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kittiwakeIn "Mythago Wood", Steven Huxley came home after WWII to find that his Father and older brother Christian had disappeared into Ryhope Wood. This prequel covers Christian's encounters with the figures from the wood as a child, and his decision on returning from the war to follow his crazed father into the wood. Once in the wood he becomes caught up in the playing out of a quest from Welsh mythology (the tale of Kylhuk's quest to win the hand of the giant's daughter Olwen), and realises that he is on a quest of his own.
It is George Huxley's decades long obsession with the mythagos and his frequent incursions into Ryhope Wood that have increased the number and power of the mythagos within its bounds. And I think it must be his desire for the Guiwenneth figure which has caused Guiwenneth mythagos to be generated for both his sons, personifications of the same heroine from different versions of her myth.
I liked this more than "Mythago Wood", and nearly as much as the fabulous "Lavondyss". It explained a lot of things that were left as mysteries in the first book, since that was told from Steven's point of view and he had very little idea of what his father and brother had been up to while he was in France.
It is George Huxley's decades long obsession with the mythagos and his frequent incursions into Ryhope Wood that have increased the number and power of the mythagos within its bounds. And I think it must be his desire for the Guiwenneth figure which has caused Guiwenneth mythagos to be generated for both his sons, personifications of the same heroine from different versions of her myth.
I liked this more than "Mythago Wood", and nearly as much as the fabulous "Lavondyss". It explained a lot of things that were left as mysteries in the first book, since that was told from Steven's point of view and he had very little idea of what his father and brother had been up to while he was in France.
