Jack of Kinrowan [Paperback]

Charles De Lint (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

Jacky Rowan was a young woman who led an uneventful urban life--until a brush with magic gave her the Sight and transformed her life forever. Soon she became a pivotal player in the magical war between two factions of Faerie. Jackie has a wizard to face and a giant to slay. If she fails, the music, the dreams and the magic of Faerie World will be lost forever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is no better writer now than Charles de Lint at bringing out the magic in contemporary life....The best of the post-Stephen King contemporary fantasists, the one with the clearest vision of the possibilities of magic in a modern setting."--Orson Scott Card

"A superb storyteller..de Lint has a flair for tales that blur the lines between the mundane world and magical reality."--Library Journal

"You open a de Lint story, and like the interior of a very genial Pandora's box, the atmosphere is suddenly full of deep woods and quaint city streets and a magic that's nowhere near so far removed as Middle Earth."--James P. Blaylock

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

"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

"There is no better writer now than Charles de Lint at bringing out the magic in contemporary life. . . . The best of the post-Stephen King contemporary fantasists, the one with the clearest vision of the possibilities of magic in a modern setting." --Orson Scott Card

"A superb storyteller . . . de Lint has a flair for tales that blur the lines between the mundane world and magical reality." --Library Journal

"You open a de Lint story, and like the interior of a very genial Pandora's box, the atmosphere is suddenly full of deep woods and quaint city streets and a magic that's nowhere near so far removed as Middle Earth." --James P. Blaylock --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc; 2nd pb. edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812538986
• ISBN-13: 978-0812538984
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,591,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles de Lint and his wife, the artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, and The Onion Girl, have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magical, November 1, 2001

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon (Paperback)

"Jack the Giant Killer", the first of the two books included in _Jack of Kinrowan_, tells the story of a depressed young woman named Jacky, stunned by her recent breakup, and seeing no point or direction in her life. But one night, she stumbles drunkenly into Faery. Upon hearing that the faery princess of Ottawa has been abducted by the evil Unseelie Court, she volunteers for a rescue mission--despite the fact that every Seelie faery in the city has chickened out and called it a lost cause. She joins forces with some interesting friends, and through luck and resourcefulness, fights the Unseelie Court. Jacky and her best friend, Kate Crackernuts, are wonderful characters, and I was glad to see them in the sequel, _Drink Down the Moon_, the other novel included in this book.

Unfortunately, _Drink Down the Moon_ is a little bit of a letdown after _Jack the Giant Killer_. It's still a three- or four-star book in its own right, but it wouldn't stand very well on its own, and Jacky and Kate have too-small roles. The novel's finest moments are those in which Jacky or Kate or both are present, but in _Drink Down the Moon_, Jacky herself has become the "rescue-fodder", and center stage is taken by characters that fail to engage the reader quite as much. I had hoped to see more of Eilian as well. What I really want is for de Lint to write a third installment, in which Jacky and Kate are prominent again, and perhaps challenge the Seelie Court itself, and ask the Laird a few hard questions--like why he's always out of town when he's needed most.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Read and Only Sometimes Easy to Love (3 1/2 stars), April 23, 2006

By 

Marumae "Writer in Training" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon (Paperback)

Originally written an Charles De Lint's entry into the retold Fairy Tales for Adults series by Terri Windling. A series still (albeit slowly) being written today. _Jack the Giant Killer_ or Jack of Kinrown_ as it was known as in Canada (of course) took the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and set the story in modern day Ottawa, the book was originally released in 1986. De Lint liked the characters and world so much he went onto write a sequel to the novel entitled _Drink Down the Moon_ as unsatisfying second novel.


_Jack the Giant Killer_ follows Jacky Rowan,a thirty-something slacker whom (litterally) stumbles into faery on an emotionally charged drinking binge. After a few hurtful words said to her by her (now ex) boyfriend Will, Jacky goes off on a drinking binge. Shaken to the core by Will, her drinking binge lands her in the citys park where she witnesses something truly horrific carried out by the modern day incarnations of 'The Wild Hunt', a supernatural hunt of celtic legend that was said to include everyone from King Arthur to Odin among its midst. But you thankfully won't find ties to Camelot or Norse Mythology here (perhaps in creatures and beings only).

De Lint follows the usual Urban Fantasy idea that when man came to these shores he brought his gods and mythical beings with him in addition to those that were already here, what we have then in De Lint's world is the two courts of Faery legend, The Seelie and Unseelie courts, the Unseelie court taking dominance as our modern media influences man's belief and thus gives the dark court dominance. This is De Lint's non too subtle snap (at the time anyway) towards a media that was populated by horror movies rather then lighter hearted and fantasy movies. As Jacky becomes intangled in Faery Court politicks, she finds new motivation in life as all the things magical and dangerous that almost any child dreamed off are realized in the faery court. Litterally scared to death of the Unseelie courts, the Laird's (leader of the Seelie Courts) young daughter has been kidnapped and there remains virtually no allies to try and rescue her. So it seems the Unseelie court is destined to win. That is when Jacky Rowan stumbles in, aided by quirky friend Kate (Kate Crackernuts as she's called by the fae) and more then a bit of luck Jacky quickly becomes the Seelie courts only hope as she decends headlong into dangers, intriguing and sometimes magical adventures.

