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Overview
At a popular Newford online research and library Web site called the Wordwood, a mysterious crash occurs. Everyone visiting the site at the moment of the crash vanishes from where they were sitting in front of their computers. Christy Ridding's girldfriend Saskia disappears right before his eyes, along with countless others.
To rescue their missing friends, Christy and his companions must journey into Newford's otherworld, where the Wordwood, it transpires, has a physical presence of its own...
Synopsis
A novel of myth and magic—on the streets and on the Net
Publishers Weekly
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. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThe mysteries inhabiting the World Wide Web are the focus of Charles de Lint's Newford novel Spirits in the Wires.
When a popular, literature-related research web site called the Wordwood crashes, everyone visiting the site -- including popular author Christy Riddell's girlfriend, Saskia Madding -- suddenly vanishes. Now her friends must somehow find her before it's too late.
It all starts when Aaran Goldstein, the mean-spirited book editor for The Daily Journal, has his fragile ego bruised by Christiana Tree, Riddell's mysterious, independent shadow-self -- made up of all the parts of his personality that he cast out when he was a child. To get back at the strange woman who slighted him, Goldstein blackmails a hacker to send a virus to one of Christiana's favorite web sites. Little does Goldstein know the web site is actually a powerful sentient spirit; and when the virus is downloaded, a bizarre chain of events causes hundreds of people to be sucked into the otherworld of the Internet.
Spirits in the Wires is de Lint at his absolute best, and it will keep him firmly entrenched at the vanguard of urban fantasy. De Lint not only expands upon the intriguing technological themes he touched on in previous short stories ("Saskia" and "Pixel Pixies") but digs deeper into the complex psyche of Riddell through the characters Saskia and Christiana. It was a pleasure to revisit beloved characters like used-book dealer Holly Rue and blues guitarist Robert Lonnie and to be introduced to new favorites like mall-rat Mother Crone and Web-born Suzanne Chancey. Paul Goat Allen