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A review by lgrunwald
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
5.0
"Eventually he left, but named the valley ritha muireog, which means 'where the hunter waits'. Later, however, the valley was called imarn uklyss, which means 'where the girl came back through the fire'. But that is a story for another time, and another people."
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I don't even know how to start. Was this book perfect? No. Did it have some parts that were a bit too slow or not explained enough? Yes. However, just because it wasn't a perfect book doesn't mean it wasn't MY perfect book. I swear I think this book was written personally for me. Even though our dear author Robert Holdstock has passed away it's like he knew years later I would read this book and be touched so deeply. It's like every single thing I am passionate about in life such as: history, mythology, nature, the preservation of stories and culture, languages, love, and the desire for knowledge long lost was all wrapped into a book that was only just under 300 pages along. I am in awe and am deeply grateful to the brilliant mind of Robert Holdstock.
Mythago Wood in is essence is about the nature of myth itself. How stories impact a culture and the people of the land it resides. How it's passed down from generation to generation and how and why details and concepts of a legend may change but it's core elements stay the same. How the myths are affected by the people who create them and the people and their cultures are shaped by the myths and the importance of there role in all of our histories.
Through his tale of Steven, Christian, Guiwenneth, and Keeton and the mysteries and legends in the Ryhope Wood Holdstock shows his absolute masterful understanding of the way our real life myths, religions, and stories evolve and change overtime. He flawlessly displays how a core story can remain the same for thousands and thousands of years in our subconscious but have it take different forms depending on the need of the time period through the spectacular idea of a mythago. The book definition of a mythago is "myth imago, the image of the idealized form of a myth creature". As someone who has studied history and myth for years and years, he absolutely nails the way our real life works in his fictional account. His interpretation of folklore and the nature of myth and how it is forever changing with the land and the people around it is also brilliantly displayed in his version of how time works in the woodland. Once you enter the woodland time switches to a "myth time" I guess you could say. Where a simple few months in our world could be years and years in the wood as the people and creatures there are forced to live out these legendary tales again and again in and endless cycle while their forms and pathways through there stories shift and change the always end up in the same place.
Holdstock writes about the woodlands like nothing I have ever seen. It's both great and terrible, awe inspiring and shocking, beautiful and ugly. As I walked the great primitive woodland with Steven I could practically feel the ancient earth beneath my feet, the suffocation of the undergrowth, I could smell the trees, the dirt, and the rot of the land. I felt both the pounding rains and the freezing snows above the giant canopies of the trees. All thanks to Holdstocks absolutely masterful descriptions and abilities of immersion.
The characters were brilliant and genuinely heartwarming, the lore fantastic and unique, the forest and its powers were spell-binding and addicting and the whole story was hard to put down. I laughed, I cried, I felt incredible joys and deep anger and sorrow and an adrenaline rush I don't think I'll ever get again from a novel. I only wish I could forget it so I could reread it again with a fresh mind! I haven't genuinely enjoyed a world or a fantasy story this much since I read the works of JRR Tolkien as a teenager. In fact, I think Holdstock and Tolkien would get along brilliantly. I can honestly say without a doubt that, in my opinion, this in a genuine masterpiece and probably the greatest novel I have ever read and my favourite. I have never given such high praise to a book but this...this is exactly the novel I've been looking for all of my life. My very own holy grail. I can't wait to try the rest of the series in the future and I will also be deeply diving into Holdstocks other works.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I don't even know how to start. Was this book perfect? No. Did it have some parts that were a bit too slow or not explained enough? Yes. However, just because it wasn't a perfect book doesn't mean it wasn't MY perfect book. I swear I think this book was written personally for me. Even though our dear author Robert Holdstock has passed away it's like he knew years later I would read this book and be touched so deeply. It's like every single thing I am passionate about in life such as: history, mythology, nature, the preservation of stories and culture, languages, love, and the desire for knowledge long lost was all wrapped into a book that was only just under 300 pages along. I am in awe and am deeply grateful to the brilliant mind of Robert Holdstock.
Mythago Wood in is essence is about the nature of myth itself. How stories impact a culture and the people of the land it resides. How it's passed down from generation to generation and how and why details and concepts of a legend may change but it's core elements stay the same. How the myths are affected by the people who create them and the people and their cultures are shaped by the myths and the importance of there role in all of our histories.
Through his tale of Steven, Christian, Guiwenneth, and Keeton and the mysteries and legends in the Ryhope Wood Holdstock shows his absolute masterful understanding of the way our real life myths, religions, and stories evolve and change overtime. He flawlessly displays how a core story can remain the same for thousands and thousands of years in our subconscious but have it take different forms depending on the need of the time period through the spectacular idea of a mythago. The book definition of a mythago is "myth imago, the image of the idealized form of a myth creature". As someone who has studied history and myth for years and years, he absolutely nails the way our real life works in his fictional account. His interpretation of folklore and the nature of myth and how it is forever changing with the land and the people around it is also brilliantly displayed in his version of how time works in the woodland. Once you enter the woodland time switches to a "myth time" I guess you could say. Where a simple few months in our world could be years and years in the wood as the people and creatures there are forced to live out these legendary tales again and again in and endless cycle while their forms and pathways through there stories shift and change the always end up in the same place.
Holdstock writes about the woodlands like nothing I have ever seen. It's both great and terrible, awe inspiring and shocking, beautiful and ugly. As I walked the great primitive woodland with Steven I could practically feel the ancient earth beneath my feet, the suffocation of the undergrowth, I could smell the trees, the dirt, and the rot of the land. I felt both the pounding rains and the freezing snows above the giant canopies of the trees. All thanks to Holdstocks absolutely masterful descriptions and abilities of immersion.
The characters were brilliant and genuinely heartwarming, the lore fantastic and unique, the forest and its powers were spell-binding and addicting and the whole story was hard to put down. I laughed, I cried, I felt incredible joys and deep anger and sorrow and an adrenaline rush I don't think I'll ever get again from a novel. I only wish I could forget it so I could reread it again with a fresh mind! I haven't genuinely enjoyed a world or a fantasy story this much since I read the works of JRR Tolkien as a teenager. In fact, I think Holdstock and Tolkien would get along brilliantly. I can honestly say without a doubt that, in my opinion, this in a genuine masterpiece and probably the greatest novel I have ever read and my favourite. I have never given such high praise to a book but this...this is exactly the novel I've been looking for all of my life. My very own holy grail. I can't wait to try the rest of the series in the future and I will also be deeply diving into Holdstocks other works.