Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
102nd out of 1,689 books
—
7,000 voters
Moonheart
When Sara and Jamie discovered the seemingly ordinary artifacts, they sensed the pull of a dim and distant place. A world of mists and forests, of ancient magics, mythical beings, ageless bards...and restless evil.
Now, with their friends and enemies alike--Blue, the biker; Keiran, the folk musician; the Inspector from the RCMP; and the mysterious Tom Hengyr--Sara and Jamie...more
Now, with their friends and enemies alike--Blue, the biker; Keiran, the folk musician; the Inspector from the RCMP; and the mysterious Tom Hengyr--Sara and Jamie...more
Paperback, 447 pages
Published
February 15th 1994
by Orb Books
(first published October 1984)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
With a title like Moonheart and a description that includes the phrase "fey folk beyond the shadows of the moon" you are fairly warned that this is fantasy of the uber-nerdy species. Nonetheless, this book is good fun. The characters are well-developed and the Otherworld that they enter is very romantic and captivating. What develops as the plot is good versus evil with the simple twist that the good characters are normal people like us that have no idea what they are doing and must learn how t...more
This is a very early Charles de Lint book, about a modern-day magic house, a druid, a Celtic bard, Native Americans, elves, wizards, um, am I forgetting anything? :) It's fun, imaginative, and exciting, and its only real flaw is that the characters are more like caricatures. The Native Americans are humorless native warriors who live in teepees but have a strong tradition of association with the spirits, the Celtic bard talks like, well, a Celtic bard from legend, etc.. And, like his other early...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
a really, really difficult read. it might work for a young teenager.
this was one of many books by the author that hit the user-selected top 100 books of the 20th century put out by some publishing group, i forget who. at the time i was making an effort to go through and read the top 100 picks from both the academics and the popular list. this book was the highest rated by this author. if this is his best book, i would never dare open another.
poor characterizations, uncompelling plot, lack of dra...more
this was one of many books by the author that hit the user-selected top 100 books of the 20th century put out by some publishing group, i forget who. at the time i was making an effort to go through and read the top 100 picks from both the academics and the popular list. this book was the highest rated by this author. if this is his best book, i would never dare open another.
poor characterizations, uncompelling plot, lack of dra...more
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Sara and her uncle Jamie live in Tamson House, the old family mansion that takes up a street block in Ottawa. While Sara runs their cluttered curiosity shop, Jamie spends his days studying the arcane and playing host to the eccentrics and homeless people who come and go through Tamson House. Sara and Jamie’s interests collide when Sara discovers an old gold ring that seems to draw her into an ancient past — a past where Welsh and Native American mythology...more
Sara and her uncle Jamie live in Tamson House, the old family mansion that takes up a street block in Ottawa. While Sara runs their cluttered curiosity shop, Jamie spends his days studying the arcane and playing host to the eccentrics and homeless people who come and go through Tamson House. Sara and Jamie’s interests collide when Sara discovers an old gold ring that seems to draw her into an ancient past — a past where Welsh and Native American mythology...more
1 like · like · see review
view 2 comments
I had read de Lint's The Riddle of the Wren years ago - around 1980, if I recall - and remember nothing about it except the cool cover, with its Celtic-influenced design.
Then a friend passed Moonheart to me as a must-read, and I was hooked.
De Lint's storytelling web is woven out of European folk beliefs, Celtic myth, Native American practice, that little niggle inside your head telling you there's more to certain places than meets the eye, mysterious pockets of forest amid an urban setting that...more
Then a friend passed Moonheart to me as a must-read, and I was hooked.
