Oh de Lint, what's become of you? You've written such lovely and imaginative stories of Newford for so many years, and now I can't help but feel that there's some grasping at straws going on.
I was pretty disappointed by The Mystery of Grace, but I knew within the first chapter that something was off - like maybe someone watched WAY too much Discovery Channel. The writing is about a woman who is in to ink and hot rods. She is immediately compared to Kat Von D - I am not shitting you. Shortly into the story, Grace, the Kat Von D chicky, is killed and the story is about how she's trapped in an afterlife limbo or sorts and madly in love with a man she can only see twice a year when ghosts can visit the living.
Poor de Lint seems to be trying overly hard to be hip instead of writing what he knows or what he imagines. The constant trend-mentioning in this novel is gonna date this one fast too. Here's hoping that he takes some time to write more true to himself novels instead of grasping so hard for materials. He's still one of my very favorite authors though; I just need to forget I ever read this one. It squeaks by with a 2 out of 10 from me.
I didn't like this one either.
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