Mythago Wood

Rating:
Summary: A hidden gem...
Review: a fantasy novel for people who don't like fantasy novels, a mystery for people who don't like mysteries, and a deserved classic by an author at the peak of his powers. I could add more hyperbole, but really, you should discover this one for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute winner! Fantasy, horror, mystery combined!
Review: A friend gave me this book to read on a short airplane flight. I was mesmerized. Unfortunately, I somehow lost the book while I was reclaiming my baggage. I spent the next 3 months trying to find another copy (I had yet not discoved the internet or amazon.com). When I finally obtained another copy, I didn't work, eat, or play, until the book was finished. The fact that this book is not carried by every bookstore in America is a travesty. It is very well written and captivates the reader. The mystery starts on page one and does not resolve itself until the last page. In between, is love, betrayal, magic, happiness, sorrow, battle, gothic horror, and hours of thought provoking reading. Bravo to Robert Holdstock and bravo for Mythago Wood.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but lacking
Review: After reading many of the glowing reviews and thinking that the premise was interesting, I decided to make my purchase. However while I found the books premise interesting I was really put off by the "pedophilish" (?) interest the main characters took in Guiwenneth...come on she seemed to be about 14 or 15 and we get paragraph upon paragraph describing her child-like body.....very gross. Other than that (which for me was enough to ruin it). While the story at spots was uneven and convoluted I found the description of the relationship Christian and Steven had with their with father to be so very poignant.

Rating:
Summary: A Mythic Hidden Gem
Review: At the time of this writing this book is out of print which is a shame. It is one of the most intriguing I've read in many a year. For anyone who has an interest in myths and legends, this is a powerful tale of one man confronting such legends and how he's changed by it. Holdstock drinks from the same well as Gaiman and any fan of Gaiman should definitely give Holdstock a go. He also seems to be familiar with many of Jung's Archtype ideas and gives them a believable place to live.

Thus the protagonist begins his journey into the heartwood of a mythic primeval forest and beyond - a journey to find his beloved celtic princess and the Umscrumug - the First Myth - the Myth Before all Others. A myth so ancient, the author says, is now fading even in Mythago Wood as Humanity's Collective Unconcious slowly forgets its past. Mythago Wood, a forest where legends and myths from every people of every time and every land are formed, live and breath. A WW1 soldier inhabits the same land as shamanic tribesmen. A celtic princess from the days of Roman Britain walks the woods from legends out of a much later Robin Hood past. And while it is clear that these beings are not "real" in the same sense that the protagonist is they are still capable of feeling joy, love, pain and sorrow. And are equally capable of killing and being killed.

The characters are human, with both flaws and redeeming qualities and hints of why myths and legends still hold our imagination are part of the entertaining story (If Mythago Wood were real I'm sure Jedi Knights, Klingons and Paul Atreides would now be walking there too).

This book won awards for good reason. If you enjoy stories of myths and legends don't fail to pick it up.

Rating:
Summary: Don't miss this one!
Review: Even if you're not a fantasy addict, this book is a masterpiece! It's compeling, surprising, frightening at times and thought provoking. But most important: It's well told. It's a story about stroytelling by a master stroyteller.

Rating:
Summary: Somehow I have to show how wonderful this book is . . .
Review: Hmmmmmmmm

Okay, I know! I read this book while I was on a trip in France with my mom and sister. Now we didn't bring our clothes washer with us, so we had to find a laundry mat. (This does get somewhere!) Well, I followed my mom and sister as they weaved their way deeper and deeper into the town-while I was busy reading Mythago Wood, following blindly behind. After finding a laundry mat, and getting everything set up, they decided to leave so I could pick up the clothes when they finished washing.

Eventually the clothes finished, and I came to a fair stopping point in Mythago Wood. (It's too captivating to have a good stopping point.) I got the clothes together, stepped out of the laundry mat, and realized with chagrin I'd been so intent on Mythago Wood I had no idea where I was!

Luckily I was only lost for a little while, only took one wrong turn, but that's what this book can do to you. It will pull you further and further into its shady depths, almost making you wonder what will everything be like when . . . if . . . you ever emerge. After this book, images, ghosts, fairies . . . mythagos . . . will always dance at the edge of your vision, slipping around the periphery.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best fantasy's of all time!!!!
Review: I am not really a fantasy book fan, but when a friend recommended this book to me, I figured, "Hey, I'll give it a shot!"
From page one I was enthralled. The story just gets better and better. Steven Huxley's father get obsessed by the woods growing close to his house. He goes in for days and comes out again only to lock himself in his study to write about what he saw. The woods are filled with "mythagos", beings conjured up in the minds of the people who visit the woods and also from legends passed down through people during time.
Over the course of the book, Steven's father dies and then his brother, Christian, gets obsessed with the woods, as well as one of the "mythagos" who he's fallen in love with, Guiwenneth. Guiwenneth disappears and Christian goes into the woods to find her.
After not returning, Steven decides to go after his brother and his love who was taken by Christian, Guiwenneth.
The story-line is mezmerizing and full of adventure. Robert Holdstock is one of the most amazing writers of our time. His imagination is brilliant.
I will recommend this bok to everyone I know. This is a MUST READ book!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best fantasy's of all time!!!!
Review: I am not really a fantasy book fan, but when a friend recommended this book to me, I figured, "Hey, I'll give it a shot!"
From page one I was enthralled. The story just gets better and better. Steven Huxley's father get obsessed by the woods growing close to his house. He goes in for days and comes out again only to lock himself in his study to write about what he saw. The woods are filled with "mythagos", beings conjured up in the minds of the people who visit the woods and also from legends passed down through people during time.
Over the course of the book, Steven's father dies and then his brother, Christian, gets obsessed with the woods, as well as one of the "mythagos" who he's fallen in love with, Guiwenneth. Guiwenneth disappears and Christian goes into the woods to find her.
After not returning, Steven decides to go after his brother and his love who was taken by Christian, Guiwenneth.
The story-line is mezmerizing and full of adventure. Robert Holdstock is one of the most amazing writers of our time. His imagination is brilliant.
I will recommend this bok to everyone I know. This is a MUST READ book!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting!!! It has some great "theories"
Review: I am reading the book and I really enjoy it! It has some unique ideas and thoughts that I find extreamly entertaining. But it also has a realistic part to it, not everything is beautiful and perfect like a fairy tale but more down to earth. I would reccomend this book to anyone with an open mind.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT! I read it in one sitting!
Review: I bought this book on an impulse... It turned out to be one of my best buys ever!

Holdstock has taken the myths within our memory, and molded it into an extremely believable and somewhat terrifying book.

The first part of the book was quite confusing at first, but once you get the hang of the characters, you get really caught up in the story.

Can't wait to read his other books!