De Lint's storytelling web is woven out of European folk beliefs, Celtic myth, Native American practice, that little niggle inside your head telling you there's more to certain places than meets the eye, mysterious pockets of forest amid an urban setting that...more
My first brush with Charles de Lindt, when I was 16. The first time I fell in love with a character in a book! (This was before I met Heathcliffe, but Blue, the biker shaman in Moonheart, knocks the socks even off him!) I love the way that de Lindt moves his stories effortlessly between the *real* world and the *other* worlds that he writes about. If anyone has been there, along with Brian Froud, it's him. He's not as well known in the UK as he is in the US, which is a shame. Should be shelved a...more
This is an early book of Mr. de Lint's, and although I think it was probably a seminal work when first published, I've read other urban fantasy that I liked better, including some by this author. I found the premise to be very interesting (a house whose outside is in contemporary Ottawa, but whose inside is in a fey place that seems to be part Celtic and part Native American. But...the book lacked depth despite the plethora of archetypes available to work with. It is a pretty simple story that i...more
1 like · like · see review
Who among you remembers the first book you read? Or, shall we say the first which made a real impression on you? For me, I grew up on a household that didn't read, and didn't really provide books for a budding bibliophile. So, I did what I could, mostly snitching school books to read from my older cousins. The first I really remember? Being six years old and sneaking my cousin's high school mythology books from her room. The ideas there absolutely fascinated me. Gods and monsters. Far distant la...more
My tattered mass market copy of Moonheart shows proof on its creased cover that it has been well-read and thoroughly loved. This review of an older book (published in 1984) came about through a discussion with fellow bookseller Cristin about the kind of books that make your fingers itch with a yearning to fly through the pages. Moonheart is a delightful, fantastical book dense with mythology (Native American and Welsh), magic, and music. Sara Kendall and her Uncle Jamie co-own a wonderful, eclec...more
Overall, I had a connection with Moonheart. I read it in the early 90's and something within it struck me and I know I liked it. Unfortunately the novel reads like a dream and as with a dream it quickly becomes forgotten. I will re-read it as this dream-like quality is typical of Charles de Lint's work. That does NOT mean it's terribly written. On the contrary, it is elegant in many ways.
The pace is slow though, so some may find it boring. There are a lot of subtleties that have to do with the p...more
The pace is slow though, so some may find it boring. There are a lot of subtleties that have to do with the p...more
I read this in college after a friend strongly recommended it. This is easily a world that you can fall into, with believable characters in an unbelievable world. The best way to describe this book is an "urban fantasy," but it's more than that. There are dusty bookshelves, mysterious artifacts, a house that transcends earthly limits, a biker dude named Blue, a computer named Memoria, and Native American rituals. This is a great way to introduce yourself to Charles de Lint.
Apr 27, 2011
Cheryl
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary-fantasy,
fantasy
Charles de Lint is one of my favourite authors of contemporary fantasy. He makes me believe in magic and that it could be alive today. I was so excited to find this gem in my local second-hand bookstore.
The combination of ancient lore and modern times works in this book. Written in 1984, except for a couple of references to obsolete technology, it stands the test of time. Sara Kendell finds a medicine bag and a remarkably clear picture of two men in the back of her uncle’s store. She and her un...more
The combination of ancient lore and modern times works in this book. Written in 1984, except for a couple of references to obsolete technology, it stands the test of time. Sara Kendell finds a medicine bag and a remarkably clear picture of two men in the back of her uncle’s store. She and her un...more
This is my first De Lint book; overall I really enjoyed it. As some other people have commented, I did find the "Lord lifting Jesus" and "nom de tout" phrases overdone; the "bad" guys were pretty B-grade in their characterizations and they had really lame dialogue...and what was up with all the smoking? Guess that's an artifact from the 80's? The character of Tamson House was a neat twist & I loved all of the Otherworld interactions.
This is an urban fantasy that delivers on every promise it makes; unlike many of the current crop, this book gives you characters to really care about, as opposed to making the protagonists nearly as unlikable as the antagonists.
Well worth the read for any who like Celtic mythology, shamanism, or just a little magic in your everyday.
Well worth the read for any who like Celtic mythology, shamanism, or just a little magic in your everyday.
I loved this book when I first read it (20+ yrs ago?) and the at least 3 times I read it since. It's been at least 5 years, so it looks like it's time again. I never considered it to be urban, didn't even know the term the, so I am very interested to see how I view it through my slightly older eye.
2 likes · like · see review
Man, I wanted to like this book. Really, really wanted to...and I almost did.
The plot, the characters, the world de Lint built...were all so close to being good, to being right what I was looking for, but ultimately missed it.
