So, what are the mythago that gave name to the story? Archetypical characters from the deepest past of humanity, from the collective subconscious inherited from our long gone ancestors. It’s longer and more insightful than Wikipedia, packed with facts and written in a traditional encyclopedic style I realize I miss. Thank you, my anonymous predecessor! There is a 1.5 page entry on Holdstock and a shorter one about mythagoas a concept. Bought in 2016, when most of my research was already done on the Internet, and available online anyway, it’s not used as often as it deserves to be – but it doesn’t show, as I acquired a pre-owned and heavily used copy. The wonderful Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a one of the treasures of my reference shelf. I disagree with Sapkowski a lot, but he gave me a lot to think about, and heavily influenced my reading choices in the pre-blogging era! It also allowed me to better appreciate Witcher, giving a bit of a look inside the head of its author. In Sapkowski’s canon Holdstock’s series holds a very good place, no 45, between Witches of Eastwick and Black Company. Ryhope is listed as one of the examples of fantasy encroaching into real world and, of course, favourably mentioned in a chapter about magical woods. Sapkowski himself takes different, lighter, more post-modern approach to myths and legends, but he strongly approves of Holdstock who is mentioned six times in a 240-page book. Manuscript Discovered in a Dragon’s Cave is a Polish-only non-fiction by Witcher’s Andrzej Sapkowski, a bold journey through genre’s history and tropes, full of info on authors never published in Poland – and it’s quite impressive, for a guy born in 1948 in a country largely cut-off from international scene. Sitting down to write this post I’ve suddenly remembered I vowed to start using my collection of reference books again.

Literary, full of mystery and mythological references, it differs from the modern epics, but readers of, say, Gaiman or Clarke will be satisfied.

Readers beware, magic comes at high cost here and every bit of happiness is accompanied by pain and loss.īeautifully written, well thought-through, this is bona fide fantasy at its best, and not a cheap Tolkien rip-off of a kind that plagued fantasy sections of bookshops in the 70-ties and 80-ties. Novels that draw inspiration from Celtic mythology and the classic tropes of fantasy to create something original and mysterious, but decidedly not hear-warming. Robert Paul Holdstock was a British s/f and fantasy writer best known for his Ryhope Woods sequence. Edition: Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks, Paperback I love this series! Only one shelf now, but expanding…

Mythago wood series in order