Little (Grrl) Lost

by Charles De Lint

[empressbrooke]

This is the 20th book in the Newford series. It's one of the several YA books in the series, although the intended audience for this one seems to be a bit younger than his other YA books.

While it was cute for what it was, I'll admit that I hold the author's [b:The Blue Girl|182332|The Blue Girl (Newford, #15)|Charles de Lint|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172513468s/182332.jpg|2893] as the standard by which all his YA books are measured. This one fell far short of it, especially because the voices of the characters just didn't feel authentic. I had this problem with [b:Dingo|1425469|Dingo |Charles de Lint|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213109272s/1425469.jpg|1415919], too, but it was especially amplified here. Both books have what I consider a uber-YA voice - the teen characters are just a little TOO snarky and sarcastic and larger than life, the adults are just a little TOO authoritative and one-dimensional, and none of it rings true. The Blue Girl had an intelligence and depth to it that avoided those problems, and I wish de Lint would write YA books like that more often.

I guess on the up side, no matter how old someone is, there's a de Lint book that's appropriate for their age. They can get hooked early!