Rating: Summary: Pierced now has the viel covering reality been! Review: Best Fantasy read in the last year. I loved this book. Not as long and drawn out as some Charles de Lint stories. Very fast and interesting and well written. Highly recommended to those that find Stephen King and Anne Rice a little on the slow side!
Rating: Summary: Another winner Review: DeLint is quickly becoming my favorite author, or at least sharing the title with Neil Gaiman. FotH is the 3rd De Lint book I've read in the inviting city of Newford, and the familiarity with the city is a huge part of my enjoyment reading these. The place is starting to really feel like home, becoming someplace I can see when I read about it. Of course, the inhabitants, human and otherwise, are the main draw though. De Lint has a magic touch for reaching out and putting a very real soul, very real pain and very real love into every character he explores, from the main protagonists to the smallest side character. Forests of the Heart again deals with a beautiful blend of the old world faerie stories and native America mysticism, and the two worlds, even in their clashing that this book centers on, fit together like a perfect puzzle. I try to save 5 star ratings for the absolutely best books, like De Lint's own Memory & Dream, but this is damn close. If you believe there are other things in the world with us, that most people don't see all there is to see and that reality is much deeper than the world at large accepts, read this book. Read as much De Lint as you can get your hands on.
Rating: Summary: Why? Review: Every time I pick up a Charles De Lint novel, it is because I am seduced by what seems like a fascinating possibility for a story. Unfortunately, by the time I finish with each of Mr. De Lint's works, I am disappointed by his facile and unchallenging resolutions to what might have been excellent plots. De Lint has great characters, with interesting and believable relationships to each other, but they think and behave in ways that are at odds with the mood and description of the world in the story. A final point: if you are going to write a novel, and you feel that you will not disrupt the flow of narrative and dialogue, both internal and external, with passages in another language (which De Lint clumsily insists on doing here, primarily with Spanish, and also with Gaelic and Celtic) then for heaven's sake GET IT RIGHT! Is it possible that he thought no native Spanish speakers would read the book? He repeatedly refers to hes as shes and mixes up tenses and cases. His disrespect is insulting. Please, novelists, have enough respect for any language to hire an editor who is familiar with it. Adding "o" to the end of an English word does not a Spanish word make!!
Rating: Summary: His people are alive, his surroundings vivid. Review: Forests of the Heart, the latest from Charles de Lint, is a masterwork of dramatic fiction, a contemporary fantasy laced with horror, suspense and magic -- and characters so strikingly drawn they'll seem as real as the people you see every day on the street. Forests of the Heart begins slowly. There's not much action as de Lint spins the background needed for his tale and allows his characters time to grow. But don't assume that means it's a plodding introduction; the tale is enticing from the start. Once the plot begins to unravel and things begin to happen, you'll certainly find yourself riveted to the pages, bitterly resenting anything which yanks you away from reading (including work and sleep). Forget the fantasy -- de Lint makes even mundane moments seem magical simply by drawing the readers' attention to the little details and the hidden mysteries which are all around us, but usually go completely unnoticed. Coupled with the resonant imagery and emotions conjured here, I think you'll find Forests of the Heart to be an irresistable reading experience.
Rating: Summary: Delicate and beautifully realized. I didn't want it to stop. Review: I always love the ideas of Charles de Lint's novels, but this is really the first one where I was as satisfied with the execution as I was with the story setup. Often with De Lint, it almost feels like he spent all his time building the world that his characters are moving in and almost forgets about the plot. I suppose what I like best about Forests of the Heart is that the plot is very strong. I cared enormously what happened to the characters, and kept reading because I wanted to see what would happen further, but I was also terribly sorry to see the pages decreasing because I was just enjoying reading it so much. High recommend.
Rating: Summary: My first de Lint, what I start Review: I had always held back from reading de Lints books because they are so expensive in Australia, but I finally bit the bullet and read Forests of the Heart. I was fantasic, the characters, the magic and the settings. I have never read any of the Newford stories before and had no problem with the characters. I particularly loved the fact that the characters were facing all these amazing situations yet they also had normal everyday city lives. I will definatley be reading more, and purchasing some of them from Amazon.
Rating: Summary: Ah Mr.De Lint to even get a glimpse into this world...... Review: I think if I could live anywhere real or imagined it would have to be in a Charles Delint book. In fact now that I'm living in Canada and in his neck of the world I might see if I can look it up. I first heard of Charles De Lint when I puchased and read "the little Country" It was a bit confusing at first but after rereading it a second time it all clicked in with me. Now I can claim that I've read and/or reread most of his books. This one being the lastest I've had my hands on. All of his characters are clear and very well defined. As I read his books sometimes I think I can see or feel Jilly in the background or the Crow Girls laughing outside in the trees, or the Aunts shopping at the local farmers market. His melding of Native American Beliefs and Celtic Paganism/Druidism is remarkable!! There are such simularaties between the two. Now I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of The Onion Girl:) Cant wait to "devour" it!!
Rating: Summary: Excellent! Wonderful! Review: If you're a fan of Charles de Lint, you're in for a treat with this one. If you're not a fan - read this book, and you will be. Set in de Lint's imaginary North American city of Newford, this novel has all the good stuff and none of the drawbacks of its urban-magic heritage. Here are new characters (with your old friends in the background, mentioned but not present) that fairly sparkle with life in all their believable complexity. And once again de Lint is breaking new ground in a genre sometimes rife with boring repetition. This is a great author at his finest. The man can WRITE! Art, magic, music, true love and mystery abound.The pacing is edgy and tight and the denoument unhurried and satisfying, and life-altering experiences all around. There are already a million reviews of this book, so I won't summarize the plot for you, but I have to say: THIS BOOK ROCKS. It's a triumph for de Lint and a joy for the reader. BUY IT!!
Rating: Summary: Venture into Faerieland Review: this was really good. It had magic, faeries and the Green Man in a believable setting. How rare is the line between these topics split between good and cheesy? Well, Mr. de Lint did a very good job of convincing me of the spirit world and all sorts of other neat things, medicine women, shapeshifters and forest spirits, etc. The story takes place in Newford, and the faerieland near it. (I'm not as up on my Irish or Native American folklore as i used to be...what was the whole thing with the sleeping salmon that never woke in the pond?) Its got an art colony and a music store and people talking about magic. (Ooh! Ooh! And an ice storm, too!) Its got people working for charity and a little bit of romance, too. See, its good! This is the second book I've read by Mr. de Lint, I also read "The Little Country" which was pretty good. Doesn't have as much about fairieland as this one. But from the reviews I've read of his other works, I've just read the two best. Or at least the two best that I'm interested in. Will be looking for more on this type of subject. Thanks, Mr. de Lint! That was good, comprehendable stuff on magic!
Rating: Summary: novel-by-numbers Review: While I enjoyed Forests of the Heart, I also found it to be the least satisfying of the six or seven De Lint novels that I've read to this point. As always, the ensemble cast is strong, with characters that make you either care for or despise them. But things get a little slow around page 90, and drag for another 50 pages or so. I feel that De Lint can sometimes put just a little too much gratuitous dialogue into some of his tales, and this stretch particularly suffers in that manner. The initial conflict between Donal and Miki seems somewhat contrived, not exactly coming out of nowhere, and yet leaving me wondering what's going on, until it's gradually explained in the narrative. Still, the overall premise is intriguing, and it's a good read, especially when you get past page 140 or so.
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