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Mythago Wood #7
Avilion
At the heart of Ryhope Wood, Steven and the mythago Guiwenneth live in the ruins of a Roman villa close to a haunted fortress from the Iron Age, from which Guiwenneth's myth arose. She is comfortable here, almost tied to the place, and Steven has long since abandoned all thought of returning to his own world. They have animals, protection and crops. They also have two children, a combination of human and mythago. Jack is like his father, an active boy keen to know all about the outer world'; Yssobel takes after her mother, even to her long auburn hair. But this idyll cannot last. The hunters who protected Guiwenneth as a child have come to warn her she is in danger. Yssobel is dreaming increasingly of her Uncle Christian, Steven's brother, who disappeared into Lavondyss, and Jack wants to see 'the outer world' more than anything. Events are about to overtake them.
342 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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956 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 21, 2020
I'm not sure if this was Holdstock's last book, but it was certainly his last book about Ryhope Wood, the first being the justly famous Mythago Wood. It's interesting to compare first to last. Mythago Wood starts off as science fiction, or at the very least with a character who is trying to understand mysterious phenomena in the ancient woodland next to his home scientifically. Before Avilion is over it seems like nothing but magic can explain all the bizarre goings on. Mythago Wood is very much about mythic archetypes. Avilion is very much about specific characters from myth/legend. There's a big difference between a warrior who unites a kingdom and Arthur who dies fighting Mordred; the latter is a specific instance of the former. Mythago Wood is about a family that breaks apart self-destructively. Avilion is about a family that despite separation, remains a strong, healthy unit. Mythago Wood is about outsiders entering an alien realm. Avilion is about people who have an inside perspective of the same realm. This latter-most point is worth elaborating:
When I think back over the several Holdstock works I've read, I notice a common theme of writing about broken families - families that have become physically or emotionally separated (or both), families where internal abuse of power occurs. Families that either struggle to repair themselves or dissolve into anger and hate or get their members hopelessly lost to each other in space or time or emotional distance. Interesting then, that this final Mythago book lays heavy emphasis on hope for the family that have been central to the entire saga. Unfortunate that it does so too heavy-handedly, at the end. Also unfortunate that the plot sags before the denouement, taking too much time to move the chess-pieces (aka characters) to their correct spots.
When I think back over the several Holdstock works I've read, I notice a common theme of writing about broken families - families that have become physically or emotionally separated (or both), families where internal abuse of power occurs. Families that either struggle to repair themselves or dissolve into anger and hate or get their members hopelessly lost to each other in space or time or emotional distance. Interesting then, that this final Mythago book lays heavy emphasis on hope for the family that have been central to the entire saga. Unfortunate that it does so too heavy-handedly, at the end. Also unfortunate that the plot sags before the denouement, taking too much time to move the chess-pieces (aka characters) to their correct spots.
June 24, 2014
It goes without saying that Robert Holdstock's writings are highly effective because they touch genuine mythic roots which resonate with the deepest parts of our own minds. It helps that he also spins a good yarn around these myths, and that his writing style is just so damn fluid and readable that it's impossible to put his books down.
'Avilion' is the final book in his 'Mythago Wood' series, and is a direct sequel to the original title. The other books in the series have woven in and around the story from different perspectives, and this is a fitting close. The plot continues the story of the Huxleys and Guiwenneth after they have entered the wood and lived there for many years. being chiefly told through the journeys of Jack and Yssobel, the half human, half mythago children of Stephen and Guiwenneth.
It's deep and stirring and wonderful, and I was sad to finish it, especially since I now have only one Holdstock left to read: 'Broken Kings'. He died far, far too young and we have been deprived of so much by his passing.
'Avilion' is the final book in his 'Mythago Wood' series, and is a direct sequel to the original title. The other books in the series have woven in and around the story from different perspectives, and this is a fitting close. The plot continues the story of the Huxleys and Guiwenneth after they have entered the wood and lived there for many years. being chiefly told through the journeys of Jack and Yssobel, the half human, half mythago children of Stephen and Guiwenneth.
It's deep and stirring and wonderful, and I was sad to finish it, especially since I now have only one Holdstock left to read: 'Broken Kings'. He died far, far too young and we have been deprived of so much by his passing.
September 11, 2017
Šī ir Mitago cikla pēdējā grāmata. Grāmatas notikumi risinās tūlīt pēc „Mitago meža” notikumiem. Vismaz no grāmatas galveno varoņu viedokļa. Tātad Stīvens ir sagaidījis savas Guiwenneth atgriešanos no Lavondyss reģiona, viņiem ir piedzimuši divi bērni Jack un Yssobel, kuri ir pa pusei cilvēki pa pusei mitago. Tā nu viņi dzīvo ilgi un laimīgi, līdz kādu dienu no mājām pazūd Yssobel. Viņas brālis Jack dodas viņu meklēt.
Šo grāmatu nevarētu nosaukt par cikla stiprāko grāmatu. Tas gan ir raksturīgi visām grāmatām, kuras ciklā ir ceturtās un piektās, „Mitago meža” novitāte ir pazudusi, „Lavondyss” manipulācijas ar arhetipu koncepcijām notiek daudz piezemētākā līmenī, nav arī vairs mēģinājums iebāzt Mitago mežu zinātniskā pasaulē kā „Hollowing”, nav arī spēcīgas apoloģijas ļaunajam tēlam kā „Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn”, saistošu sižetu autoram kļūst arvien grūtāk izdomāt.
Kā plusu var minēt to, ka šo grāmatu varat lasīt droši pat tad, ja esat izlasījis tikai „Mitago mežu”. Raksturīgi visam ciklam mēs sastopamies ar dažādiem ķeltu leģendu tēliem. Tā ir gan ķeltu princese Guiwenneth, karalis Artūrs ar saviem bruņiniekiem, Peredur, pazudušais romiešu leģions un to reprezentējošais Christian, grieķis Odisejs un citi tēli.
