. And the scenes in the wood are this time far more focused and strange, probably because the existence of a certain character only given by name in the original book allows for the actual existence of the area to be discussed far more philosophically than the first book did
And it’s also just more interesting. Tig is a genuinely troubling antagonist, and there are sequences that crackle with a strange energy that the former book never even hinted at. Holdstock absolutely and consistently resists easy resolutions and is basically here to challenge the reader as much as the reader wants to be challenged. And the book itself is a kind of a metaphor for the Mythago concept: it is stronger to a reader who brings more references and understanding to the text. If you know, for example, Machen’s fiction then the childhood sequences have a really weird and profoundly fascinating echo of the White People for example. The more you know of the histories and worlds that the book is weaving into its tale, the more rewarding the process is. And that’s basically the same for the characters in here too
It’s an astonishing work, building on the first novel’s promise and basically becoming a philosophical kick around about rebirth and tradition and folk narratives and so much more. It’s bursting with ideas and I think I only understand about half of it. But that half is so bloody impressive I feel that I have just read a significant work of a fiction not just a great fantasy novel. It’s genuinely extraordinary
annikin's review against another edition
2.0
Skillfully crafted myths and legends but I simply didn't have the patience for the style.
teachergabi's review against another edition
5.0
"...For all things in this world were born from the minds of men and since all men were mad, they were mad creatures, madly running."
"We are voyagers in our own living madness. What we have that these wretched creatures around us do not is freedom. The freedom to choose."
I type this with a pounding head, an aching heart, a mind still immersed in the strange and terrible world of Lavondyss. And the wonderful music of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Tallis Fantasia" playing in my inner ear.
Lavondyss is a book that deserves ten stars out of the highest possible five star rating on Goodreads. I lack superlatives for a work of this genius, suffice it to say that if previous books left me teary-eyed, this one had me veritably WEEPING at 1:30 in the morning. I'm talking sobs muffled behind a pillow, a stream of waterworks, and a monster cold the following morning. *drinks from a steaming mug of hot calamansi juice*
This is one book whose back cover blurb does not even come close to the experience of it. Just as "Ghost-born-man-walking-on-water-telling-stories-dead-on-tree" does not even begin to tell one about Christ (a direct quote from the book!), so too does "Thirteen-year-old-girl-goes-into-a-parallel-universe-to-find-her-love-and-long-lost-brother" barely scratch the surface of what Lavondyss is.
Like its predecessor, it is about the power of myths and stories in shaping a country's story. But Lavondyss is so much grander and more epic, and more painful. Holdstock was a scientist before he wrote full time, and he brings that logic and clear-eyed vision to tell a story that seems so familiar... reminding one of Jungian archetypes and Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Lavondyss is "a place of the birth of a belief in the journey of the soul."
Holdstock's unique writing style may be off-putting for some readers, especially if one is used to a certain lyricism and romanticism in fantasy works.
There is nothing romantic about this book, despite the plot. And it is definitely for mature readers only.
"Wizard. Warlock. Druid. Scientist. I'm known by many names over the centuries, but they all mean one thing: echo of a lost knowledge."
Holdstock's scientific powers of observation and reportage make for words that cut like a scalpel in their brutal honesty, making this reader cringe in horror and feel sick to one's stomach at certain scenes that depict pre-historic customs. Lavondyss is a dark place, a difficult book to get through, not just in terms of language but also in terms of plot. But at the end, ah.... One feels like one has lived many lifetimes, many times over, and is just overwhelmed at the reminder that humanity goes on, that we have overcome darkness in the past and that we shall overcome the darkness of the gathering storm today.
I am reminded of a discussion I witnessed between friends, they were talking about the real meaning of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and I was blown away by how it is actually about that single life-defining choice, and how it haunts you, and how we are the ones who create meaning out of our lives. (I am paraphrasing the wisdom of Tata and Elsie!)
So the question in this book is, "If you entered a parallel universe expecting to succeed in your mission after only a week or month at most, and you realize it might take decades or an entire lifetime, and that you might not even succeed... do you push on your quest or do you give up and merely wait for death?"
"The naming of the land is important. It conceals and contains great truths. Your own name has changed your life."
