SPIRITS IN THE WIRES

Newford #10

by Charles de Lint

At the heart of Spirits in the Wires are Saskia Madding and Christiana Tree, both of whom are tied to a perennial Newford character, the writer Christy Riddell. Are either Saskia or Christiana real? Christy's girlfriend Saskia, believes she was born in a Web site, while Christiana is Christy's "shadow-self" - all the parts of him that he cast out when he was seven years old.At a popular Newford on-line research and library Web site called the Wordwood, a mysterious "crash" occurs. Everyone visiting the site at the moment of the crash vanishes from where they are sitting in front of their computers. Saskia disappears right before Christy's eyes, along with countless others.Now Christy and his companions must journey into Newford's otherworld, where the Wordwood, it transpires, has a physical presence of its own...to rescue their missing friends and loved ones and to set this viral spirit right before it causes further harm.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Canada, Magical Realism, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Charles de Lint is the much beloved author of more than seventy adult, young adult, and children's books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, he is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, conducted by Random House and voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100.
De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and he's been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. De Lint served as Writer-in-residence for two public libraries in Ottawa and has taught creative writing workshops for adults and children in Canada and the United States. He's been a judge for several prominent awards, including the Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon and Bram Stoker.

Born in the Netherlands in 1951, de Lint immigrated to Canada with his family as an infant. The family moved often during de Lint's childhood because of his father's job with an international surveying company, but by the time Charles was twelve—having lived in Western Canada, Turkey and Lebanon—they had settled in Lucerne, Quebec, not far from where he now resides in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1980, de Lint married the love of his life, MaryAnn Harris, who works closely with him as his first editor, business manager and creative partner. They share their love and home with a cheery little dog named Johnny Cash.

Charles de Lint is best described as a romantic: a believer in compassion, hope and human potential. His skilled portrayal of character and settings has earned him a loyal readership and glowing praise from peers, reviewers and readers.

Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best.
—Holly Black (bestselling author)
Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.
—Alice Hoffman (bestselling author)

To read de Lint is to fall under the spell of a master storyteller, to be reminded of the greatness of life, of the beauty and majesty lurking in shadows and empty doorways.
—Quill & Quire

His Newford books, which make up most of de Lint's body of work between 1993 and 2009, confirmed his reputation for bringing a vivid setting and repertory cast of characters to life on the page. Though not a consecutive series, the twenty-five standalone books set in (or connected to) Newford give readers a feeling of visiting a favourite city and seeing old friends.
More recently, his young adult Wildlings trilogy—Under My Skin, Over My Head, and Out of This World—came out from Penguin Canada and Triskell Press in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Under My Skin won 2013 Aurora Award. A novel for middle-grade readers, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, published by Little Brown in 2013, won the Sunburst Award, earned starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Quill & Quire, and was chosen by the New York Times Editors as one of the top six children's books for 2013. His most recent adult novel, The Mystery of Grace (2009), is a fascinating ghost story about love, passion and faith. It was a finalist for both the Sunburst and Evergreen awards.

De Lint is presently writing a new adult novel. His storytelling skills also shine in his original songs. He and MaryAnn (also a musician) recently released companion CDs of their original songs, samples of which can be heard on de Lin

Reviews

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I get into Spirits in the Wires, I just have to say: one thing I generally love about De Lint books are the lady characters. I hate the phrase ~manic pixie dream girl~ in light of the derogatory way it's generally employed, but it still comes to mind — more in the sense that De Lint has a gift for creating manic pixie dream worlds, and then populating them with quirky boys and girls who are mutually drawn to weirdness and inbetweens; who in finding their own stories, find one another.

I guess that feeling came to mind because Spirits in the Wires is filled with so many Newford characters, old and new, and a lot of them are women, and all of them are awesome. As a general rule of thumb, the local heroes and heroines are creative, compassionate, and cool. They are people who prefer to exist at the edges of things — some who've made careers out of what they love, some who've been dealt a bad turn but still have it in them to be brave and kind. They believe in uncanny happenings, and the ones who don't are willing to listen and reconsider. And when some sort of voodoo cyberspace spirit is infected with a virus and hundreds of people disappear into the sentient Wordwood website, they are the ones with the opportunity to step forward and do something about it.

