Urban Fantasy: Vampire and Witches and Weres, oh my!

[JD]

Instead of starting up different threads for all of the Urban Fantasy series I've been reading, I thought it would be more fun to just start one big thread.
Right now I've been working my way through the 6th Dresden Files book, Blood Rites and so far I've been loving it. The main case has been OK, but I've really been enjoying learning more about Thomas and his family. One of my favorite developments of the last couple books has been Murphy finally learning about the supernatural, and we've gotten some interesting developments on that front too. I got a kick out of learning that she had managed to take out two trolls all by herself.
I'm only about 150 pages into 350 so I'll probably post more thoughts as I continue.

 

[Greg Cox]

Have you read Carrie Vaughn's "Kitty Norville" books?

(Full disclosure: I wrote the jacket copy for one of the most recent books, but I liked what I read.)

 

[JD]

Not yet, but it is one I plan on checking out in the near future.
So far I've read:
5 1/2 Dresden Files novels and one short story
2 The Hollows
4 Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse
1 Kate Daniels short story
1 Russian Watch novella
I plan on continuing all of those series, and starting:
Women of the Otherworld
Kitty Norville
The Mortal Instruments
Mercy Thompson
Iron Druid Chronicles
October Daye
Twilight Saga

 

[hyzmarca]

Instead of starting up different threads for all of the Urban Fantasy series I've been reading, I thought it would be more fun to just start one big thread.
Right now I've been working my way through the 6th Dresden Files book, Blood Rites and so far I've been loving it. The main case has been OK, but I've really been enjoying learning more about Thomas and his family. One of my favorite developments of the last couple books has been Murphy finally learning about the supernatural, and we've gotten some interesting developments on that front too. I got a kick out of learning that she had managed to take out two trolls all by herself.
I'm only about 150 pages into 350 so I'll probably post more thoughts as I continue.

Keep reading.
Changes is going to knock you off your feet, Ghost Story is going to kick you in the gut, and Cold Days is going to take a sledgehammer to your private parts, metaphorically speaking.

 

[JD]

Good to know. I've read about some of the recent developments, and I can't wait to actually experience exactly how they play out.

 

[Kemaiku]

Basically just the Dresden Files, the first 13 novels and Side Jobs. Haven't managed to get around to reading Cold Days yet.

My other series are entirely fantasy world builders or classic horror, in this genre.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Obligatory shout out to the Night Watch/Day Watch/Twilight Watch/Last Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko.

 

[JD]

I have Night Watch, and I read the first story and really enjoyed but haven't gotten back to it yet.
I'll edit my other post to add it to my list.
EDIT: I also remembered to add the Twilight Saga. I know everyone makes fun of it, but I watched and actually enjoyed the first movie, so I might check out the books. I haven't decided for sure yet, but it is pretty far down the list if I do.

 

[sojourner]

I watched the first Twilight movie when it was on FX last month. One of the funniest movies I've seen in recent years. A great comedy.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

The Nightside series is an odd one, I enjoyed the series but it could get repetitive, the names and background details could be very imaginative but the stories themselves less so. The series is 12 books long and finished last January.

The Peter Grant series is a wonderfully written series. Starting with The Rivers of London it really should be checked out if you like Dresden. It's set in London with a newly qualified Police constable, who, after seeing a ghost near the scene of a murder gets assigned to the Met's Magical department. Book 3 was published this summer with book 4 coming next year.

 

[JD]

I read up on the Peter Grant series, and it sounds pretty cool. I added the first book, called Midnight Riot here in the US, to my Nook wishlist.
I remembered another series on my list, the Sabina Kane series.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Another one that's worth checking out is the Remy Chandler series. It's another Urban Fantasy PI series. The lead character in it is an Angel who decided to take Human form after the war in heaven and had a thing for Raymond Chandler books. Reminds me I should read pick up the latest book.

 

[Bast]

The Blood Ties series by Tanya Huff is a fun read.

 

[Caliburn24]

Just finished Ghost Story and will be picking up Cold Days shortly. Very much enjoying the series.

Does anyone have any idea how long it is supposed to last? I've heard rumors of 20 normals books, with a trilogy of books as the finale?

It has inarguable gotten more epic and vast in scope. It'll be interesting to see if Butcher can maintain the 'Chicago-private investigator/wizard' vibe going in Cold Days and beyond, considering what has happened to Harry.

Also, Mouse is the best dog ever. His subterfuge to teach Molly a lesson had me laughing.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Just finished Ghost Story and will be picking up Cold Days shortly. Very much enjoying the series.

Does anyone have any idea how long it is supposed to last? I've heard rumors of 20 normals books, with a trilogy of books as the finale?

