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Mythago Wood #4
The Hollowing
The victim of a violent attack, Alex Bradley is a damaged and visionary child. Little does he know that the distorted creations of his mind are alive inside nearby Ryhope Wood. Then the forest claims him, and his father goes in pursuit, along with a scientific expedition looking for the secret of 'mythago-genesis'.
333 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
Robert Holdstock
114 books378 followersRobert Paul Holdstock was an English novelist and author who is best known for his works of fantasy literature, predominantly in the fantasy subgenre of mythic fiction.
Holdstock's writing was first published in 1968. His science fiction and fantasy works explore philosophical, psychological, anthropological, spiritual, and woodland themes. He has received three BSFA awards and won the World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Novel in 1985.
Pseudonyms are Chris Carlsen, Robert Faulcon,Robert Black, Steven Eisler and Richard Kirk.
Holdstock's writing was first published in 1968. His science fiction and fantasy works explore philosophical, psychological, anthropological, spiritual, and woodland themes. He has received three BSFA awards and won the World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Novel in 1985.
Pseudonyms are Chris Carlsen, Robert Faulcon,Robert Black, Steven Eisler and Richard Kirk.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 17, 2019
The first book was like a mix of Braveheart and Excalibur with burly dudes chopping off pieces of each other and with some mythical and mystical creatures popping up. The second book was more like Inception with layers of consciousness stuff and a bunch of "wow the author is eating tons of LSD moments" but was a little lacking in the fun department, but book four (I skipped book three the book of short stories, I'm not a short story guy) was a return to the fun-ness that was book one. This one was like Jurassic Park meets Mythago Woods (there is even a brief scene with velociraptors) in that scientists are running around in the woods with their equipment trying to figure out just what the heck the woods are all about and helping a guy who has no idea what is going on try to find his son. There is some time displacement stuff, there is some challenging the notions of who and what you thought of characters from stories from our past, and some very real-feeling character interactions that have to do with family and relationships and love vs loss. The series as a whole is shaping up to be one of my favorite fantasy series of all time and this one was as awesome for me as book one was, just for different reasons.
December 2, 2016
I read this 15+ years ago based on a Realms of Fantasy magazine review, and the memory of it has stuck with me. I almost want to read it again to see if I feel the same way about it.
I didn't love it at all, but it was fascinating and dark. It interested me in much the same way Exquisite Corpse by Poppi Z Brite and Under the Skin by Michael Fabre did - and I was turned off for many of the same reasons as with those books. There's a distance and coldness to the story. The characters are stark and well drawn but untouchable. The end didn't feel like an end, more like a meandering fade-out.
The forest itself is a central character in the book. It played a part in the previous books, which I never read and you don't need to in order to understand The Hollowing. The forest is populated with mythagos, distorted figures from mythology and human imagination. (Sounds good, right?!) Sometimes they were benign and sometimes threatening. I wish we were shown more viscerally what they could do because some of them were fascinating. I wanted to see the story veer further into horror, to collect on its promise. But it is very much a fantasy, which I enjoy too. It just didn't fully work for me.
I didn't love it at all, but it was fascinating and dark. It interested me in much the same way Exquisite Corpse by Poppi Z Brite and Under the Skin by Michael Fabre did - and I was turned off for many of the same reasons as with those books. There's a distance and coldness to the story. The characters are stark and well drawn but untouchable. The end didn't feel like an end, more like a meandering fade-out.
The forest itself is a central character in the book. It played a part in the previous books, which I never read and you don't need to in order to understand The Hollowing. The forest is populated with mythagos, distorted figures from mythology and human imagination. (Sounds good, right?!) Sometimes they were benign and sometimes threatening. I wish we were shown more viscerally what they could do because some of them were fascinating. I wanted to see the story veer further into horror, to collect on its promise. But it is very much a fantasy, which I enjoy too. It just didn't fully work for me.
March 21, 2009
Having read the last book (Lavondyss) first, I suppose I came ill-prepared for The Hollowing. I was disappointed. My reason for this is purely personal, having to do with character motivation and justification, both of which I feel are lacking in the main protagonist. There is the makings of a heart-breaking novel here, but it failed, in my opinion.
I realize I fly in the face of literary acclaim and public opinion. It's not the first time. In my defense all I can say is I'm a very critical reader.
While the writing is lyrical, engaging, there is a lack of depth of character and emotion in the father of this story, Richard Bradley, who, despite the apparent discovery of his son who was thought dead and buried, ends up retreating in a state of apathy when his son needs him most, and this from a character who is allegedly a loving, dedicated father. Even when Richard returns to the mysterious and dangerous environs of Mythago Wood, he does little more than bumble about, without any apparent determination or will to rescue his son.
