Scan barcode
bbrassfield's review
4.0
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 who was in need of a good read while on the mend from surgery. She enjoyed it so much that I sent her more de Lint novels and she actually sent Moonheart back to me to re-read because she enjoyed it so much. There you have the life of a well traveled book and life well lived it has been.
As for the novel itself, readers coming to it from de Lint's later work will recognize themes that are obviously close to his writer's imagination and the familiar blending of myth that is out of our present time with some very present realities of what we know as "our world." What makes Moonheart special in the de Lint canon is the mythologies he chooses to blend and weave into then present day Ottawa. I am partial to Arthurian legends and myths having read much of the source material while a graduate student and so I very much enjoy the way he weaves these archetypal myths into the native mythologies of northeastern Canada and then fuses these with a very real world narrative. This sort of complex myth weaving alongside a rather hard boiled narrative is not for the weak of heart but arguably nowhere is de Lint more successful at doing in this in novel form than he is in Moonheart. Forests of the Heart comes to mind as also excelling in this grand mythweaving but the story at the heart of the novel, that is to say the Moonheart, is second to none for the way it touches the reader's imagination and most likely their hearts.
As for the novel itself, readers coming to it from de Lint's later work will recognize themes that are obviously close to his writer's imagination and the familiar blending of myth that is out of our present time with some very present realities of what we know as "our world." What makes Moonheart special in the de Lint canon is the mythologies he chooses to blend and weave into then present day Ottawa. I am partial to Arthurian legends and myths having read much of the source material while a graduate student and so I very much enjoy the way he weaves these archetypal myths into the native mythologies of northeastern Canada and then fuses these with a very real world narrative. This sort of complex myth weaving alongside a rather hard boiled narrative is not for the weak of heart but arguably nowhere is de Lint more successful at doing in this in novel form than he is in Moonheart. Forests of the Heart comes to mind as also excelling in this grand mythweaving but the story at the heart of the novel, that is to say the Moonheart, is second to none for the way it touches the reader's imagination and most likely their hearts.
italapas's review
Sometimes one should not revisit old books. I loved this when it was first published, but find it has not aged well for me.
kjfilipp's review
Started off kinda interesting with the antique shop and the creepy house, quickly became cringe with the introduction of a kind of culturally ignorant bastardized version of “Indian” (Native American) mythology/magic with a police investigation subplot that I found boring. I’m sure in the 80s it was fine but didn’t age well
kathydavie's review
4.0
Combines Native American with elfin lore for an amazing story.
This one turned me on to Charles de Lint. Thank you god.
This one turned me on to Charles de Lint. Thank you god.
myriadreads's review
5.0
Moonheart is a truly well-written novel, with strong characters, romance, folklore, mysticism, and vivid imagery. I'm looking forward to reading more of DeLint's work!
bluestjuice's review
2.0
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. The first thing I noticed about it was how dated it was - which makes sense, it's a fantasy novel written the same year I was born; things have changed a lot since then. The scenes introducing Sara, the Merry Dances, and Tamsen House were charming and seemed grounded in reality in a way I enjoyed.
Unfortunately, as I moved deeper into the story and the fantasy elements became more and more central, I became simultaneously less interested and more uncomfortable. The Otherworld and the magical energy and much of the 'Sara taps into her magical potential' arc did not particularly seem inspired. Obviously this story is touching on some very tropey stuff, but I didn't feel that the handling was particularly creative or interesting. Unfortunately, what was really interesting - the mingling of Celtic-inspired magical fantasy with a Native American-inspired magical fantasy - felt really cringeworthy and awkward from a 21st-century view. It goes deeper than just the use of outdated language like 'Indians' and 'peace pipe', although that is there too - but it reads like an outsider's view of Native American spirituality that borrows and embroiders on elements without much regard for their real significance. I imagine it was not viciously intended and I am in no way sufficiently educated in Native American magical or spiritual thought to even begin unpacking what was done well or poorly, but reading the descriptions of the Native-based characters and the way their language and magic and culture was handled just felt token-y and disrespectful, and it marred my enjoyment of the premise.
I also didn't much enjoy the police/politics side plots, mostly because there was already a lot going on in this book in terms of locations, characters to track, and plot arcs, and every time those scenes came up they seemed to pull me out of the story into something related-but-not-as-interesting. I was also initially unenthusiastic about Sara's romance, mostly because it seemed to come out of left field. By the end I think it worked well enough, but at its beginning I found it off-putting. Sara was frustrating to me on the whole because it almost seemed as though de Lint thought he would write a book with a female protagonist, but then he wasn't completely comfortable and made it a huge ensemble cast so he wouldn't have to spend as much time focusing on her and her growth. On the one hand I thought the way she was written was accessible and fairly believable, but on the other hand as the plot escalated we spent less and less time inside her head so we didn't really get to see much of how the huge, changing events at the end affected her personally. And of course in the end she basically gets a dude as her prize, which, eh.
In any case, I didn't hate this and I would give Charles de Lint another chance in a different setting, because I mostly didn't mind his style and might like it better with different setting and plot choices. But I wouldn't really recommend this particular novel.
Unfortunately, as I moved deeper into the story and the fantasy elements became more and more central, I became simultaneously less interested and more uncomfortable. The Otherworld and the magical energy and much of the 'Sara taps into her magical potential' arc did not particularly seem inspired. Obviously this story is touching on some very tropey stuff, but I didn't feel that the handling was particularly creative or interesting. Unfortunately, what was really interesting - the mingling of Celtic-inspired magical fantasy with a Native American-inspired magical fantasy - felt really cringeworthy and awkward from a 21st-century view. It goes deeper than just the use of outdated language like 'Indians' and 'peace pipe', although that is there too - but it reads like an outsider's view of Native American spirituality that borrows and embroiders on elements without much regard for their real significance. I imagine it was not viciously intended and I am in no way sufficiently educated in Native American magical or spiritual thought to even begin unpacking what was done well or poorly, but reading the descriptions of the Native-based characters and the way their language and magic and culture was handled just felt token-y and disrespectful, and it marred my enjoyment of the premise.
I also didn't much enjoy the police/politics side plots, mostly because there was already a lot going on in this book in terms of locations, characters to track, and plot arcs, and every time those scenes came up they seemed to pull me out of the story into something related-but-not-as-interesting. I was also initially unenthusiastic about Sara's romance, mostly because it seemed to come out of left field. By the end I think it worked well enough, but at its beginning I found it off-putting. Sara was frustrating to me on the whole because it almost seemed as though de Lint thought he would write a book with a female protagonist, but then he wasn't completely comfortable and made it a huge ensemble cast so he wouldn't have to spend as much time focusing on her and her growth. On the one hand I thought the way she was written was accessible and fairly believable, but on the other hand as the plot escalated we spent less and less time inside her head so we didn't really get to see much of how the huge, changing events at the end affected her personally. And of course in the end she basically gets a dude as her prize, which, eh.
In any case, I didn't hate this and I would give Charles de Lint another chance in a different setting, because I mostly didn't mind his style and might like it better with different setting and plot choices. But I wouldn't really recommend this particular novel.
cimorene1558's review
4.0
One of my favourite Charles de Lint's, I love the Ottawa setting, and the idea of Tamson House. However, re-reading it in 2023, I do have to admit that it, as is true of a great deal of de Lint books, are absolutely full of cultural appropriation, particularly of Indigenous culture. I am still able to enjoy it, but, as with so many books I enjoyed earlier in my life, I wouldn't recommend it to a child, or a person of Indigenous heritage, and I actually don't really recommend it, I just still like it.