Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance #2

[Lyanna Stark]

Finished "Firelight" and eeeeh, once the mystery is gone it really hasn't got a lot going for it, unfortunately. The ending was telegraphed in giant letters early on and ended up being so awfully twee.

It amused me that "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" is listed as a "Norwegian fairy tale" (WIKI RESEARCH!!) tho since it's a staple of Swedish fairy tale lore as well. I guess because it is such a staple, it made me understand exactly where the story was going, making it 100% more predictable. Better just call it "Scandinavian" especially since Norway has been both Swedish and Danish in the past.

The general take away from "Firelight" was however that I started looking into the type of pavements used during the Victorian era (asphalt was already partially in use at that time! I had no idea. Excite!), which made me want to buy the following book: Dirty Old London - The Victorian fight against filth. Seriously awesome title.

[lady narcissa]

Excite!), which made me want to buy the following book: Dirty Old London - The Victorian fight against filth. Seriously awesome title.

If that book interests you, this one might as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300137567/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300137567&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

It basically deals with 16th and 17th century cities in England and has lovely chapter titles like Ugly, Itchy, Mouldy, Noisy, Grotty, Busy, Dirty, and Gloomy. I found it very interesting.

Well I guess I shall just have to check out "Firelight" now after I'm done with "Grave Witch" and see if it irks me as well. Is "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" listed as inspiration in "Firelight"?listed in the

[Lyanna Stark]

*bump* to this thread, because I have found a Steampunk mystery with some romance elements and some fantastical elements that I LOVED MORE THAN CAKE. The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

It's evocative, fascinating characters, lovely flowing language and a well described Victorian London landscape. Compared to "Firelight" and BecMcMaster's series it is far darker and mysterious with far more morally troubled characters. Murder and death are common, the setting is full of real descriptions of slum, with mud, drunkards, prostitutes, people beating each other up, sick kids, thieves etc. Other settings include a lunatics asylum, a police station with a morgue, the Tower of London (in the function a prison, not as a tourist attraction) and run down public houses with dodgy clientele. It's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde meets urban fantasy meets Frankenstein in a gothic steampunk setting with some feminist themes thrown in for good measure.

It's also very, very light on the romance and that plot lines opens up more questions than answers. On the other hand, it is shock full with monsters and the monstrous of both genders.

The only nitpicks I have are britpicks. Again we have "sidewalk", "a couple of blocks", "gotten" and "honor" "color" etc, and it's also occasionally in spoken dialogue which grates.

Apart from the britpick nitpicks, it's probably the best Victorian steampunk I've read to date. Thumbs up!

[Darth Richard II]

Popping in randomly to ask what you all think of those "soulless" boojs (I forget the actually name of the series" because the bookstore here has been promoting the fuck out of them recently.

[David Selig]

Popping in randomly to ask what you all think of those "soulless" boojs (I forget the actually name of the series" because the bookstore here has been promoting the fuck out of them recently.

Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate? It's awesome. Great fun throughout.

[C.T. Phipps]

I recommend Undertow by Naomi Clark, the Valducen series by Seth Skorkowsky, and Bad Mojo by Shane Berryhill.

All three are pretty solid Urban Fantasy stories.

Very different kinds too.

For Paranormal Romance, I recommend Lindsay J. Pryor's Blackthorn series.

[lady narcissa]

I thought “Soulless” by Gail Carriger was okay. But it gave me serious flashbacks to Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series (which is not steampunk but instead Victorian/Edwardian archeological mysteries set in Egypt). There were so many similarities between the main couple and their relationship that it was distracting. Most reviews I read afterwards had the same issue. As one reviewer wrote, "Amelia Peabody called and she wants her parasol back."

I gave the second book in the series, “Changeless” a try just to see if it moved beyond the similarities and came into its own. I seriously disliked it and stopped with the series after that.

[Lyanna Stark]

If that book interests you, this one might as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300137567/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300137567&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

It basically deals with 16th and 17th century cities in England and has lovely chapter titles like Ugly, Itchy, Mouldy, Noisy, Grotty, Busy, Dirty, and Gloomy. I found it very interesting.