It is further alleged that his son, Alex, is 'a damaged and visionary child'. The reader, however, is given no evidence of this in Alex's pre-Mythago Wood existence, other than a few cursory statements that in his last days, before his apparent death, Alex sank into a state of catatonia. A classic case of 'tell' instead of 'show'.I wanted very much to like this novel. I was left luke-warm. Which is a pity because Holdstock, winner of the accolade of a World Fantasy Award, has all the elements and all the ability to have created a heart-rending, haunting, stunning work, with The Hollowing. Instead, in my opinion, the novel is forgettable.
I realize I fly in the face of literary acclaim and public opinion. It's not the first time. In my defense all I can say is I'm a very critical reader.
While the writing is lyrical, engaging, there is a lack of depth of character and emotion in the father of this story, Richard Bradley, who, despite the apparent discovery of his son who was thought dead and buried, ends up retreating in a state of apathy when his son needs him most, and this from a character who is allegedly a loving, dedicated father. Even when Richard returns to the mysterious and dangerous environs of Mythago Wood, he does little more than bumble about, without any apparent determination or will to rescue his son.
It is further alleged that his son, Alex, is 'a damaged and visionary child'. The reader, however, is given no evidence of this in Alex's pre-Mythago Wood existence, other than a few cursory statements that in his last days, before his apparent death, Alex sank into a state of catatonia. A classic case of 'tell' instead of 'show'.I wanted very much to like this novel. I was left luke-warm. Which is a pity because Holdstock, winner of the accolade of a World Fantasy Award, has all the elements and all the ability to have created a heart-rending, haunting, stunning work, with The Hollowing. Instead, in my opinion, the novel is forgettable.
September 18, 2019
I read Mythago Wood back when it was first published, and I loved it. I have read it several times and have always wished it could be turned into a move. The Hollowing is a much better tale than the middle book, Lavondyss, which I considered to be a vast disappointment.
But when all is said and done, I love the idea of Holdstock's myth-haunted Ryhope Wood more than I love his stories. The Hollowing is a bit of a hot mess, alternating jerkily between well-crafted scenes and jumbled Jung-influenced images flung at you with what almost feels like hostility. Perhaps a strong-handed editor or agent could have guided Holdstock to a stronger narrative. But we will never know.
September 11, 2017
Kārtēja „Mitago meža” cikla grāmata. Arī šo grāmatu ar iepriekšējām vieno tikai Mitago mežs un Tallis tēvs no grāmatas „Lavondyss”. Sižeta galvenā līnija ir sekojoša. Pēc vairāk kā gadu ilgas prombūtnes no Mitago meža atgriežas Tallis tēvs. Viņš ir diezgan izmainījies un saikne ar mūsu pasauli viņam rodas tikai, ja blakus atrodas Alex Bradly, pazudušās meitas draugs. Pēc kāda laika arī šis puisēns pazūd Mitago meža biezoknī. Skaidra lieta, ka viņa tēvs Ričards dodas viņu meklēt un atgriezt mūsu pasaulē.
Šoreiz pastaiga mežā nenotiek vienatnē, izrādās, ka mežā ir vesela zinātnieku apmetne, kas nodarbojas ar mītu ģenēzes izpēti. Tas piedod stāstam tādu kā zinātniskuma piegaršu. Autors arī nedaudz nolaižas līdz lasītājam un ievieš pāris jaunus konceptus, mežā eksistē daudzas paralēlas pasaules, kur katra ir kāda mītu daļa. Šīs pasaules savukārt savieno portāli „Hollowing”, no dažiem pētnieki atgriežas, no dažām nē.
Ričarda dēls Alex ir radījis problēmu pētniekiem, bērna fantāzija ir sākusi nopietni mijiedarboties ar mežu, pamazām aizstājot George Huxley radīto pasauli ar savu, daudz bīstamāku, kurā mājo dinozauri un dažādi citi radījumi. Arī katram pētniekam ir savs tēls, kuru viņš mēģina atrast mežā. Cits, lai vienkārši satiktos un aprunātos, cits lai nogalinātu.
Grāmata ir pilna ar dažādiem mītiem un lasās tikpat viegli kā „Mitago mežs”. Man personīgi patikās mīta par Jāsonu interpretācija. Varenā argonautu komanda apceļo mežu vākdama dažādas eksotiskas lietas un amuletus. Jāsons ir kļuvis par laupītāju un tirgoni, kuram ļoti patīk aitas. Ievērības cienīga ir arī Bābeles torņa interpretācija un Ziemeļamerikas indiāņu pasaku varoņa viltīgā Koijota iesaistīšana sižetā. Un, protams, centrālais grāmatas mitaago Jack In The Green.
Kā nedaudz uzkrītošs sāk palikt fakts, ka atšķirībā no pirmās grāmatas koncepcijas – dziļāk mežā vairāk plašuma, autors ir ķēries pie dažādu portālu radīšanas, kas meža telplaika jēdzienu nedaudz nonivelē. Parādās pat mitago, kurš spēj radīt pats savu Hollowing. Šī parādīšanās tad arī bija fakts, kas mani nedaudz sarūgtināja (tā bija kā klavieru izstumšana no krūmiem).