It is no coincidence that Holdstock named his heroine "Tallis." She is so aptly named! Read this wonderful essay: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/jun/12/vaughan-williams-fantasia-theme-tallis). I particularly appreciated how Holdstock treated Tallis, how her language changed as she grew from girl to woman. I also recognize the great amount of research that went behind the writing of this award-winning novel.
"All of these things, simple evolutions of thought, began with the children, the new generation."
Below is a conversation between thirteen-year-old Tallis and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who shows up in the book (squeal of delight for fans of this composer!!!!!!!):
"A story, or a tune, comes as a piece of magic.. things change in life when you change them in stories."
"I assure you that they don't."
"I assure you that they do. Stories are fragile. Like people's lives. It only takes a word out of place to change them forever. If you hear a lovely tune, and then you change it, the new tune might be lovely too, but you've lost the first one."
"But if I stick to the first tune, then I've lost the second."
"But someone else might discover it. It's still there to be born."
"And the first tune isn't?"
"No, it has already come into your mind. It's lost forever."
"Nothing is lost forever. Everything I've known I still know, only sometimes I don't know that I know it. All things are known, but most things are forgotten. It takes a special magic to remember them."
"But you've lost your childhood. That can never come back."
"The child still lives in the man, even when you're as old as me."
This is a book that demands to be re-read! In another decade or so, I shall. What a treasure!!
"We are voyagers in our own living madness. What we have that these wretched creatures around us do not is freedom. The freedom to choose."
I type this with a pounding head, an aching heart, a mind still immersed in the strange and terrible world of Lavondyss. And the wonderful music of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Tallis Fantasia" playing in my inner ear.
Lavondyss is a book that deserves ten stars out of the highest possible five star rating on Goodreads. I lack superlatives for a work of this genius, suffice it to say that if previous books left me teary-eyed, this one had me veritably WEEPING at 1:30 in the morning. I'm talking sobs muffled behind a pillow, a stream of waterworks, and a monster cold the following morning. *drinks from a steaming mug of hot calamansi juice*
This is one book whose back cover blurb does not even come close to the experience of it. Just as "Ghost-born-man-walking-on-water-telling-stories-dead-on-tree" does not even begin to tell one about Christ (a direct quote from the book!), so too does "Thirteen-year-old-girl-goes-into-a-parallel-universe-to-find-her-love-and-long-lost-brother" barely scratch the surface of what Lavondyss is.
Like its predecessor, it is about the power of myths and stories in shaping a country's story. But Lavondyss is so much grander and more epic, and more painful. Holdstock was a scientist before he wrote full time, and he brings that logic and clear-eyed vision to tell a story that seems so familiar... reminding one of Jungian archetypes and Joseph Campbell's monomyth. Lavondyss is "a place of the birth of a belief in the journey of the soul."
Holdstock's unique writing style may be off-putting for some readers, especially if one is used to a certain lyricism and romanticism in fantasy works.
There is nothing romantic about this book, despite the plot. And it is definitely for mature readers only.
"Wizard. Warlock. Druid. Scientist. I'm known by many names over the centuries, but they all mean one thing: echo of a lost knowledge."
Holdstock's scientific powers of observation and reportage make for words that cut like a scalpel in their brutal honesty, making this reader cringe in horror and feel sick to one's stomach at certain scenes that depict pre-historic customs. Lavondyss is a dark place, a difficult book to get through, not just in terms of language but also in terms of plot. But at the end, ah.... One feels like one has lived many lifetimes, many times over, and is just overwhelmed at the reminder that humanity goes on, that we have overcome darkness in the past and that we shall overcome the darkness of the gathering storm today.
I am reminded of a discussion I witnessed between friends, they were talking about the real meaning of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and I was blown away by how it is actually about that single life-defining choice, and how it haunts you, and how we are the ones who create meaning out of our lives. (I am paraphrasing the wisdom of Tata and Elsie!)
So the question in this book is, "If you entered a parallel universe expecting to succeed in your mission after only a week or month at most, and you realize it might take decades or an entire lifetime, and that you might not even succeed... do you push on your quest or do you give up and merely wait for death?"
"The naming of the land is important. It conceals and contains great truths. Your own name has changed your life."