Well I guess I shall just have to check out "Firelight" now after I'm done with "Grave Witch" and see if it irks me as well. Is "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" listed as inspiration in "Firelight"?listed in the

I didn't see "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" listed, but then I didn't really check. It's an old folktale so I assumed it was fairly well known. It's basically a variation of the Eros and Psyche myth with added Scandinavian trolls, because trolls.

How did you find Grave Witch btw? I read the first and second in the series as commuter novels and they're ok, but Good grief perfecto Falin is annoying (and also very close to AN ELF!!). I much prefer Death. I also think I liked the second novel better since it had less romance in it. (I really shoot myself in the foot here since I keep bellyaching about the lack of good romance, and then I get my mitts on a romance novel and think it's too much romance in it!)

Imagine my annoyance when

the Death romance was basically knocked on the head with "It's against the Rules for you to have an affair with a Soul Collector aka Death because I say so" and instead Ms Grave Witch is left with her

silver prince perfect elf fairy. Falin is also described in the more traditional alpha-male style, while Death speaks very little and when he does, it's often in whispers. He also appears only to Alex herself, which puts him in a strange "imaginary lover" category that would have been really interesting to pursue. How do you present your new partner to your friends when they cannot see him? Plus he doesn't do any super macho feats of Extreme Bravery and Weapon skillz either, which makes him less traditionally masculine hero type. Of which I approve. Of course he's only there to provide some sort of love triangle tension and that's LAME. Death >> elves

[lady narcissa]

Based on your comments, you should read the third Grave Witch novel :)

I read all three and on a whole I enjoyed them...in a three star popcorn enjoyed them sort of way. Not great and there are certainly issues but I liked a lot about them and I liked the characters. I like Alex. I liked that she wasn’t new to her powers but was pretty capable at looking after herself. I liked that she wasn’t a loner but has a good core group of friends. I like both Falin and Death. Falin is a bit too Thor/Legolas pretty perfect but he has his moments. And I like the conflict that is set up for him. Death has his moments as well. This is one of the rare instances where the relationship triangle doesn’t bother me and in fact seems perfectly plausible. Neither can commit 100% to Alex because of other obligations but both obviously care about her.

The first book is probably my favorite, followed by the third. The second was probably my least favorite but I think that is because I thought Alex’s journey into Fairy just seemed too abrupt and too soon. I was thinking that would come later in the series. If the fourth book ever comes out…it looks like it keeps getting repeatedly pushed back, I would read that.

This past weekend was the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. There are always authors and book related panels. I attended and there were a couple of interesting things talked about that I will have to save for later when I have more time. But the book that is receiving the big push this May and that I am seeing mentioned everywhere is Naomi Novik’s “Uprooted”. I haven’t read anything by Novik before but she spoke on a few of the panels and I enjoyed hearing her speak. She described “Uprooted” as a story that takes place in a Poland that has never existed but in her imagination based on the fairy tales her mother, an immigrant from Poland, told her as a child. So I guess fairy tale fantasy. It sounds interesting.

[Deedles]

Oh that does sound good. I liked the first few temeraire? Books but got a bit bored with one that turned into a travelogue. A fairy tale Poland sounds like good fun.

[Lyanna Stark]

LOL I was going to say it sounds like the Witcher, but with a probably lower count of meanies and fewer swamps. :P

The first book is probably my favorite, followed by the third. The second was probably my least favorite but I think that is because I thought Alex’s journey into Fairy just seemed too abrupt and too soon. I was thinking that would come later in the series. If the fourth book ever comes out…it looks like it keeps getting repeatedly pushed back, I would read that.

This past weekend was the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. There are always authors and book related panels. I attended and there were a couple of interesting things talked about that I will have to save for later when I have more time. But the book that is receiving the big push this May and that I am seeing mentioned everywhere is Naomi Novik’s “Uprooted”. I haven’t read anything by Novik before but she spoke on a few of the panels and I enjoyed hearing her speak. She described “Uprooted” as a story that takes place in a Poland that has never existed but in her imagination based on the fairy tales her mother, an immigrant from Poland, told her as a child. So I guess fairy tale fantasy. It sounds interesting.

