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Title: The Mystery of Grace
Author: Charles de Lint
Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: 269
Copyright Date: 2009
Cover: A woman lies on the ground with her eyes closed. She wears blue jeans and a black tan top. Swirling tattoos cover what we see of her body. A skull mask lies on the ground before her.
First line: "She woke up when he got out of bed."
Best part: It was nice to see de Lint working with a new location and new set of characters.
Worst part: It was a little weird to see a character speaking Spanish where she doesn't actually speak it, the Spanish is just implied for the most part. I wonder what members of the ethnic community she represents would think of the book.
Grade: A solid B.
Recommended for: People who are curious about de Lint but haven't read his work before. Prior fans will already be reading it, I'm sure.
Related Reads: Forests of the Heart is the de Lint title I think is most similar. People who read Mystery of Grace and want a broader view of the author might like to start with Dreams Underfoot or Svaha.

Grace is still healing from the death of her grandfather, but she finds solace in her work with cars. She's almost one of the boys at the auto shop and has the tats too, everything from her namesake saint to the logo of her favorite car company, Ford. Okay, so she's picked up smoking again, but how bad is that really?
John has a calm life. He's successful in his field of graphic design and has friends that love him just as he is. And if he's afraid of getting close to anyone, well, he's gotten comfortable being alone.
Neither of them could be prepared for what Fate has in store for them.

I don't want to give away too much about the plot of this book, but it's really a good one. The characters are well-developed and the plot has more than a few surprises (even for me, a seasoned de Lint reader!). I recommend it to anyone who likes urban fantasy.

Date: 2009-05-07 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harperjean.livejournal.com
Lee is a big DeLint fan. I didn't even know the book was out, but I came home from work a week and half ago to find her curled up with the book, which she'd bought and read cover to cover that afternoon.

Date: 2009-05-07 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lady-anemone.livejournal.com
I was pretty happy with it. Do you like urban fantasy as well?

Date: 2009-05-07 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harperjean.livejournal.com
Yeah - I've enjoyed DeLint (though I haven't read the new book yet), and Emma Bull's War for the Trees, and Neil Gaiman's work in that vein (Neverwhere and American Gods). Lately I'm really into the edgier-weirder urban fantasy stuff, e.g, China Mieville and Cat Valente's new book Palimpsest

Date: 2009-05-07 08:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lady-anemone.livejournal.com
I love Emma Bull. I don't do as much dark fantasy unless it's in the "sexy pentacle tattoo" genre - I have a low tolerance for horror, oddly enough.

Date: 2009-05-07 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harperjean.livejournal.com
I love that "sexy pentacle tattoo" gets to be a genre. :)

Date: 2009-05-07 09:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lady-anemone.livejournal.com
I love that whenever I use that phrase, people know exactly what I mean, even when they've never heard it before. :)

Date: 2009-05-08 12:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] harperjean.livejournal.com
Yep. Does "Lost Souls" count as "sexy pentacle tattoo"?

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