Into the Forest discussion
Authors, Authors, Authors
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Charles de Lint
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My personal favourite would probably be Someplace to Be Flying You can start it without reading the previous ones, but Onion Girl, Memory and Dream , Forests of the Heart were all 5 stars for me and are stand alone too. His more recent books take place in the Southwest and are also good.
So I looked at Wikipedia to get a chronological order for these books. 1)
Dreams Underfoot2)
The Dreaming Place3)
From a Whisper to a Scream4)
I'll Be Watching You5)
Memory and Dream6)
The Ivory and the Horn7)
Trader8)
Someplace to Be Flying9)
Moonlight and Vines10)
Forests of the Heart11)
Tapping the Dream Tree12)
The Onion Girl13)
Spirits in the Wires14)
Medicine Road15)
The Blue Girl16)
Widdershins17)
Make a Joyful Noise18)
The Hour Before Dawn and Two Other Stories from Newford19)
Old Man Crow20)
Little (Grrl) Lost21)
Promises to Keep22)
Dingo23)
Muse and Reverie
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Widdershins is the only one you should not read without having read The Onion Girl. There is some background you might miss if you start with Onion Girl, but it is not really relevant to understanding the story. In fact, I know many people who got hooked on De Lint by starting with that story. It really is a fantastic novel.
The Dreaming Place is YA IMO good, but not as good as his adult novels. Books #3 From a Whisper to a Scream and #4 I'll Be Watching You are supposedly horror and so different from his usual style that De Lint originally published them under a different name.
Terri Windling has Someplace to Be Flying on her Mythic Reading list and I agree it is a good place to start.
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Dreams Underfoot, The Ivory and the Horn, Moonlight and Vines
Not that there's anything wrong with jumping straight into his novels, (that's what I did) but the short stories are sooo good.
Yes, De Lint published a few very dark horror books under the pen name Samuel Key. They're disturbingly graphic, to say the least. Unless you like horror, feel free to skip them. They may be set in Newford, but they don't tie into any of the other books or stories at all.
From a Whisper to a Scream, I'll Be Watching You, Angel of Darkness. Another of his horror books is Mulengro -- Rumor has it that it was the negative reaction to this book that started him using a pen name for his horror novels.
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Dreams Underfoot, The Ivory and the Horn, Moonlight and Vines
Not that there's anything wrong with jumping ..."
I guess it depends on whether you are a short story person or not. I prefer novels. It often takes me a while to get into a story. I find with the short ones just when I am starting to get a feeling for the characters and the atmosphere it is over! That being said, I know that a lot of people love CDL in particular for his short stories.
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I agree. It is so fun to find different characters you know from different novels in his short stories and vis-versa! And he has so many great ones! A few of my favourites, besides Jilly of course, are the Crow Girls, Margaret (both introduced in Someplace to be Flying),Sophie and Robert, the blues guitarist.
Here is a blog interview where many of De Lint's stories are discussed:
http://janelindskold.wordpress.com/20...
I've just joined this group tonight. This is my first post. I am a giant fan of Charles de Lint and his Newford stories and novels but his most recent novels take place in the desert southwest and well worth checking out, too. Look for The Mystery of Grace or The Painted Boy, both are novels.
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Yes, you are right Julia. His newer novels that take place in the Southwest are fabulous too.
What I found cool was there are over lapping characters as well. If I am not mistaken I believe Bettina from Forests of the Heart makes a cameo appearance in The Painted Boy.
Also good is his new YA series set in California. The first one is Under My Skin. The second book in that series Over My Head just came out, but I have not read it yet. My 15 year old son really enjoyed Under My Skin saying De Lint write about how teens really are rather than how adults feel they are supposed to be.
I went to a new and used science fiction and fantasy bookstore yesterday an hour from where I live specifically wanting to buy these new/ ish books, Jalilah. They weren't there and I had to buy others...
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That is too bad Julia! I hope you at least found other books you like! I believe you can et all CDLs newer books on kindle. I don't have one yet.
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And also, because he's setting his books in the desert now, so "urban" doesn't always apply.
I guess saying "Mythic fiction" is a bit simpler than "de Lint style Urban Fantasy" but I'm stubborn.
Here's the cover:
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And also, because he's setting his books in the des..."