Starting out, I felt like this book would be a pretty typical ATTACK OF THE SENTIENT TECHNOLOGY plot, something kinda done to death in comics and sci-fi, but given the author I figured it would definitely have some different aspects and that I would probably like it. And I did! It was really more about the characters — and kindness, and understanding, and accepting the parts of yourself you'd rather cast away — than the actual spirits in the actual wires. (Although those were pretty cool too! I mean, a living website that's also a forest made of words and layers of code, can't go wrong with that.)

I do get the feeling that I would have enjoyed this book more if I made an effort to go through Newford in its chronological entirety. There were a lot of throwbacks to characters and their backstories, and if I'd encountered them before, I probably would have been excited about seeing them again rather than being bewildered by all the introductory exposition — which sometimes felt bulky, and at other times vague. I recognized Christy, Meran, Jilly and a few others, but most of the returning characters were new to me, or else I read about them so long ago that I forgot them. (I apologize to those particular Eader!)

I was also dragged down by a lot of my own skepticism throughout the book. Funnily enough, this wasn't about any of the magical things, but about the humans. In general, most De Lint characters are so optimistic and willing to reach out to eachother, something that constantly had me going "Is this realistic? Are these people???" Isn't that so weird — that I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for faeries and spirits and people being swallowed up by their computers, but unconditional human kindness is the part that's hard to believe in? It's just that, for all the gritty grimness of Newford, there always seems to be good underneath absolutely everything. Whether the problem is with the book's overly optimistic tones or my own rampant negativity, the fact remains that it was hard for me to connect to some of those sentiments.

That said, I'm definitely on board with the sentiment that everyone has a story, and all our stories connect in myriad ways. That's a big De Lint thing, and I always enjoy seeing that theme explored in a new way, or with a new cast!

As I was wondering how to end this review, I got an error message. "Firefox can't find the server at goodreads.com"? Uh oh, I've seen this shit happen before. I swear, if I see a black dot start to grow out of my screen, I will take a cue from the hobgoblin and smash my monitor to bits. You're not getting me this time, technology.

[Arie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lets just add this to the ever-growing list of books still to review...

[Kirstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it was carried well with DeLint's engaging writing style, I have to say that the conclusion of this story was a bit hasty and rough. Perhaps he didn't have as much time to come up with a finish as he needed or perhaps he didn't have much clue as to how to end it, I'm not sure. But I wish he had devoted a bit more time to thinking up a better ending and perhaps a more reasonable 'problem'.

My particular issues with the book (and here's where the SPOILERS come)

1. What is going on with Saskia's body in the Wordwood? How is she suddenly Snow White and why? What was the relevance?

2. Johnson. What did he do other than create the virus? Why did he have to be *there* with Saskia and Christiana when he had no real other purpose?

3. Aaran...I just don't buy the whole turned-a-new-leaf and now he's no longer a pretentious git. I'm not sure if even deLint really got what Aaran was all about.

But I did adore Christy/Saskia and I really hope that there's another book that I have yet discovered that goes into their courtship, how they met, etc. It must have been pretty phenomenal because boy are they ever nuts about each other and I think it's more than the fact that they just 'click'.

Um, the end.

[Иван Величков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Настана време да се заредя с нещо положително и магично. Много ясно, че три нощи четох до светло и после на работа бях като треснат. Знам си аз да не подхващам негова книга, ако не съм в отпуска.
Поредната порция от историите за Нюфорд - мегаполисът, където магията е жива стига да искаш да повярваш в нея. Този път де Линт ни завърта около писателя Кристи и неговите приятели. Повествованието се води от първо лице през очите на над десет различни герои, като главните действащи лица са два пъти повече. Има много персонажи от предишни романи и разкази на автора, както и няколко нови, които допълват все по-разрастващата се галерия странни нюфордски образи.