Sižets, manuprāt, bija vissliktākais no visām cikla grāmatām. Atgādināja bērnības dienā redzētu multeni, kurā kāda namiņa iedzīvotāji nodarbojās viens ar otra meklēšanu. Šeit notiek tas pats. Guiwenneth meklē Christian, lai atriebtos par pāri darījumiem, Yssobel meklē savu māti, lai atvestu atpakaļ mājās, Jack meklē savu māsu, lai atvestu to mājās. Vienīgi Stīvens vairs nemeklē neko, bet saguris sēž savā romiešu villā. Lai situāciju padarītu sarežģītāku, Mitago mežā regulāri notiek laika un telpas nobīdes. Jack iekšējie motīvi mudina viņu pamest Mitago mežu, lai iepazītu ārējo pasauli. Yssobel savukārt dominē mītiskā personas daļa; viņa tiecas sasniegt Mitago meža centru Avilion. Avilion – vieta, kuru katrs cilvēks rada sev pats, un kas pēc būtības ir viņa tiešs atspulgs.
Kopumā grāmata un cikla turpinājums lika nedaudz vilties un secināt, Holdstock uz vecumu vairs nav tas. Nē, grāmata ir lasāma un daudz kas ir palicis no sākotnējā Mitago meža, tomēr nedaudz pietrūkst tā savdabības. Izskatās tāds nedaudz atšālējies. Kopumā dodu 8 no 10 ballēm, lasīt var.
Šo grāmatu nevarētu nosaukt par cikla stiprāko grāmatu. Tas gan ir raksturīgi visām grāmatām, kuras ciklā ir ceturtās un piektās, „Mitago meža” novitāte ir pazudusi, „Lavondyss” manipulācijas ar arhetipu koncepcijām notiek daudz piezemētākā līmenī, nav arī vairs mēģinājums iebāzt Mitago mežu zinātniskā pasaulē kā „Hollowing”, nav arī spēcīgas apoloģijas ļaunajam tēlam kā „Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn”, saistošu sižetu autoram kļūst arvien grūtāk izdomāt.
Kā plusu var minēt to, ka šo grāmatu varat lasīt droši pat tad, ja esat izlasījis tikai „Mitago mežu”. Raksturīgi visam ciklam mēs sastopamies ar dažādiem ķeltu leģendu tēliem. Tā ir gan ķeltu princese Guiwenneth, karalis Artūrs ar saviem bruņiniekiem, Peredur, pazudušais romiešu leģions un to reprezentējošais Christian, grieķis Odisejs un citi tēli.
Sižets, manuprāt, bija vissliktākais no visām cikla grāmatām. Atgādināja bērnības dienā redzētu multeni, kurā kāda namiņa iedzīvotāji nodarbojās viens ar otra meklēšanu. Šeit notiek tas pats. Guiwenneth meklē Christian, lai atriebtos par pāri darījumiem, Yssobel meklē savu māti, lai atvestu atpakaļ mājās, Jack meklē savu māsu, lai atvestu to mājās. Vienīgi Stīvens vairs nemeklē neko, bet saguris sēž savā romiešu villā. Lai situāciju padarītu sarežģītāku, Mitago mežā regulāri notiek laika un telpas nobīdes. Jack iekšējie motīvi mudina viņu pamest Mitago mežu, lai iepazītu ārējo pasauli. Yssobel savukārt dominē mītiskā personas daļa; viņa tiecas sasniegt Mitago meža centru Avilion. Avilion – vieta, kuru katrs cilvēks rada sev pats, un kas pēc būtības ir viņa tiešs atspulgs.
Kopumā grāmata un cikla turpinājums lika nedaudz vilties un secināt, Holdstock uz vecumu vairs nav tas. Nē, grāmata ir lasāma un daudz kas ir palicis no sākotnējā Mitago meža, tomēr nedaudz pietrūkst tā savdabības. Izskatās tāds nedaudz atšālējies. Kopumā dodu 8 no 10 ballēm, lasīt var.
Want to read
February 26, 2025Almost 25 years since he wrote the World Fantasy Award winning book Mythago Wood he finally returns with this direct sequel to the 1st book. There are 7 Mythago books in all including this one but this is the only one that continues from right where the 1st left off i've heard.
I have read all the other's (of the Mythago cycle and pretty much every other novel of his also) except for Merlin's Wood, which was, sadly, never published in the US, but i will be getting that and this one in light of having just heard that he passed away at the end of Nov. 2009, don't know how i missed hearing of that. He is one of the primary authors that got me back into reading again after over 15 years of not reading. i will miss him much
I have read all the other's (of the Mythago cycle and pretty much every other novel of his also) except for Merlin's Wood, which was, sadly, never published in the US, but i will be getting that and this one in light of having just heard that he passed away at the end of Nov. 2009, don't know how i missed hearing of that. He is one of the primary authors that got me back into reading again after over 15 years of not reading. i will miss him much
November 11, 2019
I don' believe the Mythago stories were already bled dry by the time of the author's untimely demise and that nothing good could still come out of them. I really think many more beautiful backstories and sequels and prequels could have been concocted for the universe.
That being said, this wasn't such a great ending to the series. The world is still immersive, yes, but it just focuses on relationships between characters more than it does on lore and the inner logic of magic. It does lead to some satisfying tying of loose ends, but overall it's bleak. I don't mind 'sad' developments or endings, but there's a really forlorn sense here, of being completely tied to your pre-written fate. This goes both for the mythago or half-mythago characters and to the human ones.
The story was OK in the end, but I found the bittersweet taste that the author aimed for to be more bitter than not.
That being said, this wasn't such a great ending to the series. The world is still immersive, yes, but it just focuses on relationships between characters more than it does on lore and the inner logic of magic. It does lead to some satisfying tying of loose ends, but overall it's bleak. I don't mind 'sad' developments or endings, but there's a really forlorn sense here, of being completely tied to your pre-written fate. This goes both for the mythago or half-mythago characters and to the human ones.
The story was OK in the end, but I found the bittersweet taste that the author aimed for to be more bitter than not.
