Greenmantle Book Reviews

Greenmantle by Charles de Lint Book Summary

Not far from the city there is an ancient wood, forgotten by the modern world, where Mystery walks in the moonlight. He wears the shape of a stag, or a goat, or a horned man wearing a cloak of leaves. He is summoned by the music of the pipes or a fire of bones on Midsummer's Evening. He is chased by the hunt and shadowed by the wild girl.

Greenmantle is not only a gripping thriller but also an introduction to the most profound philosophical issues in literature what stories are for and how they create us. …de Lint shows an awareness of what he's doing that makes his fiction not just a damn fine read but also a clear map of the road that fantasy follows through the human mind. …with Greenmantle, he shows that, far from being mere escapism, contemporary fantasy can be the deep mythic literature of our time.
--The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1989

Charles de Lint is one of my favorite fantasy writers. His juxtapositions of classical folklore with modern settings are full of power and beauty. His novel Greenmantle, is no exception: strong characters deal strongly with themselves and the supernatural. What is unique about this book is that the supernatural element is not the problem that most of the people are dealing with. It's an integral part of the story, but it is seldom threatening and it's generally beautiful. In most fantasies, the supernatural is the focus: here the focus is on people learning to stand their ground.
--Locus Magazine, December 1987

Constructing a fantasy around the mythical figure of the horned god and interweaving it with a hard-hitting contemporary thriller is a nice idea in theory. In practice, when a story tries to cross genre boundaries or mix genre elements, it tends to lose its focus and fall into a vacuous no-man's land. Charles de Lint has succeeded magnificently where many have failed. Greenmantle fires on all cylinders and on all levels, especially in that difficult interstice between fantasy and reality. By turns poignant and upbeat, without being schmaltzy, this engrossing and pacy story will hold your attention from first to last and beyond guaranteed!
--Fear Magazine, March 1991

De Lint is a master of the modern urban folk tale.
--The Denver Post

It is hard to imagine urban fantasy done better then it is by de Lint at his best.
--Booklist

In de Lint's capable hands, modern fantasy becomes something other than escapism. It becomes folk song, the stuff of urban myth.
--The Phoenix Gazette

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