Waifs and Strays, Charles de Lint.

Okay, I swear that is the last time I used that particular strand of poor pun in the title of an anthology post.¹ Because, once again, this book isn't 'fantastic' except in the sense of containing fairies. It is good, but not great, solid but not fantastic.

It is a Charles de Lint. I have a rant coming about de Lint, which I will write the next time I review a book of his (Forests of the Heart). The short version is that I am beginning to get a strong feeling of 'sameness' from his books. I loved them at first, and still enjoy them... but the man has been writing the same essential plotline since the early eighties.

And some of my good friends weren't even born in the eighties!²

Waifs and Strays is unusual amongst de Lint collections in that it is does not solely contain Newford (his fictional Norteamericano city) stories. There are several set outside the city, or in Otherspaces. Waifs and Strays is instead a Young Adult collection, about and for adolescent kids. Because it has a Target Audience for a theme, this means that the stories within are not all about the same people.

So we have the same plotlines and themes, but different people. That's nice. What is not nice is that I have read some of these stories before- not just the themes and ideas, but the actual stories. Because the collection is intended as being for an audience that isn't necessarily going to buy it for the name, it contains stories available in other collections as well. So it goes.

I liked the individual stories as well. "A Wish Named Arnold" is sweet and gentle. "Fairy Dust" contains an obvious moral, but is neat. "Sisters" is a lovely story, bittersweet and saddening. It and the prequel "There's No Such Thing" are probably my favourite pieces in the anthology. "The Graceless Child" features trolls that turn to stone in daylight. It is rare to see such things in modern fantasy!

Like any good anthology aimed at a group defined by age rather than taste, there is a spectrum of stories. "There's No Such Thing," "One Chance" and their kin are aimed at the earlier end of the group. "But For the Grace Go I" and "Ghosts of Wind and Shadow" are extremely dark, aimed at the upper teens at best. "Ghosts" involves child prostitution, as a matter of fact, although the child is rescued first.³

Wrapping up, I'd like to recommend Waifs and Strays. The younger one is, the more likely it will work, but the stories appeal to folk of all ages, even those of us approaching the first quarter-century (24 in April!) and feeling aged and withered. At the same time, it is a Charles de Lint; if you like him, great. If not, the collection is not for you.

As a side note, this is the last book I completed in Two Thousand and Seven. The next one, The Mabinogion, was started in Ought Seven and finished this year.



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1: Who are we kidding here, really?
2: I am auld.
3: slammerkinbabe, I want to have a conversation with you one day about how Charles de Lint treats his darker matters. You read widely in such literature and I do not. I want to know how accurate his characterisations are. Have you read any of his work?