February 4, 2020
Mysterious, poignant, affecting.
December 23, 2013
It's only taken 25 years but it's been worth the wait. Holdstock has finally been persuaded to write a direct sequel to his World Fantasy Award winner, Mythago Wood, and it lives up to its primogenitor. After beating about the bush in tangential titles sharing the unique mythos of Ryhope Wood - some more effectively than others ('Lavondyss', which followed MW, is a novel of haunting beauty in its own right) - Holdstock has finally picked up the storyline directly from the famously open ending of the first, which saw Steven's glimmering girl, Celtic princess Guiwenneth, being abducted by his father (in the primal figure of the Urscumug) and taken back through the wall of fire that guards the way to Lavondyss. A coda relates how a giant came to a tall stone marking the edge of his known world, the head of a valley where he met a hunter waiting for 'the girl who came back through the fire' and this bequeaths the valley with its later name, imarn uklyss.
And finally, she did.
Steven and Guiwenneth are reunited. They settle down in the valley in an old Roman villa (a mythago conjured from Steven's memory) and have a couple of children, Jack and Yssobel. Avilion resumes the story at the point when this idyll is shattered. Guiwenneth has disappeared and Yssobel has gone to find her - heading inwards to Avilion/Lavondyss. Jack (half human, half mythago like his sister - both 'red' and 'green') journeys outwards to the edge of Ryhope - desperate to see the world of his father, the Lodge where it all started, the village of Shadoxhurst, and hopefully find some clues that will help in the search. By the time Jack reaches 'the fields we know' it is the present day (the original disappearance of the three Huxley men - George, Steven and Christian - occured in the late Forties). As all travellers of Faerie discover, time runs differently in each world. In a intertextual touch Steven has quested Jack with finding his old copy of The Time Machine in the Lodge. Jack's presence there dislodges the ghost/mythago of his grandfather, George Huxley - and we have some insight into the original chain of events.
Echoes and reflections.
This occurs alot throughout the book - things overlap. The polder of Ryhope Wood has a porous boundary - the real world leaks into it and it leaks into the real world (one of Holdstock's new characters Caylen Reeve, a charismatic shaman figure living in the village, epitomises this). This symbiotic nature is not surprising, for Mythago Wood is a cypher for the imagination, a zone of subconscious creativity - 'Avilion is what we make it' - and its at its most fertile where the two worlds (waking and dreams/conscious and subconscious) meet. Holdstock is not afraid to plunder (or cross-reference) his own treasure hoard. Christian's army of the lost, Legion, marches into the book from the pages of 'Gates of Horn, Gates of Ivory' and that wily Greek sea captain, Odysseus, pops up as a love interest to the young Yssobel - a kind of leftover 'mythago' from the Merlin Codex (Holdstock's Celtic/Ancient Greece crosshatch trilogy). This self-referencing could become a law of diminishing returns but it satisfyingly capitalises on previous books in the sequence and draws the threads together. The multi-linerar narrative structure is bold - intercutting between mainly Jack and Yssobel's journey, but sometimes switching to Guiwenneth's, Steven's, Christian's...ambitiously from first to third. In his weaker work, this cut-and-paste method can leave the reader floundering. Here, Holdstock carries it off. His years' of experience have paid off - he has found an assured narrative voice, having in previous novels sometimes been in danger of writing a pastiche of himself, wilfully obscure gobbledigook masking dodgy characterisation and structure.
The prose is well-honed and lucid. The characters of Jack and Yssobel are convincing - indeed Yssobel's voice comes across the clearest and this is more her story than anyones. The portrayal of the older Steven and Guiwenneth is a believable depiction of marriage - albeit a mythopoeic one - and Steven's transformation into his father touching (it could even be a gently self-deprecating self-portrait). Holdstock includes a selection of his poetry - one of which, 'Fields of Tartan' is based upon his grandfather's memories of the First World War - he incorporates this into the narrative effectively, but the personal reference gives the whole thing added poignancy. Holdstock also dedicates the book to the memory of his father, who died before it was finished: again, this fact gives the story an added depth, as the novelist depicts an otherworld where loved ones never die. It is a novel about homecoming - 'What we remember is all the home we need' - and in 'Avilion' Holdstock has finally come home. This is a fantasy novel willing to depict mature relationships and shows Holdstock's maturity as a fantasy novelist.
As all great works, 'Avilion' conveys something fundamental about the human condition, why we, the human creature, need to dream, to explore, to discover, to take risks, even to suffer - if we are to truly grow:
'We held and held until we broke,
But in the breaking, we held,
and in the holding we will find Avilion' (Holdstock)
Diehard fans of Holdstock/the Mythago Wood novels should be truly satisfied by this definitive sequel, whileas newcomes to Ryhope could be sufficiently enchanted to wish to plunge deeper into its mythos.
'Avilion' feels like a conclusive end to the George/Steven/Christian/Guiwenneth story - but not perhaps the Mythago Wood itself: the further you go in, the bigger it gets. I for one am glad that Ryhope will always be there, just across the field, over the brook, a Secondary World within reach for those willing to step into its shade.
A novel of deep magic and haunting beauty.
[Review written before his death November 29, 2009.
Robert Holdstock, Rest in Peace in Bird Spirit Land]
And finally, she did.
Steven and Guiwenneth are reunited. They settle down in the valley in an old Roman villa (a mythago conjured from Steven's memory) and have a couple of children, Jack and Yssobel. Avilion resumes the story at the point when this idyll is shattered. Guiwenneth has disappeared and Yssobel has gone to find her - heading inwards to Avilion/Lavondyss. Jack (half human, half mythago like his sister - both 'red' and 'green') journeys outwards to the edge of Ryhope - desperate to see the world of his father, the Lodge where it all started, the village of Shadoxhurst, and hopefully find some clues that will help in the search. By the time Jack reaches 'the fields we know' it is the present day (the original disappearance of the three Huxley men - George, Steven and Christian - occured in the late Forties). As all travellers of Faerie discover, time runs differently in each world. In a intertextual touch Steven has quested Jack with finding his old copy of The Time Machine in the Lodge. Jack's presence there dislodges the ghost/mythago of his grandfather, George Huxley - and we have some insight into the original chain of events.