The first novel _Jack The Giant Killer_ is a fun, enteraining if simplistic read. One of the better but not the best reinterpretations of 'Jack and the Beanstalk', Jacky herself never really rises above stock standard hero fair while Kate's quirky and at times snappish and funny fierce friend act at times wears on the reader; but she remains a likeable addition. The other characters that appear in the novel; Eilian, along with Arkan and Finn pass by the reader and leave a decent but not deep enough impression on the reader. Eilian as the standard hottie-faery boy love interest for Jacky never really rises above 'hot man/faery/elf/being' standard character shoved together with Jacky because-the-author-says-so plot device. With exeption to the Gruagagh (perhaps the most intriguing character in the whole novel) the novel passes by in easy pacing and comes to a rather breathless conclusion that almost promised of a future volume which came a few years later in the form of _Drink Down the Moon_. _Jack the Giant Killer_ is a fun and easy read for those starting in Urban fantasy.


_Drink Down the Moon_ is the second novel in the _Jack of Kinrowan_ two book set set in Modern Day Faery inhabited Ottawa. Where the first novel introduces Jacky Rowan and her friend Kate to the world of faery and gives these two thirty something woman a fun and magical (and sometimes dangerous) new lease on life, this novel they are only side characters. Leaving us with rather blank and an un engaging new set of characters that pass before the readers eyes without every really leaving impresssion (nothing other then vivid pink hair and a fiddle is what this reader remembers most about the novel). The story follows Johnny Faw a handsome fiddler player with wonderous gifts that will allow him to aide the realm of Faerie in drawing power from the moon itself in an intricate dance. However dangerous powers want to see that the moons magic is never drawn for Faery and only Johnny with the aide of the beautiful and spritely Jemi Pook can stop it. With only (scattered) help from Kate and Jacky.

While De Lint's writing style is in full beautiful form here, Johnny and Jemi read more like fan created fanfiction characters brought into take attention away from the main characters of the novel. Indeed the novel never really stops reading like well written fanfiction and the novel ends quite suddenly (as the last novel did) leaving the reader closing the book slightly unsatisfied. While De Lint gives us nothing new in the way of the faery courts here, he does give us sort of fun story that doesn't end up sticking in the readers mind. _Drink Down the Moon_ is a dissapointing sequel in what could have been an interesting story with loads of potential. Instead he falls short of the task and while_Jack The Giant Killer_ is the better of the two novels here, it only recieves three stars. For being while fun not all that remarkable or never really rising above stock urban fantasy fair.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Generic Urban Faerie: Not de Lint's Best Work, May 16, 2005

By 

a reader (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jack of Kinrowan: Jack the Giant-Killer and Drink Down the Moon (Paperback)

These books ('Jack the Giant Killer' and its sequel 'Drink Down the Moon') introduce the young adult best friends Jacky Rowan and Kate Hazel and chronicle their adventures in the faerie realm of modern Ottawa. In the first book we learn that Jacky, a young blonde woman, is in fact "a Jack," a being blessed by luck. As such she is the only hope of the good Faerie denizens of Ottawa. With a lot of her innate luck, Jacky and Kate and her new Faerie friends kill some giants and save the day.

The books are early works by de Lint (1987 and 1990) and read like rough drafts of such amazing later novels as 'Trader' and 'Someplace to Be Flying'. Both novels together are the same size as de Lint's later single novels. The slim size means that the background and characterization of the later novels is missing here. Jacky and Kate seem to fall into Faerie, and we follow their adventures. None of the humans in these stories seem to be bothered by such mundane things as jobs, histories, families, etc. This makes the characters seem rather two dimensional and flat.

This is not to say that the books aren't good. They are, and are very fun reads, like an action-packed episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' or something. But this isn't a book I'd re-read. It's light reading, nothing deep.

I also agree with the reviewer who was aggravated by the fact that it's Jacky's luck that saves the day. She doesn't work for any of her victories, they seem to just happen to her. Also, many of the horrible situations she finds herself in are ones her stupidity and idiocy get her into in the first place. It annoys me that Jacky is the hero since she's blessed by luck, and never punished for the fact she is constantly leading herself, her friends, and even the entire city, into ruin. When it comes to completely sabotaging her own life, Jacky Rowan is a veritable Gilmore Girl. This is a protagonist I'm supposed to admire and relate to? I think not.

P.S. The fact that the half-mortal Jemi Pook in 'Drink Down the Moon' has, as a result of her half-mortal/half-faerie blood, NATURAL PINK HAIR is just embarrassing. It's something a 12-year-old girl would write in a fanfiction dot net story. I don't expect such Fluffy-Bunny-Fantasy from de Lint. This is very much an early work and it shows. However, I've found that every de Lint novel/collection that isn't set in his fictional city of Newford is merely bland fantasy. He only shines when he's writing about Newford. Compare this book to 'Someplace to Be Flying' and you'll see what I mean.