Jack of Kinrowan

Jack of Kinrowan Charles de Lint Date: 02 July, 1999   —   $10.85   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Have I mentioned that I love Charles de Lint? This book, a compilation of Jack the Giant-Killer (the original submission for Terri Windling's Fairy Tale series) and Drink Down the Moon, is yet another example of his setting of fairy tales in an urban setting. In this case, Jacky Rowan lives in the same Ottawa of Tamson House, the central location in de Lint's books Moonheart and Spiritwalk. She has recently broken up with a boyfriend who thinks she is too tame, and in response she walks home very drunk and manages to see into Faerie, long enough to start a series of events that leads her into serious trouble in the battle between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. And the side that wins will affect the feel of the city for years to come, so if the Unseelie hags and sluaghs and goblins and yes, giants win out, Ottawa will become a place of depression, terror, and hate.

But nothing is quite that easy. They have stolen the Laird's daughter, who is the Seelie court's only hope for vistory in the upcoming battle, and they own the Horn of the Hunt, whom they can send out to harrass and slaughter the helpless folk. And into the middle of it all bumbles Jacky, who has the luck of her name and a tie to the court of Kinrowan, and upon whom all the hopes of the Kinrowan folk are suddenly pinned. And the Unseelie Court knows who she is as well.

It's a great little tale, and the bonus of the second novel fleshes it out to a goodly length for those of us who appreciate the modern fantasy bricks when we need a good read.