ResoluteReader: Robert Holdstock

Friday, October 27, 2023

Robert Holdstock - Mythago Wood

Mythago Wood ought to have been a standout fantasy novel for me. It steers clear of the standard fantasy tropes of elves, wizards and quests and instead redefines the genre, taking as its starting point a strange forest outside Stephen Huxley's family home. This forest has obsessed his father, and in turn his elder brother, and eventually Stephen, returning home from World War Two and years in Europe, is also pulled in to its strangeness trying to understand his father's obession and his brother's disappearance.

The woods are far larger than the actual perimeter on the Huxley's land suggests and a series of strange events leads Stephen to believe there's something very odd about them. Unusually he employs modern technology to try and work it out, getting himself on board an aircraft to photograph them. This heighten's his curisoty further.

But what really gets him going is the appearance of a strange woman (though Holdstock insists on calling her a girl). This woman is some sort of warrior royalty, from Anglo-Saxon times, and turns out to have been the creation of the interaction of the Huxley's minds with the magic of the wood. When Stephen is nearly killed by an attack from the wood he decides to enter, and try to work out whats happening.

Its an interesting take on a genre were woods are normally places for mysterious elves to offer quests to travellers. Instead it becomes a story about mental health and obsession. But it turns out to be surprisingly thin, and sadly the novel fails to break from the other usual problem of fantasy, which is that female characters are paper thin, rare and sex objects.

All in all this was interesting, but I'm not sure I'll get drawn into the rest of the books.