From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:41:30 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!paladin.american.edu!nic.hookup.net!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: mcgregoa@cognos.com (Alayne McGregor) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Into the Green by Charles de Lint Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9402112231.AA12106@sirius.cognos.com> Date: 12 Feb 94 03:36:53 GMT Lines: 40 INTO THE GREEN by Charles de Lint reviewed by Alayne McGregor Angharad has the triple gift: tinker, harper, and witch. But that gift is at best mixed, in a society where witches are persecuted and hunted down for their powers. She survives by staying out of the major cities, where the persecution is the worst. But now she can no longer do that, because she is the only one who can fight the threat of an ancient device, which would remove the Green magic from the world. Alone, she journeys to the city of Cathal. With witch- finders and thieves following all too closely, and with uncertain allies, she tries to find the device and save the magical heritage of the Summerblood. Angharad is no Amazon heroine, nor a sorceress tossing off spells. de Lint has produced a refreshing variant on the quest novel with a heroine who can't slip silently into a city, who makes mistakes, but who still uses her intelligence, skills, and compassion as best she can. It's an engrossing novel, with an ending not easily guessed, and written with de Lint's typical care and feel for language. If I have any criticism, it is that it sometimes seems too distanced, and that it's difficult to feel the tragedies along with the characters. Nevertheless, this is a well-done fantasy, better than 90 per cent of what's on the F&SF shelves. %T Into The Green %A Charles de Lint %C New York %D November 1993 %I Tor %O hardback, CDN$27.95 %G ISBN 0-312-85672-5 %P 254pp From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:53:56 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!udel!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Aaron V. Humphrey) Organization: The Anna Amabiaca Fan Club Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Prograde Reviews--Charles de Lint:Spiritwalk Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2nvsjt$2ji@scapa.cs.ualberta.ca> Date: Thu, 07 Apr 1994 06:55:21 GMT Lines: 57 Charles de Lint: Spiritwalk A Prograde Review by Aaron V. Humphrey Unlike its predecessor, _Moonheart_, _Spiritwalk_ isn't a complete novel but a short story, a couple of novelettes, and a novella. I think this fragmentation works against it. You see, in _Moonheart_ de Lint managed to bring disparate fantasy elements together, as he does so well--Celtic and Amerind mythology and magic(arguably his favourites), in this case. He also had a sizeable number of major and minor characters. He pulled it off because the novel was about 450 pages long. _Spiritwalk_ is about 400 pages, but "Ghostwood", the novella, is just over 200--and de Lint tries to get an incident on the same scale happening. He also tries to bring in all the(surviving)characters from _Moonheart_, plus a few new ones who were introduced in the novelettes. The result is somewhat cluttered and almost utterly lacking in tension. It doesn't help that the major villain does very little directly throughout the story, so that one never gets any real _dread_ of him as one did for the equivalent in _Moonheart_. The novelettes, "Ascian In Rose" and "Westlin Wind", introduce an interesting pair of characters, but don't develop them as well as they could--that is left for "Ghostwood", where it just adds to the clutter. And the opening short story, "Merlin Dreams In The Mondream Wood", is nice but doesn't connect with the rest of the book except peripherally. If _all_ the stories had been separate, this wouldn't have bothered me, but since they weren't, it does. It may just be that in comparison to _Moonheart_ this is a letdown. Who knows what I would have thought had I read it first. (It would have spoiled the ending of _Moonheart_ for me, probably. Authors like to tell you that you can read a middle book in a series and not have to have read the earlier ones, but they don't normally mention that this often spoils the earlier books for you...) In all--it's not bad, but don't go in with inflated expectations. %A de Lint, Charles %T Spiritwalk %I Tor %C New York %D May 1992 %G ISBN 0-812-51620-6 %P 398 pp. %S Tamson House %V Book 2 %O Paperback, US$4.99, Can$5.99 -- --Alfvaen(Editor of Communique) Current Album--Thomas Dolby:Aliens Ate My Buick Current Read--Antony Swithin:The Nine Gods of Safaddne "pretend the needle thickens." --lstewart From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:56:52 1994 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.reviews:556 rec.arts.books:83785 alt.books.reviews:3130 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eff!news.kei.com!hookup!news2.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: Evelyn.Chimelis.Leeper@att.com () Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: BRIAN FROUD'S FAERIELANDS: THE WILD WOOD by Charles de Lint Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <9404201115.ZM6781@mtgpfs1.mt.att.com> Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 23:03:12 GMT Lines: 50 BRIAN FROUD'S FAERIELANDS: THE WILD WOOD by Charles de Lint Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-09630-3, 1994, 221pp, US$19.95. