Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing De Lint
Review: Don't get me wrong. I'm a HUGE De Lint fan. I have copies of almost everything he's written. But, this book warrants review simply because it was so disappointing.First, there is the rather worn-out story-telling technique of alternating chapters between the two cousins, Nina and Ash. It's been done a million different times in a million different places, and in an age where kids can pick up something like Harry Potter, it's a tired way of keeping the story moving. The alternating chapters technique is really minor though, compared to the fact that this was probably one of De Lint's most undeveloped story lines ever. I've read his other books, and I KNOW he can do better than to use deus ex machina in the form of a pomegranite. Young adult readers need a little more than a magic fruit to tempt their minds and encourage their curiosity. Last, but not least, the characters were one-dimensional and seemed somewhat cliche. I'm not against the tragic teen orphan, or the good girl, but Nina and Ash are so stereotypical that they have almost no identity all. Since there is very little about the girls that is unique, it makes it very difficult to identify with the characters. If your teen or pre-teen likes light reading and isn't looking for a developed story line with interesting characters, this might be the book for him or her. Otherwise, I'd wait until the local library gets it and save my money for one of De Lint's better books.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply Beautiful
Review: I loved the intermingling of spirituality and fantasy within the pages of this Charles De Lint novella. I am beginning to seriously wonder if De Lint is pagan or not. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Lammas Eve
Rating: 
Summary: Total crap - zero stars!
Review: In this book, Charles de Lint, who wrote so well for the young adult crowd in Riddle of the Wren, displays the worst kind of simplistic moralizing and talking down to the reader. The sadly predictable tale of a rebellious youth and her goodie-two-shoes cousin / sibling - both completely two-dimensional stereotypes without an ounce of personality - Learning A Valuable Lesson completely eclipses any delight or fun or even interest that might have occurred for the reader when Magic enters their stupid little lives and strange things happen. Guest appearances by Cassie and Bones can't even help this piece of garbage. We realize de Lint's publisher is trying to capitalize on his popularity by unearthing lesser-known works, but - man, they should have given this thing a quiet burial and left it at that. We love Charles de Lint - but nobody's perfect, and he doesn't write well when he writes for the youth market. Whatever you do, don't buy this for a teen or even a child in your life. They'll never forgive you.
Rating:
Summary: Total crap - zero stars!
Review: In this book, Charles de Lint, who wrote so well for the young adult crowd in Riddle of the Wren, displays the worst kind of simplistic moralizing and talking down to the reader. The sadly predictable tale of a rebellious youth and her goodie-two-shoes cousin / sibling - both completely two-dimensional stereotypes without an ounce of personality - Learning A Valuable Lesson completely eclipses any delight or fun or even interest that might have occurred for the reader when Magic enters their stupid little lives and strange things happen. Guest appearances by Cassie and Bones can't even help this piece of garbage. We realize de Lint's publisher is trying to capitalize on his popularity by unearthing lesser-known works, but - man, they should have given this thing a quiet burial and left it at that. We love Charles de Lint - but nobody's perfect, and he doesn't write well when he writes for the youth market. Whatever you do, don't buy this for a teen or even a child in your life. They'll never forgive you.
Rating: 
Summary: Newford Lite
Review: Let's face it...there are some Newford books that you have to make charts and maps and timelines for just to figure out what's going on. Not that I'm complaining--Jilly and Wendy and Sophie, Christy and Geordie, and newcomers like Mick and the Crow Girls are like slightly out-of-town best friends, and the city of Newford sprawls out on the landscape of one's imagination--it's a city that EVERYONE wants to visit. "The Dreaming Place" is a Newford book without all of the backstory, which is vaguely annoying and slightly relieving at the same time. In "The Onion Girl," I kept a list on the inside cover of who all the minor characters (Mona, Margaret, etc.) were, and where I remembered them from. Here, there was none of that...just a straightforward story about an angry young girl having trouble finding a place in a stange country after losing her mother. So much trouble, in fact, that she attracts the attention of Something Nasty, and gets her naive cousin in Big Trouble. Fans of de Lint's urban fantasy won't be disappointed in this light read. (Also, Newford buffs, I believe that this marks the first appearance of Cassie and Bones, of "Trader" and "The Onion Girl" fame.) the only thing that really got to me was the atrocious font that this book was printed in, and believe me, I got over that pretty quickly. So don't judge this book by its length, or the fact that it's classified as a children's book. "The Dreaming Place" fits flawlessly into the heart and soul of Newford.