Nowadays when I think of Urban Fantasy, a series like the Dresden Files comes to mind. Actually, I think most of the newer UF series are thrillers or detective novels with supernatural characters. On the other hand, De Lint's works all have some kind of Myth in them, including Moonheart which I remember having the Merlin mythology as well as some First Nation/Native American in it. So I can understand him preferring the term "Mythic".
While I can appreciate some UF series like the Dresden Files, I really much prefer the older UF books. I find they are usually less violent than the newer ones and somehow more magical.
I recently read two Bordertown books
Finder by Emma Bull written in 1994 and Elsewhere published in '91 by Emma Bulls' husband Will Shetterly and found them truly enchanting!
I did not read and of these books when them came out but would like to read more of them.
Moonheart is very good too, but I don't necessarily recommend it to people who have never read De Lint as their introduction to him, simply because he has since really evolved as a writer and his later books are even better.
Jalilah,You're also looking for Nevernever? I think it's the only other novel set in the Borderlands. Also look for Welcome to Bordertown which came out in 2011 in hardback.
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I wanted to let all the De Lint fans know he has a new book out:
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is a middle grade novel based on this picture book A Circle of Cats
It's part of,the I guess you'd say Newford sub series, including Seven Wild Sisters and Medicine Road. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest is illustrated by Charles Vess.
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I would definitely read any of those books Chris.
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Because of the discussion about Ruby Red not having any Fairy Tale aspects to it I just thought I would point out that Onion Girl also does not have any direct Fairy Tale re-telling in it, however everything De Lint writes is Mythic.
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Of the books on Chris' list I'd vote for Forests of the Heart, because it's Newford, and there aren't any major plot points with ongoing characters...But you're not interested in Forests of the Heart, Melanti?
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You do have a point about it standing better by itself than The Onion Girl, though. Is there anyone who wants to join in on the group read who hasn't already read some of the Newford books already?
If Sept. works better for Chris, what about Sept. 1st?
We've got the Arabian Nights buddy read Aug 15th, and I'm assuming we'll have two new group reads Sept. 15th.
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September 1st sounds good to me too!
Julia will you join us?
I've only read Onion Girl. It was my first de Lint and I have to admit that it didn't blow my socks off. I kept feeling like I was missing something. When I finished it I did some research and realized it was part of a whole world of stories. Resolved that "missing" feeling I had. Still, I want to read more because I did enjoy Onion Girl - mainly Jilly.P.S. Melanti, the horror books de Lint wrote, did you read them? Aside from graphic violence, why are they considered "horror"? Would you care to elaborate? FYI: I love dark fiction, from the purely atmospheric to the psychological to the ooeey gooey kind, all its forms.
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Leah, if you would like all the background history on Jilly read the short story collections:
Dreams Underfoot
The Ivory and the Horn and
Moonlight and Vines as well as the short novel Promises to Keep ( which was written after most of the other Newford novels)
Otherwise Jilly only has cameo parts, if she appears at all, in the other novels that come before Onion Girl.
How about Someplace to Be Flying? Chris and Melanti have you read it? You can definitely start it without having read any if the previous books and as I have mentioned it is my personal favourite. Lots of First Nations/Native American Mythology as well as Celtic in it.
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Yes, I've read them.
In a lot of de Lint's books, the characters often have bad thing happen to them in the past but that kind of stays in the past. These, the're still living with that unhappiness -- either they're dwelling on it, or they're still in that situation. There's drugs, violence, murder, even the deaths of major characters, and the endings aren't always happy.
Mulengro, From a Whisper to a Scream and Angel of Darkness are all about serial killers of one type or another. I'll Be Watching You is about a woman being stalked by her ex-husband.
Angel of Darkness was the most graphic of the set. It really gets into the head of the killer and was VERY disturbing. It's the kind of book where you want to take a shower afterwards and wonder what part of de Lint's brain it came from. It actually gave me bad dreams for a few days after finishing it... I read it before I joined Goodreads, so no review. It's the one that has stuck in my head the most.
From a Whisper to a Scream has some pedophilia. (It's actually the ghost of a pedophile ...) My Review
I'll Be Watching You is more about abused/battered women, and doesn't have any fantasy elements. It's the weakest of the set, and truthfully, I really don't recommend it. He gets kind of preachy from time to time. My Review
I really liked Mulengro. Something is killing members of the Romany community. This one is right on the border between dark fantasy and horror -- and it's mostly the last quarter or so of the book that puts it over the edge, IMO. Again, read it before joining, so I don't have a review.