Когато един отхвърлен мъж решава да си го върне на бившата, наема хакер, който да бутне любимия и сайт - Уърдууд. Самият сайт, който е за електронни книги, отдавна се е измъкнал от ръцете на съставителите си и живее собствен живот някъде между жиците, света на сънищата, Граничните земи и Между. Когато вируса го събаря, потребителите му започват да бъдат поглъщани от компютрите си. Един от тях е Саския - приятелката на Кристи и паранормално същество, изпратено в Света както е от Библиотекаря на Уърдууд. Кристи събира група от програмисти, познати които могат да пътуват между световете и приятели и се опитва да си я върне. Оказва се, че сайта е дело на много древен и силен дух.

Де Линт смесва стари индиански, келтски и ирландски легенди с модерна интернет митология и ударна доза нюфордска мистика. Романът е най-мрачното му произведение, което съм чел, без да е писано под псевдоним. Естествено, доброто побеждава, но не без да премине през редица перипети. Героите са пълнокръвни и когато отвориш книгата на произволна страница, на второто изречение си наясно кой ти разказва. Книгата е перфекно изпипан роман, който отново чупи всички рамки и стандарти и като форма, и като сюжет.

Сега пак няма да мога да оставя автора, а неизчетените негови книги стремглаво намаляват.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

After I read Someplace to be Flying, I ran out and bought three more Charles de Lint books. I started Spirits in the Wires immediately. If I had read this book first, I don't think I would have checked out any of the authors other stuff.

The book is 100 maybe 200 pages too long. De Lint repeats ideas without enough variation. Sometimes I felt like I was being hammered. The concept of a sentient web site that pulled people into their computers was great, but all the mechanics of how it worked failed to draw me into the books alternate reality. Black goo spilling out of the monitors was too over the top. The virus slugs were over the top. I wanted the interior computer world to be more subtle and metaphorical rather than crudely literal.

The characters were well described and engaging, but I didn't feel like they evolved much. Aaran changed almost instantly, and this could have been believable, but I felt as though de Lint's justification for Aaran's change was shallow and explanatory rather than revelatory.

The writing wavered between engaging and slightly boring. I felt that the pacing was off. The middle stretched on and on but the end felt rushed. I didn't learn nearly enough about Librarius or the Leviathan, but I heard too much about Christy et al sitting around chit chatting while everybody got lined up for the action. In the end, I did not feel I understood quite how the virus was cast out, what part Librarius had played in it, or how Saskia in the coffin fit in.

[Happydog · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first time I was let down by a DeLint book. The book seems awkward; that's the only word I can use. DeLint doesn't seem to feel comfortable writing about technology, and as a result this book doesn't feel as vivid or as engaging as some of his others. It's interesting, moves quickly, and tells its story well, but DeLint's visualization of the spiritual essence of the online world is a little dated. The bad thing about writing a book that involves the Internet is that in six months, everything you write about will be outdated, and this is the case here.

My main objection here is that the plot felt forced, as if DeLint was straining to put his characters to good use. There were too many characters, as is true of a lot of DeLint's more recent work, and only a few memorable ones, most of those from previous works.

One wonders if DeLint is coming to the end of what he can do with Newford. I wouldn't want to see him pull a Mercedes Lackey and start writing the same book over and over with different characters and slightly different settings, and he comes dangerously close to doing that here.

[Bethanie Free · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spirits and entities exist all around us in the real world, coexisting typically in peace and indifference so what would happen if spirits existed in the internet? Even more so, what would happen if one of those spirits happened to get a virus? A website takes on a life of its own, spreading books and information to anyone who visits it. Well, at least it does until one day a vindictive person decides to teach Saskia a lesson by installing a virus on the website that her and her hodge podge group of friends hold dear. Will they be able to access the spirit world to save Wordwood? Is there even a place to access? And how do you fight a virus in a spirit?

Charles de Lints Newford series never disappoints. Given that this was written back in the beginning days of home internet, it is such an interesting take on the concept of viruses and how spirit worlds assimilate into the growing knowledge of the consensual world.