Kopumā ir vērts izlasīt, es personīgi, kā pieķēros, tā arī nost neliku, kamēr netiku izlasījis līdz galam. Kopumā grāmatai lieku 10 no 10 ballēm, un iesaku izlasīt visiem, kurus ir nobaidījis „Lavondyss” apcerējums, šī noteikti ir saprotamāka un vieglāk uztverama. Tomēr šī noteikti nav fantasy tās tradicionālajā izpausmē, te cilvēka prāts bieži vien pavēršas pats pret sevi.
Šoreiz pastaiga mežā nenotiek vienatnē, izrādās, ka mežā ir vesela zinātnieku apmetne, kas nodarbojas ar mītu ģenēzes izpēti. Tas piedod stāstam tādu kā zinātniskuma piegaršu. Autors arī nedaudz nolaižas līdz lasītājam un ievieš pāris jaunus konceptus, mežā eksistē daudzas paralēlas pasaules, kur katra ir kāda mītu daļa. Šīs pasaules savukārt savieno portāli „Hollowing”, no dažiem pētnieki atgriežas, no dažām nē.
Ričarda dēls Alex ir radījis problēmu pētniekiem, bērna fantāzija ir sākusi nopietni mijiedarboties ar mežu, pamazām aizstājot George Huxley radīto pasauli ar savu, daudz bīstamāku, kurā mājo dinozauri un dažādi citi radījumi. Arī katram pētniekam ir savs tēls, kuru viņš mēģina atrast mežā. Cits, lai vienkārši satiktos un aprunātos, cits lai nogalinātu.
Grāmata ir pilna ar dažādiem mītiem un lasās tikpat viegli kā „Mitago mežs”. Man personīgi patikās mīta par Jāsonu interpretācija. Varenā argonautu komanda apceļo mežu vākdama dažādas eksotiskas lietas un amuletus. Jāsons ir kļuvis par laupītāju un tirgoni, kuram ļoti patīk aitas. Ievērības cienīga ir arī Bābeles torņa interpretācija un Ziemeļamerikas indiāņu pasaku varoņa viltīgā Koijota iesaistīšana sižetā. Un, protams, centrālais grāmatas mitaago Jack In The Green.
Kā nedaudz uzkrītošs sāk palikt fakts, ka atšķirībā no pirmās grāmatas koncepcijas – dziļāk mežā vairāk plašuma, autors ir ķēries pie dažādu portālu radīšanas, kas meža telplaika jēdzienu nedaudz nonivelē. Parādās pat mitago, kurš spēj radīt pats savu Hollowing. Šī parādīšanās tad arī bija fakts, kas mani nedaudz sarūgtināja (tā bija kā klavieru izstumšana no krūmiem).
Kopumā ir vērts izlasīt, es personīgi, kā pieķēros, tā arī nost neliku, kamēr netiku izlasījis līdz galam. Kopumā grāmatai lieku 10 no 10 ballēm, un iesaku izlasīt visiem, kurus ir nobaidījis „Lavondyss” apcerējums, šī noteikti ir saprotamāka un vieglāk uztverama. Tomēr šī noteikti nav fantasy tās tradicionālajā izpausmē, te cilvēka prāts bieži vien pavēršas pats pret sevi.
May 16, 2010
I love the Mythago woods books! They give me the absolute best of both worlds, meaning the realm of the fantastical and the history of the real world. If I could pack everything I wanted into one book (or even series), this would definitely be it.
The Hollowing is no different. Once again, the reader returns to Ryhope Wood... and what a return!
The Hollowing is no different. Once again, the reader returns to Ryhope Wood... and what a return!
July 1, 2019
Trudged thru 60 pages before accepting that I couldn't care less about anything that happened in this book.
November 18, 2009
I truly enjoyed reading this book. It was such a departure from my previous reads. Plus, I think the wheels are in motion for the next big wave of books - fantasy reading. Hello J.R.R. Tolkien!
The Hollowing is about Alex, a boy who is sucked into an under world of multi-dimensional fantasy. In order to stay alive, he creates historical figures ready to go to battle in order to protect himself. Alex's father, Richard, enters this fantasy world via "hollowings" and meets up with a team of explorers and together they search various dimensions hoping to find Alex and bring him home.
While searching for this title on Goodreads, I was disappointed to see that this book is a series of 4 books and I read book #4. I am compelled now to read books 1-3, but only if I find them at a used book store.
The Hollowing is about Alex, a boy who is sucked into an under world of multi-dimensional fantasy. In order to stay alive, he creates historical figures ready to go to battle in order to protect himself. Alex's father, Richard, enters this fantasy world via "hollowings" and meets up with a team of explorers and together they search various dimensions hoping to find Alex and bring him home.
