ROBERT HOLDSTOCK: What's your take?

[Clansman]

I have heard, recently, a lot of good things, from a source I respect, about the novels of Robert Holdstock, starting with Mythago Wood and Lavondyss. However, before I jump in to this series with my time and money, my Chronian instincts kicked in, and I wanted to get the views of my fellow fantasy lovers here.

So, if you have read Holdstock, what do you think? Worth a purchase?

 

[HareBrain]

I'd definitely recommend buying and reading Mythago Wood, but I wouldn't get the entire series before you start. It's unique - at least I've not read anything like it - and its ideas exert a quiet but insistent pull, sending roots down into the mind. Even though I can't say the story was an unqualified success for me (especially the ending - I never bothered getting the sequel) it's stuck with me a lot better than other stories I've found more immediately "satisfying". It's very well-written, and its central premise is intriguing, beautiful and creepy.

 

[AE35Unit]

Mythago Wood is one of the few fantasy books I can enjoy. It was superb,must get a copy and its sequel. Also check out his SF novel Where Time Winds Blow. Not earth shattering but worth a read. I'm sure I already started a Holdstock thread somewhere•••

 

[AE35Unit]

And there you go!

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/43516-robert-holdstock.html

 

[j d worthington]

Though it has been many a year, I did read Mythago Wood, and would highly recommend it. I keep meaning to get around to the rest of the set, but haven't yet managed to do so.... However, that one, at very least, I would have no reservation about urging someone to go for....

(And just as a bit of added information, it was one of the books included in Moorcock and Cawthorne's Fantasy: 100 Best Books, as well....)

 

[J-Sun]

I'm not sure if it counts for or against it that both AE and I can recommend it , being SF fans but, while I no longer have it, I did find it to be excellent. Lavondyss seemed to also be good and maybe more expansive but, unfortunately, also a little more diluted. I understand there are many books in the series now but I never followed them out. So I also agree with HareBrain - just grab Mythago Wood and try it. If you like it, try the next, and so on.

 

[Clansman]

Well, time to go order a book or two...according to AE35Unit's other thread, Lavondyss is the second half of Mythago Wood. I hate stopping in the middle of a story.

 

[AE35Unit]

Well i'm not sure its the second half of the story,just a sequel.