Revisit some of your favorites from the series like Saskia, Christy, Christiana, and Geordie while being introduced to some new incredible characters from the spirit world.

[Vigasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this!

[Jk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome story! A wonderful mesh of realism and surrealism that personifies the world wide web. Really unique, but it's not an easy read. On the other hand, the story is so different and compelling, it won't let your mind wander anyway.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't one of my favorite Newford books - it doesn't have quite the zing of some of the other books and some of the overly specific technology bits have not aged well.

[Marion Hill]

I can’t recall reading any novels that blend contemporary urban fantasy with the internet. I realize the internet, now a mature technology over three decades old, is no longer the cultural novelty it once was, despite our continued immersion in the social media age.

Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint is the latest novel I’ve just finished in his Newford series. I have read the series in the chronological order the author has suggested here. A major reason I’ve loved this series is that each book is a complete story in itself, so readers can jump in anywhere. Despite its commercial success, fantasy fiction remains committed to the serial model, encompassing trilogies, four-book arcs, or sprawling multi-volume series such as Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive and George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. I’m at a stage where I prefer the immediacy of standalone stories, either literary or genre fiction, and simply can’t dedicate myself to the lengthy commitment of a multi-part series. Duologies are as far as I go in a series these days.

“Spirits in the Wires” centers on Saskia Madding and Christiana Tree, who are both linked to Christy Riddell, a prominent figure in Newford. Do either Saskia or Christiana exist in reality? Saskia, Christy’s girlfriend, thinks she originated on a website; meanwhile, Christiana embodies Christy’s repressed childhood self.

A mysterious crash hit the Wordwood, a popular Newford online research and library website. At the time of the crash, everyone on the site instantly disappeared from their computers. Right before Christy’s eyes, Saskia vanished.

Christy and his companions must now venture into Newford’s mystical realm—a place where the Wordwood has a tangible form—to save their captured friends and loved ones and stop the spreading evil before more damage is done.

De Lint is an adept storyteller and brings this wide-ranging story to a satisfying conclusion. However, I will admit that I wanted a more impactful climax; the scene felt somewhat underdeveloped, leaving me wanting more. Throughout the novel, the characters’ interactions were delightful, offering a glimpse into what would happen if the internet, with its chaotic energy and unpredictable nature, had a spirit that interacted with everyday life.

I found “Spirits in the Wires” to be a complex novel with subtle details that I expect to appreciate more fully with repeated readings. This is possibly De Lint’s most thematically ambitious novel in the series as it tackles profound issues I believe warrant a place in high school and college English courses. Well done, Charles.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved that this book really embraced to philosophical advantages of speculative fiction. It was too distractingly dated to fully relax into. It was slow as DeLints books tend to be but sometimes that can work.
It reminded me most of William Gibson’s Agency.
I feel like this would have been a 4 star for me when it came out.
I enjoy his world building and feel like he writes women as well as or better than any non woman author I’ve read.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always found Saskia to be an entrancing character....born of the Internet, in a site called the Wordwood, which has taken on a life of its own, she is just fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed learning her history, and in touring the Wordwood from the inside!

[Lunka ♫ ꩜ ☽ ⛧ · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always with de Lint this is an incredible book!✌️👻

[Kat Heatherington · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 50 pages, no plot located

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny how dated the "tech" is in this novel, even though it's not that old. There's even a cyber cafe for goodness sake. But what it's mainly about--identity, self-determination, responsibility--are timeless. Plus fairies.

[Lis Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another Newford novel, taking some the least technologically-inclined of the loose Newford network of friends and aquaintances into the internet. Literally into the net--some of them get involuntarily uploaded, and others follow in the hope of rescuing them.

