[.ca] Yarrow (ISBN 0312863934)

Slow, Confusing Start, But Great Last Three-Quarters:
Cat Midhir is an author with a secret: she bases her novels on tales told to her by Elves and Gnomes she visits in an Otherworld she accesses whenever she dreams. One problem: she has suddenly stopped dreaming (and therefore stopped writing). An ancient being, Lysistratus, is a vampire-type creature who feeds on the dreams and souls of others in order to gain sustenance, pleasure, and immortality. While Lysistratus occasionally feeds on others, he covets the dreams of Cat Midhir because of their vibrance and realism. Cat, who has always been a shy recluse who favors her dream-friends over reality, is forced to find friends and allies who will help her defeat Lysistratus, who eventually learns of Cat's Otherworld and wants to drain it dry as well. The outcome is up in the air until the very end, and even then does not reach one hundred percent closure. Many de Lint stories have slow beginnings, as they require the laying of considerable groundwork (introducing numerous characters and sub-plots to be woven together). "Yarrow" is one of the more extreme examples of this pattern. A score of different characters are thrown at the reader, with each having his/her own little story, and many of these characters and stories seem totally unconnected with the others. If the reader is patient, however, Charles de Lint does manage to pull all of these scattered threads together and weave quite a story. "Yarrow" does not have the depth and cultural richness of "Forests of the Heart", "Svaha", or "Someplace to be Flying", but is still a good piece of imaginative writing that takes the reader somewhere that is simultaneously very ordinary and very alien. Four stars might be a little low, but four-and-a-half is not available and five is too high, in comparison to stories like "Svaha" or "Someplace to be Flying".

Scattered and empty:
Caitlin Midhir is a popular author of fantasy novels, but unlike most writers she actually has an answer to the frequently-asked question, "where do you get your ideas?" When she sleeps, Cat travels to a place she calls Otherworld, where the characters in her stories are real, and so she makes her living off the tales she brings back. That is, until a creature called Lysistratus -- a psychic vampire who feeds on dreams -- is attracted by the vivid nature of Cat's and steals them away. She may lose more than a source of income as a result. YARROW's story is scattered among a cast that is larger than it needs to be, giving background on those characters that has little relevance, and generating subplots that never come to fruition, while the book's antagonist goes sadly underdeveloped. As a result, events that are important have little impact. The story doesn't really get off the ground until the final few chapters and even then, barely so. In the end, nothing particularly interesting happens. This isn't just a light read; it's hardly there at all.

My first and amongst my favorites of de Lint!:
Yarrow was the first de Lint I read, several years ago, and it took me many years to find a copy of my own. It is wonderful that it's being reprinted - that many more people who can share in the joy and magic of de Lint's world. And magic it truly is. When I read de Lint, I'm able to fully immerse myself in the story, the characters, the environment. You can feel it stealing over you in a comfortable, magical way, encompassing you with the sights, sounds, and even smells of the places he takes you to. When magic happens on the page, you feel the tingle of it in your hands. As well as sharing his worlds, he also brings to us his music and his favorite books with us as well. I've been introduced to other authors and music through his stories, stories and sounds which have become friends to me. Thank you, Charles!

Another good yarn from Charles de Lint:
The book starts with an interesting question that forms the basis of the plot: Where do writers get their ideas? For the heroine, Cat Midhir, those ideas come from her dreams. So what happens when the dreams stop? That's what "Yarrow" is all about. I did find the first part a little bit slow. I thought there were too many scene shifts, and introductions to a lot of characters who turned out to be little more than scenery in the end. I felt that these minor characters were developed almost at the expense of some of the other characters who should have been given more space. Case in point: Kothlen. I would have liked to see his character developed more, even in flashbacks, so that when Cat loses him, we don't have to be told how awful she feels; we should be able to feel it for ourselves. Other than that, de Lint has woven a wonderful story. I liked Tiddy Mun, Cat's little gnome friend, and the villain, Lysistratus, was deliciously formidable. I highly recommend this book to fans of Charles de Lint who may not have read this earlier piece of urban fantasy.

An amazing tale..very dark:
This was my first De Lint book way back in the 1980's, it is still one of his best to me alongside Moonheart and Memory & Dream. De lint has a darkness in some of his best books, I'm not horror fan but his works have just enough magic and beauty to not read like a horror book. But they do have a deep and frightening darkness...Caitlin's enemy, the creature that steals her dreams is a brutal monster and there are some very scary scenes in this book. But in the end the entire tale is soo engrossing I can't put it down. Sadly many of his more recent books lack that depth, or maybe I'm just older and less inclined to be taken in by them..and yet I can still read this book and other older De Lint and be drawn in as before..... What De Lint does when he is truly inspired can only be called true magic...if you want that kind fo magic read this, Moonheart and Memory and Dream...but be warned they are not for children nor readers who do not like some truly, deeply, dark evil in their books.