Moonheart [Paperback]

 

 

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3 1.2 stars

This is a lovely story of duality that straddles two worlds. One of myth and legend wrapped in folklore and by gone days the other a fairly modern urban tale set in Ottawa, Ontario the capital of Canada. I have this on audio so I apologise if some of the names are spelt wrongly. Thus it would appeal to many people who liked different genres from fantasy and folklore to thriller and action and some romance on the side.... that is romance not sex.
It was originally published in 1984 as a romance. It was re-published and packaged in 1994. As it was a mix of too many genres to be just a romance and many readers missed out because of this. However, coming from this time I found it to have have very chiseled stereotypical characters and 80s action film dialogue in some places along with enormous amounts of religious expletives in English and French.
It took a while for me to get into the story, just over a third of the book and anchor to the characters but I did eventually especially with Tucker, Blue and Kieran. I felt the women were not as fleshed out and harder to relate to. I found it hard to like Sarah although she had a good nature. Once I did get into it I was hooked.
There is a lot of profiling used to get you to use your own visual description. The Rastafarian drug seller with the Caribbean accent, the French Canadian government worker, the hard boiled cops/RCMP, the flighty waitress, the folk/Celtic singer/ex con Kieran who dropped into French from time to time, the ex biker rider turned white Knight, the overweight Science Guy, the mole etc. Tamsin House became one of my favourite characters and I enjoyed the time spent in it. I liked the other worlds and times with Puckwadji, him being an interesting character in many ways especially that he only behaved in a way that mirrored the person he was with. I found this concept interesting because if you were loyal and true of heart he would behave in this way with you. The Natives were very connected to the earth and each other. They did not seem to have the gentle playfulness I would except but they were in hard times and tension was building up.

For me it was a tale of people taking on responsibility for who they were and finding their own courage or knowing when to let others take over the dance. Trust was a big message in this novel along with love and gut feelings. The duality aspect showed that we must all learn to live and balance with the "two wolves" that live in side of us. One being anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies false pride, superiority and ego. The other being joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This battle rages on within us and the one that wins? Is the one you feed. It is the first wolf that causes us a lot of problems.
I also enjoyed the lesson Kieran was taught about his empathy. It is his gift so that he may be benevolent but also so that he may recognise those who are malevolent. I think it was that trust in their knowing that led him and Sarah to the right decision at the end Trust your own intuition and inner guidance. If something does not seem right... it probably is not. I think this would translate well into a film.

This was my first Charles De Lint book. I ordered it from amazon after hearing some good reviews, but I didn't really know what to expect except that some people told me that it was sad and they cried at the end. And on the back cover, there are some people talking about how beautifully Charles De Lint writes.
I was somewhat disappointed in that aspect. I didn't find his writing to be anything special. It was sometimes choppy. I guess in some ways the writing style in each section as they jumped from character to character was supposed to make it more personal - showing each person's thoughts and stuff...but I felt like it sort of made the writing very vulgar.
Additionally, the emotion and sadness never really hit me at the end - or at any point in the book. For some reason, none of the characters really mattered to me. I kept reading because it was interesting - the story was good and I liked it and there was a lot of suspense. However, I never really felt that "wow I really care about these characters" thing. It was more like "oh okay now something bad is happening. Now someone's dying. Sucks for them." Very impersonal.
Should I add that I was never really fond of any of the characters in the book? I guess that goes with the impersonal aspect...but it wasn't just that we never got to know or care about them. They just weren't very likeable people. There weren't any qualities in any of them that I really loved and sometimes they even annoyed me with their horrible decisions, the way they did things, they way they thought etc.
Oh yeah...and I understand that a lot of these people were from "the modern world"...but why the heck did they have to say "Jesus!", "Jesus Christ!", "Jesus H. Christ", "Mary, mother of Jesus!" and such exclamations so much? First of all, nobody in the real world uses that exclamation as much as these characters do. Second of all, I just really felt like it didn't fit in in a book where they were talking abnout the afterlife as the summer country or the thundering dreams or whatever they were called...and in a place where there are people who live forever and spirits and forest lords and elves. Jesus and Mary and other Christian idols just DID NOT fit in here. This is not to say that I'm against Christianity or God or anything. But using the names of Jesus, Mary, and God in vain so much doesn't do anything to benefit Christianity in any way - better, in my opinion, to leave out all mention of it at all.

This is a charming story with interesting characters - including, incredibly, the great bard Talesien - and a story line that doesn't race, but never drags for a moment. Tamson House and its mysteries are some of de Lint's best, the characters interesting and nuanced (well, mostly - de Lint doesn't seem able to craft a convincing policeman), and the great swooping confrontations between forces of good and evil - and sometimes between good and good - are carried off well. It has everything you can reasonably ask for in a good fantasy novel. Fans of de Lint's later work can safely buy this one without disappointment, and if you've never touched one of his books, this is a nice one-off or a good introduction to an excellent body of work. Seekers of hidden knowledge will find some things of interest here, as well. If you become enamoured of the weirdin discs introduced in this book, be sure to visit his web site and let him know.

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5.0 out of 5 stars great mythology
This book interweaves different mythologies with surprising results...and its just---nice---to stop borrowing everything from the Europeans all the time. Read more

Published on Jan 27 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars My fav!
This was my first Charles DeLint book and it is still my favorite! I found the mix of Celtic and Native American folklore to be facinating and well written. Read more

Published on July 6 2003 by C. Fisher

5.0 out of 5 stars Correcting a Mistake
Moonheart of course is an incredible book. I have read it many times and have emailed Mr. deLint and told him how wonderful his novels are. Read more

Published on Jun 13 2003 by ravenssong

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best urban fantasy around!
This is the best of the best, and one of the first in urban fantasy.

Moonheart was the first De Lint book I ever read, and turned him immediately into a favorite author of mine... Read more

Published on Dec 13 2002 by pjenning

5.0 out of 5 stars My first encounter with de Lint
A friend gave me this book with no warning. I started it at 9pm on a Friday night and was still up early Saturday morning. Read more

Published on Jun 15 2001 by Arwen

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!
This was the first De Lint book I read, and I loved it. It was well-writen, and I got attached to the characters, all of whom seemed like real people. Read more

Published on May 29 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars A new Charles De Lint Fan
I picked up MoonHeart which was my first book to read from Charles De Lint. I didn't really know what I was about to read, other than that the book was re-printed and a fantasy... Read more

Published on Mar 4 2001 by Holly

5.0 out of 5 stars gripping and magical!
I was very impressed with De Lint's novel, Moonheart.Now take a great portion of celtic and native american myths, stir in unrelenting suspense and just hint of Xfiles style... Read more

Published on Nov 6 2000 by Rodney Powell

5.0 out of 5 stars breathtaking
Like many others Moonheart was my first de Lint. I happened upon it in amongst a pile of 2nd hand books and since that day I've been completely and utterly addicted to the... Read more

Published on Oct 28 2000 by Amanda

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical, enthralling book! A must-read.
This is the first of DeLint's books that I read many years ago and I keep on going back, and then back again to read. Read more

Published on Oct 27 2000 by Janice L. Pearson

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