Alright, I'll give the third one a whirl once I give up on serious reading which I am attempting now.

Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo sounds like so much fun! Envy! :)

Was browsing around a bit earlier as you do trying to find some decent paranormal romance recs and they all seem terrible! Without this thread I would be doomed, I tell ya.

[lady narcissa]

I liked the first few temeraire? Books but got a bit bored with one that turned into a travelogue.

The publisher was giving out free copies of the first book in that series so I am going to give it a try. One of the reasons I like this con so much - there are lots of arcs and first in series and samplers given out. I pretty much just stalk the publishers tables every hour as the selection was constantly changing and at the end of the weekend had collected about 25 new books!

Alright, I'll give the third one a whirl once I give up on serious reading which I am attempting now.

Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo sounds like so much fun! Envy! :)

Was browsing around a bit earlier as you do trying to find some decent paranormal romance recs and they all seem terrible! Without this thread I would be doomed, I tell ya.

I’m going through somewhat of a straight up mystery period right now so I totally get about switching it up with reading.

As for paranormal romance…I’ve got nothing. I haven’t really enjoyed anything in recent years. The last I probably enjoyed were the first five books of the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning and I categorized those as urban fantasy not PR because they were much more about the world and the characters than the relationship that ultimately grew out of the series. The Highlander novels she published before that series were much more PR but they are not good. And the two subsequent Fever books are going back to her PR roots and not in a good way.

“Cruel Beauty” by Rosamund Hodge was a book I enjoyed last year. It’s more YA fantasy than PR but it’s a romance…although in a fade to black yet still somewhat steamy manner. And it plays with the Beauty & The Beast / East of the Sun, West of the Moon / Eros & Psyche stories.

Also, if you want to try some Fantasy Romance, there is C.L. Wilson’s Tairen Soul series.

[emberling]

Yeah, I can't think of anything recent I even liked that wasn't either YA or an old continuing series. Even the YA is all scifi, or secondary-world, or, like, portal fantasy kind of things. I love the secondary world urban stuff (or just secondary world Not Quests in general). I love the new portal fantasies that do so much more interesting things with the idea than the old-school escapist stuff did. But the urban/paranormal well - monsters hidden among us, within us, part of us, without the mediating factor of a fantasy world - seems to be running a bit on the dry side :(

[Darth Richard II]

Temeraire are all specifically travelogues on purpose, are they not? I also find that every one has one temeraire novel that they HATE, and it's almost always a different one per person. (I hated the Australia one, some people hate the China one, etc).

Does Gladstone's Craft Sequence count as Urban fantasy?

[emberling]

of course the same day I post that I find a decent one. maybe I should complain more often. (jennifer estep's cold burn of magic, first book in a new YA series, not recommended per se, but I found it a particularly entertaining iteration of estep's usual trashy silliness, which generally hovers at 'barely readable', give or take. usually take. Despite the worldbuilding/setup returning to a lot of wells she and others have used before, it felt pretty fresh. Reminded me of a lot of Ilona Andrews' work, particularly "Grace of Small Magics," which I would love to have more of. Though I sort of wonder whether the magical mobster family thing, which I loved in these, is more of a well-trod trope in the more PNR (i.e. manchest-covers) side of things? some of the vague summaries i've skimmed have suggested such a thing, but it's not something I've run into much myself.

though i am completely failing at articulating what way, if any, that these Families differ from, say, plain old standard issue vampire families or werewolf packs or any other collective. it's probably something maddeningly specific that seems distinct to my eyes only. though come to think of it, the horrifically generic-seeming vampire families in chicagoland vampires and queen of shadows had a tinge of this as well. maybe something in the way the protagonist relates to the family as simultaneously neophyte and inner circle? i think that's in a lot of things that don't make me feel this way tho.

(reiterating: I am not recommending this book; if you have read the author before at all, you probably have an idea why)

[Mars447]

Temeraire are all specifically travelogues on purpose, are they not? I also find that every one has one temeraire novel that they HATE, and it's almost always a different one per person. (I hated the Australia one, some people hate the China one, etc). Does Gladstone's Craft Sequence count as Urban fantasy?

