Published in 1984, this novel won both the World Fantasy Award in 1985, and was generally well reviewed, so I had pretty high expectations.

To some extent, I was a little disappointed, a victim of the hype I suspect. I found it good, but not GREAT. I don’t feel the need to rave about it like I have with Miéville’s (see here and here) novels, for example.

So, backing up a bit, let me describe the setting, which will essentially tell you the premise as well. The setting is a tract of primeval forest in Britain, named Rhyope Wood. The forest is more than it seems, however, in it are generated things (people and structures both) which are drawn from the collective unconsciousness of humankind. So, yes, very Jungian, which definitely turned me on – and raised my expectations further (although these particular expectations where better satisfied)!

As it turns out, it is possible for individuals to evoke the creation of particular mythic images – mythagos (mythic imago – I guess mythago sounds better than mythage) – involuntarily or, with some skill or luck, voluntarily. Either way it’s a slow process, so don’t think our heroes are conjuring allies out of thin air in the middle of a crisis.

The story centers around a father and his two sons and their interactions with the wood and a particular mythago, that of a female warrior named Guiwenneth (if you are familiar with the Aurthurian legends you probably just saw where this is heading). At the start of the novel, the father is lost in the wood; one brother, Steven, is about to return home from WWII; and the third, Christian, is already home. Christian and the father have had a falling out over Guiwenneth, who is dead. The nature of the wood is such that the mythagos reappear as they are needed, wanted, or the mythic cycle they are involved in restarts for one reason or another. When Guiwenneth is recreated this time it is Steven’s mind who is the primary influence, and thus she is slightly different from the prior Guiwenneth, who was a product of the father’s interaction with the wood.

The basic story is fairly straight-forward really, as you can no doubt guess from what I’ve said so far. What makes Mythago Wood stand out is the the wood itself. The primal forces operating there are powerful, yet subtle at times too. As the story unfolds, the characters discover not only that they are playing parts in the mythic cycle, but how they are altering the story. An obvious analogy for how different cultures modify various primal myths for their own use. Read some Joseph Campbell if you want to know more.

The writing is very good. The story is first person and told from Steven’s point of view, although you get to read diary/journal entries of two other characters from time to time.

I think a good part of why I wasn’t bowled over by Mythago Wood was that I didn’t sympathize much with the characters. Steven, more often than not, is pretty ineffectual and a bit of a wanker, if you ask me. Certainly I disliked Christian, though it was in isolation, not really because of his interaction with Steven. I think I liked Guiwenneth the most, but she spends the last half/third of the book kidnapped, and, because the story is first person, she’s incommunicado.

I do think Holdstock did a good job of conveying the effect a mythic image of a beautiful huntress would have on my people (well, males at least). Something like this will resonate with parts of your brain that you didn’t know existed. She should evoke a deep seated, and somewhat unexplainable attraction. It’s literally what she is – and idealized woman from our prehistoric collective subconscious.

There are several other books set in this setting. I do plan on reading at least a couple more, though not right away.

Holdstock is fairly prolific, the mythago novels are not all he’s written. There are some interesting article on his site about the mythago novels and the mythago process. Definitely worth checking out.