The elements are all there for something great: a mix of the real world, a secret government program, Celtic mythology and Native American tales--oh, yeah, and a magic house. Who could want more? Not me. Unless you count a plot that moves faster than a glacier and well-dev...more
The plot, the characters, the world de Lint built...were all so close to being good, to being right what I was looking for, but ultimately missed it.
The elements are all there for something great: a mix of the real world, a secret government program, Celtic mythology and Native American tales--oh, yeah, and a magic house. Who could want more? Not me. Unless you count a plot that moves faster than a glacier and well-dev...more
This one struck me as stupid. Did not do the work to make me care about many of the characters. Sacrificed minor characters who had barely been given a name let alone a characterization, while preserving the precious, annoying main characters for most of the book. Endless scenes in the sweat lodge with hyper-apostrophe'd Indian angels who can do no wrong. Two-dimensional heroes and villains, highly irritating catchphrases ("Lord lifting Jesus!"), painful glimpses back at the eighties. Some littl...more
I think De Lint is my new favorite author, this is his third book I've read and he has not disappointed me. The only complaint I would have about this novel and mostly of just De Lint's writing style than the plot of the story, is that he sometimes goes off on irrelevant things, hes so detailed that at times it can become tedious because it makes the story drag on, this is something I've noticed in the previous books I've read of him. But even though he does this. it still gives readers such des...more
This is probably the earliest one of de Lint's books that I've read, and though it's certainly good, it really can't compare with the later Newford works. The emphasis on the police and pre-X-Files style of paranormal investigation was a bit at odds with the way I have come to learn the world works for de Lint's books, but it wasn't too distracting. I found the introduction to time travel a bit too sudden and confusing, and de Lint's comfort level with the native culture in the Otherworld isn't...more
Celtic musicians and Native Americans, a house that exists in multiple worlds, and an old bookstore. The Canadian police start up a branch to investigate "magic" and find more than they expected. Since this was written in the 80s, one of the most interesting things was the lack of internet yet the use of the computer to build a library of information. Going back in mythical time, an old wrong unleashes an evil in the present that must be stopped, which involves crossing into the otherworlds.
Char...more
Char...more
This book has many elements I like - contemporary Canadian content! Ancient Celts! Native Americans! Shapeshifters! Music! But it never adds up to a whole that makes any sense, and none of the characters are particularly attractive, nor do they seem at all real. Even the city of Ottawa feels nothing like the city I know. This is the 3rd de Lint book I've read; at this point I must draw the conclusion that he simply doesn't speak to me.
For a review that perfectly expands on my own sense of the bo...more
For a review that perfectly expands on my own sense of the bo...more
I loved this book - it read a bit like the best Madeleine L'Engle, drawing from the mythologies and folktales of Wales and indigenous North America. There's a great trickster character named Pukwudji (what is it with tricksters? - Pukwudji, Pooka, Puck), one of my favorite Welsh bards, and a lot of theriomorphic gods and totems. There's a good bit of backstory, which I love but many others don't, so those who like their books fast-paced with lots of action might be disappointed, while those who...more
My all-time favorite de Lint book.
1 like · like · see review
This time through was actually a re-read for me, the first since the book was new and so with the passage of the intervening years and the effects they have on my memory, mostly serving as one big eraser, reading Moonheart in 2012 was rather like the first time. I've read many novels and short stories by Charles de Lint since Moonheart was published in the 1980's but this early novel of his always stuck in the back of my mind as something special, so much so that I sent it to someone dear to me...more
The whole ride was quite fun. And it's different from most fantasy that I'm used to.
Side-point, the term "indian" is used to refer to native-canadians which slightly puts the book out of date, but if that doesn't bug you carry on. Another thing that REALLY bugged me was the almost meaningless meeting Kieran has with one of his Rasta friends. If I have to read the word mon that many times in a paragraph again i will ragequit.
Other than that most of the characters were interesting. Oh yeah, I th...more
Side-point, the term "indian" is used to refer to native-canadians which slightly puts the book out of date, but if that doesn't bug you carry on. Another thing that REALLY bugged me was the almost meaningless meeting Kieran has with one of his Rasta friends. If I have to read the word mon that many times in a paragraph again i will ragequit.
