Moonheart by Charles de Lint
1984, Ace Books, 485 Pages, $28.50
Urban Fantasy; Winner of the Crawford Award for first work in fantasy (1985)
This book is divided into four acts, and I found the first one fun and exciting. It takes place mostly in the Glebe, around Bank Street and Patterson’s Creek. Taking place forty years ago, the story reminds the reader of how different the area is, with local businesses rather than chain store drop-boxes, working class people living and working in the community, and everyone smoked.
The first of the four parts begins like a detective novel. It begins with a young woman named Sara who works at a used bookstore on Bank, between Second and Third, which I have to place as the old location of Patrick McGahern’s Books.
The book then weaves a story through a parallel umbral spirit world with Celtic and Indigenous inspiration with warring spirits and a house that straddles the two worlds.
One of the factors with reading this in 2025, if that the book was innovative in the niche of urban fantasy in 1984, which has since been developed many more voices who had the advantage of a choir to drown out any imperfections. De Lint was a solo, alone in the genre and this was his first book. The imperfections were on display. Many of the characters were fairly simplistic. The pacing could be jarring. The story wasn’t compelling, nor were the antagonists particularly engaging. His portrayal of the spirit world was intended to evoke wonder but was rudimentary when compared to the later practitioners of the style and genre.
★★★☆☆