Rating:
Summary: Newford Lite
Review: Let's face it...there are some Newford books that you have to make charts and maps and timelines for just to figure out what's going on. Not that I'm complaining--Jilly and Wendy and Sophie, Christy and Geordie, and newcomers like Mick and the Crow Girls are like slightly out-of-town best friends, and the city of Newford sprawls out on the landscape of one's imagination--it's a city that EVERYONE wants to visit. "The Dreaming Place" is a Newford book without all of the backstory, which is vaguely annoying and slightly relieving at the same time. In "The Onion Girl," I kept a list on the inside cover of who all the minor characters (Mona, Margaret, etc.) were, and where I remembered them from. Here, there was none of that...just a straightforward story about an angry young girl having trouble finding a place in a stange country after losing her mother. So much trouble, in fact, that she attracts the attention of Something Nasty, and gets her naive cousin in Big Trouble. Fans of de Lint's urban fantasy won't be disappointed in this light read. (Also, Newford buffs, I believe that this marks the first appearance of Cassie and Bones, of "Trader" and "The Onion Girl" fame.) the only thing that really got to me was the atrocious font that this book was printed in, and believe me, I got over that pretty quickly. So don't judge this book by its length, or the fact that it's classified as a children's book. "The Dreaming Place" fits flawlessly into the heart and soul of Newford.
Rating:
Summary: A sweet look into a Charles de Lint world
Review: Normally, reading a Charles de Lint novel pulls you into an entirely new world, showing vivid landscapes (and dreamscapes), fascinating characters and twisting and twining plots. "The Dreaming Place" is like a junior Charles de Lint novel, just a peek into what he tends to give a reader. For a first timer, don't judge this as his best work. It's not. But it is a sweet story. It does lay the morality on a bit thickly, but for a young adult, it's a great little book. I enjoyed this short visit into the typical de Lint landscape. Don't take it too seriously, sit back, and enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: dreaming in place
Review: The Dreaming Place is a charming gem. It is one of deLint's early works but already shows his potential. The author deftly uses diverse mythologies to create a context which makes the plotline credible and intriguing. The characters are evocative and attractive while their interactions and individual complexities add to the novel's appeal without becoming overdrawn or distracting. Readers familiar with deLint will find little new here but nothing to turn them away. New readers would find The Dreaming Place a good introduction to Charles deLint or urban fantasy in general. As in many of his other books, deLint weaves a complex fabric assimilating strands of mythology and popular culture into a gestalt fabric of beauty and haunting appeal. Overall, a good read and a useful dreamsource.
Rating:
Summary: My opinion: Meh
Review: The Dreaming Place is a YA urban fantasy novel about two cousins, sixteen year old girls, who get tangled up in a magical tug-of-war with a Native American spirit of winter. The story is a sweet one, but I felt just a little too heavy-handed with the moral. It did touch me in some spots, but in others I felt it was being too obvious. The main characters, Nina and Ash, are so typical they verge on being stereotypes. The book ends up being Caitlin's Way crossed with Sabrina the Teenaged Witch... I ended up liking Ash more than Nina mainly because I could identify with her pain (she lost her mother). And because, despite her predictability, she showed more personality than her cousin. I kept being annoyed by the book because Nina was acting rather vapid and whiny through most of it, and I could feel the author's preference for her on every page. De Lint, I think, thought more people (or kids) would identify with Nina, who is smart and thinks math is interesting and worries about boys and complexions and reads Sassy magazine. Ash is the bad one--the girl who skips class and doesn't care about things, and walls off her emotions, and can't deal with the world. But Ash, who often sits in the park and has actual conversations with homeless people (oh my!) is a far more complex character in my view. She has bravery and skill as well as brains. This all comes into play when the conflict rears its ugly head, but the end message seems to be "Only when Ash learns that it's better to be more like her cousin than like herself can she save the day and be happy." I'm not down with that. The idea for this book is a good one. But I think length worked against de Lint in that some areas of the otherworld and Nina's personal power (not to mention Ash's) and what forces led to this confrontation were not as fleshed out as they could have been. This felt like it should have been a longer book but just... wasn't. The secondary characters need a lot of help themselves. Nina's parents are doing well in their roles until the end, where they come face to face with the weirdness going on in their daughter and niece's lives. However, at that point they