Echoes and reflections.
This occurs alot throughout the book - things overlap. The polder of Ryhope Wood has a porous boundary - the real world leaks into it and it leaks into the real world (one of Holdstock's new characters Caylen Reeve, a charismatic shaman figure living in the village, epitomises this). This symbiotic nature is not surprising, for Mythago Wood is a cypher for the imagination, a zone of subconscious creativity - 'Avilion is what we make it' - and its at its most fertile where the two worlds (waking and dreams/conscious and subconscious) meet. Holdstock is not afraid to plunder (or cross-reference) his own treasure hoard. Christian's army of the lost, Legion, marches into the book from the pages of 'Gates of Horn, Gates of Ivory' and that wily Greek sea captain, Odysseus, pops up as a love interest to the young Yssobel - a kind of leftover 'mythago' from the Merlin Codex (Holdstock's Celtic/Ancient Greece crosshatch trilogy). This self-referencing could become a law of diminishing returns but it satisfyingly capitalises on previous books in the sequence and draws the threads together. The multi-linerar narrative structure is bold - intercutting between mainly Jack and Yssobel's journey, but sometimes switching to Guiwenneth's, Steven's, Christian's...ambitiously from first to third. In his weaker work, this cut-and-paste method can leave the reader floundering. Here, Holdstock carries it off. His years' of experience have paid off - he has found an assured narrative voice, having in previous novels sometimes been in danger of writing a pastiche of himself, wilfully obscure gobbledigook masking dodgy characterisation and structure.
The prose is well-honed and lucid. The characters of Jack and Yssobel are convincing - indeed Yssobel's voice comes across the clearest and this is more her story than anyones. The portrayal of the older Steven and Guiwenneth is a believable depiction of marriage - albeit a mythopoeic one - and Steven's transformation into his father touching (it could even be a gently self-deprecating self-portrait). Holdstock includes a selection of his poetry - one of which, 'Fields of Tartan' is based upon his grandfather's memories of the First World War - he incorporates this into the narrative effectively, but the personal reference gives the whole thing added poignancy. Holdstock also dedicates the book to the memory of his father, who died before it was finished: again, this fact gives the story an added depth, as the novelist depicts an otherworld where loved ones never die. It is a novel about homecoming - 'What we remember is all the home we need' - and in 'Avilion' Holdstock has finally come home. This is a fantasy novel willing to depict mature relationships and shows Holdstock's maturity as a fantasy novelist.
As all great works, 'Avilion' conveys something fundamental about the human condition, why we, the human creature, need to dream, to explore, to discover, to take risks, even to suffer - if we are to truly grow:
'We held and held until we broke,
But in the breaking, we held,
and in the holding we will find Avilion' (Holdstock)
Diehard fans of Holdstock/the Mythago Wood novels should be truly satisfied by this definitive sequel, whileas newcomes to Ryhope could be sufficiently enchanted to wish to plunge deeper into its mythos.
'Avilion' feels like a conclusive end to the George/Steven/Christian/Guiwenneth story - but not perhaps the Mythago Wood itself: the further you go in, the bigger it gets. I for one am glad that Ryhope will always be there, just across the field, over the brook, a Secondary World within reach for those willing to step into its shade.
A novel of deep magic and haunting beauty.
[Review written before his death November 29, 2009.
Robert Holdstock, Rest in Peace in Bird Spirit Land]
April 5, 2010
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
At the end of Mythago Wood, we left Steven Huxley waiting for Guiwenneth to return from Lavondyss. Avilion is a direct sequel — the story of what happened when Guiwenneth came back. She and Steven have lived happily together for years and have two children, Yssobel and Jack.
Unfortunately, though, she’s not exactly the same woman she was before. Her ordeal with Christian has changed her and she and Christian (now leader of the time-travelling army called Legion) still haunt each other. Yssobel dreams of Christian and is intrigued by him, causing strain in the mother-daughter relationship, and perhaps danger to herself and the family. So Guiwenneth sets out to find and destroy Christian, Yssobel leaves home to find her mother, and Jack goes to Oak Lodge (where the Huxleys used to live) to try to find out how to track down Yssobel.
That sounds simple enough, but nothing is simple when it involves the strangely changing Ryhope Wood, recognizable characters who are mythical or legendary archetypes and not necessarily real historical figures (e.g., the Morrigan, Peredur, Odysseus, King Arthur), and Robert Holdstock’s out-of-sequence storytelling and dreamy style.
The result is, as usual, an enchanting story with lots to think about, but lots of confusion, too. Avilion brings in some of the seemingly disparate elements found in other Mythago Wood books, but inexplicably neglects to mention people or events that have previously been important. The entire Mythago Wood series, but Avilion especially, is patchy and vague, like a dream sequence. In this novel there’s not much plot and it’s written in several shifting points of view, so though I enjoyed the ideas, the inventive use of familiar mythology, and the overall effect of the style, I was not as engaged with Avilion as I had been with Mythago Wood and Lavondyss.
Jack is an agreeable new character and I enjoyed the chapters written from his POV, but Guiwenneth is now completely unlikable, Yssobel is hard to relate to, and Steven, who was an admirably bold and energetic man in Mythago Wood, is now weak and fretful. The story, unlike its predecessors, is filled with more depression than wonder.
It’s hard to fault Mr. Holdstock for doing again what he does so well, but most of the charm of Mythago Wood was its inventiveness. Avilion will be incomprehensible to someone who hasn’t read Mythago Wood, but those of us who have read it have “been there before.” Without engaging characters or much plot to hold it up, Avilion just doesn’t work as well. Those who want to know how the story ends (does the story ever end in Ryhope wood?) will want to read Avilion, and will enjoy being immersed in Holdstock’s dreamy world, but they shouldn’t expect to have their minds blown again.
