# Where to start with Charles de Lint?



## buzz (Jan 13, 2007)

Assuming I've never read any Charles de Lint, what book(s) should I start with?


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## Lady Mer (Jan 14, 2007)

That's a tough one. My favorite is Memory and Dream, with The Little Country and Moonheart: A Romance as close seconds. But I've liked everything of his I've read.


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## Mage of Spellford (Jan 14, 2007)

Hi,

I most enthusiastically suggest "Yarrow", a contemporary
horror story and one of my faves.

Mark K.


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## Umbran (Jan 15, 2007)

My wife, who is a big fan of de Lint, suggests _Dreams Underfoot_, as possibly his best starter collection of short stories.  It runs the bredth of his his style, from the more uplifting to the dark.

Myself, for someone used to the more usual run of sci-fi and fantasy who wants a taste of de Lint's more lyrical style, I myself would suggest _Svaha_.


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## Raven Crowking (Jan 15, 2007)

Buzz,

Our tastes may be different iun some things, but if you're giving de Lint a chance, you can't be all bad.    

I'll repeat Yarrow and THe Little Country, and suggest also Greenmantle and Jack the Giant Killer.  I'm currently reading Spirits in the Wire.   Woot!


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## buzz (Jan 15, 2007)

Raven Crowking said:
			
		

> Our tastes may be different iun some things, but if you're giving de Lint a chance, you can't be all bad.



I'm Neutral Good. I just have Evil _tendencies_.   

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone.


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## F5 (Jan 15, 2007)

Speaking as someone else who's never read DeLint but wanted to give him a try, is there any particular order his books should be read in?  Any later books that build on something that's gone before?


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## RaceBannon42 (Jan 15, 2007)

DeLint is the GoH at a the local con this spring so I thought I should give him a shot, so I asked this same question, I was told to go with _The Onion Girl_. I'm hoping to get to it in the next month or two.


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## Umbran (Jan 15, 2007)

RaceBannon42 said:
			
		

> , I was told to go with _The Onion Girl_.




I'm told it is an excellent book, and while most of de Lint's stuff takes place in no particular order, I'm not sure that's the one to start with.  

Much of de Lint's work takes place in one specific town - Newford.  _The Onion Girl_ focuses on a character who appears in many of the other stories, but is not the central character in most of them.  I think that starting with this book may be a bit spoilery for some of those other stories, because she'd be fully explained for you.  I'd suggest a start with one of his books of short stories, or a novel that isn't set in Newford for a first dip into the de Lint pool.


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## Raven Crowking (Jan 15, 2007)

I sort of agree with Umbran here.

I don't think you need to read the books in order, though.  It all depends upon how you feel about going back later and discovering that another book/short story is something _you've already read about_ in another book.

At least if you read _The Onion Girl_ and then go on to read some of de Lint's earlier novels, it'll be a heck of a lot better than filling in the history of the galaxy from the _Star Wars_ prequels!    

RC


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## Wombat (Jan 16, 2007)

For my money, start with almost _any_ of his short story collections.  Those give you the tone of de Lint very quickly and from there you can decide on the novels.  

While I like his novels a lot (lot!), I simply adore him as a short story writer, a sadly under-appreciated genre.  _The Ivory & The Horn_ and _Moonlight & Vines_ are two superlative collections.  

As a matter of fact, about the only book by him that I didn't much care for was _Jack of Kinrowan_, but even that had lovely moments.


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## Aus_Snow (Jan 18, 2007)

I, and my girlfriend, started on Moonheart. I don't think this was a bad thing, in either case.

For modern fantasy, he's still a writer I would recommend.


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## Michael Tree (Jan 20, 2007)

I adore Charles de Lint's short stories, and it's probably easiest to read the collections in the order of publication, starting with Dreams Underfoot.  

The order really doesn't matter for most of his books, with the exception of The Onion Girl and Widdershins, which shouldn't be read until after reading the Newford short stories, and should be read in the above order.

My favorite of his novels is Jack the Giant Killer.  However, it's more of a straight up adventure story than most of his other novels, which tend to be more introspective and focused on relationships.


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