Jack Chatwin has visions, which leave tangible evidence - sounds and smells, which linger afterwards. What he sees are two primitive figures, with painted faces - Greyface and Greenface, a brother and sister. He calls them bullrunners. John Garth is a city dowser, searching for the mythical pre-Roman city of Glanum. He hopes to find an entryway to the elusive city beneath Exburgh, Jack's home town. And he thinks Jack's bullrunners may be connected to Glanum . . . Years later, Jack, now grown up, agrees to take part in experiments to investigate his bullrunners - until Greyface, the male, breaks free of Jack and takes corporeal form. The bullrunner kidnaps Jack's young daughter so Jack will force Greenface to follow her brother-husband, even against her own wishes. Though Greyface returns the daughter, he keeps a shadow of her, which takes on a life of its own. If Jack refuses to co-operate, the shadow will drain his daughter's vitality and personality - and her very future. The story of Jack's search for Greenface is interwoven with the connections between the bullrunners and the mystical city of Glanum in this resonant tale of ancient mythic wonder.
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A tale of ancient mythic wonder and a mesmerising psychological fantasy thriller by 'one of the finest living crafters of myth' (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY)
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
From the Back Cover
A mesmerizing psychological fantasy thriller.
Jack Chatwin has visions. Vivid experiences of a world in parallel to our own; brief encounters with a human couple, Greyface and Greenface, fleeing a terrible event in their own world. But is he witnessing events from the past? From the future? From a world in parallel to, or alien to his own?
Only when Greyface escapes into Jack’s reality does the startling truth of what Jack has been experiencing start to occur to him. But Greenface has failed to follow her partner: she is still lost and in danger in a world that Jack must start to understand and enter, a hunter himself in a magical illusory land – his task to reunite the runners.
And everything he loves depends upon his success.
“A mythmaker of originality.”
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Sitting here feeling astounded is perhaps the simplest way of describing how I feel after having read Ancient Echoes. This book is amazing and is the best example yet of the mythago novels that Holdstock has written. The ideas of being chased by a city that literally ploughs its way through the earth after you is simply fantastic (you have to read the book to understand this!).
Holdstock has an incredible way of describing the boundary that exists between reality and imagination and in Echoes this boundary is very flexible indeed. The story essentially concerns the visions that a young boy, Jack Chatwin has about two humans, Greyface and Greenface. As Jack grows older the dreams and visions that he has get more explicit and at times their effects cross over into the real world - or do they. And so once again we have the core of a Holdstock novel. The abstraction of imagination becoming reality is a concept that Holdstock is the master of.
Ancient Echoes drags you along at an excellent pace with an ending that is simply superb. Anyone who has seen and understood the film Brazil will love this book. Holdstock is the quintessential mythmaker I have no trouble in imagining that some of his ancient ancestors were shaman who sat around an open fire regaling the tribe with mythagos of their own. I look forward to his next work with baited breath.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By silverwood
Format:Paperback
I can't believe this book hasn't had more positive reviews??!! Its simple really; if you're into the kind of fantasy where people (usually dwarves or elves i suppose) are on a quest for a sword and plan to rid the world of evil or whatevers bothering them, then you're not going to like this. You're not going to like any of Robert Holdstocks books I wouldn't think. Dont let that put you off trying mind! Much like The FEtch and Merlins Wood and even Celtica etc.. there are elements of the Mythago novels in Ancient Echoes though its not directly linked. Not that it matters. If you like the Mythago novels then I cant see why you wouldnt like this. And no ones on a quest for a magic sword either. Thank god.
By gbzrope
Format:Paperback
previous Mythago novels, a little dis-jointed at times, yet it still has that haunting faintly disturbing affect that I first experienced in reading Lavondys (which was my first RH novel, and I read it before Mythago Wood)
I found the imagery of Glanum a little confusing and 'unrealistic' if that is not an inappropriate word in the context of a RH novel. I found the constant juxtaposition of the Mythago settings with the modern-day pseudo-science a bit frustrating, wanting to skip through the boring stuff to get back into the fantasy.
Still a good read, but not my favourite RH book by far.
I found the imagery of Glanum a little confusing and 'unrealistic' if that is not an inappropriate word in the context of a RH novel. I found the constant juxtaposition of the Mythago settings with the modern-day pseudo-science a bit frustrating, wanting to skip through the boring stuff to get back into the fantasy.
Still a good read, but not my favourite RH book by far.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Long division
This book seems to have divided reviewers. It also divided me. Giving it a single rating is a compromise, because some elements are worthy of five stars, and some of two. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2010 by B. Wigmore
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic fantasy
It seems this book tends to divide people. I happen to love it. Like Mythago wood, its an epic blend of fantasy, psychology, and myth. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by Kavity Killer
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rather boring and tedious.
Ancient Echoes tells the story of Jack Chatwin, an Englishman from Exburgh.
Jack has been having strange recurring dream-like visions, during which his body shimmers,... Read more
Jack has been having strange recurring dream-like visions, during which his body shimmers,... Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2007 by Stephanie Noverraz
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chance Encounter
I happened across this in my local library and opted to read partly on the cover picture and the jacket info. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2004 by "ziarat"
1.0 out of 5 stars
disappointing
I was enchanted by Lavondyss, and was thinking of buying this one for a friend. Luckily I read it first, and then binned it. I wouldn't even send it to a jumble sale. Read more
Published on 18 Dec 1998
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