by Maria DeBlassie
Daily Lobo
Charles de Lint is a reader's writer.
His books remind readers why they fell in love with literature in the first place. He summons to mind the perfect fireside night for bookworms - cozily snuggled into a favorite chair or nestled under a favorite blanket, sipping a steaming cup of tea. Once the cover of one of de Lint's books is peeled back, the reader will be ready to spend hours lost in his worlds.
Moonheart is no exception.
The story unfolds with Sara Kendell and her uncle, Jamie Tamson, going about their business in The Merry Dancers Old Book and Antique Emporium, a curiosity shop they own and operate. Sara searches through a box filled with junk and finds a portrait of two men in a forest and a small pouch containing a ring, a flat bone disc and other knickknacks. What Sara doesn't know is that by inspecting these artifacts she has unlocked buried secrets.
The tale takes off from there, inviting the reader on a twisted journey through the streets of Ottawa and into Tamson House. Built centuries ago, the house is the gateway to alternate realities that pull Sara and the other inhabitants of the house deeper into the dangers revolving around an ancient feud.
Yet at the same time, de Lint's book plays out like a crime novel, following the footsteps of Inspector John Tucker, head of security for Project Mindreach - or Project Spook as he calls it - a shady government operation bent on harnessing paranormal powers. Tucker's sleuthing intertwines with troubles at Tamson House when Sara disappears around the same time Mindreach's greatest clairvoyant suspects escape its grasp.
This is urban fantasy at its best, blending concrete jungle with dreamscape. De Lint suspends disbelief so well the reader never doubts the validity of what is happening. He weaves ancient American-Indian legends with Celtic mythology while creating his own traditions of the Otherworld, the world in which Sara travels.
To add to the eclectic mix of fantasy and crime is de Lint's philosophy of "the Way." It's a type of eightfold path that leads to the better understanding of one's true self. The further along the Way the characters are, the greater their ability to produce magic.
The most interesting character in the story is Tamson House. No one knows exactly how big it is, not even Sara or Jamie who have lived in it almost all their lives. Rooms come and go. It collects people, housing off-centered souls who are sensitive to its needs. As the inhabitants protect it, the house protects those it shelters. When Jamie and company are under attack by supernatural forces, Tamson House becomes an impenetrable fortress that glows green when evil lurks nearby. For the fantasy buff it's the ultimate haunted house in which doors that were thought to be locked creak open at random and broken windows are miraculously whole again in the blink of an eye.
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De Lint also takes the reader on a trip down memory lane. Published in 1984, this novel is filled with references to typewriters - Sara's an aspiring writer - and the only computer is Jamie's bulky black-screened, green-lettered Memoria, which keeps track of paranormal facts.
This is a story full of John Renbourn records and new dimensions.
