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Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance v. 3.0


LugaJetboyGirl

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Okay, I'm trusting y'all: My local library has never bought any of the Pax Arcana books, so I went ahead and ordered the first one. I hope it works out for me. Thanks to all those who recommended the series!

 

I'm half-way through Mishell Baker's Borderline, the first book in a new uf series about an amputee woman with borderline personality disorder who gets involved with monitoring the fay community in Hollywood. It's compelling me quite a bit so far: it's got sometimes frustratingly but also enjoyably and truthfully spikey characters, an interestingly-evoked world that builds slowly based on just a couple fantastical conceits, and thus far no reliance on anything creepy that is not clearly intended to be so.

 

Also recently finished Midnight Taxi Tango, the second book in Daniel Jose Older's Bone Street Rumba about a Brooklyn full of ghosts 'n shit, a major step up for the series and an absolute delight. Plot's mostly a fun delivery mechanism and the bad guys are just dicks who give the protagonists something to point at, mostly, but the characters and the dialogue and the tone are all just wonderful, and the world gets more fully fleshed out in this one. Older's writing is, and I'd say this is an important point of recommendation for this series, also damn funny. I'm notching this series up to definite recommend territory now based on the strength of this second one.

 

Oooh right Paul Cornell's third one happened; thanks for reminding me and I'm glad to hear it's good!

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  I really liked Pax Arcana and consider it to be one of the best UF series of the pulpy type that I've read, but everyone has different tastes.  So fingers crossed, hah.

Anyone read the Twenty Sided Sorceress series by Annie Bellett?

Also, Jesus, I really need to get to finishing The Rook.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Read the Pax Arcana short stories and they are really good. Really looking forward to starting this series.

 

Also read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley which I loved. Pretty sure it counts as Urban Fantasy. 

Also read a PNR - Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh which is trying to get into the "So bad its good" category

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I have finished the superlative Felix Castor series and am beyond gutted that it's finished.  I WANT MORE!

What in the name of all that's sacred do I do with myself now?  I don't think anything is going to come up to that standard.

N

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4 hours ago, Mandy said:

Kitty grows into her position, which I appreciate.  She begins at the bottom of her pack, abused, violated and meekly trying to avoid confrontation.  That changes and I like her growth.  But I can see where it might not be everyone's thing.

I had forgotten about the Pax Arcana shorts.  Gonna check those out if I can ever finish You Slay Me.  It's not bad, just... maybe not my cup of tea at the moment.  Plus the male love interest is obnoxious as all get out.  Hoping he dies or something.

Still, four books in and she's still trying to run from her problems, which means that it's not until half way through the book before she actually gets involved in the plot.  Maybe book 5 is better, but the first 4 didn't exactly convince me to stick with it.

Picked up the Yancy Lazarus books by James Hunter on KU.  They're perfectly functional books in the Dresden-clone subgenre, although they fall into the male author trap of the first book being absolutely awful with its female characters.  Still, any time the protagonist (who is supposed to be a great blues musician) starts talking about music the books immediately drop into cringe-inducing territory.  There's something about the author name dropping famous blues standards in the most mechanical fashion that is absolutely unreadable to me.

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11 minutes ago, Mandy said:

Ugh, that sounds terribad.  In a city where everyone is a musician, I can't stand when people get all pretentious and wax philosophical about music.  It conjurs images in my head of of poverty, STDs and phantom body odor.  Nothing will make me run from a potential suitor faster than hearing they play a musical instrument, or are or have ever been, in a band. 

 

The bad part isn't so much that he talks about music period, but that he talks about music in the way that makes you think that the author literally just looked this stuff up on Wikipedia and maybe Youtubed a few songs but knows nothing about the actual music.  The protagonist doesn't come across as a student of the blues genre at all.

He's a lot like Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicles in a way.  Although at least his love interest (introduced in book 2) actually does shit and can pull her own weight in the plot.

The books aren't awful (sure, the music segments are skip-worthy, but I skip through Kate's sex scenes as well) but they're not something that I would actively seek out if I wasn't grasping for good UF.

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On ‎3‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 7:34 AM, Mars447 said:

  I really liked Pax Arcana and consider it to be one of the best UF series of the pulpy type that I've read, but everyone has different tastes.  So fingers crossed, hah.

Anyone read the Twenty Sided Sorceress series by Annie Bellett?

Also, Jesus, I really need to get to finishing The Rook.

I read the Twenty Sided Sorceress a while ago. I didn't buy anymore of the series, and my vague memories of why include:

  • It was very short, so felt bad value
  • I think the plot was pretty weak
  • I think the main heroine (or maybe one of the sidekicks?) made some cringe worthy decisions.

