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jmitschke's review against another edition
5.0
I think this is my favorite De Lint book so far. It's the perfect combination of mythologies from different cultures and his unique flavor of urban fantasy (this is another Newford story). The interwoven details of two modern adults, a cab driver and a photographer, who find themselves caught up in the long-standing feud between the Crow and Coyote families is full of the magical realism and clever writing that I have come to expect from De Lint.
nerissassippi's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good de Lint book. Which means that it's well-written, has intriguing characters and the plot kept me turning the pages until late at night. I wish they were all this way, but he's hit or miss for me. This one was a hit that I would recommend.
the_dubious_muse's review against another edition
2.0
De Lint seems like a decent writer but despite the good reviews, this book failed to maintain my interest. After the initial exciting event I read the next 160 pages of dozens of new characters and uninteresting fluff before my interest waned to the point of no return. Did not finish. Too boring, too many characters.
riotsquirrrl's review against another edition
3.0
I'd never read this novel of Charles de Lint before and now I can see why I skipped over it. It's probably my least favorite book so far of my rereading of his work.
De Lint's strength has always been his short stories in my opinion. There's less need for giant events or complex plots. This feels owerwrought and on a scale that makes the story get away from the author. I definitely had to force myself to finish this book because it just wasn't capturing me.
This is also the first major work of de Lint's where he brings in the Corvae/cuckoo feud and I am reminded of why I was never a fan of that in other, later works. The cuckoos are such a banal kind of evil, driven for vengeance in a cartoonist way. Like even Cody the fox-troublemaker gets shown as a more complex figure with reasons for why he is the way he is. But no, cuckoos hate Corvae in ways that aren't really explored. Like maybe they resent being forced to have Corvae raise their children despite valuing family? But no, they're just evil through and through.
One of the more jarring things that has stood out to me after reading 5 books of de Lint's in a row is that he routinely makes certain characters fat and that fatness is an indicator of how they're not good people. One of the main characters in Someplace to be Flying is very fat and de Lint uses it as a way of showing how the man neglects his duties the same way he is described as neglecting his body. (And of course how could anyone be attracted to this large Black man? Who de Lint also describes as Buddha-like? Like could you not, CDL?) And reading over and over again about the thinness of the other characters just gets old.
I think I'm also getting weary of de Lint's view that the world is just getting worse and that's just the way it is. He focuses on individuals so much that sometimes I think he misses the forest for the trees. Now in 2021 we can look back and see how much the rise in crime was due to larger forces like leaded gasoline poisoning and the privatization of the government/the slashing of government services. I think that de Lint saw a lot of the cycles of abuse that lead to familial dysfunction and poverty, but Newford is the kind of place where you can work part time as a waitress and still make ends meet.
De Lint's strength has always been his short stories in my opinion. There's less need for giant events or complex plots. This feels owerwrought and on a scale that makes the story get away from the author. I definitely had to force myself to finish this book because it just wasn't capturing me.
This is also the first major work of de Lint's where he brings in the Corvae/cuckoo feud and I am reminded of why I was never a fan of that in other, later works. The cuckoos are such a banal kind of evil, driven for vengeance in a cartoonist way. Like even Cody the fox-troublemaker gets shown as a more complex figure with reasons for why he is the way he is. But no, cuckoos hate Corvae in ways that aren't really explored. Like maybe they resent being forced to have Corvae raise their children despite valuing family? But no, they're just evil through and through.
One of the more jarring things that has stood out to me after reading 5 books of de Lint's in a row is that he routinely makes certain characters fat and that fatness is an indicator of how they're not good people. One of the main characters in Someplace to be Flying is very fat and de Lint uses it as a way of showing how the man neglects his duties the same way he is described as neglecting his body. (And of course how could anyone be attracted to this large Black man? Who de Lint also describes as Buddha-like? Like could you not, CDL?) And reading over and over again about the thinness of the other characters just gets old.
I think I'm also getting weary of de Lint's view that the world is just getting worse and that's just the way it is. He focuses on individuals so much that sometimes I think he misses the forest for the trees. Now in 2021 we can look back and see how much the rise in crime was due to larger forces like leaded gasoline poisoning and the privatization of the government/the slashing of government services. I think that de Lint saw a lot of the cycles of abuse that lead to familial dysfunction and poverty, but Newford is the kind of place where you can work part time as a waitress and still make ends meet.
bsabiston's review against another edition
1.0
I never heard of this author before, but I saw a bunch of his books listed on a "100 best books" somewhere. Since I liked many of the other books on the list, I figured I would try him out. But this book was pretty boring. I can't stand quitting a book once I've started, so I slogged through all 546 pages...but it's weak, man. The cover compared him to Stephen King, but King kicks this guy's ass! Under the Dome at 1100+ pages goes by much more quickly than this did - it's way more satisfying too.
Not a fan of the 'urban fantasy' or whatever they call it, I guess. Honestly it wasn't so bad as to deserve one star, I'd probably give it two, but I'd like to pull its average down, it doesn't deserve the high marks it's got here! I left it at the gym -- maybe some teenage girl will find it and enjoy it.