Trader is also rather dark at times, but I wouldn't call that one horror. And I think you have to have read some of the anthologies first to really appreciate it properly, since it pulls in quite a few of the minor characters from the stories.
I read Spiritwalk and Moonheart and loved them both. I also liked Yarrow. Probably, I need to get some more books from him.
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Yes, I've read them.
In a lot of de Lint's books, the..."
Thanks for sharing Melanti! I think I'll skip those ones! I can really understand now why they caused such controversy and why De Lint chose to publish them under a different name. One of the things De Lint's fans appreciate about his works is that although the characters might have bad things happen to them, the endings are usually happy. I was considering Mulengro, but I have a really hard time reading about horrible things happening to children.
Katharina, Moonheart, Spiritwalk, Yarrow and Jack of Kinrowen all take place in Ottawa where I have been living the past 8 years. It may sound silly but they made me appreciate living here more!
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I don't recall any violence towards children that happens in Mulengro though. I think the majority of the deaths were adults - though it's been enough years that I can't guarantee that no children at all were killed. The two main Romany characters were both in concentration camps as teens but the book takes place when they're in their late 40's, I believe. (De Lint is fond of awful childhood backgrounds, isn't he?)
I've read Someplace to be Flying as well, but I could do a re-read. I don't think we'll find a book that is new to everyone.
Melanti wrote: "Yes, I've read them. In a lot of de Lint's books, the..."Wow, thanks for the great feedback, Melanti! I'm going to add them to my to-read.
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Wow, thanks for the great feedback, Melanti! I'm going to add them to my to-read."
Would you be interested in joining us for a buddy read if it is not The Onion Girl Leah?
As I've not read anything by this author I would be interested in joining if the book could be good for my first introduction
Jalilah, I'm with Kathy; if you de Lint veterans :D choose a book that'll be good for us newbies then yeah, I'm in. But it may take a couple weeks to get hold of a copy through library. When were you thinking, August or September?
I was looking through my book stacks and noticed I have a copy of The Blue Girl. Don't know if that might be a possibility for our read? I don't even know when or why I have a copy of that book. I am sure someone recommended it to me at some point.
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The Blue Girl was 4 stars for me, where as many of his adult Newford books were 5 stars. IMO his adult novels are way better than his YA ones and his Newford Novels are a lot better than his earlier ones, but that is just my opinion. I certainly don't want to be the one who decides!
Melanti and Julia, as De Lint readers what do you think?
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In general, his YA work isn't as great as his adult work. And is Newford and later books are FAR better than the more formulaic fantasy he started off his career with.
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In general, his YA work isn't as great as his adult work. And is Newford and later books are FAR better than the more formulaic fantasy he started off his career with."
Melanti, For our Buddy Read I was originally suggesting Onion Girl since I know you have not read it before. However if we are going to include readers new to De Lint, maybe it really is best to start with some thing else. Of the two Would you prefer to re-read Someplace to Be Flying or Forests of the Heart? Or do we stay with Onion Girl?
Chris, do you have a preference? I am talking about a read in September, not before. Julia?
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As much as I'd love to read it, I don't think The Onion Girl is a good one to read without having read some of the prior books first.
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(Meant kindly and not in a snarky way).
Into the Forest
Books mentioned in this topic
Someplace to Be Flying (other topics)Forests of the Heart (other topics)
Someplace to Be Flying (other topics)
Forests of the Heart (other topics)
Forests of the Heart (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles de Lint (other topics)Charles de Lint (other topics)
Emma Bull (other topics)
Will Shetterly (other topics)
Charles de Lint (other topics)
He has been praised by his many fans as well as other authors. For example, Alice Hoffman says “he is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend--all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.”
I have to agree with her!
One of the things I appreciate about De Lint is that he is very versed in many different types of Fairy Tales and Mythologies, both First Nations, (Native American), Celtic and more and infuses the various myths of different cultures into his stories. At the same time his novels are based in reality and are very character driven. I also like the fact that he his characters are often artists and musicians.
If you have read De Lint, do you have a favourite novel?