Status
Available
Call number
Publication
William Morrow and Company (New York, 1989). 1st U.S. edition, 1st printing. 367 pages. $18.95.
Description
The critically acclaimed sequel to the World Fantasy Award winning novel, MYTHAGO WOOD Lavondyss - the ultimate realm, the source of all myths. In this novel of Mythago Wood, Tallis Keeton journeys into the strange realm of Ryhope Wood. Younger sister of Harry Keeton, who disappeared into Ryhope in the World Fantasy Award-winning novel, Mythago Wood, Tallis is obsessed with finding him, and learns the way into the otherworld that surrounds the primitive forest and its secrets. Through masks, magic and clues left by her fey grandfather, Tallis eventually comes to Lavondyss itself - a realm unlike anything she could have foreseen...
User reviews
LibraryThing member nimoloth
WARNING - Contains major spoilers.
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I'm not even sure where to begin. I don't even know if I like it or not. No, that's not right - I liked it a lot, it has had a huge impact on me. I guess I don't like how it ended - not the way it was written but
I loved the first half of the book unconditionally (it's in two parts). It was set in the English contryside and the main character (Tallis) is a young girl growing up, interacting with the strange world of myth and wood. This was (relatively) straightforward and lovely to read, quite addictive in it's weaving of mythology and nature, growing up and the beautiful imagery it painted, the worlds it hinted at.
The second half of the book begins very abruptly, with the young girl of the first half aged to her early twenties, a sudden shock that almost hits you in the face. She is in the mythological wood now, has been journeying for many years, and from here the book becomes progressively more confusing (in a way) and surreal. Yet not confusing in that you have no idea what's going on - the confusion lies in the nature of the wood and they way it is interlinked (is) the human subconscious, specifically that of certain characters. The book is much darker in the second half, more adult (she is adult) and the world and mythology and strangeness is seen now, not hinted at. It is still catching to read, but different, more stressful.
Her relationship with Scathach in particularly touched me, perhaps because I have someone of my own. So much between them is missed out in the eight year jump in the story, all the good times, and now they are unsure of each other and their relationship. That he dies is sad, but didn't seem to affect Tallis as much I would have expected. At the end, I was happy to see them reunited, but they were old, and again we are told nothing of their time together - the prologue jumps to many years later and he is dead again, she dying. This, the prologue, was what troubled me the most. That her brother should find her as she dies - too late, and her quest all along was to find him and return with him to their parents. This is too heartbreaking, for it all to be for naught. She never even lived a somewhat happy and full life in the woods, as Wynne-Jones did - she lost the majority of her life span in Lavondyss, the heart wood, the First Wood, in her strange visioning and journeying (the most surreal part of the book). I kept expecting a happy ending, for it all to turn out right in the end, but it never did. It was one loss after another, a life ended in a barren and desolate place.
Thus the ending troubled me, and troubles me still. I was too caught up in the characters, particularly Tallis and Scathach, to forget so easily, to really belive it was "just" a book. This is why I like happy endings. Perhaps there is another book? I must look. I know there is a prequel, Mythago Wood, which I will get.
The mythology the author builds, the idea of it all, it is quite fascinating and eminently plausible. So real, so confusing.
This is a book I would recommend you read if you have any interest in mythology, the origin and nature of myth. It is not an easy book, but I think it is worth it.
---------------------------------------------------
I'm not even sure where to begin. I don't even know if I like it or not. No, that's not right - I liked it a lot, it has had a huge impact on me. I guess I don't like how it ended - not the way it was written but
Show More
what happened itself.I loved the first half of the book unconditionally (it's in two parts). It was set in the English contryside and the main character (Tallis) is a young girl growing up, interacting with the strange world of myth and wood. This was (relatively) straightforward and lovely to read, quite addictive in it's weaving of mythology and nature, growing up and the beautiful imagery it painted, the worlds it hinted at.
