Just a small post about The Little Country.
As you might know, I have a thing for Charles de Lint. He was my first foray into urban fantasy as a tween (I got The Dreaming Place sometime in the very early 2000's) and has quickly grown to be my go-to author for pretty much everything. The only problem is a lot of de Lint's books are out of print, meaning you can't find them at big-box booksellers like Barnes & Noble. Yeah, you can find kindle versions of everything now-a-days, but I prefer reading physical books, especially mass market paperbacks with scratchy paper.
So,when I finally got my hands on a copy of The Little Country at my local used bookstore (The Amber Unicorn - you guys seriously need to go there!) I was over the moon! This is a special book, in that it doesn't take place in Newford, de Lint's fantastical city set somewhere in Canada. Rather, like The Mystery of Grace and Moonheart, The Little Country is set in our world - Cornwall, England specifically. Having lived in the UK for a while, it felt so nice and refreshing to go back through this wonderful book.
In a sentence: Girl finds magic book and has to avoid all the messed up people who want it for themselves -- but there are bagpipes!
Yes, BAGPIPES. Fantastic.
I am a huge fan of Celtic music - I even had a bagpiper play at my wedding. So, getting to read a story all about music, magic, and adventure was wonderful. De Lint shines with his usual vigor in this book, bringing realism and fantasy together in a beautiful mish-mash that lets you believe, for just a minute, that these things can really happen in our world. And hey, who's to say that they can't?
The song that best matches the feelings evoked by this book is Feabra by Lunasa:
Criticisms: There are some extremely violent scenes and adult themes, so I do not recommend this book for younger readers. Nothing nearly as graphic as Game of Thrones though.
CONCLUSION: This book is beautiful. If you like urban fantasy, Celtic music, and uplifting stories, this is a great book. It is a little on the longer side, but it's totally worth it - you don't even realize it's that long, as there are good chapter and section breaks that make it easy to put down if you have to run off and do something.