Svaha

"We even have a name for that moment between seeing the lightning and hearing its thunder."
"What's that?"
"Svaha. A waiting for promises to be fulfilled."

I really enjoyed this action-packed story. For a relatively short book of 300 pages, there is a lot going on; A post-modern world decimated by pollution and warfare; Amer-Indians who hold a hi-tech advantage have retreated into sealed enclaves; The rich live in Megaplexes -- great, walled city-state compounds that are ruled by corporations and Asian gangs, (Yakuza & Tongs); the poor and dis-enfranchised scavenge for survival amongst the deteriorating remains of the cities.

De Lint presents us with several protagonists and, despite frequent jumping between them, the story flows smoothly as characters and events converge to a fairly predictable conclusion. But the ending is not the point here -- it is the journey getting there that is the entertaining part. Magical realism is usually a deal-breaker for me. There are exceptions though and this book is one of them. The magical realism aspect is a bit of a sidebar, (albeit an important one), and that may be why it didn't bother me too much. Really, this story is driven by the characters, the world-building, and the strong dialog - all big pluses for me when it comes to speculative fiction.

This was my first de Lint novel and it was a great introduction to the author. I will be looking for more titles from him in the future.