[nzumbe]

hey guys and gals, i've just recently started reading around this forum and finally decided to make a post... so here goes:

i'm looking for any fantasy books that you guys might know about that are mostly set in a kind of dark and magical forest. i'm looking for a book/series with a kind of woodsy feel, ya know?

thanks for the help, i'm looking forward to your ideas!

-nzumbe

[LauraT]

Hi,

You could try Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. I just read it a couple of months ago and really liked it. There are also a few sequels to it, such as Lavondyss, The Hollowing, and Merlin's Wood, but I haven't read those so can't comment.

[algernoninc]

Mythago Woods is a very well written and disturbing book. I haven't read the sequels, and I wonder if they are good as the first.

Robin Hobb's new series features an amazing magical forest, but you need to be patient until you get to the second volume: "Forest Mage" because in the first: "Soldier's Son" it doesn't play a central part to the story.

[Gildor]

You cannot go wrong with the Mythago Cycle, it has a very dark and magical forest, its exactly what you're looking for.

Some other mentions should go to the forest in the Briar King and The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes, where there is a plethora of beasts and its well described, though not central, it does factor in parts of the books.

There was a nicely construed forest in the second Winter of the World Story, the Forge in the Forest, which was a waste as the book was a bit mediocre.

[Lowlander]

Of course Mythago Wood is essential reading, especially if you like forests and Celtic fantasy.

Some other books where woods/forests are important :

Peter Beagle : The Last Unicorn

Simon Green : Blue Moon Rising (Forest Kingdom series)

C.J. Cherryh : Rusalka series (Russian fantasy in forest)

Kristin Britain : Green Rider

Patricia McKillip : Forgotten Beasts of Eld /Forests of Serre

Andrew Burnett Swann : Green Phoenix/Weirwoods (ancient Rome/Etruscan fantasy with nymphs, dryads etc)

Gene Wolfe : Devil in a Forest (medieval english forest)

Enchanted Forests : fantasy anthology with 25 stories just about magical forests. Edited in 1995 by Martin Greenberg and Katherine Kerr.

Speaking of Katherine Kerr : her Deverry novels have a good amount of forests in them. But that's generally the case with Celtic fantasy. These ancient Celts had something with woods/forests.

[Beleg]

Patricia C. Werde's books have a decidedly arboreal feel as well.

[briruc]

Mythago Woods is a very well written and disturbing book. I haven't read the sequels, and I wonder if they are good as the first.

It's been a while since I read them, but the second book - Lavondyss - was my favourite out of all the Mythago books: I remember it as being darker and stranger and more sinister than Mythago Wood. They're both brilliantly imaginative writing, though.

[Banger]

You cannot find an enchanted forest - the enchanted forest finds you :)