At the end of Mythago Wood, we left Steven Huxley waiting for Guiwenneth to return from Lavondyss. Avilion is a direct sequel — the story of what happened when Guiwenneth came back. She and Steven have lived happily together for years and have two children, Yssobel and Jack.
Unfortunately, though, she’s not exactly the same woman she was before. Her ordeal with Christian has changed her and she and Christian (now leader of the time-travelling army called Legion) still haunt each other. Yssobel dreams of Christian and is intrigued by him, causing strain in the mother-daughter relationship, and perhaps danger to herself and the family. So Guiwenneth sets out to find and destroy Christian, Yssobel leaves home to find her mother, and Jack goes to Oak Lodge (where the Huxleys used to live) to try to find out how to track down Yssobel.
That sounds simple enough, but nothing is simple when it involves the strangely changing Ryhope Wood, recognizable characters who are mythical or legendary archetypes and not necessarily real historical figures (e.g., the Morrigan, Peredur, Odysseus, King Arthur), and Robert Holdstock’s out-of-sequence storytelling and dreamy style.
The result is, as usual, an enchanting story with lots to think about, but lots of confusion, too. Avilion brings in some of the seemingly disparate elements found in other Mythago Wood books, but inexplicably neglects to mention people or events that have previously been important. The entire Mythago Wood series, but Avilion especially, is patchy and vague, like a dream sequence. In this novel there’s not much plot and it’s written in several shifting points of view, so though I enjoyed the ideas, the inventive use of familiar mythology, and the overall effect of the style, I was not as engaged with Avilion as I had been with Mythago Wood and Lavondyss.
Jack is an agreeable new character and I enjoyed the chapters written from his POV, but Guiwenneth is now completely unlikable, Yssobel is hard to relate to, and Steven, who was an admirably bold and energetic man in Mythago Wood, is now weak and fretful. The story, unlike its predecessors, is filled with more depression than wonder.
It’s hard to fault Mr. Holdstock for doing again what he does so well, but most of the charm of Mythago Wood was its inventiveness. Avilion will be incomprehensible to someone who hasn’t read Mythago Wood, but those of us who have read it have “been there before.” Without engaging characters or much plot to hold it up, Avilion just doesn’t work as well. Those who want to know how the story ends (does the story ever end in Ryhope wood?) will want to read Avilion, and will enjoy being immersed in Holdstock’s dreamy world, but they shouldn’t expect to have their minds blown again.
November 16, 2010
Once again we return to Stephen and Guiwenneth in Ryhope Wood (note that I have not read any of the intervening Mythago books, so I am reading this directly after finishing the first - Mythago Wood, which I loved).
Here we find out what happened after the first book, and about the two children Stephen and Guiwnneth have, both half mythago, half human. The story is almost (but not quite) as lovely and haunting and imaginative as the first book. Their daughter Issobel has an unquenchable thirst to know more about the depths of Ryhope Wood and Lavondyss and her parents mythology, while their son Jack has a longing to venture into the human world. Another reviewer described the book as being like a dream sequence and I think that is accurate. Slightly confusing at times, it is really the story of two children growing up and attempting to accept themselves and their mythago/human heritage.
Highly recommended.
Note: reading Mythago Wood would be a prerequisite.
Here we find out what happened after the first book, and about the two children Stephen and Guiwnneth have, both half mythago, half human. The story is almost (but not quite) as lovely and haunting and imaginative as the first book. Their daughter Issobel has an unquenchable thirst to know more about the depths of Ryhope Wood and Lavondyss and her parents mythology, while their son Jack has a longing to venture into the human world. Another reviewer described the book as being like a dream sequence and I think that is accurate. Slightly confusing at times, it is really the story of two children growing up and attempting to accept themselves and their mythago/human heritage.
Highly recommended.
Note: reading Mythago Wood would be a prerequisite.
October 1, 2022
Presented as book 7 in the Mythago Wood series.
I read books 1 and 2, but skipped books 3 to 6, not sure why, but then I picked this one up and read it, maybe because it won some literary fantasy awards.
It's an interesting story, having moved well on from the first couple of books, and where the human and mythical creature have spawned a family of 2 children, one of whom is inquisitive and wants to find out what happened to some of his ancestors who may have ventured into the mythical realms.
Holdstock was an intelligent writer, and historian.
This book does lack some of the intensity of the earlier books, but it's still quite captivating in it's own right, though I expect I'd have gotten much more out of the series had I not only read them all in sequence, but also studied the history of Irish and English mythology that Holdstock based so many of his ideas on. Perhaps one day I'll revisit it.
I read books 1 and 2, but skipped books 3 to 6, not sure why, but then I picked this one up and read it, maybe because it won some literary fantasy awards.
It's an interesting story, having moved well on from the first couple of books, and where the human and mythical creature have spawned a family of 2 children, one of whom is inquisitive and wants to find out what happened to some of his ancestors who may have ventured into the mythical realms.
Holdstock was an intelligent writer, and historian.
This book does lack some of the intensity of the earlier books, but it's still quite captivating in it's own right, though I expect I'd have gotten much more out of the series had I not only read them all in sequence, but also studied the history of Irish and English mythology that Holdstock based so many of his ideas on. Perhaps one day I'll revisit it.
September 10, 2021
This book did not engage me like Mythago Wood did. I was very curious to find out what happened to Steven & Guiwenneth's kids, Yssobel & Jack, but I couldn't really connect with either of them.
I also struggle with multiple, shifting points of view and non-linear books, so that's part of what made this difficult for me. Certainly it's well written otherwise, but I just couldn't get into it.
I still really like the concept of Mythago Wood itself, but to me it did not play out as well as I thought it would in this final book.
I also struggle with multiple, shifting points of view and non-linear books, so that's part of what made this difficult for me. Certainly it's well written otherwise, but I just couldn't get into it.
I still really like the concept of Mythago Wood itself, but to me it did not play out as well as I thought it would in this final book.