Aaran Goldstein, book editor for the local newspaper and mild pain in neck to Christy Riddle, Saskia Madding, and others of literary bent in our old familiar crowd, hits upon a relatively harmless means of revenge upon Saskia for the offense of having realized almost imme diately what a jerk and a loser he is. He blackmails one of the I.T. staff at the paper into uploading a virus that will temporarily take down the Wordwood website, so beloved of Saskia and her friends. Unfortunately, the damage isn't as temporary or as limited as intended. The Wordwood hasn't been a normal website for quite a while now--it vanished from the machines that originally hosted it, and started doing things its original creators couldn't explain. So when Jackson Hart's virus takes it down, they have no idea how to get it back up. And when Jackson is overcome by the moral doubts that had plagued him from the beginning, and emails the webmaster at the Wordwood instructions on how to recover from the virus, the real trouble starts, as the Wordwood responds by aggressively uploading hundreds of people, whose disappearances naturally alarm and disturb even more people. Jackson's among the uploaded.

So is Saskia Madding.

Except that, while all the other uploaded go directly to the Wordwood website, Saskia manages to resist effectively enough to reach Christy's "shadow," Christiana, who was born from the parts of Christy that he discarded when he was seven. Saskia and Christiana have recently been discussing whether they are "real" or not--Christiana, of course, because she's a shadow, and Saskia because, as far as she can tell, she was born in the Wordwood. She has a paper trail showing a fairly normal life going back to a normal birth, but her real, substantial memories go back only a few years, to shortly before she met Aaran Goldstein, and Christy, and the others. When she resists the Wordwood spirit that's trying to reclaim her, she reaches Christiana on her borderlands-capable cellphone, and enters Christiana\rquote s head. For most of the remainder of the book, they are literally inseparable.

Christy, Geordie, Holly, and others (including, eventually, a somewhat chastened Aaran Goldstein), search for a solution and conclude that they need to go to the spiritworld, where the Wordwood is apparently located now, and cure the virus there in order to get their missing friends back. Along the way, they encounter hellhounds and other dangers of the spiritworld. Christiana, Saskia, and eventually Jackson Hart, head for the heart of the Wordwood, also to tackle the virus. Along the way, they find a Disneyesque Sleeping Beauty coffin, displaying, rather alarmingly, Saskia's unoccupied body. They also find Librarius, formerly a servant of the being that controlled the Wordwood, now in rebellion against it. The virus gave him his opportunity, and he's not interested in any solutions that don't leave him in charge.

There are some oddities in the story. On the detail level, it seems odd, even with this relatively non-techie crowd, that no one except Jackson Hart has a either DSL or a cable modem. On the story level, Librarius' vengefulness towards the people responsible for the virus that gave him his shot at taking control of the Wordwood doesn't quite make sense. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable visit with the Newford crowd.

[Grainne Rhuad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Great offering from Charles de Lint. This Urban fantasy takes some familiar Newford charactors into a new realm of modern possibility via the internet. The worldwide web in de Lint's mind is depicted as an ether-world that easily overlaps, weaves and co-exists with his in-between world that fans have come to be familiar with. If you are an avid fantasy reader in general and a de Lint reader in particular it is no great feat of immagination to see how crossroad spirits and Gods alike could and would use the internet to their advantage. It is fun and exciting to see how a mythmaker views the internet and its possibilities in their mind.

I read quite a few reviews prior to reading this book that said they just got lost in the story, they didn't get it and/or lost interest. I have a theory for this. We as dreamers are progressing. We have been breastfed on Grimm stories which are easy to swallow, not taking place in any time that we recognise. From there some of us step up to adult tales of political intrigue, sex, jealousy and fate that take place withing faerie mounds, etherworlds, places that still are not real, it is still easy to suspend our belief and enjoy the story. In the past 20 years fantasy writers have been taking us to a new place. A place of Urban Fantasy, where magical happens within our own real world. I think this is where splits happen sometimes between sci-fi lovers and fantasy lovers. People can make stories work in their heads If there is a scientific explaination (no matter how far fetched) But we lose a few readers who think it plain silly that a faerie maid would be a P.I. or a Hell Hound a Nurse.
Charles de Lint with this story took it a tiny step forward and added science and technology via the internet with absolutely no science to back it up. In fact if I could make one critisism it would be that even though this book was published in 2002 he was still using antiquated jargon for computers (example:Apple IMAC, WindowsPersonal Computer~who sais that anymore?) Also his charactors where woefully unable to figure out each other's email, that makes no sense for 2002.
But back to what I was saying. My theory is some people were unable to suspend their belief in what IS real in order to get the message and lesson out of what MAY BE. Which is the goal of myths, stories and fables anyway.