The second half of the book begins very abruptly, with the young girl of the first half aged to her early twenties, a sudden shock that almost hits you in the face. She is in the mythological wood now, has been journeying for many years, and from here the book becomes progressively more confusing (in a way) and surreal. Yet not confusing in that you have no idea what's going on - the confusion lies in the nature of the wood and they way it is interlinked (is) the human subconscious, specifically that of certain characters. The book is much darker in the second half, more adult (she is adult) and the world and mythology and strangeness is seen now, not hinted at. It is still catching to read, but different, more stressful.
Her relationship with Scathach in particularly touched me, perhaps because I have someone of my own. So much between them is missed out in the eight year jump in the story, all the good times, and now they are unsure of each other and their relationship. That he dies is sad, but didn't seem to affect Tallis as much I would have expected. At the end, I was happy to see them reunited, but they were old, and again we are told nothing of their time together - the prologue jumps to many years later and he is dead again, she dying. This, the prologue, was what troubled me the most. That her brother should find her as she dies - too late, and her quest all along was to find him and return with him to their parents. This is too heartbreaking, for it all to be for naught. She never even lived a somewhat happy and full life in the woods, as Wynne-Jones did - she lost the majority of her life span in Lavondyss, the heart wood, the First Wood, in her strange visioning and journeying (the most surreal part of the book). I kept expecting a happy ending, for it all to turn out right in the end, but it never did. It was one loss after another, a life ended in a barren and desolate place.
Thus the ending troubled me, and troubles me still. I was too caught up in the characters, particularly Tallis and Scathach, to forget so easily, to really belive it was "just" a book. This is why I like happy endings. Perhaps there is another book? I must look. I know there is a prequel, Mythago Wood, which I will get.
The mythology the author builds, the idea of it all, it is quite fascinating and eminently plausible. So real, so confusing.
This is a book I would recommend you read if you have any interest in mythology, the origin and nature of myth. It is not an easy book, but I think it is worth it.
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LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: 2.5* of five (p79)
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG
As good as Mythago Wood was, that is how good this book wasn't.
”I can't replace it,” Tallis called. “If it hasn't grown back then it wasn't meant to grow back. What can I do?
Broken Boy roared. The sound carried across the land. It drowned the somber tone of the Shadoxhurst bell. It marked the end of the encounter.
The stag walked out of sight across the hill.
Tallis did not follow. Rather, she stood for a while, and only when darkness made the woods fade to black did she turn for home again.”
I turned for home again after that. Here, we are defining “home” as a gin bottle, a vermouth atomizer, and an icy cold shaker.
For anyone still even slightly awake, Harry's sister Tallis goes into the wood to rescue him. (See last book.) Total snore. Don't care, don't want to read one more word about Ryhope Wood, and that is a crime. It's one of the most fascinating ideas I've read in a long time.
And it just got goobered on. Damn! Blast! Hate that hate it hate it hate it!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG
As good as Mythago Wood was, that is how good this book wasn't.
”I can't replace it,” Tallis called. “If it hasn't grown back then it wasn't meant to grow back. What can I do?
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I can't stick it back on. It's mine, now. The tine belongs to me, You can't be angry. Please don't be angry.”Broken Boy roared. The sound carried across the land. It drowned the somber tone of the Shadoxhurst bell. It marked the end of the encounter.
The stag walked out of sight across the hill.
Tallis did not follow. Rather, she stood for a while, and only when darkness made the woods fade to black did she turn for home again.”
I turned for home again after that. Here, we are defining “home” as a gin bottle, a vermouth atomizer, and an icy cold shaker.
For anyone still even slightly awake, Harry's sister Tallis goes into the wood to rescue him. (See last book.) Total snore. Don't care, don't want to read one more word about Ryhope Wood, and that is a crime. It's one of the most fascinating ideas I've read in a long time.
And it just got goobered on. Damn! Blast! Hate that hate it hate it hate it!
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LibraryThing member stpnwlf
Modern fantasy. Well written with excellent imagery.
LibraryThing member fiverivers
The best of the Mythago Cycle novels, Holdstock earns the accolades he's been accorded with Lavondyss. Wonderful characterization, tense plot, a Hardian sense of macrocosmic vs. microcosmic time. Absolutely haunting.