Australia and China are both shit. I find the only decent ones are the ones that take place in the UK, possibly because they actually allow for some decent personalities (let's just say that if the series was called Excidium instead of Temeraire it would've been so much better). But the absolute worst is the 8th and most recent, which has this incredibly stupid amnesia subplot.

I've read Estep's Spider series. It's incredibly dumb trashy pulp but still kinda fun, although I suspect Ms. Estep and I may have some fundamental disagreements on what "barbecue" is. And white girls should not say "po-po".

How's the Jane Yellowrock series? I took a peek at the latest one in B&N and it didn't seem too chick-litty, but at the same time I didn't have a clue what was going on.

[felice]

Popping in randomly to ask what you all think of those "soulless" boojs (I forget the actually name of the series" because the bookstore here has been promoting the fuck out of them recently.

Meh. Entertaining enough, but as a romance, the leads already know each other and are mutually infatuated before the book starts, so it's just the story of how they get together, not how they get to know each other. And as a fantasy, the world is somewhat interesting, but the fascinating theological implications of being soulless are pretty much entirely ignored; it may as well have been Magicless for all the difference it makes. And the observed effects seem to better fit her having the supernatural ability to suppress the powers of others rather than being simply exceptionally unmagical. I wasn't inspired to bother with Book 2.

I have recently enjoyed Seanan Macguire's Discount Armageddon duology, which definitely leans more towards the urban fantasy end of the scale than Souless, but still manages a stronger romance.

[Darth Richard II]

I thought Soulless by Gail Carriger was okay. But it gave me serious flashbacks to Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series (which is not steampunk but instead Victorian/Edwardian archeological mysteries set in Egypt). There were so many similarities between the main couple and their relationship that it was distracting. Most reviews I read afterwards had the same issue. As one reviewer wrote, "Amelia Peabody called and she wants her parasol back."

I gave the second book in the series, Changeless a try just to see if it moved beyond the similarities and came into its own. I seriously disliked it and stopped with the series after that.

ouch, that's uh, not a positive thing in my eyes. I found the first Peabody book unreadable.

[Maester Llama]

I did not get along with Carriger's Soulless very well. I liked the absurdist Victorian steampunk setting it was going for in theory, but it was like it couldn't decide whether or not to go full throttle absurd and kept changing its mind, which left both the writing and the plot / setting feeling like they hovered half-way between fun Victorian romp pastiche on the one hand and substanceless fluff on the other. And, while I'm not at all well-versed in romance stuff, I'd agree those elements didn't feel like they built a relationship that was very complex. A book with great ideas and some funny individual bits, but meh, thoroughly meh. Weirdly, I think Carriger's Finishing School books, which are not only by the same author but are ya set in the same world, are joy.

The Temeraire book I most dislike is Tongues of Serpents, the Australia one, not because of the setting or the characters but because I find it to be a directionless stutter in the overall plot. [i agree that there seem to be a number of different entries in the series that varying readers aren't big on, but anecdotally I'd say Tongues of Serpents is out in front.] My love for the series as a whole is deep and strong though. And I've warmed to the travelogue elements -- I think it's clear at this point that this was always the plan and a big part of what Novik wanted to do.

The first third of Blood of Tyrants, the Novik-does-Shogun Japan amnesia plot section, is indeed stupid. I get why she did it and I see how it allowed her to have some impactful scenes later, and I think those scenes are good, but unfortunately the plot itself is still very dumb, and its dumbness detracts from the quite good stuff that comes later. The whole structure of Blood of Tyrants is weird and feels rushed, with the transitions between the three sections feeling very abrupt -- the jump between the first and the second I remember as especially rough. It feels hurried -- Novik's pastiche style and characters and action are still on point as they always seem to be [i think she's a very skilled writer, perhaps moreso than people pay attention to], but structurally it feels like she just wants to get done. I am very stoked for Uprooted, her new thing -- though I see Amazon currently has it marked incorrectly as a Temeraire novel and I'm not looking forward to the tidal wave of "wha wha finish your series" whining when it comes out and people who haven't read the goddamn blurb get all pissy.

[AverageGuy]

How's the Jane Yellowrock series?

I couldn't get through the first book, but may have been my mood at the time.