I think this was an amazing step in Urban fantasy. Not only were the characters interacting with modern things and places but they were changing them, making use of them, converting them. And what dreamer hasn't wondered where exactly is that web? How does the internet work? Who pulls the strings? What could happen?

I truly enjoyed this ride.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put off reading this book for awhile as I thought the premise was a bit silly. I like Charles de Lints books about urban myths and fairies, native spirits and spirit worlds but this seemed to be going a little too far. Perhaps it was the memory of bad pagans who'd "fight the demons in the internet" that I had the misfortune of knowing at university but I wasn't thrilled about the premise of this book. However, like everything else De Lint does this book was great. The characterisation of Christiana and Saskia sucked me into the story. Some of the details of the modems and the HTML seemed a bit silly, but then once they arrived in the other world and there was a big alternate reality digital library that was part library and part wood I was convinced and loving the story. De Lint just has a way of dragging you into the story with interesting and colourful characters that makes the madness of it all seem real. While not as touching as his recent books about Jilly this was really enjoyable. I particularly liked the characterisation of Christiana. I liked how people were redeemable. When De Lint started writing the tales of Newford it was little bits of magic and fantasy slipping into real life. Now it seems, at least for the past few novels, that it's real life slipping into the fantasy world where everything has been brought together. There's always multiple characters with the story told from multiple angles. But I like that. Everyone is interesting enough, or strange enough, to keep their part of the tale going. Like the last few books I've read by him I find it difficult to read anything else after finishing his stories. I think I may go read some of the early Newford stories before bed tonight. I think he is definitely my one of favourite contemporary authors.

[Adela Bezemer-Cleverley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if it's the book's fault or my own, but I found it very difficult to concentrate on this story most of the time. The plot is very rambling and long-winded and most of it doesn't make a lot of sense (not that Charles de Lint's writing or urban fantasy in general make that much sense, but somehow it was just harder to get into...).

I think there wasn't enough of the personal growth/character background type storytelling for me; it was a lot of confusing descriptions of the Wordwood and overly enthusiastic technical jargon about computers and the Internet (which could be amusing at times, but seemed mostly unnecessary). Yes there was character development, but it was almost too blatantly talked about--like Christiana and Saskia (and Suzi, later) constantly thinking about what they are and what their lives mean, and everyone basically narrative Aaran's entire character arc...

I didn't dislike the story or the writing. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I could have somehow read it without getting distracted by my own life--that's thing that was different, I suppose, it didn't give me what I usually look for in books: an escape.

There were other things I was going to talk about regarding this book but they've all slipped my mind somehow. This review is rambling more than the book I'm talking about... so that's enough.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

First let me say, that I have been enjoying all the books in the Newford series immensely and Spirits in the Wires is no exception. I particularly enjoyed meeting some characters and getting to know others better and there were some good concepts and moments throughout.

Having said that, I think the book lagged a little bit at times and I feel like I was missing some information at times (which very well might be my fault since I am reading the books in the order I can get them rather than in the order that the author intended). I enjoyed it but I had to work harder at enjoying it than I normally do for a Charles de Lint book.

I think when I have finished reading the other books in the series, I should come back to this one and see if it flows better the next time around. In the meanwhile, I am going to leave things with this thought: It's worth your time if you are going through the Newford series but if you aren't already familiar with Newford, I would pick up Someplace to Be Flying or one of the short story anothologies first.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Charles de Lint book I've read (other than some short stories) and it was quite good. He says he got somewhat absorbed in the idea that spirits and technology could coexist, and the idea of computers as a window to something unviewable (paraphrasing). I think this really worked. It takes place in Newford (of course), as Christy's girlfriend Saskia, who believes she came into existence from a website, meets Christy's shadow Christiana, who is composed of the castoff parts of Christy's personality when he was 7. Elements from each of their pasts act to bring together a beautiful, complex, and imaginative story about the web, the borderlands, and the beginnings. Now I have to read more of his books... :)

[Namedphoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this novel exceptionally creative. I've recently begun to be attracted to stories that take old folklore and tales and weave it into a modern text. Because what ever did happen to the mythical beasts?