While searching for this title on Goodreads, I was disappointed to see that this book is a series of 4 books and I read book #4. I am compelled now to read books 1-3, but only if I find them at a used book store.
January 4, 2016
After taking his last story into the roots of mythology about as far as he could comfortably go and still retain readers' abilities to follow exactly what he was trying to do, Holdstock pulls back slightly from that extreme and decides to go with a much more conventional story instead. Or at least conventional by his standards.
Set a couple years after Tallis, the young girl who was the star of the last book, vanishes into the woods, the book chooses to focus on a minor character who was one of her few friends, Alex Bradley. Or at least on his father. Having pretty much already set down the ground rules of the forest, Holdstock can more or less dispense the oddness now like a well oiled machine and the early chapters have so much of that off kilter eerieness that this series has done so well so far. Alex toys with Tallis' old masks, goes for dances, becomes fascinated with knights and the "Gawain and the Green Knight" story and doesn't really give us father much of a sign that things are about to go very wonky. And they don't, for a while . . . until someone who disappeared in the last novel makes an appearance, looking no older but very much damaged and proceeds to set the stage for another foray into the forest.
One thing that we haven't seen as much of and gets a lot of play here is just what the forest does to people. It's been established that it's a grim and fairly unforgiving place but most of the people who have gone inside are somewhat attuned to it and thus tend to respond in kind. This time we see the effect on someone who isn't at all prepared for it and it's a scary, almost depressing thing to witness someone become utterly shellshocked to the point of being almost entirely incapacitated. As cruel as this will probably sound, it's that willingness to really wreck his characters that tends to set this book apart from other fantasy novels of the same stripe . . . while other books may ruin people to further a plot point, Holdstock tends to do it because the forest really isn't a pleasant place under any circumstances.
After Alex decides to do the expected thing and vanish into the woods as well, his father Richard sees his life fall apart in the interim, until he comes across a group of people who are studying the forest and seemed to be making some scientific headway with it. The whole concept of the myth studying forest prying team of eccentric scientists could have been a bonkers idea that killed the book entirely but somehow he makes the idea work so well that you wonder why he didn't get to it earlier and often it feels like a natural extension of what we've seen before. After watching people who are close to the forest in slowly widening degrees get sucked into it and figuring it out haphazardly, now we see a handful of people attempting to apply the scientific method to it.
Unfortunately for them they seem no better at it than the thirteen year old girl was and the body count is apparently high before Richard Bradly even gets around to meeting them. But it changes the whole tenor of the book in a way that we don't automatically expect, as we have people who can at least take a stab at explaining the reason behind all the odd happenings inside the wood as opposed to trying to figure it out from context and books we've never read. Having a team of people wandering around a dark mysterious woods subtly pushes the novel into horror movie territory and Holdstock writes some effective scenes of terrible things happening (one exploration of a building goes memorably and horribly wrong very quickly) to people who are pretty sure they're prepared but actually aren't. Since the head scientist's theory is that Alex is somehow messing up the forest with his weird myth mojo and he'd like to stop that so the forest can get back to its usual incoherent weirdness, there's a sense of stalking and desperation that feels more conventional but is still an interesting change of pace from the last two books.
This does lead to the strangeness being somewhat standardized, with the myths now being drawn from known sources and not just shadowy figures spun from mostly forgotten memories. While some people laud the appearance of the AARP eligible version of the Jason and his Argonauts, beyond Jason really not being very nice, it almost entirely lacks the delirious sense of oddness that kept the earlier volumes so off kilter. Even the presence of a girl who was apparently present at the fall of the Tower of Babel feels a little commonplace given everything we've witnessed before. Some of this is probably due to the scientists, who by quantifying everything can't help but add some degree of standardization to a place that more or less seemed to operate under its own rapidly changing terms of logic. The logic was probably always there, but having it so expertly pointed out does drain out some of the fun. But maybe Holdstock just wanted credit for all his hard work.
What does become clear is that if he had wanted to write a thriller all along he would have been able to churn out a cracklin' good one, as a father tries to rescue his child from a force that even the people with advanced degrees and ample points in their wilderness survival skill option can't even adequately explain? There are moments when you can feel the uneasy push-pull of the book as it clearly wants to delve into the funky mytho-weirdness of the last book and when it just wants to tell a more straightforward story with elements of myth . . . the inability to decide between the two gives it a strange tension that it can't quite resolve at times. And yet it makes it fascinating all the same, using our familiarity with both the myth and the series against us by adding an actual layer of mistrust and menace to the proceedings.
But all the familiarity can't make the mechanics of the ending any less impenetrable at times . . . you know who wins and what the ultimate stakes are, but it's not clear at times how they got there. But that's not a problem unique to this volume and when the journal is this fascinating, any ending that achieves at least what someone sets out to do is satisfying in its own way. He would go on to write other books based on Mythago Wood but it's hard to say where he could have gone from here, having pushed the mythological aspects as far as he could and then added science to the mix, the only real threat the forest could have now would be from the outside ("Coming Soon: Mythago Condos"). And while that might make for interesting reading, it would add a sense of realism that even the fantasy wouldn't be able to tolerate.
