de Lint, Charles: Someplace to be Flying
Someplace to be Flying
Writer: Charles de Lint
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 380
I've finally read Charles de Lint.
I've always wanted to, actually. I've always heard good things about his work and have discussed in some detail where to start with it, but have always been too intimated by the sheer number of books he has to really do anything about it. And plus, I figured that since emerald_ibis is such a huge de Lint fan, she'd get around to giving me one of his books as a dare. I was right. It took her about two years, but I was right. :)
emerald_ibis has this REALLY annoying habit, by the way. She's always daring me to read books I fall in love with and in turn have to read more from authors of said books. Charles de Lint? No exception.
Unlike most of the books I read, this one requires the reader to slow down and pay attention. First, there's an incredibly detailed setting, the depth of which brings to mind China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. I shouldn't have been surprised, as I've always known that de Lint has set quite a number of stories in this fictional city, but I was, and all those little details, the life that just breathes off the page, created a truly realistic setting that was both familiar and foreign at the same time.
Then, of course, there's the huge cast of characters. There's several POVs in this book, and well as different modes of POV. Most of the time, we get third person, but sometimes, particularly during a story, we get first. All of this is handled beautifully, but until you realize just what exactly de Lint is building, the shift in tense between parts is a little jarring.
Characters are fleshed out, a delight to read. I didn't get any of them confused in terms of who they were, though I'll dock a few points for the fact that so many of the names sounded so similar: Lily, Rory, Katy, Kerry, and for a short time, Joey. Then there's Annie and Anita and 'the Aunts.' The only similar names I didn't mind were Maida and Zia, because their names are supposed to match and in truth, they're sort of meant to be confused with one another anyway.
Come to think of it, nearly all the names were four or five letter combinations and composed of one or two syllables. Even though the characters were individual, sometimes my brain would see a name and forget who that person was, just because of all those things mentioned above. Oh well. The characters were beyond enjoyable (such as the crow girls--much, much love for the crow girls) and always sympathetic (my heart goes out to Jack. It really, really does).
The book itself is like an onion, in that the story reveals itself one gentle layer at a time, and it takes its own sweet time doing so in order to really immerse the reader in the world, the characters, and the conflict bubbling just beneath the surface. I loved the whole concept of the animal people and who they really were. The Native American vibe to it all reminded me of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, as did the final climax, even though the stories are as different as can be. They're both chocolate, but one's milk chocolate and the other's dark. Similar, but obviously different.
But I can't even begin to express how wonderfully told this book is. I understand, now, why certain Odyssey friends of mine told me that I should be looking into urban fantasy. de Lint, though a grandfather of the genre, is often forgotten in the popularity of the vampire slayers and demon hunters than make up the urban fantasy genre today. We forget that there can be real, subtle magic involved, that there can be mythology. Everything about this book gives it weight and credibility. The current popular paranormal books are a lot of fun, but this is something you really want to take your time and savor.
Reading books like this make me wonder why certain readers have such a hissy fit over the fantasy genre, saying it can't be literary or it has nothing to offer in terms of social reflections. Clearly, they haven't read books like this, or if they have, they simply don't care for using magic, mythology, and folklore as a means to explore humanity. If that's the case, it's a shame. Someplace to be Flying is a beautiful book, something to break all those stereotypes of what people seem to think urban fantasy is. And now that I've finally been initiated into de Lint's writing, I can't wait to get my hands on more. There's a lot to learn and a lot to enjoy from this guy.
Next up: Infoquake by David Louis Edelman