Book Review: Mythago Wood

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock is a book that immediately caught my attention from the moment I saw its summary. A labyrinthine forest filled with primeval magic? Entities born from old legends and fairytales? A place where fascination can turn into obsession and insanity? I was sold as soon as I finished reading the summary.

 

Mythago Wood is about a young man named Steven Huxley. His father, George Huxley, had been obsessed with the Ryhope Woods up until his death. George was convinced that Ryhope Woods was a place where legends and stories came to life, and he was particularly obsessed with the story of Guiwenneth, a warrior’s daughter who was rescued and raised by magpies after her aunt tried to take her for herself. Steven finds that his brother Christian is slowly starting to become just as obsessed with the Woods and Guiwenneth as their father was. When Christian disappears into the Woods to search for Guiwenneth, Steven soon begins to be drawn into the strangeness of the Woods as well, and he too becomes more and more fascinated with the tale of Guiwenneth.

 

The beauty of forests is that they're both pretty to look at and they hide all sorts of dangerous things.

 

I think that the strongest point of this story is the fairytale-esque setting. The forests have always been a classic setting in fairy tales, and Mythago Wood does a fantastic job in creating a surreal environment and conveying the mystical feel of a forest out of a fairytale. The book also uses stories as a way to add to the setting. The most common story we readers hear in this particular book is the story of Guiwenneth, and her story reads like something straight out of a book of mythologies. As a lover of mythology and stories, tales like Guiwenneth’s made the story more immersive to me.

 

When the characters go into Ryhope Woods, it is a very fascinating experience. While the supernatural entities dwelling in there, known as mythagos in the story, did not make as many appearances as I thought they would, each appearance was a memorable one. Holdstock does a good job making each mythago otherworldly and there is always a sense of something much bigger about the world when Steven interacts with them. I looked forward to every time a mythago appeared, especially when I’m told the stories that inspired them.

 

Thankfully for Steven, the Wild Hunt does not make an appearance in the book, awesome as it might've been.

 

This story, unfortunately, has a few weak points. One of the biggest weak points is the characters. Steven is just not that interesting of a main character. He’s not a badly written character, but he is rather bland and there’s almost nothing about him that stands out. Guiwenneth herself works as an object of fascination, but when she actually appears, it’s almost a little disappointing because she herself doesn’t really have anything going for her other than ‘mysterious waif who serves as a love interest.’ Which, I admit, does sort of work because she is a character born from tales and legends, but I do not know if that was intentional or not.

 

One can only hope that Guiwenneth wasn't the same age as Merida, otherwise the romance scenes would be awkward...

 

Another weak point about the story is its climax. The last part of the story seems to be rushed, especially the climatic encounter for Steven. The final confrontation with an entity known as the Outsider has been built up quite a bit, especially since the story makes it clear that only Steven can kill the Outsider to stop it from corrupting the Wood. However, the final confrontation with the Outsider feels rushed, and while the way the confrontation is settled does sound like something from a mythological tale, I still feel like the pacing leading up to that confrontation was not very good.

 

Despite its flaws, I would still recommend Mythago Wood to other people. While the pacing can be odd at times and the main characters are a little bland, the atmosphere of the story is fantastic and the world of the mythagos is a fascinating one. I loved the idea of how a person’s imagination can bring creatures from stories to life, and the obsession that Steven’s father and brother have with Guiwenneth helps add to the mystic of the Ryhope Woods. For anyone who likes mythology and fairytales, you’ll probably want to give this book a try.