Set a couple years after Tallis, the young girl who was the star of the last book, vanishes into the woods, the book chooses to focus on a minor character who was one of her few friends, Alex Bradley. Or at least on his father. Having pretty much already set down the ground rules of the forest, Holdstock can more or less dispense the oddness now like a well oiled machine and the early chapters have so much of that off kilter eerieness that this series has done so well so far. Alex toys with Tallis' old masks, goes for dances, becomes fascinated with knights and the "Gawain and the Green Knight" story and doesn't really give us father much of a sign that things are about to go very wonky. And they don't, for a while . . . until someone who disappeared in the last novel makes an appearance, looking no older but very much damaged and proceeds to set the stage for another foray into the forest.
One thing that we haven't seen as much of and gets a lot of play here is just what the forest does to people. It's been established that it's a grim and fairly unforgiving place but most of the people who have gone inside are somewhat attuned to it and thus tend to respond in kind. This time we see the effect on someone who isn't at all prepared for it and it's a scary, almost depressing thing to witness someone become utterly shellshocked to the point of being almost entirely incapacitated. As cruel as this will probably sound, it's that willingness to really wreck his characters that tends to set this book apart from other fantasy novels of the same stripe . . . while other books may ruin people to further a plot point, Holdstock tends to do it because the forest really isn't a pleasant place under any circumstances.
After Alex decides to do the expected thing and vanish into the woods as well, his father Richard sees his life fall apart in the interim, until he comes across a group of people who are studying the forest and seemed to be making some scientific headway with it. The whole concept of the myth studying forest prying team of eccentric scientists could have been a bonkers idea that killed the book entirely but somehow he makes the idea work so well that you wonder why he didn't get to it earlier and often it feels like a natural extension of what we've seen before. After watching people who are close to the forest in slowly widening degrees get sucked into it and figuring it out haphazardly, now we see a handful of people attempting to apply the scientific method to it.
Unfortunately for them they seem no better at it than the thirteen year old girl was and the body count is apparently high before Richard Bradly even gets around to meeting them. But it changes the whole tenor of the book in a way that we don't automatically expect, as we have people who can at least take a stab at explaining the reason behind all the odd happenings inside the wood as opposed to trying to figure it out from context and books we've never read. Having a team of people wandering around a dark mysterious woods subtly pushes the novel into horror movie territory and Holdstock writes some effective scenes of terrible things happening (one exploration of a building goes memorably and horribly wrong very quickly) to people who are pretty sure they're prepared but actually aren't. Since the head scientist's theory is that Alex is somehow messing up the forest with his weird myth mojo and he'd like to stop that so the forest can get back to its usual incoherent weirdness, there's a sense of stalking and desperation that feels more conventional but is still an interesting change of pace from the last two books.
This does lead to the strangeness being somewhat standardized, with the myths now being drawn from known sources and not just shadowy figures spun from mostly forgotten memories. While some people laud the appearance of the AARP eligible version of the Jason and his Argonauts, beyond Jason really not being very nice, it almost entirely lacks the delirious sense of oddness that kept the earlier volumes so off kilter. Even the presence of a girl who was apparently present at the fall of the Tower of Babel feels a little commonplace given everything we've witnessed before. Some of this is probably due to the scientists, who by quantifying everything can't help but add some degree of standardization to a place that more or less seemed to operate under its own rapidly changing terms of logic. The logic was probably always there, but having it so expertly pointed out does drain out some of the fun. But maybe Holdstock just wanted credit for all his hard work.
What does become clear is that if he had wanted to write a thriller all along he would have been able to churn out a cracklin' good one, as a father tries to rescue his child from a force that even the people with advanced degrees and ample points in their wilderness survival skill option can't even adequately explain? There are moments when you can feel the uneasy push-pull of the book as it clearly wants to delve into the funky mytho-weirdness of the last book and when it just wants to tell a more straightforward story with elements of myth . . . the inability to decide between the two gives it a strange tension that it can't quite resolve at times. And yet it makes it fascinating all the same, using our familiarity with both the myth and the series against us by adding an actual layer of mistrust and menace to the proceedings.
But all the familiarity can't make the mechanics of the ending any less impenetrable at times . . . you know who wins and what the ultimate stakes are, but it's not clear at times how they got there. But that's not a problem unique to this volume and when the journal is this fascinating, any ending that achieves at least what someone sets out to do is satisfying in its own way. He would go on to write other books based on Mythago Wood but it's hard to say where he could have gone from here, having pushed the mythological aspects as far as he could and then added science to the mix, the only real threat the forest could have now would be from the outside ("Coming Soon: Mythago Condos"). And while that might make for interesting reading, it would add a sense of realism that even the fantasy wouldn't be able to tolerate.