Other than that most of the characters were interesting. Oh yeah, I th...more
I had first read this book twenty or so years ago when it had been first released and I loved it. I read it many, many times. I told everyone it was my favourite book and recommended it. Then I lent my copy to a friend and never saw it again. Fifteen years later I am at a op shop and there is my book on sale for $2.00. So i bought it and I thought I would read it again to see how it compares so many years later.
Unfortunately I did have some issues with it. The bad guys were two dimensional and...more
Unfortunately I did have some issues with it. The bad guys were two dimensional and...more
3 1.2 stars
This is a lovely story of duality that straddles two worlds. One of myth and legend wrapped in folklore and by gone days the other a fairly modern urban tale set in Ottawa, Ontario the capital of Canada. I have this on audio so I apologise if some of the names are spelt wrongly. Thus it would appeal to many people who liked different genres from fantasy and folklore to thriller and action and some romance on the side.... that is romance not sex.
It was originally published in 1984 as a...more
This is a lovely story of duality that straddles two worlds. One of myth and legend wrapped in folklore and by gone days the other a fairly modern urban tale set in Ottawa, Ontario the capital of Canada. I have this on audio so I apologise if some of the names are spelt wrongly. Thus it would appeal to many people who liked different genres from fantasy and folklore to thriller and action and some romance on the side.... that is romance not sex.
It was originally published in 1984 as a...more
For years I have heard great things about Moonheart. So much hype centers around this as a defining work in the career of Charles de Lint. I had read several works by de Lint and liked them all. However, all the hype made it hard for me to get started and this book sat on my shelf for a year.
Then I started reading. The book starts in 'real world' Ottawa with introductions for some of the recurring 'main' characters. This part moved nicely along and set up the blend of mystery, urban fantasy, and...more
Then I started reading. The book starts in 'real world' Ottawa with introductions for some of the recurring 'main' characters. This part moved nicely along and set up the blend of mystery, urban fantasy, and...more
Apr 18, 2009
Patty
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2009,
audiobook,
fantasy,
fiction,
humor,
love,
friendship,
speculative-fiction,
storytelling,
canada,
native-americans,
magic
Charles de Lint has been one of my favorite authors for a long time. I started reading his stories set in Newford in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction many years ago.
When our library got Moonheart on talking book, I thought it was a good opportunity to try one of de Lint's earlier works.
I can see why Moonheart was a breakthrough book for urban fantasy. The story captured me quickly and drew me in. I thought the setting, Ottawa, was an intriguing place to put fantasy. The other world wh...more
When our library got Moonheart on talking book, I thought it was a good opportunity to try one of de Lint's earlier works.
I can see why Moonheart was a breakthrough book for urban fantasy. The story captured me quickly and drew me in. I thought the setting, Ottawa, was an intriguing place to put fantasy. The other world wh...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a World Fantasy Award winning author. In 1974 he met MaryAnn Harris, and married her in 1980.
Along with writers like Terri Windling and John Crowley, de Lint popularized in the 1980s the genre of urban fantasy, most notably through the Bordeland series of books. His fantasy fiction is described under the fantasy sub-genres Urban Fantasy, contemporary M...more
More about Charles de Lint...
Along with writers like Terri Windling and John Crowley, de Lint popularized in the 1980s the genre of urban fantasy, most notably through the Bordeland series of books. His fantasy fiction is described under the fantasy sub-genres Urban Fantasy, contemporary M...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors.”
—
1,712 people liked it
“Sara Kendell once read somewhere that the tale of the world is like a tree. The tale, she understood, did not so much mean the niggling occurrences of daily life. Rather it encompassed the grand stories that caused some change in the world and were remembered in ensuing years as, if not histories, at least folktales and myths. By such reasoning, Winston Churchill could take his place in British folklore alongside the legendary Robin Hood; Merlin Ambrosius had as much validity as Martin Luther. The scope of their influence might differ, but they were all a part of the same tale.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
