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Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance v. 3.0


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In my defense, I said it was "action packed", not that it was "good".

I've run out of good UF as well, so in between rereading Pax Arcana for like the third time in as many months I've also been following old rereads of early Dresden books.  Dear god, the writing in Storm Front is fucking awful, nevermind the Harry's neckbeard-and-fedora attitudes towards women and that damn love potion.

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Is the second part of Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy out yet? The first one had some pretty awful romance tropes (the whole kidnap shenanigans felt kinda meh tbh) and felt closer to their Edge series than Kate Daniels.

Have you tried Viola Carr's Gothic/Steampunk London novels? Two out so far and even though I prefer the first one, they are alright.

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3 hours ago, Lyanna Stark said:

Is the second part of Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy out yet? The first one had some pretty awful romance tropes (the whole kidnap shenanigans felt kinda meh tbh) and felt closer to their Edge series than Kate Daniels.

Have you tried Viola Carr's Gothic/Steampunk London novels? Two out so far and even though I prefer the first one, they are alright.

I don't think Hidden Legacy 2 is coming out before 2017. I didn't like it as much as Innkeeper or Kate Daniels but its still better than most other books in the genre 

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4 minutes ago, Andorion said:

I don't think Hidden Legacy 2 is coming out before 2017. I didn't like it as much as Innkeeper or Kate Daniels but its still better than most other books in the genre 

You mean Paranormal Romance? If you mean modern setting, then perhaps, but if you include historical or more fantastical settings, then I think there are lots better than Hidden Legacy, imho. Both Viola Carr's and BecMcMaster's stuff are less annoying and less rapetastic, for instance. As are Callihan's Darkest London (even tho I have a lot of other issues with this one), Draven's "Master of Crows" and Foxe's Steampunk romance stuff. (The latter three are still annoying in various degrees.)

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11 minutes ago, Lyanna Stark said:

You mean Paranormal Romance? If you mean modern setting, then perhaps, but if you include historical or more fantastical settings, then I think there are lots better than Hidden Legacy, imho. Both Viola Carr's and BecMcMaster's stuff are less annoying and less rapetastic, for instance. As are Callihan's Darkest London (even tho I have a lot of other issues with this one), Draven's "Master of Crows" and Foxe's Steampunk romance stuff. (The latter three are still annoying in various degrees.)

Oh I can't say anything about the Victorian books as I haven't touched that entire area at all. I was talking in context of the modern were/vamp/angel(?) style books. I know there are a lot of Victorian UF/PNR books and some of them are pretty good but I have never gotten around to reading them. Too many non UF/PNRs on my TBR I guess^_^

The one Victorian I did read was Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences 1 by Pip Ballantine. It was quite good and more UF than PNR. 

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23 hours ago, Mandy said:

Yeah it is.  I couldn't get through ONE BOOK of that stuff.  I'm thinking of trying out the Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy series.  I like the Innkeeper Chronicles and Kate Daniels series from them.  I didn't much care for the Edge, but what the hell. I will report back if I do.  

Mars, have you read Felix Castor?  I personally enjoyed the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn as well.

What is the action quotient in Kitty Norville?

And I haven't read Felix Castor.  It looked like another Dresden clone to me when I first saw it.  I might check it out, though.

And Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is pretty fun. It's not particularly well written, but it's certainly fun.

I have to say that nothing about The Edge or Hidden Legacy looks appealing to me.  Hell, Kate Daniels is already a little too Paranormal Romance-y to me and it's pretty pure UF (with annoying but thankfully skippable badly written sex scenes).

And, ugh, Innkeeper Chronicles would look okay but then there's suggestion of a werewolf vs. vampire love triangle in the blurb of the first book.  Damn it, why?

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On 5/18/2016 at 3:47 PM, Mandy said:

ETA: But really... strong female who isn't annoying or super young or needy or whiney or dumb, who kicks ass and isn't into sparkly vampires... decent writing with some humor I don't roll my eyes at, and no Ayn Rand style page long run-on sentences describing some incorporeal crap that I don't care about...

Try The Immortals by Joanna Max Brodsky.

The blurb:

"Manhattan has many secrets. Some are older than the city itself. 
 
The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone -- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous. 

In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago -- when her name was Artemis." 
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2 hours ago, Puntificator said:

Try The Immortals by Joanna Max Brodsky.

The blurb:

"Manhattan has many secrets. Some are older than the city itself. 
 
The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone -- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous. 

In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago -- when her name was Artemis." 