September 29, 2015
On page 301 out of 320 I threw this book across the room. I had been losing patience with it for a while, because it is a vague purposeless ramble through some kind of Campbellian fantasy forest, full of weird mythical figures, in which nothing is explained and nothing seems to have any point. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS STORY.
And then we learn the point, which is apparently that everything you ever learned about myths was wrong, Sir Gawain is THE BAD GUY and the Green Knight some kind of benevolent-ish Nature Spirit, and Christians are baddies who white wash the "ancient stories" for their own nefarious purposes. I can't say what those purposes are, because that is when I threw the book, your Honor, and I aint't sorry.
In short, this is post modern, anti-Christian, deconstructionist trash (which I should have spotted a lot sooner than I did, tbh) in the guise of a story ... and it's not even a good story! Anti-recommended.
And then we learn the point, which is apparently that everything you ever learned about myths was wrong, Sir Gawain is THE BAD GUY and the Green Knight some kind of benevolent-ish Nature Spirit, and Christians are baddies who white wash the "ancient stories" for their own nefarious purposes. I can't say what those purposes are, because that is when I threw the book, your Honor, and I aint't sorry.
In short, this is post modern, anti-Christian, deconstructionist trash (which I should have spotted a lot sooner than I did, tbh) in the guise of a story ... and it's not even a good story! Anti-recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2019
Tallis's friend follows her in ways of the haunting. And we find out what happened to her dad, and it wasn't pretty. Then Alex's dad follows him into the wood to find it, aided by scientists who are taking their study a few levels upwards of Huxley's initial efforts.
The story was nice in its myth and lore aspects, but a bit geeky (not in a good way) in the stories about character relationships and so on. Alex's dad is rewarded with a hot and interesting love interest (very much in a little boy trope found in less impressive fantasy books).
Aaaanyway, I still liked it very much and it fills out the initial skeleton of the story with more dream details that add to how real the mythago world feels.
The story was nice in its myth and lore aspects, but a bit geeky (not in a good way) in the stories about character relationships and so on. Alex's dad is rewarded with a hot and interesting love interest (very much in a little boy trope found in less impressive fantasy books).
Aaaanyway, I still liked it very much and it fills out the initial skeleton of the story with more dream details that add to how real the mythago world feels.
April 30, 2019
A good read.
Following on from Mythago Wood and Lavondys, this third element in the series ties in on many levels.
This is the second time around for me and the story is as fresh as the first time.
Following on from Mythago Wood and Lavondys, this third element in the series ties in on many levels.
This is the second time around for me and the story is as fresh as the first time.
December 6, 2020
This was a better book than its predecessor, Lavondyss, but it has some of the same failings: excellent first half with the second half fragmenting into near nonsense or random events that occur for no apparent reason. A grudging three stars for the first half.
October 29, 2009
Dare to enter Ryhope Wood and see the adventures that await you! This is core fantasy literature. This author never dissapoints!
July 7, 2016
3.5 stars
February 28, 2022
So much of myth, so much of legend, so much of it is turned around deeds of heroism, and bravery, and revenge, and war … and it all comes down to one thing: death. Violent death. [p.156]
I think I probably read this when it first came out in the early 1990s, and I think it may have been the point at which I began to lose my love of the series. In Mythago Wood and Lavondyss, the mythagos are focii of fascination, objects of desire and curiosity, living fossils of ancient myth. Here they are entities to be warded against: "The station is surrounded by an electronic barrier that repels most mythagos, but also by more traditional warding methods: scarecrows, masks, shields and weapons hung from trees, totem poles. Anything that works." And the focus is on the humans who are, for various reasons, researching or pursuing mythagos. Lacan is a Frenchman who fell in love with a mythago: Helen Silverlock, who reminds protagonist Richard Bradley of 'Cher from the pop duo Sonny and Cher' and who is trying to find a trickster: Alexander Lytton, obsessed with Huxley whose notes and diaries revealed the existence of mythagos in Ryhope Wood; and Richard himself, who is trying to find the son he believed dead. Alex Bradley has created mythagos of his own, and is hiding in a fabulous ruined cathedral, pursued by the 'giggler' who preys on other mythagos.
In this version of the story, Tallis Keeton (of Lavondyss) never comes home and her father dies lost and mad. (Her mother? Who knows? The women in this story get short shrift.) In this version of the story, heroes become monsters (Holdstock's Jason is especially repellant) and there is less wonder, little magic. Instead, the wood feels grim and mean. Is this because of Richard's shortcomings as a protagonist? I did not care for him at all, even before he revealed himself as sexist, racist, and irresponsible.
