ISBN: 0-441-00651-5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
This delightful, if a bit on the lightweight side, tale of enchantment and painful memory in a modern Pacific Northwest benefits from a pleasant protagonist and a fresh look at magic.
Reviewed by David on October 03, 1999
Genre: Fantasy (Ghosts)
Synopsis: Matt has been wondering around for years, happily talking to inanimate objects, and trying to avoid people's dreams. Fortunately for her continued liberty, she has learned to keep these conversations silent. However, a man stepping out of a wall is a bit unusual even for Matt.
Matt's previously life of quiet magic and lonely contentment is overturned by the flood of witchcraft and emotion that her visitor brings.
Full Review: Hoffman continues to bring her special style to the stories occuring in the Northwest. Perhaps her most remarkable attribute is the delight her magic brings to the lives of her characters. Not only is her treatment of magic fresh, it is woven seamlessly into our own reality, without either creating a new world or descending into the surreal of some modern fantasies. While as perilous as a weapon and as hard to control as a child, the magic nevertheless brings pleasure, amusement and beauty to the lives of the protagonist and her friends.
The protagonist herself is an unusually pleasant, decent, wry and self-reliant individual, and using her viewpoint the narrative is carried effortlessly and evenly.
The plot itself is a bit thin. Perhaps the biggest flaw of this otherwise excellent book is the lack of serious conflict in the plot: while old memories bring pain, the new quest generally succeeds with little sacrifice, an attribute more appropriate to juvenile fiction (though this book uses adult themes).
In addition, the two major female characters seem to be suffering from the same type of trauma: a somewhat strained coincidence.
In general, despite the weaknesses in the plot, the lively and likable characters, the enjoyable style with occaional glints of humor, and most of all the fresh and delightful magic permeating the book, make reading this fantasy a remarkably pleasant experience.
Overall: 7; Plot: 6; Characters: 7.5; Style: 7.5; World-building: 6; Originality: 7.5;
Copyright date 1999, Berkley Publishing Group (Ace), October 1999, Cloth, 329 pages
ISBN: 0-441-00651-5 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com