The Mythago Cycle Volume 2 by Robert Holdstock (book review).
Folklore and myth is woven through with archetypes, the basis on which heroes and adventurers are built. They are always there in the background and few wonder where they come from. They have always been part of the human psyche. Then someone comes along and says, yes, you are right, they are created by the human mind. In his ‘Mythago’ sequence of books, Robert Holdstock explores that concept.
All the books in the ‘Mythago Cycle’ revolve around Ryhope Wood. This is a fragment of ancient forest that has strange properties. It is difficult to penetrate and often the explorer is disorientated and ends up where they began. Sometimes, strange people are seen lurking at the fringes. Volume 1 of ‘The Mythago Cycle’ brings together two novels, ‘Mythago Wood’ and ‘Lavondyss’. The first introduces the concept of myth-imagos – mythagos – which are generated by the human mind within the precincts of the wood. Ryhope Wood itself is an imago, sitting outside and within the imagination and stretches to whatever distance is required. It is bigger on the inside that walking around it would make it seem. The wood also plays tricks with time, as do the narratives of the Cycle’s components.
‘Mythago Wood’ introduced the idea of mythagos and the Huxley’s. Set not long after WWII, Steven Huxley returns to find his father, George, vanished, and his brother, Christian, spending most of his time in Ryhope Wood. To help him puzzle out the Wood’s influence, he enlists the help of Harry Keeton. ‘Lavondyss’ is concerned with Harry’s sister, Tallis, who disappeared when he was a child. It follows her exploration deep into the wood. This second omnibus volume contains two more of the novels that have the wood at its centre, ‘The Hollowing’ and ‘Gate Of Ivory, Gate Of Horn’.
There are other families living in the vicinity of Ryhope Wood and who are affected by its influence. In ‘The Hollowing’, it is Richard Bradley and his family live at Shadoxhurst in the lee of the wood that are the focus. Richard is initially drawn under its influence on his way home from his son’s school performance. A man stumbles into the road who Alex, his son, recognises as James Keeton, Tallis’ father, clutching a mask she had made. It is more than a year since Keeton vanished, yet he is dressed exactly as when he left. For him, only four days had passed. When he looks through the mask, he says he can see her. On Keeton’s death, Alex looks through the mask and is affected by what he sees. He disappears and, two years later, a decomposing body is found which is identified as his.
Six years later, on one of his rare returns to Shadoxhurst, Richard meets Helen Silverlock, who tells him that Alex is alive and in Ryhope Wood. Initially sceptical, he eventually ventures into Ryhope following her instructions. He finds a campsite of several people studying the phenomena of mythagos. Each has their own reasons for being there but all agree that Alex needs to be reached and the only person who can do that is his father. The Hollowings of the title are paths that can he followed deeper into the wood without it turning them around and rejecting them back into the real world.
The second novel in the pairing, ‘Gate Of Ivory, Gate Of Horn’, tells of what happened to Christian Huxley when he ventured into the wood. The legend from Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ says that dreams from the Gate of Ivory are lies, those from the Gate of Horn are truthful. As a child, Christian was a witness to his mother’s suicide. His experiences in Ryhope Wood makes him wonder if what he remembers is the truth. It is the meeting with the mythago Guiwenneth that convinces him to start his journey inwards. Drifting on the river, he encounters Elidyr, a ferryman, but who resurrects the people in the boats he is towing, one of whom is Guiwenneth. They are from a mixture of time periods but, in their company, he joins the vast army of Kylhuk, a man pursued by the dead but who is in search of certain artefacts to fulfil a vow.
The landscape within Ryhope Wood is constantly changing. What the characters find depends on their expectations, the distance they travel towards the centre and the conceptions they have of legend and folklore they have accumulated. Time isn’t constant, its apparent passage is variable. In some places, it seems to stand still, in others, years pass while on the outside only days. Characters from other novels are woven into each to form a great tapestry where everything is connected. It doesn’t matter which order the books of the cycle are read as each cross-references each other and the order of events is fluid.
All the books are romances but not in the conventional sense. Those that penetrate into the interior of Ryhope Wood are looking for something they cannot find elsewhere. Guiwenneth is very much an idealised woman to those who seek her. As the imagos are created from the perceptions of the strangers, the myth figures are distorted by reality, but the romantic notions still cling to them and some heroes have very human traits. Not all the explorers find what they seek as only some of the dreams are true. Above all, these are books to savour. They come from the imagination of a great writer and deserve to be read and reread. There is something different to discover every time.
Pauline Morgan
August 2023
(pub: Gollancz. 552 page enlarged paperback. Price: £14.99 (UK only). ISBN: 978-0-575-07972-4)
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