A collection of previous released short stories related to characters from his 1984 novel Moonheart: A Romance, Charles de Lint's 1993 book Spiritwalk is pretty fantastic.
Part of what I'm loving working my way through de Lint's fiction is how he ties everything together - this book is not only a sequel, but acknowledges it exists in the same world as both his Jack of Kinrowan character (Jack the Giant Killer, 1987, and Drink Down the Moon, 1990) and his own author character Caitlin Midhir (Yarrow, 1986), and although the shared-world and world-building devices he's used are really fun for readers of his fiction, they aren't even the best part.
What's really great about the stories in Spiritwalk is how he can handle multiple characters through multiple storylines and yet continues to deal with the same themes while never losing their individual voices, from the gruff ex-biker Blue to the mythical Coyote, he creates this amazing world full of characters that breathe and yearn and desire.
Although Spiritwalk may not be for the de Lint first timer (it is a sequel, after all), it was a delight to read and has me quite excited to continue my journey through his stories.
Following up his first novel, The Riddle of the Wren, I've just finished his second novel, Moonheart: A Romance (1984), and although I liked it, it definitely felt a little too busy for a romance.
Following three connected story lines, Moonheart involves a young antique shop owner following a mystery, a folk singer/mystic attempting to find a missing friend, and a story of a small group of people trapped in a house that has travelled elsewhere.
Like his first book there are a lot of concepts going on here including: time-travel, mysticism, fantasy creature, etc., in addition the story has (for me) a neat mix of Canadian culture and both European and First Nation mystical beliefs.
The problem with the book for me is twofold; first it's the kind of thing I would have loved as a teen - I think that if I had read this in junior high or high school I might have listed it as a personal favourite, but coming to it in my 30s, it just seemed a little too busy for me. Secondly, it was a really long and complicated read for "a romance". Having read a number of romance novels over the years, I found Moonheart to be a little long and the romance aspect was a little too complicated.
Still, I found it to be a fun read, and as although I though the male characters were a little better sketched out than the female characters, it was a pretty good read overall.
