Trader (Newford, #4) in Beyond Reality

Sep 04, 2018 Maggie K rated it really liked it

Shelves: magical-realism, series-challenge, monopoly

Another great Newford book!

In this story, Johnny, who is an unemployed, womanizing, party boy of a man falls asleep wishing for a more stable life has his dream intersected with Max, a man whose life is so about work that he is not even living it anymore, and they wake up in each other's bodies. This story, shaped around their quests to truly find themselves, is Newford at it's best.

DeLint's way of portraying magic as just right outside our own perceptions, excels at making the unbelievable seem ...more

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Sep 29, 2023 Duffy Pratt rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Max Trader is a luthier, a maker of fine guitars and other fretted, stringed instruments. At the novel's outset, he wakes up in another person's body. It had been the body of Johnny Devlin, a charming loser who sponges off of others, without any regard for anyone's feelings but his own. The switch bothers Max, an identity crisis if you will. It certainly seems to disturb him more than turning into a giant insect bothered Gregor Samsa.

The book then revolves around various questions of identity an Max Trader is a luthier, a maker of fine guitars and other fretted, stringed instruments. At the novel's outset, he wakes up in another person's body. It had been the body of Johnny Devlin, a charming loser who sponges off of others, without any regard for anyone's feelings but his own. The switch bothers Max, an identity crisis if you will. It certainly seems to disturb him more than turning into a giant insect bothered Gregor Samsa.

The book then revolves around various questions of identity and whether there will be any way for Max to get back into his old body and his old life. Johnny, whose body he now inhabits, has no work, no prospects, no money, and has just been evicted from his apartment. Thus, Max is now homeless, and if he tries to explain his problem to anyone, he will just be dismissed as another crazy homeless person. Moreover, while clinging to his own memories, he suspects that this might be true.

The book also involves Nia, a teenage girl who is Max's upstairs neighbor and has befriended Max. Despite their age differences, the two of them are basically each one's only friend. There is also Lisa's mother, who is having issues with her sexual identity. And there are Max's ex-girlfriend, Tanya, who is searching for some meaning in her life while she ties herself to one loser boyfriend after another, and Tanya's musician best-friend, who would love to be able to afford a Max Trader guitar someday.

DeLint brings each of these characters through their own identity crises, and weaves them together in a narrative that is both engaging and satisfying. As a Newford book, it involves magic beyond the initial body swap, and has appearances by some recurring minor characters: Jilly Coppercorn, Geordie, and Bones. DeLint has a knack for making his characters real and likable. This one is told mostly from the PoV's of the above characters, except Johnny, as the closest thing to a villain in the book, gets only a couple of PoV sections. I think this is largely due to DeLint's understanding that he is just not as good at seeing a villain from the villain's perspective.

As with his other books, there is a strong tendency to romanticize street people and artists. That simply comes with the territory. But he pulls it off. He also manages to resolve everything by relying on the trajectory of his characters, rather than on the magic itself. Furthermore, its wonderful to read a book involving music by a guy who seems to know a lot about instruments, composition, performance, etc... The stuff that is real in this book feels very real, and the stuff that is magical is simply wonderful.

It's becoming more and more clear that I will probably be reading all of the Newford series, and probably some other DeLint as well. I used to see his books all the time at the local book store and was tempted then to try one, but never did, and now I don't know why. These days, his books seem harder to find and I suspect that in a few more years he will have been almost entirely forgotten. Fantasy fans tend to do that with older books. Only a handful of them seem to have staying power, and that's too bad. ...more

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Sep 13, 2009 Frank Taranto rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

DeLint shines as usual. A wonderful and interesting tale about a man who shifts minds with another and his travails in finding a soltion to his probelm. Placed in his city of Newford, and using some of his long term characters, he again shows us a world of supernatural bordering and interacting with our world.

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