It has been a while though.

12 hours ago, Chaldanya said:

I have finished the superlative Felix Castor series and am beyond gutted that it's finished.  I WANT MORE!

What in the name of all that's sacred do I do with myself now?  I don't think anything is going to come up to that standard.

N

Although I thought Felix Castor was great, I did think the series wrapped up very nicely. So I'm not actually a fan that another book is being written.

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Sig is awesome.  I wish that there were more characters like her in UF.

Took a look at the Chicagoland Vampires books.  Why do European vampires use katana?  I mean, they're Europeans, and if they were looking for a sword designed for cutting above all else then sabers are right goddamn there.

The books aren't awful so far, but still, why a katana?

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5 hours ago, ants said:

Although I thought Felix Castor was great, I did think the series wrapped up very nicely. So I'm not actually a fan that another book is being written.

I think the arc wrapped up very well, however there is more to explore if it is the apocalypse as Mike Carey has said in a recent interview.

It looks like he's thinking of writing another one in due course.  I'd be here for all of that.

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11 hours ago, ants said:

I read the Twenty Sided Sorceress a while ago. I didn't buy anymore of the series, and my vague memories of why include:

  • It was very short, so felt bad value

Coming to print via Saga Press in 2 omnibus editions.

Quote

Originally published in seven installments, The Twenty-Sided Sorceress is being collected into two omnibus editions for the Saga Press release: Level Grind, due this October, and Boss Fight, out in January 2017.

 

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On ‎15‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 5:19 PM, Mars447 said:

Sig is awesome.  I wish that there were more characters like her in UF.

Took a look at the Chicagoland Vampires books.  Why do European vampires use katana?  I mean, they're Europeans, and if they were looking for a sword designed for cutting above all else then sabers are right goddamn there.

The books aren't awful so far, but still, why a katana?

You've got to be kidding me. I only ever read the first book but it was unmitigated rubbish. Although it was an older protagonist, it was written in the worst kind of young adult. The characters are weak, nothing actually happens, and the villain (and their plan) is cringe worthy.

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1 hour ago, ants said:

You've got to be kidding me. I only ever read the first book but it was unmitigated rubbish. Although it was an older protagonist, it was written in the worst kind of young adult. The characters are weak, nothing actually happens, and the villain (and their plan) is cringe worthy.

I don't know, she seems like a decent facsimile of a Millenial graduate student.

But seriously, the pacing sucks balls.  They're not as bad as some other UF I've seen out there, but they still don't quite make Sturgeon's 10%.

Maybe I should have clarified that I wasn't finished with the book yet.

And still: why katanas?

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@Mandy I've started the Inn Keeper series.  So far so good.

Normally I would have burned through the two books by now but cross-stitch has taken over my life currently and I'm busy making christmas decorations

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55 minutes ago, Mandy said:

I love your Christmas obsession.  Whenever I see something Christmassy that is awesome, I think of you.  

Don't forget the third book is released on her blog as well, every Friday piece by piece.  I believe the first 7+ chapters are up there now :)

Maud is pretty cool.

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I've got to say I have some real problems with Felix Castor series. On the one hand it's got cool prose, nice atmosphere and an interesting premise, on the other hand the plot is problematic. Very problematic. I found at least a couple of the storylines illogical and most fairly weak and it seems that the story progresses mostly by the protagonist getting beatten up, doing the most stupid thing he can think of so that he gets beatten up and his zombie buddy telling him what's what because he's basically omniscient. Add to that secondary characters that do nothing but exist as background, disconnected clues that either mean nothing to the reader or are blatantly obvious and extensive infodumps and you get books that are disconnected incidents the protagonists stumbles across.

To be fair the second and third books aren't that bad in that regard but they are nothing special either and not free of plot holes and the series as a whole suffers from a lack of substantiation of the protagonists main relationships, of a good reason of why the protagonists sidekicks, who do all of the work by the way are his sidekicks, and in the end why the protagonist himself gets involved in life threatening stuff other than because he's noir and edgy and has issues.

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4 hours ago, Mandy said:

ETA:

I'm reading Alphas: Origins now and I have a feeling this is... not my thing.  I'm not into ownership/hostage/rape fantasy crap, contrary to my quote in my sig block.

"Your mother is a slave.  Lucas owns her now."  This is said to a 5 year old.

.......

W.

T.

F.

I haven't read Alphas, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was traumatic backstory for current character development.

 

I have read the first three books of Pax Arcana and I am very very impressed. This is genuinely good stuff

 

I have also read the first two books of Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series. Softcore porn and violence. And weird smell descriptions. Fur and Diamonds. Go figure

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