This is alright, although the book opens with the protagonist swooping to save some woman in distress from her generic thug boyfriend and promptly getting her ass kicked, which was less than impressive.  Also, she's basically wading in ennui throughout the entire book, which might make sense in a way (being that she's both incredibly long lived and completely irrelevant to the modern world) but that might count as being pretty whiny.

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The thing that fascinates me about the Innkeeper series is the concept of the Inns and breadth of worldbuilding they imply. Most of the action takes place in a very limited space but there are occasional excursions... I am going to spoiler the next bit

Spoiler

Andrews does something very smart by sidestepping the usual urban fantasy world and introducing science fiction fantasy instead. This allows her to twist old tropes.

Also love what she does with the main protagonist. 

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you've persuaded me to give the innkeeper series a whirl.

goddamnit people! you are not helping my addiction to buying ebooks at all. 

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On ‎18‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 5:47 AM, Mandy said:

I'm just having a hard time finding something that sounds appealing. Maybe I'm starting to get jaded.  Starting!  hahahahaha Sigh.

ETA: But really... strong female who isn't annoying or super young or needy or whiney or dumb, who kicks ass and isn't into sparkly vampires... decent writing with some humor I don't roll my eyes at, and no Ayn Rand style page long run-on sentences describing some incorporeal crap that I don't care about...

Its a bit hard to make recommendations without knowing what you've read and what your favourites are. But if I try and mention a few that don't get a huge amount of airplay around here or are slightly older:

  • As mentioned above, the Twenty Palaces series by Harry Connolly. Just be aware there are only three of them.
  • Dante Valentine and Jill Kismet series by Lilith Saintcrow. Not everyone's tastes, and the characters are very damaged individuals, but I thoroughly enjoyed both series which are complete.
  • Morgan Kingsley exorcist series by Jenna Black. Another complete series, decent writing, slightly innovative magic system, with some good plotting and story lines. Won't knock you off your feet, but very solid, complete, and doesn't really get mentioned.
  • Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane. A VERY good series, with again a damaged main character. The stories are very engrossing, and quite touching.
  • The greywalker books by Kat Richardson are very solid as well. Again, not talked about a huge amount around here.
  • C.E. Murphy's negotiator trilogy is quite good, and is completed. Major fantastical creature is a gargoyle, so you have some different tropes in there. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I hope that helps. If you've tried some of the above and do/don't like them, let us know since that will help clarify any future suggestions!

On ‎24‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 8:17 AM, Mars447 said:

What is the action quotient in Kitty Norville?

And I haven't read Felix Castor.  It looked like another Dresden clone to me when I first saw it.  I might check it out, though.

And Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is pretty fun. It's not particularly well written, but it's certainly fun.

I have to say that nothing about The Edge or Hidden Legacy looks appealing to me.  Hell, Kate Daniels is already a little too Paranormal Romance-y to me and it's pretty pure UF (with annoying but thankfully skippable badly written sex scenes).

And, ugh, Innkeeper Chronicles would look okay but then there's suggestion of a werewolf vs. vampire love triangle in the blurb of the first book.  Damn it, why?

Felix Castor is so far from Harry Dresden its not funny. The characterisation, the atmosphere, the magic systems, they're all leagues apart. Felix Castor is not too far off horror book status, while Dresden is cheesy fun.

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13 hours ago, Mandy said:

What?!?!  How have you NOT already read these when you are on my facebook and I've mentioned them :P HOW ARE YOU NOT HANGING ON EVERY WORD I WRITE?!?!? :P 

Besides, the first few chapters are free on these.  http://innkeeper.ilona-andrews.com/2016/01/25/chapter-1/

I know, right?  It's because I adore the Kate Daniels series so and I think I read a couple of pages of the innkeeper and had a "not for me" thought about it.  But as you are wonderful and know my tastes, I'll give it a whirl.  I was only going to spend the money on a different ebook anyway!

N

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5 hours ago, ants said:
  • Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane. A VERY good series, with again a damaged main character. The stories are very engrossing, and quite touching.
  • The greywalker books by Kat Richardson are very solid as well. Again, not talked about a huge amount around here.

I LOVE the Stacia Kane series. I rec it all over the place.  I think every time Mandy has asked for recs I've told her about them.  Not sure if she trusts me enough to pick them up, tho ;)

I found the greywalker books to be uninspiring.  Didn't gel with them at all but different strokes for different folks.

There's the series by Kalayna Price (Alex Craft series).  She's worth a whirl.

