Best Urban Fantasy books
What I normally say when it comes down to Urban Fantasy is that it comes in many different shapes and sizes. Urban Fantasy must be one the most diverse genre out there. Ever since seeing the movie Blade being introduced to vampires and the other supernatural side of the world but I never came across a crucial part in many Urban Fantasy stories, the urban sorcerer in movies. Luckily for me there are many books that have an emphasis on this aspect. The books below cover a lot of ground within the rich urban environment. Max Gladstone's Full Fathom Five is the third book in the ground and genre breaking Craft Sequence, really provocative. Tom Pollock's Our Lady of the Streets is edge of your seat Urban Fantasy, Gods and magic where you just can't get enough off. The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher was something quite extraordinary, featuring a Urban Fantasy story heavily inspired by the Gothic scene, haven't read about this before very nice. Chuck Wendig's The Blue Blazes, probably owed to Chuck's writing but this is a down in your face kind of story powerful story. Sleeping Late on Judgement Day well what can I say... this is just plain awesome stuff a very cool usage of the ever going battle of heaven and hell and the area in between.
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- Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone, Tor
Full Fathom Five is another winner for me and I just cannot get enough of the Craft Sequence. As I said with Two Serpents Rise these book are just over to soon. From the beginning of the Full Fathom Five I was glued to the pages and just couldn't let go. The characters really grown on you and they, as I have come to learn from the other protagonists in the series, far from your standard cardboard cut outs, Max Gladstone invests a lot of time in creating the right set of characters and showing that they grow as the story progresses.
In a recent guest post that Max Gladstone wrote for the blog you can find out more about how he took nonfiction as an influence to building his world
By the by, you can read a pretty cool announcement here
Read the full review here
- Our Lady of the Streets by Tom Pollock, Jo Fletcher
Our Lady of the Streets is a pitch perfect ending to a brilliant series. The third book lets everything that was proposed in the first two books collide in a heavy way. Giving this time not a strong focus on either Beth or Pen but putting both in the spotlight. THere is only one thing left for them and that is stopping Mater Viae from ripping apart London and if she succeeds the rest of the world. Bam! Who would have dared to guess this would be the ending of the story? When I read the first book I hadn't dared to think that the story would end this way. Tom Pollock's vision of an Urban Fantasy London is a unique setting and not many authors have managed to grip with their series as The Skyscraper Throne has. The wide imagination that Tom Pollock has comes back in the creatures that he uses to inhabit his world and though they are far from normal, their are weird and not at all mainstream, you won't put them off as a simple imaginary beings, you will be taking these creatures deadly serious, Tom Pollock's writing style will make sure you do this from the first introduction. With The Skyscraper Throne Tom Pollock has created an exceptional and remarkable, action-packed series and it turned out to be quite the emotional rollercoaster as well. I will be definitely be keeping a close eye on the next project that Tom Pollock will write about next. If this is his debut series, I wanna see what else he can do!
Read the full review here
- The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher, Orbit
I think you can pretty much make up that I thoroughly enjoyed The Oversight,
Charlie Fletcher has created a very solid entry withing the Urban
Fantasy genre, one that will knock some books of their pedestals. I
haven't read Charlie Fletcher's Young Adult series so I can't draw a
comparison on that front, but the writing that he shows in The Oversight is
engrossing to say the least, from the first page you will be sucked
into the story and he just won't let you go to take a break, it's highly
addictive. The strong narration combined with the engrossing world and
intriguing characters definitely make The Oversight a winner for
me. If you are still looking for a vacation read be sure to pack this
one in your bag. Charlie Fletcher leaves the story of The Oversight on
an interesting premise, we have seen some of the necessary details of
the many different characters, but a lot of questions have been raised. The Oversight is a solid foundation, one that Charlie Fletcher can readily use to write a sequel, can't wait to dive into it. Read the full review here
- The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig, Angry Robot
The Blue Blazes
is a book where you will first say WOW what the hell is going and will
secondly make your mouth drop and gape in awe with how powerful a story
Chuck Wendig wrote. And thirdly you will wonder "Did he really just do
that!?". It's great stuff guys if you are into reading Urban Fantasy
this is definitely not a book that you want to miss out. The Blue Blazes has
a great protagonist well fleshed out on many different fronts, not only
the hard-ass from the beginning but with a softside as well. The
secondary characters like Nora, Ernesto and Skelly are similarly like
the main protagonist well rounded and versed. Added to this is the
amazingly rich world with many aspects still to be uncovered. The plot
twist in the end of the book was very neatly executed, raising a lot of
promise for the sequel. I heard that Chuck Wendig wrote quite a few
books last year but this didn't slow down The Blue Blazes at all.
The whole book is really brought to life by the writing style that he
employs, its part to the point and in your face but a true pleasure to
read. In the end of The Blue Blazes it comes to show that Mookie's problems haven't completely disappeared... I have very high hopes for The Hellsblood Bride. Read the full review here
- Sleeping Late on Judgement Day by Tad Williams, Hodderscape
Though I expected a different type of story in Sleeping Late on Judgement Day
as I explained above, but no worries there, Tad Williams still went
above Heaven and through Hell to deliver one final, explosive and grande
plot twist that will leave you with an echoing WOW. Trust me you won't
see this one coming. It takes skill to write the story features in Sleeping Late in Judgement Day as
the action takes places at the 3/4 mark of the book but this is
followed by how everything fit together with the Third Way initiative.
Tad Williams keeps up the lively and entertaining persona of Bobby
Dollar and his friends but also introducing a gritty undertone and
maintaining the dark visions of Hell in his story. It's been a wonderful two years enjoying three Bobby Dollar books on after the other. Sadly the series has now come to an end, or is it... You know I have a gut feeling about a certain something that happens right at the end of the book...
I cannot recommend Sleeping Late on Judgement Day or Happy Hour in Hell or The Dirty Street of Heaven often enough. These books are a lot of fun to read and breakthrough the current tropes of Urban Fantasy, I have read most of Tad Williams' other books and with the Bobby Dollar series he proves that he is on top of his game and knows how to write Science Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Children stories and Urban Fantasy. I hope he doesn't leave me waiting to long for his next book.
Read the full review here
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