November 4, 2025
I don’t know if it is me but the trajectory of the series has given me strong duns vibes. The first 3 books range from really good to bona fire fantasy classics and the 2nd half of the respective series is essentially being a voyeur to the author’s ever slowly declining imagination and talent where by the last book you feel so much pity for what happened, not just to the author but the series as a whole.
December 21, 2017
To be honest, this book disappointed me. I really enjoyed the other books in the Mythago Woods series, and as "far out" as those are... this one was a TRIP. Fragmented and hard to follow, I was lost almost the first 2/3 of the book. I'm giving it 2 stars as the closure to the "life cycles" of Steven, Guiwenneth and Christian was moderately satisfying.
April 12, 2018
I was a little leery since I read this one as the 2nd book in the series. I had just been introduced to Mythago Wood and loved it. So I wanted the "sequel". Took a bit to get in to it, but once there, the story hummed and made me cry at the end.
June 10, 2019
Disturbing.
I found Avillion to be as disturbing in its way as i found Lavondys.
The story does not flow quite as well as in other volumes, but it is never the less an excellent read.
I found Avillion to be as disturbing in its way as i found Lavondys.
The story does not flow quite as well as in other volumes, but it is never the less an excellent read.
Read
September 29, 2019Lire plus d'une centaine de pages et se rendre compte qu'il y a plein de choses que je ne comprends pas... Avilion est le septième tome d'une série et rien dans le livre ne l'annonçait... Un petit peu en colère.
October 22, 2021
I saw heroes stride across the lawn - a wonded king under the apple tree - treasures under the green hill
January 10, 2022
No his best by a long shot. A little too meandering and esoteric but still very cool.
August 10, 2023
V Ryhopskom lese som sa stratila už pri čítaní Lesu mytág.
A s láskou sa v ňom budem strácať aj naďalej.
A s láskou sa v ňom budem strácať aj naďalej.
October 28, 2014
Robert Holdstock has a special place in the hearts of serious fantasy lovers. Unlike the majority of the books nestled in the fantasy section of your local Waterstones, Holdstock owes little to Tolkien, but hearkens back to the tradition from which Tolkien himself sprang: our common mythic heritage. It’s a branch of the fantasy family tree that bore most of the fruit before the good professor set pen to paper, but which has since been almost shaded out by others trying to mimic what Tolkien achieved, more’s the pity.
Most of Holdstock’s books take place within Ryhope Wood, a three square-mile patch of ancient forest in Herefordshire. A fragment of the greenwood that once covered all of Europe, there’s deep magic within its bounds. It is semi-sentient, paradoxically huge inside, and can conjure legendary beings out of the minds of the humans who dwell near its boundaries. These ‘myth imagos’ gave the name to Holdstock’s first Ryhope book, Mythago Wood, published to great acclaim in 1984. Holdstock has revisited the wood many times since then, but Avilion is the first direct sequel to that first tale.
Stephen Huxley, Mythago Wood’s protagonist, has been living deep in Ryhope with a mythago of Guiwenneth, a celtic archetype whose historic personage gave rise to the legends of Guinevere and others, and who he claimed back from death. They have two half-human children, Yssobel and Jack. Jack yearns to experience the world his father left behind, Yssobel is being drawn into ever greater affinity with the magic of the wood and has unwittingly called Jack’s murderous brother, Christian, back into being. This so upsets her mother (whom Christian kidnapped, raped and murdered many years earlier) she departs on a quest for revenge. The dismayed Yssobel sets out to bring her mother home, changing all their lives forever.
The narrative of each successive Ryhope book has grown more impenetrable, like a wild thicket. The questions of who calls whom into existence and whether any of it has any kind of objective reality weave a tricksy glamour about Holdstock’s stories. But these are not books of easy answers, and his interlaying of psychology, myth, and ontology with raw emotion, sometimes falteringly conveyed in verse, conveys the messiness of real life. Like real life, like the bark of the trees he so loves, Holdstock shows us the roughness of magic and nature, bound up in blood and filth. Avilion is penetratingly honest, there is no idyll to be had, and happiness comes with its fair share of suffering, loss, and self-delusion. Wisdom in Holdstock’s world is bought with pain.
It doesn’t really matter that the reader is left struggling for sense on occasion, Holdstock’s ethereal prose is all encompassing, his use of language so affective that it swallows you whole. He’s one of the few authors capable of not only showing another world, but actively transporting to it. He writes of love and death in a shyly awkward way, a poet wrapped up in the privacy of his word-wood. Coming out of the end of one of his novels is to emerge from this private world feeling like you’ve been living another life, as fragmentary, chaotic and disordered and as bound up by story as a real one. It’s an immersive experience that few other authors can match, though the stories sometimes make as little sense as the dreams they resemble.
Avilion is not quite as potent as some of the other entries in the series, but it offers much as Jack and Yssobel attain adulthood in very different ways, and discover what ‘home’ really means. Good fantasy, like myth should transform. Much fantasy, despite its wars and intrigues, is really about maintaining the status quo, its vacuum-sealed kingdoms and shallow-worn paths from kitchen boy to king providing a cocoon of comfort for the reader. Holdstock cocoons you alright, but his twiggy bowers offer little comfort; his kings are the real deal, plucked bloody and raging from myth, all are remembered for their suffering as much as their success. It’s arguable that all myth and great fantasy, all great literature, even, employs loss as an engine for transformation. Ryhope Wood continues to provide both.
Did you know?
Avilion is the name Alfred Tennyson used for Avalon in his poem, Morte D'Arthur.
Most of Holdstock’s books take place within Ryhope Wood, a three square-mile patch of ancient forest in Herefordshire. A fragment of the greenwood that once covered all of Europe, there’s deep magic within its bounds. It is semi-sentient, paradoxically huge inside, and can conjure legendary beings out of the minds of the humans who dwell near its boundaries. These ‘myth imagos’ gave the name to Holdstock’s first Ryhope book, Mythago Wood, published to great acclaim in 1984. Holdstock has revisited the wood many times since then, but Avilion is the first direct sequel to that first tale.