It is no coincidence that Holdstock named his heroine "Tallis." She is so aptly named! Read this wonderful essay: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/jun/12/vaughan-williams-fantasia-theme-tallis). I particularly appreciated how Holdstock treated Tallis, how her language changed as she grew from girl to woman. I also recognize the great amount of research that went behind the writing of this award-winning novel.
"All of these things, simple evolutions of thought, began with the children, the new generation."
Below is a conversation between thirteen-year-old Tallis and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who shows up in the book (squeal of delight for fans of this composer!!!!!!!):
"A story, or a tune, comes as a piece of magic.. things change in life when you change them in stories."
"I assure you that they don't."
"I assure you that they do. Stories are fragile. Like people's lives. It only takes a word out of place to change them forever. If you hear a lovely tune, and then you change it, the new tune might be lovely too, but you've lost the first one."
"But if I stick to the first tune, then I've lost the second."
"But someone else might discover it. It's still there to be born."
"And the first tune isn't?"
"No, it has already come into your mind. It's lost forever."
"Nothing is lost forever. Everything I've known I still know, only sometimes I don't know that I know it. All things are known, but most things are forgotten. It takes a special magic to remember them."
"But you've lost your childhood. That can never come back."
"The child still lives in the man, even when you're as old as me."
This is a book that demands to be re-read! In another decade or so, I shall. What a treasure!!
aclarada's review against another edition
5.0
libro más maravilloso que este dentro del género fantástico no encontraréis
rupertowen's review against another edition
5.0
After having re-read Mythago Wood as part of a critical study, I decided to carry on and re-read Lavondyss. Many people have commented that this narrative drags, but in my humble opinion, as with how cinema, prior to rhythmic editing trends, perhaps may seem slow or wafting, Lavondyss is no more unhurried than any other book of the 19th or 20th century. Whereas, Mythago Wood was a deliberate intrusion into the mythical realms of Ryhope, Lavondyss is a more gentle discovery of it through oracle and divination. The character of Tallis really carries the burden of life and death through her imagination, her journey is in the grandest sense of time, epic. Lavondyss is a book of familial sorrow, entropy, of suffering and superstition. You are not going to find a rip-roaring adventure full of spellbinding and combat, this book is more reflective but it is also, as Holdstock mentions in his afterward, a fictional version of a treatise he might have liked to write on the theme of stories and myths. For me, there are some moments that I will never forget, some moments where Robert's writing held me unflinchingly, and others where I just let time unfold in a world where time has no linear meaning.
thepurplebookwyrm's review against another edition
4.0
My video review for both Mythago Wood and Lavondyss is up and running
expendablemudge's review against another edition
2.0
Rating: 2.5* of five (p79)
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG
As good as Mythago Wood was, that is how good this book wasn't.
I turned for home again after that. Here, we are defining “home” as a gin bottle, a vermouth atomizer, and an icy cold shaker.
For anyone still even slightly awake, Harry's sister Tallis goes into the wood to rescue him. (See last book.) Total snore. Don't care, don't want to read one more word about Ryhope Wood, and that is a crime. It's one of the most fascinating ideas I've read in a long time.
And it just got goobered on. Damn! Blast! Hate that hate it hate it hate it!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG
As good as Mythago Wood was, that is how good this book wasn't.
”I can't replace it,” Tallis called. “If it hasn't grown back then it wasn't meant to grow back. What can I do? I can't stick it back on. It's mine, now. The tine belongs to me, You can't be angry. Please don't be angry.”
Broken Boy roared. The sound carried across the land. It drowned the somber tone of the Shadoxhurst bell. It marked the end of the encounter.
The stag walked out of sight across the hill.
Tallis did not follow. Rather, she stood for a while, and only when darkness made the woods fade to black did she turn for home again.”
I turned for home again after that. Here, we are defining “home” as a gin bottle, a vermouth atomizer, and an icy cold shaker.
For anyone still even slightly awake, Harry's sister Tallis goes into the wood to rescue him. (See last book.) Total snore. Don't care, don't want to read one more word about Ryhope Wood, and that is a crime. It's one of the most fascinating ideas I've read in a long time.
And it just got goobered on. Damn! Blast! Hate that hate it hate it hate it!
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