Widdershins (Newford) by Charles de Lint Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Widdershins (Newford)
Book Review: Charles De Lint
Summary: 5 Stars
Again, De Lint does not fail! The book is wonderful. The condition I recieved it in, not so great...front corner of the book, hardbound, had been chewed.Book Review: Like a Fine Wine: Complex and Haunting
Summary: 5 Stars
This book lured me back to Newford after being away for a few years. I am glad to be back!
Widdershins has all the things I love about Charles de Lint stories: artists and musicians, fairies and manitou, wilderness and streetscapes. This time, there's plenty of humor and even romance along with the usual magic, music and simmering power.
Some of de Lint's books are a tad too dark for me, but this one has a good mix of darkness and light. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a love story complete with bogans, doonies and fairy courts.
Book Review: OK, look, I'm just being honest here folks...
Summary: 3 Stars
I fell in love with de Lint when I picked up 'Someplace to be Flying' many years ago. It was a fabulous book and I have been a de Lint fan ever since.
But I've got to be honest, the characters are tiring out, as well as all the 'goodness' that goes on. I mean, come on, every main character in his books are perfect in every way. Its just not very realistic and it gets old after a while. It hurts me to say that because I do enjoy de Lint, but I'd like to see him move on from these characters. I can only hope that now Geordie and Jilly are together, de Lint can do just that...move on with something new and unique.
Overall, its an okay book, but I'd recommend getting a used copy or wait for the paperback.
Book Review: The Best De Lint Yet!
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, a conclusion to Jilly and Geordie! Plus, it's far better than I ever would have imagined. There was so much great material and so many interesting story lines, but of course this would be the case-we talking about Charles de Lint here!Book Review: Whither Jilly and Geordie?
Summary: 5 Stars
Like with many other de Lint fans, the ubiquitous characters Jilly and Geordie stand tall among my favorite Newford inhabitants. Jilly Coppercorn is the wise, tender, eccentric artist with a tortured past, a serene present and a gift for looking for the best in all things and all people -- despite her own tragedies. Geordie Riddell is the itinerant fiddler, the good-hearted friend and one of Newford's last skeptics -- until he, too, was forced to accept the realities of the fey. These two have been woven in and around many of de Lint's stories, both as primary characters and background support. And now, finally, de Lint is ready to tell their story.
It's no disappointment. For the sake of de Lint fans as eager as I was to see this one out to its conclusion, I'll refrain from repeating too many details here.
But let's begin with a few hints. Sure, the book revolves counterclockwise around Jilly and Geordie, but there are other Newford inhabitants, both new and old, who populate this tale. One is Lizzie Mahone, a musician whose car stalls in the middle of a growing war between North America's native and immigrant fey. Grunts from one side of the battle lines threaten the young girl, while a solitary member of the other comes to her rescue.
But don't sell the division short; de Lint is too canny a writer to draw a clear-cut line between good and evil. Both sides have their share of each and, even more common still, there are folk and faeries who exist somewhere in between. And, entwined within the larger frameworks of war are silkier threads of personal vengeance, hatred and murder.
Of course, both native and immigrant mythologies are richly presented, building further on the groundwork laid in de Lint's previous stories. There is bold, realistic and sometimes idealistic character development along the way, including both romance and heartache, and the story -- presented from various points of view -- leaps from its pages and comes to life in the very air around you.
Jilly, meanwhile, vanishes into a reality of her own devising, built from the nightmares of her childhood. Geordie's noble efforts to save her put himself in peril. And Lizzie is still coming to grips with this whole mythic reality she's stumbled into. Others, including fan favorites, the Crow Girls, and the great bird of the galaxy who just might have brought this world into being, have their parts to play as well before a final resolution is reached.
I've praised de Lint's writing in the past, but I've run out of superlatives for Widdershins. It is easily one of the best -- if not the best -- novels in his vast library.