Not a fan of the 'urban fantasy' or whatever they call it, I guess. Honestly it wasn't so bad as to deserve one star, I'd probably give it two, but I'd like to pull its average down, it doesn't deserve the high marks it's got here! I left it at the gym -- maybe some teenage girl will find it and enjoy it.
winterreader40's review against another edition
4.0
Hank is just killing time between pick ups one night when he comes upon a woman being beaten in an alley. Lily has no idea why this man is attacking her and when he shoots the man who pulls over to help her she thinks they are done for until two mysterious young birdlike girls show up, killing their attacker and healing their injuries. Hank and Lily bond over the experience but they also start to notice things they've overlooked before, specifically the animal people they seem to be surrounded by...
Kerry has a twin sister Katy who was never born but after a surgery to remove foreign tissue from her side that turns out to be a fossilized fetus she can all of a sudden see and speak too Katy but no one else can see her. The story between these 2 is far complicated to summarize but it's also very intriguing.
I love dipping my toes back into the world of Newford and this was no exception, the world building is complex, atmospheric and subtle and the characters are always interesting.
Kerry has a twin sister Katy who was never born but after a surgery to remove foreign tissue from her side that turns out to be a fossilized fetus she can all of a sudden see and speak too Katy but no one else can see her. The story between these 2 is far complicated to summarize but it's also very intriguing.
I love dipping my toes back into the world of Newford and this was no exception, the world building is complex, atmospheric and subtle and the characters are always interesting.
ofearna's review against another edition
5.0
I prefer the John Jude Palencar cover, again, but I also prefer my hardback... hmmm...
ndwisard's review against another edition
3.0
At one point he called an asian person 'oriental': -1 star, De Lint.
duffypratt's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Typically, DeLint's work involves mundane people who discover that there is a supernatural layer to the world that most mundane people ignore or deny. In the process, he has mostly kept to the perspectives of ordinary/mundane people and thus left mysterious the workings and motivations of the supernatural actors.
This book takes us much deeper into the lives of the supernatural beings. Thus, to the extent that there is a more or less uniform supernatural that underlies Newford, this book gives a lot of insight into how that works. The trouble is, I am not yet convinced that there is any such uniform layer. I'm not entirely sure how the supernatural here connects with what I saw in his earlier books. For example, Cody here is Coyote, the native American trickster god. And Coyote has had a rather large role in other stories, like Trader. But I'm not entirely persuaded that Cody here is the same as Bones in that story. I just don't know.
On its own, however, I liked this book quite a bit. I especially liked the portrayals of the crow girls and of Jack. The story starts out a bit convoluted. It seems to revolve around Lily, a photojournalist and Hank, a gypsy cab driver who does odd runs for the Mafia. But then it seems to revolve around Kerry, a woman who wrongfully spent most of her youth committed to a mental institution, and who has just recently arrived in the city. How these things will relate is not clear at the outset, and it takes a while for everything to fall into place.
What it actually revolves around, it turns out, is a magical pot -- the pot that Raven used to create the world. Stirring the pot tends to cause catastrophic/apocolyptic change, and there are some baddies who are after it, even though no-one knows where it is or what it looks like.
DeLint does an excellent job at describing the different approaches that beings might take to living thousands of years. The supernatural actors in this book tend to be fascinating. The quasi-supernatural actors, those who carry some of the old peoples' blood, are a little less interesting. And the thoroughly mundane are just that.
All in all, I liked this book, but not quite as much as Trader or Memory & Dream. It took his world in a new direction. I'm hoping I will better be able to piece together some of how his world works in the next books. I think he may be better as a novelist than as a short story writer (but I tend to like novels better anyway).
This book takes us much deeper into the lives of the supernatural beings. Thus, to the extent that there is a more or less uniform supernatural that underlies Newford, this book gives a lot of insight into how that works. The trouble is, I am not yet convinced that there is any such uniform layer. I'm not entirely sure how the supernatural here connects with what I saw in his earlier books. For example, Cody here is Coyote, the native American trickster god. And Coyote has had a rather large role in other stories, like Trader. But I'm not entirely persuaded that Cody here is the same as Bones in that story. I just don't know.
On its own, however, I liked this book quite a bit. I especially liked the portrayals of the crow girls and of Jack. The story starts out a bit convoluted. It seems to revolve around Lily, a photojournalist and Hank, a gypsy cab driver who does odd runs for the Mafia. But then it seems to revolve around Kerry, a woman who wrongfully spent most of her youth committed to a mental institution, and who has just recently arrived in the city. How these things will relate is not clear at the outset, and it takes a while for everything to fall into place.
What it actually revolves around, it turns out, is a magical pot -- the pot that Raven used to create the world. Stirring the pot tends to cause catastrophic/apocolyptic change, and there are some baddies who are after it, even though no-one knows where it is or what it looks like.
DeLint does an excellent job at describing the different approaches that beings might take to living thousands of years. The supernatural actors in this book tend to be fascinating. The quasi-supernatural actors, those who carry some of the old peoples' blood, are a little less interesting. And the thoroughly mundane are just that.
All in all, I liked this book, but not quite as much as Trader or Memory & Dream. It took his world in a new direction. I'm hoping I will better be able to piece together some of how his world works in the next books. I think he may be better as a novelist than as a short story writer (but I tend to like novels better anyway).