In this book, Charles de Lint determines that they have gone into the other places we either care not to look or have created out of nothing - like the internet!

I loved the no-nonsense approach to mythology and mythical creatures, and how a space is created for those of us who haven't quite stopped believing in the possibility of existence beyond our shared acceptance of what is reality.

This was not a fast read, but it was extremely engaging and thought provoking. I'd recommend it to anyone!

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was adequate, but felt kind of dated and longer than it needed to be. Since the main plot centered around a website (and, essentially, its genus loci), there's more computer stuff in this book than previous stories and it seemed that the de Lint was having difficulty integrating the internet with his brand of urban fantasy. Spirits in the Wires also introduces Voodoo loa (but seemed to confabulate Legba with Baron Samedi) and the Jungian concept of a person's Shadow (but as an actual being rather than just repressed personality traits) to the "Newford Universe." Very low 3; readable but never really did it for me.

[TheRealMelbelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good Newford book. I like it that the author doesn't want these read in a particular order.

The subject matter is mature and couched in a different style - "urban myth." It is really not for young teens at all; pretty rough in places.

I think that I like it because I never grew out of fantasy but the real world issues are alway being interwoven. My favorite of de Lint's Newford books so far is Onion Girl. This one had far too many characters pairing up with each other.....

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could I would give this book 6 stars. What an amazing story. Love the characters, love the setting, love the concept. Just WOW! I read this over the last two days and it drew me back every time I had to put it down; I just had to see what would happen next, what myth would be woven into this thoroughly modern story.

Can I just say how proud I am that my hometown produced an author such as Charles De Lint.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid. I liked it better on this read.

2025 — I liked it even more this time round and it’s suddenly become more relevant. It’s at bottom s book about AI and what makes someone a real person. It’s interesting to explore these questions through a story written long before these topics became relevant in a concrete way.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

reread. some of the references are hilariously dated 12 years later (zip disks! pay phones!), but it's still a good story.

[Melissa Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was...fun. I didn't like it as much as many of the authors other books

[Tomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book sooooo much. I love de Lint's stories, and usually find his writing strikes a chord with me and my imaginings. His stories and his characters often go down pathways that I have, in the past, previously believed only I would be weird enough (read - slightly unstable) to conceive of, thus, validating my imagination as "not so insane" as I had literally feared of before reading his work. Or, instead, at least reassuring me that at least I am not alone in thinking that the bizarre may still be lurking around the next corner in this world.

This is the second time I have read this book. The first was so long ago, that I didn't even remember that I had read it before, and I also didn't remember how it ended, so, even after I realized it wasn't new, I still felt the need to finish it. However, I found this reading to be a task. The technology and the technological jargon and "buzzwords" used throughout are now extremely dated, and painful to wade through. It would be interesting, I think, if the book was updated. If that were to ever happen, I hope the author leaves out that world of jargon entirely, if at all possible. It did not help the story, and dates the story unnecessarily, in my view.

The other aspect that I found extremely tedious is the over-the-top and repetitive internal dialogue of the characters. Usually, that is one aspect of de Lint's writing that I find endearing, but this time around there was just too much of it. Worse, I found the same characters obsessing on the same internalized thoughts and background explanations multiple times. It would have been an improvement to hear it once and never again. Plus, it seemed the author was trying way too hard to connect this story to the wider Newford lore. I'd much rather hear stand-alone tales that include some of the same characters, without being hit over the head with their backstories and how they are important to characters that don't even manage to make it to this book.

Since reading my first de Lint tale, more years ago than I would like to admit, I have always thought of his worlds as magical places I wanted to revisit. But, I guess you really can't ever go home again.