Spirits in the Wires

July 7, 2003
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. (Aug. 28)FYI:De Lint's story collection
Moonlight and Vines (1999) won a World Fantasy Award.

Starred review from August 1, 2003
Claiming that she was born in the web site known as the Wordwood, Saskia Madding strikes up a friendship with Christiana Tree, who believes herself to be the shadow twin of writer Christy Riddell, a resident of the Canadian town of Newford. When a sudden disruption of the Internet results in Saskia's abrupt disappearance, her friends search for her and other vanished site visitors in the otherworld that exists beyond the normal reality of Newford. Over the years, de Lint's Newford novels and short stories (The Onion Girl; Moonlight and Vines) have attracted a sizable following of fans of literate and thoughtful urban fantasy. His latest work combines world mythologies with cyberculture to produce a new vision of interwoven realities. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.