It has inarguable gotten more epic and vast in scope. It'll be interesting to see if Butcher can maintain the 'Chicago-private investigator/wizard' vibe going in Cold Days and beyond, considering what has happened to Harry.

Also, Mouse is the best dog ever. His subterfuge to teach Molly a lesson had me laughing.

Jim recently said it's about on course. So 20 plus the trilogy, but Changes was supposed to be book 10 but was behind schedule.

 

[JD]

I hit the big reveal in Blood Rites. I knew it was coming, but it was still a great scene.
I also started reading the first Kate Daniels series. This will be my first complete novel in the series, but I did read the short story "A Questionable Client" and I absolutely loved it. The main character, Kate, is a merc with magic in a world that has random waves of magic and technology. When magic is up nothing modern, like cars, guns, electricity, ect. works, and when it's down than magic doesn't and all of that stuff does. It's completely random, so you could be sitting at home with you electric lights on watching TV, and a wave of magic will hit and it will all just die. It's also got one of the more unique takes on vampires I've come across. Instead of the suave, Vampire Diaries/True Blood vamps, these are mindless mutated monsters who are controlled by Necromancers. It's also kind of a post apocalyptic story too, with a lot of Atlanta, where it is set, in ruins due to the magic. There's a very detailed world guide on the authors' (while the series is only credited to Ilona Andrews, she actually works as a duo with her husband) site.

 

[Aeronef]

I have been reading a lot of urban fantasy lately, but none of the books that people have mentioned so far.

The three series I've been reading have been:

--Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim novels (Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha from Hell, and Devil Said Bang). I read Kadrey's cyberpunk novel Metrophage decades ago, and I've been pleased to discover that he wasn't a one-hit wonder. In a world where magic exists, but behind the scenes--magic-users even call themselves the Sub Rosa--a young magician is betrayed by his friends and condemned to Hell while still alive. In Hell, he unexpectedly becomes an invincible gladiator, and at the beginning of the first novel he returns to Earth looking for revenge. Clearly inspired by hard-boiled crime fiction: the protagonist is even named Stark, as a shout-out to Richard Stark's Parker series.

--Charles Stross's Laundry Files novels (The Atrocity Archive, The Jennifer Morgue, The Fuller Memorandum, and The Apocalypse Codex). The nerdy protagonist, Bob Howard, works for an ultra-secret British government agency, the Laundry, that defends the realm (and the world) against cosmic threats from beyond space and time, while trying to cope with the sanity-destroying horror of civil-service bureaucracy. An interesting mash-up of near-future SF, Len Deighton, H. P. Lovecraft, and Yes, Minister.

--and most recently, Chris F. Holm's The Collector series (Dead Harvest and The Wrong Goodbye, which I've just started). For his sins, the undead protagonist has been condemned to work as a Collector, reaping the souls of the damned when it's time to send them to their eternal reward. In the first novel, a routine collection job goes awry when he's assigned to take the soul of an innocent. The third novel will be entitled The Big Reap.

I recommend all three, along with Jason Starr's The Pack, which is about werewolves in New York.

 

[Greg Cox]

Okay, venturing out of the mean streets of modern cities for a minute, I'm going to plug The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher, a sort of urban fantasy set in a frontier mining town in 1869. I've been hyping this book for months as "Buffy meets Deadwood" and it's finally coming out in January. We're talking were-coyotes, fallen angels, ancient Chinese mystics, zombies, lost Mormon treasure, a secret order of female assassins, and a mad scientist . . . all converging on the town of Golgotha, Nevada back during the days of the Weird West. Sounds like it might appeal to some of you folks.

(Full disclosure: I edited the novel for Tor.)

 

[Aeronef]

^Sounds good. Thanks for the heads-up.

So long as the streets are mean enough, I don't care if they're cement or dirt. I'll keep an eye out for this.

 

[Merlanthe]

It's also got one of the more unique takes on vampires I've come across. Instead of the suave, Vampire Diaries/True Blood vamps, these are mindless mutated monsters who are controlled by Necromancers. It's also kind of a post apocalyptic story too, with a lot of Atlanta, where it is set, in ruins due to the magic.

There's a very detailed world guide on the authors' (while the series is only credited to Ilona Andrews, she actually works as a duo with her husband) site.

Strange i always thought it was credited to both since the name Ilona Andrews is actually a combination of both her and her husbands name and their pretty open on their website about it being a joint authorship. At any rate Kate Daniels is a great series and the character arc that kate undergoes over the course of the books is wonderful but thats just mho. The vampires that inhabit Kate's world certainly are an interesting interpretion.

The Mercy Thompson series, which i noticed is on your to read list, also features non stereotypical vampires (as in their not suave vampire diaries/true blood vamps) but their not as creepy as the ones in the Kate Daniels series.

I hope you enjoy both those series as they are great imho