Avilion Reviews

With the publication next week of Avilion – the direct sequel to Mythago Wood – reviews of the book are beginning to appear in the print media.

First up is a mention in The Guardian, in which Eric Brown describes the novel as “an enthralling reworking of myth and a haunting vision of love and loss unmatched in contemporary fantasy.”

Next is a four-star review in SFX; the magazine also contains an article about Rob and his new book. Reviewer Nic Clarke says:

‘Much of Avilion‘s power lies in the way it’s told. The prose is simple, deriving its vivid, urgent quality from rhythm and sound and the cumulative effect of short sentences, rather than florid vocabulary. But it’s also sprinkled with phrases that resonate in the imagination like bard song, whose imagery is rooted in woodland. A sword wound is ”cold as a winter’s waking”, while Jack fighting to leave hope, feels himself held by ”chains made of vines and briar”; one character is described as ”full of everything that was the red in man”, another as ”bright frost in darkness”.

With its emphasis on endings, renewal, and the inexorable power of Story, this is a fittingly intense revisiting of the world and themes of Mythago Wood.’