Stephen Huxley, Mythago Wood’s protagonist, has been living deep in Ryhope with a mythago of Guiwenneth, a celtic archetype whose historic personage gave rise to the legends of Guinevere and others, and who he claimed back from death. They have two half-human children, Yssobel and Jack. Jack yearns to experience the world his father left behind, Yssobel is being drawn into ever greater affinity with the magic of the wood and has unwittingly called Jack’s murderous brother, Christian, back into being. This so upsets her mother (whom Christian kidnapped, raped and murdered many years earlier) she departs on a quest for revenge. The dismayed Yssobel sets out to bring her mother home, changing all their lives forever.
The narrative of each successive Ryhope book has grown more impenetrable, like a wild thicket. The questions of who calls whom into existence and whether any of it has any kind of objective reality weave a tricksy glamour about Holdstock’s stories. But these are not books of easy answers, and his interlaying of psychology, myth, and ontology with raw emotion, sometimes falteringly conveyed in verse, conveys the messiness of real life. Like real life, like the bark of the trees he so loves, Holdstock shows us the roughness of magic and nature, bound up in blood and filth. Avilion is penetratingly honest, there is no idyll to be had, and happiness comes with its fair share of suffering, loss, and self-delusion. Wisdom in Holdstock’s world is bought with pain.
It doesn’t really matter that the reader is left struggling for sense on occasion, Holdstock’s ethereal prose is all encompassing, his use of language so affective that it swallows you whole. He’s one of the few authors capable of not only showing another world, but actively transporting to it. He writes of love and death in a shyly awkward way, a poet wrapped up in the privacy of his word-wood. Coming out of the end of one of his novels is to emerge from this private world feeling like you’ve been living another life, as fragmentary, chaotic and disordered and as bound up by story as a real one. It’s an immersive experience that few other authors can match, though the stories sometimes make as little sense as the dreams they resemble.
Avilion is not quite as potent as some of the other entries in the series, but it offers much as Jack and Yssobel attain adulthood in very different ways, and discover what ‘home’ really means. Good fantasy, like myth should transform. Much fantasy, despite its wars and intrigues, is really about maintaining the status quo, its vacuum-sealed kingdoms and shallow-worn paths from kitchen boy to king providing a cocoon of comfort for the reader. Holdstock cocoons you alright, but his twiggy bowers offer little comfort; his kings are the real deal, plucked bloody and raging from myth, all are remembered for their suffering as much as their success. It’s arguable that all myth and great fantasy, all great literature, even, employs loss as an engine for transformation. Ryhope Wood continues to provide both.
Did you know?
Avilion is the name Alfred Tennyson used for Avalon in his poem, Morte D'Arthur.
May 20, 2010
"Avilion" is a sequel to the legendary "Mythago Wood" and follows Steven Huxley, his lover Gwienneth and their children; Yssobel and Jack. The story starts with Jack at the edge of Ryhope Wood longing to be in the town Sadoxhurst. Yssobel on the other side want to live in the wood. One day Gwienneth dissapers and Yssobel follows her to a fate she does not quite understand and puts her self on the line along with her brother Jack.
How to describe this book...I just love it, absolutly love it! this is indeed a Robert Holdstock book and a worthy sequel to the award winning "Mythago Wood".
I have only read the first book and to read this book; you need to have read the first book in the series or you will be very confused. The story does jump a little at times, back and fourth trough the timeline in the story. It did annoy me a little, but not so much that it affected my feelings about the book. It also have those little riddles as I see them, where you can spend some time thinking trying to find the answer before it hits you. I always failed at this as usual. I love the intellect of this book, it's philosophy and way of twisting things into it's own way.
"Avilion" is a wonderful adult fantasy book that will drag you in to the center of the forest, right in to Avilion itself and hold you there by your throat if you let it.
Again have I been thrilled, stunned and trapped in the books of Robert Holdstock. Thank you for the writing and good luck with your afterlife in Lavondyss. Rest in peace, Robert.
How to describe this book...I just love it, absolutly love it! this is indeed a Robert Holdstock book and a worthy sequel to the award winning "Mythago Wood".
I have only read the first book and to read this book; you need to have read the first book in the series or you will be very confused. The story does jump a little at times, back and fourth trough the timeline in the story. It did annoy me a little, but not so much that it affected my feelings about the book. It also have those little riddles as I see them, where you can spend some time thinking trying to find the answer before it hits you. I always failed at this as usual. I love the intellect of this book, it's philosophy and way of twisting things into it's own way.
"Avilion" is a wonderful adult fantasy book that will drag you in to the center of the forest, right in to Avilion itself and hold you there by your throat if you let it.
Again have I been thrilled, stunned and trapped in the books of Robert Holdstock. Thank you for the writing and good luck with your afterlife in Lavondyss. Rest in peace, Robert.
February 27, 2011
Avilion is a direct sequel to Mythago Wood, which I have always adored. It's a worthy one - I love the swirl of Arthurian legend it is steeped in, and the curls of other myths that Holdstock adds to his story.
You do need to have read Mythago Wood to understand this book - and if you haven't read Mythago Wood yet I envy you that experience.
I've been pondering further Holdstock's idea of how Jack and Yssobel are both 'red' (human) and 'green' (mythago) as a greater metaphor. The green side is otherworldly, incorporeal and ties them to their multi-person mythical history. The red side is human, ties them to now and bodies and blood. It's an interesting way to think about people in general - tied to ancestry/mind and now/physicality. Anyway, I'm rambling here. But the references to Wells' Time Machine in the book reinforce my thoughts about this:
'When the Time Traveller sent himself millions of years into the future, he found a world that was not just different from his own but reflected the divide in the nature of men. The animal and the intellect. But he fell in love with a woman who gave him a flower.'
'And he went back,' Jack said.
The divide in the nature of men.
Holdstock often writes quite beautifully - there's a passage in Avilion (which of course I can't find now) where he describes the air above the river 'opening like a cat's eye'. Sometimes the moving simplicity of a line takes my breath away: "I have found love in the form of a boy."
