Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock (Ryhope Wood: Book 2)

10/10

Lavondyss is the critically acclaimed sequel to the World Fantasy Award winning novel, Mythago Wood.

In this, the second part of Robert Holdstock’s Ryhope Wood series, we are drawn into the world of Tallis Keeton, the sister of Harry Keeton, who disappeared in Mythago Wood. Tallis is on a quest to find and rescue her brother from the lost realm of Lavondyss. She has much to learn on the way while at the same time discovering the essential nature of the forests she enters. We follow Tallis from birth all the way through to death and rebirth.

We are also introduced formally to Wynn Jones - who was mentioned in the first book as being a friend of George Huxley - who disappeared prior to events the first book. Again each meeting allows us more insight into the complexity of not only the story Robert Holdstock is telling but that of the forest and how it feeds and grows on people’s thoughts.

Tallis is a complicated character, she is a child separated from the world of her childhood, realising that the games she plays are not games at all anymore. But with no one to talk to about what is happening to her, she is also unable to merge fully with the adult world. When she enters the wood, she is just 13, and her story in picked 8 years later.

Lavondyss is a very interesting and complicated book that goes back to the earliest form of storytelling. I can’t wait to find out where the story goes from here.