Jack of Kinrowan

Charles de Lint is one of those authors I've always heard of, yet somehow never read the work of. I'm not sure I even have an actual excuse.

That's finally changed, as I was lent what seems to be a compilation of the early Jack, the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon. It proved to be pleasant enough urban fantasy with focus on fae all set in Ottawa. The insistence on Gaelic terms (Laird, gruagach, and such) is... just a little painful, as I know just enough to know I'm mentally mispronouncing half these things, yet the characters rarely have issue at all. And seeing two 240-ish pages novels combined together (as well as a certain feel to the writing) is a reminder how books have changed. That was about normal for a fantasy/sci-fi novel not so long ago, now published books often seem closer to 500 or even closer to twice that.

So... enjoyable reading material, though something about it felt a little off to me. Maybe it's just how a lot of things play out overly conveniently (if there is such a thing), or maybe it's a twang of jealousy toward some of the characters. I'm not sure. It's not quite enough to make me flag de Lint's books as "must read" and start devouring the collection of them, but I may read more at some point.

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