Another one I rec is Kelly Gay's Charlie Madigan series - unfinished at the moment altho' I do believe a publisher has been found for the fifth book.

N

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On 24/05/2016 at 11:17 PM, Mars447 said:

And I haven't read Felix Castor.  It looked like another Dresden clone to me when I first saw it.  I might check it out, though.

The Felix Castor books are excellent, if I had to pick my favourite Urban Fantasy series I think they're probably what I'd go with. I'd agree with Ants as well, they really aren't much like the Dresden books if that's what you're worried about.

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Reading Bec McMaster's Steampunk series at the moment.  It's very definitely paranormal romance and not Urban Fantasy.  And I have thoughts:

  • The vampire mythology is interesting and I always like a bit of steampunkery
  • The five books are incredibly formulaic but enjoyable (to varying degrees) nonetheless. However, (and it's a biggie), all of the books have a the main characters keeping secrets from each other and in some cases it works.  BUT the fourth book makes me want to KILL the heroine.
  • As the series go on the underlying political subplot becomes less sub and this is to the benefit of the books.

Overall I'd give the series a solid 3/5 but after I've read the 5th one I don't think the series will make my must complete list.

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2 hours ago, Chaldanya said:

Reading Bec McMaster's Steampunk series at the moment.  It's very definitely paranormal romance and not Urban Fantasy.  And I have thoughts:

  • The vampire mythology is interesting and I always like a bit of steampunkery
  • The five books are incredibly formulaic but enjoyable (to varying degrees) nonetheless. However, (and it's a biggie), all of the books have a the main characters keeping secrets from each other and in some cases it works.  BUT the fourth book makes me want to KILL the heroine.
  • As the series go on the underlying political subplot becomes less sub and this is to the benefit of the books.

Overall I'd give the series a solid 3/5 but after I've read the 5th one I don't think the series will make my must complete list.

So far there are only five, and I agree, no 4 and 5 are substantially weaker than the previous installments, which is a shame. It could have been the other way around since the political stakes actually increase, but it doesn't feel that way.

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I finished the 5th book.  The series is now sitting at a dismal 2/5.  OMFG what an infuriating book.  For a book that has lots of action and important shit occurring it is very very boring. AND to add insult to injury the romance has severe rapey/Stockholm Syndrome and I'm not sure if I hate the hero or heroine more. Add into that random sex in weird places at weird times (ok, the city is about to be attacked lets fuck like bunnies).

You can bet your arse I won't be picking up the 6th book in this series.

@Mandy - I seem to remember you read Lisa Shearin. Was she any good? 

I've picked up the Felix Castor books and am looking forward to reading those.

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14 hours ago, Chaldanya said:

I finished the 5th book.  The series is now sitting at a dismal 2/5.  OMFG what an infuriating book.  For a book that has lots of action and important shit occurring it is very very boring. AND to add insult to injury the romance has severe rapey/Stockholm Syndrome and I'm not sure if I hate the hero or heroine more. Add into that random sex in weird places at weird times (ok, the city is about to be attacked lets fuck like bunnies).

You can bet your arse I won't be picking up the 6th book in this series.

@Mandy - I seem to remember you read Lisa Shearin. Was she any good? 

I've picked up the Felix Castor books and am looking forward to reading those.

I have a suggestion. :P

@Chaldanya Already looking forward to reading your review of that one!!

 

Regarding the 5th McMaster, yep, what is worse, it seems Barrons get an almost complete personality transplant from the previous novels, which is bewildering to say the least. He's non-rapey in the previous novels and it's just bizarre. It feels like it's just rushed and poorly put together. Take out the romance and the political action is interesting, the romance elements just slows it down. Not to mention that it suffers from some really poor editing, in that we know the blue bloods are cool to the touch, yet here Barrons is described as "warm" at least once. It feels really sloppy. It annoyed me before that there is no consistency with trousers/breechers/pants and they are used randomly and interchangeably, but in the latter installments this sort of randomness gets worse, and more sloppy. It adds to the feeling of it being a poorly done rush job where the romance is tacked on and doesn't really work.

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2 hours ago, Lyanna Stark said:

I have a suggestion. :P

@Chaldanya Already looking forward to reading your review of that one!!.

I love myself so I won't be reading that.

(although I see from 63 reviews it has an Amazon rating of 4.5 stars!)

Reading Felix Castor now.  If I knew his office was in my manor - I'd have read it long before now.

N

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