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Spirits in the Wires
Spirits in the Wires
Author: Charles de Lint
Charles de Lint's Newford novels, loosely linked "tales" with overlapping characters set in an imaginary modern North American city, are tales of magic and myth afoot on today's city streets. But at the center of every de Lint story is the miracle of the human heart. — And at the heart of Spirits in the Wires are Saskia Madding and Christi...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780312873981
ISBN-10: 0312873980
Publication Date: 8/1/2003
Pages: 448
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 21

4 stars, based on 21 ratings
Publisher: Tor Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 2
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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reviewed Spirits in the Wires on
This book is Charles de Lint at his best - a magical mixture of computers and faerie. His love of Celtic music and the folk scene blends nicely with his mixture of European and Native American mythology. He creates likeable, realistic characters that you'd love to spend an evening in the pub with. Any book with de Lint's name on the cover is a guarantee of an excellent read.
reviewed Spirits in the Wires on + 57 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Canadian author De Lint follows up 2001's triumphant The Onion Girl with another fine novel dually based in the fictitious city of Newford and a magical otherworld, where spirits of faerie and folklore occupy modern technology and cyberspace is a fantasy realm in which imagination fuels artificial intelligence. When a virus crashes Wordwood, a Web site existing in an "impossible limbo in between computers," a lot of people disappear, including Saskia Madding, girlfriend of perennial Newfordian character Christy Riddell. Saskia literally sprang full-grown from a computer and was already suffering an identity crisis when sucked into oblivion. She escapes by taking up residence in the same body as Christiana Tree. The heroic Christiana, Christy's "shadow," must restore Saskia to her own body, sort out what happened to Wordwood, and figure out what can be done to save it and the rest of the spirit world from chaos. Meanwhile, Christy and a band of companions leave consensual reality and enter the Internet spirit world, seeking to save Wordwood and those who have gone missing. De Lint makes the binary tangible and handles his concept of technological voodoo with intelligence, verve and wit while introducing fascinating new characters and expanding on old ones. Not surprisingly, everyone eventually discovers that it doesn't matter where we come from but who we are that counts-but their journeys to that conclusion will please previous fans and find new ones for this master of the modern fantastic.


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