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Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: When Sara and Jamie discovered the artifacts, they sensed the pull of a dim, distant place, a world of misty forests, 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 are drawn into this enchanted land through the portals of a sprawling downtown edifice that straddles two worlds. From ancient Wales to the streets of Ottawa today, Moonheart entrances listeners with its tale of this world and the other one at the very edge of sight. A tale of music, motorcycles, and fey folk beyond the shadows of the moon, Moonheart is pure magic… (more)
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The basic premise is a house in Ottawa built by the grandfather of the current owner that is massive and takes up one entire city block. It houses Jamie Tams and his orphaned niece, Sara. They have an inheritance and run a little flea market where Sara finds some interesting artifacts in a box in the back. Concurrently, the local RCMP are running an operation looking into the paranormal, but behind those scenes is a rich, evil business man who craves absolute power.
Woven into this tale of music and mystery is the feud between the Welsh bard Taliesin, the druid he cast into stone before being set off across the Atlantic in a coracle, and the mythical beings who inhabit the New World, a seemingly ageless sorcerer's apprentice, and the Ottawa folk music scene, and the tale-telling abilities of a master story teller, and you have a classic urban fantasy.
Back in the middle/late 80's, I was gifted with “Moonheart.” Another epiphany of massive personal proportions. I fell into the story, into it's world of myth and legend, and became an Urban Fantasy fan for life. Moonheart's story was, for it's time, groundbreaking. While most mythology of the time retained the ancient characteristics of other myths and legends, Moonheart brought the stories into the modern day, creating the modern Urban Fantasy genre. Of course, Emma Bull's “War For The Oaks” winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel , Terri Windling's “The Wood Wife” and Ellen Datlow's various compilations of UF helped cement my love at the time. I spent years collecting all the works I could get my hands on, including a rare, signed copy of de Lint's “The Buffalo Man,” illustrated by Charles Vess, that I cherish.
Moonheart is perfect for anyone who wants to study the beginnings of UF, but it is a tremendous story for what it is – a beautifully written tale combining music (another of my passions), fairie, mystical forests, mythical artifacts and beings and layers upon layers of worlds. De Lint is a musician himself, and his writing is a paean to the musical heart of myth and mystery.
A living house which straddles two worlds, a cast of characters who I love dearly. Moonheart is a beautiful story I return to over and over again.
And I'm giving it 5 stars anyway, because any book that sticks with you for 25 years, and still gives as much joy to read now as it did then, has to be worth that. Even just looking at it sitting on my shelf, next to a hardcover of Greenmantle I picked up a couple of years ago, makes me happy. Now I just have to find myself another copy of Faerie Tale.
Full review @Booklikes
From the Author's Note.
" this book was written under the influence of Alan Stivell, Andreas Vollenweider, Neville Marriner, An Triskell, Edgar Froese, Klaus Schultz, Radio Silence,
I too had my mp3 player dancing with Celtic tunes as I read the book, the music references peppered throughout the novel are almost a subliminal influence forcing you to listen to some Celtic tunes as you read.
Aside from that I loved the way that the author has integrated European legends and mythology with North American mythology, throwing in a healthy does of Taoism to boot makes for a very satisfying setting and story. The main characters are both believable and likeable; the human villains are a little one dimensional but that’s a small quibble for such a terrific novel.
Back in the middle/late 80's, I was gifted with “Moonheart.” Another epiphany of massive personal proportions. I fell into the story, into it's world of myth and legend, and became an Urban Fantasy fan for life. Moonheart's story was, for it's time, groundbreaking. While most mythology of the time retained the ancient characteristics of other myths and legends, Moonheart brought the stories into the modern day, creating the modern Urban Fantasy genre. Of course, Emma Bull's “War For The Oaks” winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel , Terri Windling's “The Wood Wife” and Ellen Datlow's various compilations of UF helped cement my love at the time. I spent years collecting all the works I could get my hands on, including a rare, signed copy of de Lint's “The Buffalo Man,” illustrated by Charles Vess, that I cherish.
Moonheart is perfect for anyone who wants to study the beginnings of UF, but it is a tremendous story for what it is – a beautifully written tale combining music (another of my passions), fairie, mystical forests, mythical artifacts and beings and layers upon layers of worlds. De Lint is a musician himself, and his writing is a paean to the musical heart of myth and mystery.
A living house which straddles two worlds, a cast of characters who I love dearly. Moonheart is a beautiful story I return to over and over again.
My write up sounds uber-dramatic, but that's only because its difficult to encompass a book like there, which has a multitude of complex characters, each with their own desires whose goals criss-cross and interlace with all the others. I only felt lost a couple of times in the beginning as De Lint shifts between multiple points of view, and I had to remember who was who doing what. But as I settled into this epic story of love and magic and old evils, all that smoothed out and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's an excellent example of why De Lint is fast becoming one of my favorite authors.
So what is this book about? Sarah (I think that was her name) finds a ring that is pulling her into a non-linear timeline. There are super naturals that seem to be working a magic of sorts. We know if they are not immortal, their lives span hundreds of years.
There's an uncle Jamie in there that seems to be a connection between Sarah in the present and the past.
Beyond that I have no idea what was going on in the book because I couldn't focus on it enough to care.
Sorry for the negativity. I try to write my reviews with the same concept I have of football. I don't have the talent or skill to play, so who am I to judge? I accept I will never be an author regardless of my love of books. I don't have the talent. But this book needed an editor in the very worst way. A good editor could have eliminated enough of the drag for the book to sail. Instead it just sunk for me.
I could recommend this book to individuals that enjoy a good fantasy novel, and have the patience to work through it.
Yet uneven in others. The shifting point of view really jolted me at the start and I never fully adjusted to the technique. There is a huge cast of characters, and I struggled to keep everyone straight. It didn't help that a large number of characters were bland stereotypes. Pretty much all of the native characters came across that way-not negative stereotypes, necessarily, but tired ones. Same with a major Celtic bard, too--he was paint-by-numbers in every way. There were two instances of insta-love that were so insta-love I was left bewildered.
That said, it's still a gripping book. There's the HOUSE! The magnificent Tamson House that straddles worlds and defends its people. And there's... well. The house is the best part. Read it for the house, as it does end up taking over the plot in a big way through the end.
[Audiobook note: excellent reader.]