I think what I found in the earlier novels, and what I missed in this one, was the sense of deep time, the hidden origins of myth. This feels more like a war against those myths -- and the myths embodied here are more familar, more evolved. Gawain and the Green Knight; Jason and the Argonauts; the Tower of Babel. Do I want to continue with the series? Maybe not just yet.
Petty gripe du jour: a schoolboy in the late 1950s / early 1960s would not be eating a Lion bar, as they were only launched in 1976.
June 30, 2019
I loved Mythago Wood from when I bought it in about 1989 - on a whim I think, or some sort of space rock heavy metal fan connection with Michael Moorcock.. (the Oswald Bastable trilogy).
Anyway I bought book 2 (Lavondyss) a year later and never read it. I had got trapped in a groundhog day type Harry Potter re-read loop, and went back to Mythago Wood to break it. Job done.
Frankly the first two books are extraordinary. But I do not get the vitriol that book 3 (The Bone Forest) gets. There’s lots of pointers and back story.
This the true successor to Lavondyss, and it’s quite brilliant. I only get to read a couple of times a week or in short snippets on my lunch break, but I have enjoyed it. Great, fully rounded central characters, you don’t find yourself craving for the originals, book 2 is intrinsically but also only slightly part of this book. There’s laughter humour pathos sadness loss and utter confusion involved.
Read it.
Anyway I bought book 2 (Lavondyss) a year later and never read it. I had got trapped in a groundhog day type Harry Potter re-read loop, and went back to Mythago Wood to break it. Job done.
Frankly the first two books are extraordinary. But I do not get the vitriol that book 3 (The Bone Forest) gets. There’s lots of pointers and back story.
This the true successor to Lavondyss, and it’s quite brilliant. I only get to read a couple of times a week or in short snippets on my lunch break, but I have enjoyed it. Great, fully rounded central characters, you don’t find yourself craving for the originals, book 2 is intrinsically but also only slightly part of this book. There’s laughter humour pathos sadness loss and utter confusion involved.
Read it.
September 10, 2024
S vysokou pravděpodobností kniha, kterou s tímto autorem končím. Je to chaotické, je to náhodné, postavy jsou nesympatické, ploché. Nepovedlo se ve mě probudit jakýkoliv zájem o příběh.
Často jsem se ztrácel, přechody skrze hloubení byly chaotické a těžko pochopitelné. Celá část s Iásonem mi připadala úplně zbytečná. Opět se tu recykluje téma záchrany příbuzného z lesa. Z chování Richarda jsem ale velmi často měl dojem, že ani tak nejde o záchranu jako čistě o pobyt v lesa. Během dlouhých úseků hlavní děj zcela stagnuje a zabíhá do slepých uliček.
Spousta otázek zůstává nezodpovězených. Celkově jde o velmi divné dílo, kdy jsem v hodně pasážích měl pocit, že autor byl na drogách. Vzhledem k tomu, že je to cca čtvrtý díl se i to dobré (zejména lesní atmosféra) dost okouká a v rámci série toho plno působí repetitivním dojmem. Už Lavondyss byla strašná a po Hloubení se Holdstockovi budu vyhýbat obloukem. Rozhodně nic pro mě.
Často jsem se ztrácel, přechody skrze hloubení byly chaotické a těžko pochopitelné. Celá část s Iásonem mi připadala úplně zbytečná. Opět se tu recykluje téma záchrany příbuzného z lesa. Z chování Richarda jsem ale velmi často měl dojem, že ani tak nejde o záchranu jako čistě o pobyt v lesa. Během dlouhých úseků hlavní děj zcela stagnuje a zabíhá do slepých uliček.
Spousta otázek zůstává nezodpovězených. Celkově jde o velmi divné dílo, kdy jsem v hodně pasážích měl pocit, že autor byl na drogách. Vzhledem k tomu, že je to cca čtvrtý díl se i to dobré (zejména lesní atmosféra) dost okouká a v rámci série toho plno působí repetitivním dojmem. Už Lavondyss byla strašná a po Hloubení se Holdstockovi budu vyhýbat obloukem. Rozhodně nic pro mě.
September 29, 2020
This was a disappointment. It had some of the same issues I found with Holdstock's other book Ancient Echos. Bland character. Unnecessary love interest. Poor characterization... I expect a bit of confusion in the Mythago series, but this one just lacked the heart of the others. Characters would come and go and I couldn't remember if they were from this book, from a previous book or a new character altogether. Also, a woman searching for her missing husband wouldn't be flirting and falling for another guy like that. Even if she thought her husband was dead, as the book describes near the halfway point.
I was so bored that I ended up skimming the last 1/3 and overall was glad I skimmed instead of wasting any more time. As the book had significant water damage to both ends, it ended up in the trash. Which is probably where the manuscript should have gone before publication.
I was so bored that I ended up skimming the last 1/3 and overall was glad I skimmed instead of wasting any more time. As the book had significant water damage to both ends, it ended up in the trash. Which is probably where the manuscript should have gone before publication.
