Rating: Summary: amazing Review: de lint is the most intriguing storyteller i know of i love all his books
Rating: Summary: It was a great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Review: Having an interest in stories about werewolves (as I am writing one too) this was a great book. It showed the characters feelings, especially Kern (who is the werewolf) and his struggle with trying to withold his secret from people, and what happens to him, and the people he holds dear to him, after the harper finds him out. I reccommend this book to everyone!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Not at all as good as his other stuff Review: I love CDL's work even some of his more recent stuff that hasn't been as engrossing as his earlier work. But this book, well lets just say I bought this when it was originally published and I have yet to finish it. Even his horror, which I do not normally read at all I found more interesting. I just couldn't get into it at all it didn't seem to have any of the magic that CDL's books normally have nor did have the depth or imagination....
Rating: Summary: Absolutely Fantastic! Review: I love the spiritual quality to all of de Lint's work but this one in particular. It is a wonderfully refreshing and uplifting take on the werewolf mythology. It's a shining example of how love and tolerance can be found in the most unlikely places.
Rating: Summary: Straight up fantasy, reasonably well done Review: I was really disappointed to read this early de Lint, and my first idea was to give it a really poor rating. However, I realize that my reception of this book is suffering because I'm comparing it to his later work which is probably not fair-- apples and oranges.
De Lint largely writes complex fairy-tale based urban fantasy with a strong dose of dreaming and different levels of reality. Wolf Moon, on the other hand, is a fairly straight up fantasy novel which deals with the idea of shapeshifters in a fairly static fantasy universe. Had it been a book by anyone other than De Lint, I think that I would have found it okay-- standardly entertaining, some moments of spark and promise, pleasingly dark.
So. If you are a de Lint fan because of the later work, there is a good chance that you are not going to be very happy with this book. If you are picking up this book because you want to read something by de Lint, bear in mind that this is not representative and that it probably is not the place to begin with his writing. If you are a fantasy reader who reads across the genre, you are probably going to find it enjoyable enough-- maybe even enjoyable enough to pick up some of the later de Lint books that everyone keeps talking about in these reviews.
Rating: Summary: One of the few werewolf books which can be called "charming" Review: Kern the werewolf is first met running through the woods in wolf form, desperately trying to escape from a sinister harper and the sorcerous monster the harper's music creates. Kern escapes, but is injured, and he winds up in the care of a pretty tavern owner, Fion. From there, the book deals with Kern's ambivalence : He desires friendship with the book's engaging cast of characters, and his feelings for Fion are even deeper. But he knows that shapeshifters are hated and feared...how can he win friendship, much less love, without revealing his secret, which he believes will cause his new friends to hate and fear him, perhaps even try to kill him?And then the harper shows up in the valley, and proves to be a sorcerer possessed of a maniacal, genocidal hatred of shapeshifters...and a willingness to kill even a shapeshifter's 'normal' friends and family... The book has some sex 'n' violence, but it's fairly lighthearted, and the hero is about the least selfpitying werewolf in the genre.( A genre which one magazine reviewer described as consisting of," 'Why me?' Growl/kill!") And who can resist a werewolf book in which the lycanthrope makes friends with a terrified, hostile dog who senses his 'differentness' by first establishing dominance over the hound, and then taking the hound out for a deer hunt...two quadrupeds running and playing in the moonlit winter night? Or in which the werewolf hero, again while in wolf form, wonders if he can't convince his farm hand friend to groom his furry pelt along with Stram the hound? I hope this book comes back in print. If not, werewolf fans would be wise to seek this book out second hand. It's worth a search.
Rating: Summary: Nice early work by de Lint Review: Kern, a werewolf shapechanger, barely escapes from a harper-hunter and finds himself in a home. Since he turned werewolf, Kern has been on the run, hated and feared by everyone--both human and wolf. Now, he keeps his secret close, pretends to be purely human, and gradually falls in love with Ainsy, the innkeeper. He even makes friends with the inn's dog--by becoming were by night, establishing dominance, and then going for a purely canine hunt. Just when Kern is starting to think that he can have a normal life, he gets word that the harper, Tuiloch, plans on spending the winter in the neighborhood. And Tuiloch can see through any disguise. Tuiloch doesn't just want to kill Kern, he wants to destroy him, starting by eliminating the trust and love that Kern had created with his new family. And Tuiloch, with his harper magic, can do just that. It isn't long before Kern is on the run again, but this time he has friends to worry about--friends that Tuiloch hypnotically controls, and that Tuiloch doesn't at all mind using in Kern's destruction. Author Charles de Lint has carved out a niche for himself as a leading writer of contemporary fantasy. WOLF MOON is an early book (set in a medieval-style fantasy world), lacks some of the sensual nature of his more mature writing, and is a fairly linear story. Although it is simpler than de Lint's later works, he does a fine job establishing Kern's problems and making the loss of his new family all the more poignant for the fact that he knew it would have to happen. WOLF MOON is a compelling quick read.
Rating: Summary: An excellent werewolf novel. Review: This is one of the best werewolf novels I have read to date. I like the fact that the werewolf in the story is hero rather than a murderer. I also appreciate the Dark Ages/fantasy atmosphere in the story. The werewolf is supposed to look like a real wolf when in wolf-form (I'm tired of the many movies that have werewolves that look more like apes than wolves). The story has good characters (including the werewolf hero) who you can love, and a villian (a murderous harper with magical powers) who is disturbingly ruthless. There are some mild sex scenes I could have done without, and some good guys get killed; but all in all I think this is quite a good book (especially if you like good-guy werewolves, like I do).
Rating: Summary: Revisiting Wolf Moon Review: This was the first novel of de Lint's that I had ever read, and is still one of my all-time favorourite books. Back when I first read it, when it was initially released, it was a much different take on the concept of being a werewolf, one that I, being a wolf lover in a time when they were NOT popular (as they are now) found very refreshing. I was esctatic when I heard this book was being re-released, as my own copy has been read so much all the pages fell out. Fans of de Lin't current work who are not over-all fantasy lovers may not like it so well, as you can see by the other reviews, but I believe that is becuase they are more into his "urban storytelling", which this is rather different from (I know quite a few of his fans who otherwise do not read fantasy at all). Still, those fo his fans who DO like a variesty of styles (particluarly those who are into high-fantasy) will appreciate it, as will those who love shapeshifeter fantasy and are not already familiar with his work.
Rating: Summary: [NO TITLE] Review: While it lacks the brilliance and polish of CDL's strongest novels (MEMORY AND DREAM, FORESTS OF THE HEART) and the innocent strength of the best of the early books (RIDDLE OF THE WREN, MOONHEART), WOLF MOON is a fine book with a potentially distinct appeal for long-time de Lint readers who might be looking for a step away from the various Newford story strands. More traditionally fantasy, and with a nice period feel, there's a lot to like here. This volume is targeted mostly at collectors--the first edition was a mass-market original--but kudos to Subterranean Press for bringing it back into print.
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