I cannot help but feel Holdstock captures the timelessness of the Cotswold Hills of
Simply a beautiful story that you must read if you are a lover of environmental and historical fantasy.
I cannot help but feel Holdstock captures the timelessness of the Cotswold Hills of
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England, the sense of ancient, brooding intelligence that breathes in the landscape, and deftly knits that into a story that takes it into the realm of classic fairy tale in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm.Simply a beautiful story that you must read if you are a lover of environmental and historical fantasy.
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LibraryThing member isabelx
Bigger and better than "Mythago Wood", the first book in the sequence.
Ryhope Wood is a surviving piece of ancient forest in Southern England, a dangerous landscape where the archtypal figures of European myth can be encountered.
I love this book.
Ryhope Wood is a surviving piece of ancient forest in Southern England, a dangerous landscape where the archtypal figures of European myth can be encountered.
I love this book.
LibraryThing member Karlstar
I really liked the first book in this series, and did not enjoy this one as much. I thought it dragged, got way too convoluted, and was just plain too long. The concept of a faerie world right next door in the woods isn't original, but Holdstock did a good job with it in the first book. This one
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isn't bad, just a bit slow for me. Too bad the journey wasn't a bit more exciting. Show Less
LibraryThing member phappyman
This book left me feeling absolutely terrible. Which is a wonderful thing.
I read this book as a journey into the world of the occult (occult being 'that which is hidden'). It gutted me, and left me thinking of eternity.
Highly recommended.
It's also technically a sequel to Mythago Wood, but none of
I read this book as a journey into the world of the occult (occult being 'that which is hidden'). It gutted me, and left me thinking of eternity.
Highly recommended.
It's also technically a sequel to Mythago Wood, but none of
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it will make sense anyway and the parts that you would understand from the first book are more MYSTERIOUS and OCCLUDED if you just read Lavondyss first. Show Less
LibraryThing member Nandakishore_Varma
Ryhope Wood in Hertfordshire, England is where myth comes alive. It draws images from the dreams and the collective unconscious of human beings and produces beings called Mythagos: heroes, shamans, fantastic beasts and beautiful damsels from the primordial depths of the psyche, walking about in
Rivetting stuff, right?
Wrong.
Lavondyss is one large snooze-fest. The story opens with a bang, then stays exactly where it is. The background is lovingly created, and we get to know more and more about the inner workings of Ryhope Wood and the location of Lavondyss: but Tallis Keeton's journey in search of her lost brother Harry (lost in Mythago Wood) just does not take off.
As the story progresses, it begins to sound more and more like a notebook on world-building or a treatise: there is precious little action. And what there is, is disjointed. The story takes a huge leap between part one and two, and it is some time before the reader comes to grip with all that has happened in between. Holdstock's prose is good-one only hopes he had put it to better use.
The two stars are for the world the author has created. I honestly cannot give any stars to the story - whatever there is!
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flesh and blood. Robert Holdstock, award-winning author of Mythago Wood, follows up the first tale of his fantastic realm with an even more daring one: a journey to The Old Forbidden Place, Lavondyss, where all myth is generated.Rivetting stuff, right?
Wrong.
Lavondyss is one large snooze-fest. The story opens with a bang, then stays exactly where it is. The background is lovingly created, and we get to know more and more about the inner workings of Ryhope Wood and the location of Lavondyss: but Tallis Keeton's journey in search of her lost brother Harry (lost in Mythago Wood) just does not take off.
As the story progresses, it begins to sound more and more like a notebook on world-building or a treatise: there is precious little action. And what there is, is disjointed. The story takes a huge leap between part one and two, and it is some time before the reader comes to grip with all that has happened in between. Holdstock's prose is good-one only hopes he had put it to better use.
The two stars are for the world the author has created. I honestly cannot give any stars to the story - whatever there is!
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 1988)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
367 p.; 8.2 inches
ISBN
0688091857 / 9780688091859