September 25, 2018
It doesn't reach the heights of the first two volumes and tells a story that, while it compares to the first two volumes, doesn't have the same power or eloquence. Part of that is that the reader, if they have read the first books, is too familiar with the idea of mythagos to be truly surprised by anything. Another reason is that the characters are now so familiar with them that they have lost their mystery and become - in the eyes of the characters - something scientific and measurable. To be frank, I reacted more to the domestic story of Richard and his ruined life than I did to anything else that happened in the book: Mr Holdstock did a very true and honest portrayal of ordinary life that mixed very well with the numinous but that doesn't quite meet the mark here.
October 8, 2021
In many ways this is the most linear of the Mythago books so far, mostly because it’s mostly the product of Alex’s mind. As such it feels like the young adult novel version of the usual Mythago Cycle novels, with a vaguely happyish ending for once (albeit one with plenty of ambiguities) and with distinctly strange riffs on children’s stories of a certain era. It’s in many ways very satisfying because of this, but it also feels a little like a step down after Lavondyss. However having said that I suspect the books needed a considerably more straightforward novel at some point and there’s enough startling images - a Mythago “being born” is particularly worrying - to make it still wildly successful.
November 17, 2023
One of a series, unfortunately, I have read none of the previous books. This presented no problem as I quickly got the hang of what was happening in the mysterious Ryhope Wood, and the strange Mythagos that live there created from memory. This is a tough book to rate. Based on an imagined world and the style of the author’s world-building I’d have to give this 4.5 out of 5, but on enjoyment I only liked the book, not loved it — maybe a 3.5, as I found it somewhat wandering. Still, I cannot fault this imaginative work, the creation of a magical world blended with mythology and anthropology. I may check out Mythago Wood in time, as that is the first novel, and seems more highly rated.
January 15, 2024
This is an incredible blend of beauty and horror. Another organic tale from a master of Fantasy. This is the story of a father's desperate search for a son he believes is dead. The role and function of mythagos are developed further and Ryhope Wood provides another mysterious, ever-changing backdrop to this tale of mystery. The stories of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight mingle with that of Jason & The Argonauts. A primitive Jack in the Green haunts the enchanted forest along with the Long Man of Wilmington. This is a wonderful cornucopia of ideas and legends served up in a spell binding story. Death and rebirth literally meet head on. If you've not read this book, you haven't lived!
May 29, 2021
I enjoy this entire series, and the first two novels are masterworks. This one was not bad. I really quite enjoyed it. However, now that Holdstock has established the world of Ryhope Wood, this felt a bit like a decent episode of a TV show I really like. Sort of a place holder for more innovative stories to come.
Not a failure by any means, but also not the level of genre changing innovation of “Mythago Wood” and “Lavondyss”.
Oh, and I did really love the unheroic take on one of classic lit’s oddest heroes. My favorite part of the story.
Not a failure by any means, but also not the level of genre changing innovation of “Mythago Wood” and “Lavondyss”.
Oh, and I did really love the unheroic take on one of classic lit’s oddest heroes. My favorite part of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2018
J'aimerais donner un quatre étoile à ce livre. La forêt des mythagos est captivante, c'est un roman complexe et fascinant. Si je donne 3, c'est que je n'ai pas tout compris. Je ne déteste pas ne pas tout comprendre, mais là, je trouve que c'est confus dans certaines scènes (qui fait quoi?). Peut-être une mauvaise traduction?
J'ai préféré les deux premiers récits.
J'ai préféré les deux premiers récits.
March 19, 2020
Pro mě nejzajímavější a nejčtivější kniha ze série. Příběh pěkně odsýpá, i když pořád mi tam chybí nějaká logická uspořádanost. Poslední kapitoly mě neuspokojily, tak si uchovám alespoň vzpomínku na prostřední část knihy, která byla trochu detektivkou, trochu thrilerem, trochu románem.
Myšlenka mytág se mi moc líbí, ale způsob, jakým je podávána je na mě příliš abstraktní.
Myšlenka mytág se mi moc líbí, ale způsob, jakým je podávána je na mě příliš abstraktní.
January 19, 2018
After the rich and strange journey taken in "Lavondyss" this was rather a letdown, adding little to the growing myth-cycle of the series, and stitched together by a plot that ultimately failed to hold together.
June 21, 2021
Každý návrat do Ryhopského lesa je o niečo magickejší ako ten predchádzajúci. Baví ma, akým spôsobom autor rozširoval svoj svet, ako mu vždy doprial trochu inú tvár. Je to úžasné. Krásne. Magické. Plné mýtov. A napriek tomu pretkané realistickými ľudskými osudmi.
July 29, 2018
As usual for Holdstock, brilliant in parts, and equal parts esoteric and confusing.
August 16, 2020
Some of this book felt like padding and could have been trimmed for it did not add to the overall story. The overall story was however really good.
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