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1994 Evelyn C. Leeper Every year Readercon gives out its Small Press Awards, and one is for the best craftsmanship in publishing. Bantam is not a small press, of course, but I thought of that award when I got this book, because it has the feel of a fine book. I just wish the story had been up to it. But first, the physical package. While electronic publishing is making inroads, there is still something special about the feel of a book. This one is a smaller than usual size (5.5 by 8.0 inches), which sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill--a clever psychological ploy there and I admit part of why I decided to read this. (The other reasons were that I like most of what Bantam publishes, and I enjoyed de Lint's JACK THE GIANT-KILLER.) The pages are a soothing cream-colored rather than a harsh white or off-white. The text uses an unusual typeface and the whole is topped off with color illustrations by Brian Froud. However, this is presumably being sold as a novel, and as a novel it is disappointing. It's true I am not a big fantasy fan, but THE WILD WOOD seems like a padded-out novella with a somewhat obvious and cliched message. Long descriptions of Canadian and New Mexican scenery are well-written but fail to add to the mood as seems to have been intended. de Lint writes well but this is not his best work. There are three more books planned inthe "Faerielands" series (by Patricia McKillip, Midori Snyder, and Terri Windling); whether they are sequels or independent stories remains tobe seen. But THE WILD WOOD is not a very promising start and I can't recommend it. %T The Wild Wood %A Charles de Lint %C New York %D March 1994 %I Bantam Spectra %O hardback, US$19.95 %G ISBN 0-553-09630-3 %P 221pp %E Brian Froud %S Faerielands %V 1 -- Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | Evelyn.Leeper@att.com "The Internet is already an information superhighway, except that ... it is like driving a car through a blizzard without windshield wipers or lights, and all of the road signs are written upside down and backwards." --Dave Barry From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Apr 3 21:42:42 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!Cabal.CESspool!bofh.vszbr.cz!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!18.24.4.11!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail From: lubellNOTSPAM@cais.com (Samuel Lubell) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Someplace to be Flying by Charles DeLint Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 27 Mar 1998 13:43:55 -0500 Organization: CAIS Internet Lines: 69 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1819 Someplace to Be Flying by Charles DeLint's Review copyright 1998 Samuel Lubell If you like your magic with a strong mix of urban realism and folklore, you should be familiar with the work of Charles DeLint. His latest book, _Someplace to be Flying_, adds a Native American folklore seasoning to his usual mix. I keep waiting for everyone to notice how excellent his books are; this could be his breakout book. Although it is set in Newford, the site of many of his books and superb short stories, it stands totally alone; although a frequent reader may wonder how so many different magical creatures could coexist in the same city without running into each other. The story mixes native American myths about animal spirits and the creation of the world by Raven and the Crow Girls with urban fantasy and gangsters (really!). The animal spirits are able to interbreed with humans, creating people who think they are human but really have some animal spirit blood in them. They are protected by their cousins, the full-bloodied animal spirits, who also have custody of Raven's pot, which can unmake the world. The animal spirits are grouped into tribes, including a special hatred by the Cuckoos, who have become gangsters, for the Ravens and Crows, who are artists and street folk. The story happens when Lily, a photographer, is attacked on the street and a gypsy-taxi driver tries to save her, only to be saved himself by the Crow Girls. This leads them into the world of the animal spirits, in whom they only half-believe. Mixed into this is a total innocent, who grew up in a mental institution because she believes she has a twin sister whom no one else can see. Unknown to her, the twin sister is already in the city and the animal spirits can see her. Then the bad guys capture Raven's pot and things really get stirred up, literally. De Lint's gift is in making this magic perfectly believable in an urban context. This isn't magical realism, where the magic is taken for granted, but a slow unveiling of a secret world and a magic hierarchy that fits together perfectly as the reader gradually makes sense of what is really going on. Characterization is very strong, especially of the Crow Girls who seem childlike most of the time. They live in a tree and everything in the world seems new and strange. They drink sugar and call it tea, cannot grasp the idea of privacy or personal property, and appear to be 14 year old children, although a character is shocked when he realizes that he's known them for years and never wondered why they never grow older. At the same time, they can heal injuries and fight cuckoos to the death, perfectly seriously. The different characters all seem to be their own people. Once again De Lint has populated a novel with intriguing artists and street-eccentrics, although this time he does have a few with jobs, with the Crow Girls being especially vivid. Usually with De Lint's works the plot is less important than the mood and atmosphere. Here, though the plot and atmosphere join together seamlessly. Even the "tall tales" told throughout the volume have a purpose and links to several of the book's characters. If you have not already discovered De Lint, Someplace to be Flying is a perfect place to start. Follow it up with Memory and Dream and his excellent short story collection Dreams Underfoot. Then, you too will find yourself peeking down inner-city alleys, looking twice at various street-people, and wondering why more readers don't know about his wonderful individualistic brand of urban fantasy. Someplace to be Flying has my highest recommendation. %T Someplace to be Flying %A DeLint, Charles %C New York %D February 1998 %I TOR %O Hardcover, US $24.95 %G ISBN 0-312-85849-3 %P 380pp Remove NOTSPAM in email address to email.