become highly unbelievable and one wonders if things might have gone better had they not ever gotten involved. Better for the reader, anyway, not to have to deal with the thin or unbelievable characterization going on. The most interesting person in the book is a secondary character: Cassie. At one point Ash realizes that she doesn't know much about this woman she calls friend and regrets it. I regret it, too, because I'm far more interested in her role in this and her past than I am in anyone else in the book. Once we get beyond Ash and Nina, everyone else starts to take on the veneer of Plot Device. There is a lot of bandying about with different kinds of magic and belief systems. Native American shamans (or, juju men...) hanging out with women who deal magical tarot cards. Then there is the Dreaming Place itself, which is supposed to be faerie or the dreamtime or any quasi-magical not the real world place in mythology. But it's mostly populated by Native American spirits and creatures. There's also something about a Cornish spirit that didn't come through clear to me. Basically, de Lint is trying to weave several different systems here to create a mysterious, yet coherent, whole. It's not quite working, in my opinion. Despite all my grousing, I enjoyed most of the book. It wasn't until the end that things started falling apart and losing steam. The premise is good, the execution not so. A good read for the Tween set, as it isn't truly bad, and may teach them a thing or two.
Rating:
Summary: My opinion: Meh
Review: The Dreaming Place is a YA urban fantasy novel about two cousins, sixteen year old girls, who get tangled up in a magical tug-of-war with a Native American spirit of winter. The story is a sweet one, but I felt just a little too heavy-handed with the moral. It did touch me in some spots, but in others I felt it was being too obvious. The main characters, Nina and Ash, are so typical they verge on being stereotypes. The book ends up being Caitlin's Way crossed with Sabrina the Teenaged Witch... I ended up liking Ash more than Nina mainly because I could identify with her pain (she lost her mother). And because, despite her predictability, she showed more personality than her cousin. I kept being annoyed by the book because Nina was acting rather vapid and whiny through most of it, and I could feel the author's preference for her on every page. De Lint, I think, thought more people (or kids) would identify with Nina, who is smart and thinks math is interesting and worries about boys and complexions and reads Sassy magazine. Ash is the bad one--the girl who skips class and doesn't care about things, and walls off her emotions, and can't deal with the world. But Ash, who often sits in the park and has actual conversations with homeless people (oh my!) is a far more complex character in my view. She has bravery and skill as well as brains. This all comes into play when the conflict rears its ugly head, but the end message seems to be "Only when Ash learns that it's better to be more like her cousin than like herself can she save the day and be happy." I'm not down with that. The idea for this book is a good one. But I think length worked against de Lint in that some areas of the otherworld and Nina's personal power (not to mention Ash's) and what forces led to this confrontation were not as fleshed out as they could have been. This felt like it should have been a longer book but just... wasn't. The secondary characters need a lot of help themselves. Nina's parents are doing well in their roles until the end, where they come face to face with the weirdness going on in their daughter and niece's lives. However, at that point they become highly unbelievable and one wonders if things might have gone better had they not ever gotten involved. Better for the reader, anyway, not to have to deal with the thin or unbelievable characterization going on. The most interesting person in the book is a secondary character: Cassie. At one point Ash realizes that she doesn't know much about this woman she calls friend and regrets it. I regret it, too, because I'm far more interested in her role in this and her past than I am in anyone else in the book. Once we get beyond Ash and Nina, everyone else starts to take on the veneer of Plot Device. There is a lot of bandying about with different kinds of magic and belief systems. Native American shamans (or, juju men...) hanging out with women who deal magical tarot cards. Then there is the Dreaming Place itself, which is supposed to be faerie or the dreamtime or any quasi-magical not the real world place in mythology. But it's mostly populated by Native American spirits and creatures. There's also something about a Cornish spirit that didn't come through clear to me. Basically, de Lint is trying to weave several different systems here to create a mysterious, yet coherent, whole. It's not quite working, in my opinion. Despite all my grousing, I enjoyed most of the book. It wasn't until the end that things started falling apart and losing steam. The premise is good, the execution not so. A good read for the Tween set, as it isn't truly bad, and may teach them a thing or two.
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