So yes, unashamedly loved this, and now I want to read Mythago Wood again!
You do need to have read Mythago Wood to understand this book - and if you haven't read Mythago Wood yet I envy you that experience.
I've been pondering further Holdstock's idea of how Jack and Yssobel are both 'red' (human) and 'green' (mythago) as a greater metaphor. The green side is otherworldly, incorporeal and ties them to their multi-person mythical history. The red side is human, ties them to now and bodies and blood. It's an interesting way to think about people in general - tied to ancestry/mind and now/physicality. Anyway, I'm rambling here. But the references to Wells' Time Machine in the book reinforce my thoughts about this:
'When the Time Traveller sent himself millions of years into the future, he found a world that was not just different from his own but reflected the divide in the nature of men. The animal and the intellect. But he fell in love with a woman who gave him a flower.'
'And he went back,' Jack said.
The divide in the nature of men.
Holdstock often writes quite beautifully - there's a passage in Avilion (which of course I can't find now) where he describes the air above the river 'opening like a cat's eye'. Sometimes the moving simplicity of a line takes my breath away: "I have found love in the form of a boy."
So yes, unashamedly loved this, and now I want to read Mythago Wood again!
February 8, 2016
#7 in the cycle, and a direct sequel to 'Mythago Wood' #1. Human Steven and mythago Guiwenneth have made a home for their red(blood)/green(wood) children Jack and Yssobel in a derelict Roman villa fashioned from Steven's mythago. Yet mythagos, like myths, as human life itself, goes in cycles, and the villa is built on a crossing. As Steven and Guiwenneth tire through age, so their children grow bold with youth and dream of more, and in the dreaming begin their own mythagos, some of it from their ancestry, some from the education Steven has passed on. Not all of it goes well.
If you are into handling an aged daughter interacting with a father as young as a granddaughter – who created whose mythago? – or an Odysseus learning of how he will turn into a driven older man, or a petulant Arthur demanding a death because he was cheated of his barge trip to Avalon/Avilion, just be sure to read ‘Mythago Wood’ first.
For me it was the sentience of the land on a bigger, slower cycle that will stay in the mind, especially of Avilion rising from the lake, sprouting a yew forest. But this time round the land and the trackways were subservient to the Heroes cycles, which I found disappointing when everywhere else the metaphorical journey is all.
If you are into handling an aged daughter interacting with a father as young as a granddaughter – who created whose mythago? – or an Odysseus learning of how he will turn into a driven older man, or a petulant Arthur demanding a death because he was cheated of his barge trip to Avalon/Avilion, just be sure to read ‘Mythago Wood’ first.
For me it was the sentience of the land on a bigger, slower cycle that will stay in the mind, especially of Avilion rising from the lake, sprouting a yew forest. But this time round the land and the trackways were subservient to the Heroes cycles, which I found disappointing when everywhere else the metaphorical journey is all.
April 21, 2010
Even though this book says it is a direct sequel to Mythago Wood, I would recommend that you read it after all the others in the series.
A lot of it went over my head so to speak. Should I ever find the rest of the books, I'll reread the series and hopefully give it a higher score:
The Bone Forest
Merlin's Wood
Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn
A lot of it went over my head so to speak. Should I ever find the rest of the books, I'll reread the series and hopefully give it a higher score:
The Bone Forest
Merlin's Wood
Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn
July 17, 2009
Finally, after twenty-five years, Robert Holdstock has written a sequel to Mythago Wood. It follows the children of Steve Huxley and the mythago Guiwenneth: half human and half woodland, two very different children torn between their dual heritage.
This is most definitely a successor to the Mythago series; it's very different to the more formal tone of the Merlin Codex books and goes back to the archetype and story orientated world of Ryhope Wood. While it obviously isn't as inventive and original as Mythago Wood, it's still a very enjoyable read and far superior of most books I've read recently!
This is most definitely a successor to the Mythago series; it's very different to the more formal tone of the Merlin Codex books and goes back to the archetype and story orientated world of Ryhope Wood. While it obviously isn't as inventive and original as Mythago Wood, it's still a very enjoyable read and far superior of most books I've read recently!
January 5, 2013
So far loving it. I'm sure I read Mythago Wood in the past but not quite sure so time to read the series agian. Have definitely not read this one before. About half way through - if you like fantasy read it. Finished now and must revisit Mythago Wood. I can see where people have used his ideas. The Army rising through the ground reminded me of the Ghost Army in the Pirates film. It's more about relationships than romance which I like but still retains the driving force of the 'quest' which so fascinated me about Arthur and his Knights as a child.
April 1, 2015
We’ve loved Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Woods Cycle and Avilion is another beautifully written and poetic book in that series, although we don’t think it would have the same impact if we hadn’t read all the others first. In a way, this is a summation of those books, linking them together and we recommend you at least read Mythago Wood first before this one. Still, it is a wonderful and original book that sang to our hearts and imaginations.
The Silver Elves authors of The Elves of Lyndarys.
The Silver Elves authors of The Elves of Lyndarys.
July 28, 2012
An excellent book. Holdstock's Rhyhope Wood series is profound, This book forms a sequel to Mythago Wood, but also refers to and is informed by the other volumes. The flow of time, and of cause and effect, is very complex in these stories. Of special interest in this volume is the experience of the two children, Jack and Yssobel, who are half human and half of the mythological realm of the Wood.
Read it! (But Mythago Wood first).
October 31, 2020
Literary Merit: 3.75 stars
Mythago Wood has been such a perfect book that no other sequel can be better. This is the reason why Avilion has been less liked by readers despite the quality being very high.
Holdstock explores fantasy and the Ryhope Wood further as he takes us along the journey. While I felt less emotionally connected with this one, I still feel it is a superbly written adult fantasy text.
December 15, 2012
Great ideas, but could have done with another edit. I believe this was the last novel Robert H. wrote before his death so its unfortunate that the Mythago Wood series will not continue. RIP Robert - what an incredible imagination you had. If my novels come near to yours in imaginative scope then I'll be really satisfied.
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