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Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance v. 3.0


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On 17/09/2016 at 7:57 PM, williamjm said:

That's a nice surprise since it was starting to look like it was being pushed into 2017 (I think originally it was meant to be published this month).


It was originally meant to be published in November last year, and has been pushed back to March, June, October and now November, but the shortness of this pushback suggests it might finally be on its way for real.

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On 10/24/2016 at 4:05 AM, Lyanna Stark said:

This is not ruining stuff my friend, this is making you aware of what is good stuff and what isn't. :P A lot of UF has some pretty tiresome and annoying tropes, which get pretty apparent if you just read with a bit more knowledge to hand.

As a total aside, have you introduced your UF/paranormal romance reading spouse to Bec McMaster's London Steampunk series yet? If not, you should. :)

I've mentioned it but she's since moved onto super-dark fiction where every heroine is sexually abused by human traffickers who she then joins with a psycho vigilante to murder before they fall in love.

...

To each their own I guess.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I started the first Charming book by Elliott James.  The premise is v. interesting but god almighty did the technique suck.  So so so many infodumps.  Also why were Charming and Sig 'in love' I couldn't see any kind of interaction with them that would lead to that.

However, I was intrigued and went on to the second book.  The author seems to have learned or at least leveled up his editor.  THIS should have been the first book.  It did everything you needed it to do with more panache and the romance made about as much sense so we're in the same place. The remaining books are £3.99 so I may get the other two to round it out depending on how I feel at the ending of whatever this one is called.

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On 25/10/2016 at 10:02 PM, polishgenius said:


It was originally meant to be published in November last year, and has been pushed back to March, June, October and now November, but the shortness of this pushback suggests it might finally be on its way for real.

I finished The Hanging Tree over the course of last weekend, best book in the series so far.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Finished the latest Kate Daniels book.  The invented lore is pretty lousy but the character interactions, particularly around long timers, are really enjoyable.  The Andrews are not that good at exposition and worldbuilding, however.

There's a gem of a decent story in the World of the Lupi books (especially with the main character) but it's smothered by all the Paranormal Romance bullshit.  Werewolves being only male?  Heroine being forced into a relationship by BS magic?  No thanks.

Peter McLean's Dominion is the second book in what appears to be an unintentional parody of bad gritty noir urban fantasy.

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On 17/11/2016 at 6:30 AM, Lord Sidious said:

I finished The Hanging Tree over the course of last weekend, best book in the series so far.

I really enjoyed it. I like his blending of magic and police detective book. It feels far more realistic than most UF. 

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On ‎1‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 11:15 AM, Andorion said:

Daniel O Malley's Stiletto is a pretty good book though not as good as Rook

What age would you say is ok to read "the Rook"? Its been quite a while since I read it and I was thinking I might give it to my niece who is 14.

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7 hours ago, Squab said:

What age would you say is ok to read "the Rook"? Its been quite a while since I read it and I was thinking I might give it to my niece who is 14.

I am not very good with judging age-appropriateness as I read everything i could find at that age, but while maybe ok, I would say that ideally Rook is a  15+ book

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  • 2 weeks later...

Recently read Gareth Jones' Constable & Toop. It's not an urban fantasy in the sense that I think of urban fantasy, but it is a 'detective' ghost tale so is more of a paranormal fantasy, I guess. It's set in Victorian London, with a ghost detective investigating a bunch of missing ghosts, a living boy who can see the dead, and a little girl who lives in a haunted house. It covers events in London, but also satires the administrative goings-on in the Ghost Bureau (which was my favorite part of the book). It was light-hearted read and enjoyable.

Also read Darynda Jones' YA Death and the Girl Next Door series. I always like her books, and this time was no exception, although I found the overlap with the Charley Davidson series a little troubling. I got the impression that someone was like, "If you wrote the Charley series for YA, you'd make tons of money!" Still, the YA series had the irreverent tone and humor that one expects from Darynda Jones, lots of swooning, and of course paranormal activity.

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  • 2 months later...

I just finished reading the latest Mercy Thompson book and I have to say it was a lot better than usual. It's all about her versus the Vampire King in Italy and a brief visit to Prague. There was none of the usual, "women versus women" in the book and they actually found a good use for Honey. Unfortunately, there is a subplot which was problematic with said Vampire King keeping a werewolf as a mentally broken blood save but baby steps. I really enjoyed it and am going to recommend it.

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I still have yet to finish last year's Mercy Thompson...I could not get past the troll/bridge scene at the beginning and ended up putting it down and never picking it back up.  This year's sounds like a stronger entry in the series, maybe I will just skip ahead to that one.

The 5th and supposed conclusion to Anne Bishop's The Others series came out earlier this month...supposed as in it concludes the arc the previous books set up but probably not over in the sense I suspect she has a lot more stories to tell in this world.  I felt it was the weakest book of the whole series.  It does bring things to a conclusion and wrap them up with a bow but it just wasn't the story I wanted to read.  The prior 4 books in the series make the series well worth reading, however.

A book I read and enjoyed a few months ago was "The Immortals" by Jordanna Max Brodsky.  Has anyone read this?  It has a not so original premise - Greek gods in modern day NYC.  But I liked the way it was done and it made good use of NYC and its locations and history.  The main character is Artemis and I liked how she was depicted.

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On 3/22/2017 at 11:31 PM, lady narcissa said:

I still have yet to finish last year's Mercy Thompson...I could not get past the troll/bridge scene at the beginning and ended up putting it down and never picking it back up.  This year's sounds like a stronger entry in the series, maybe I will just skip ahead to that one.

I think you should pick that book up as while the gigantic Avengers-style action scene at the beginning is pretty much the opposite of what Mercy Thompson is about, I felt the rest of the book was worth it. It also sets up the political situation which is the basis of the current one.

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  • 4 weeks later...

There's been a urban fantasy drought, huh?

Pax Arcana #5, Legend Has It, is out.  Just read through it.  It took me a while to get into it, but then I wasn't in the headspace for reading when I started, but I thought it was pretty great.

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  • 1 month later...

A new Alex Versus came out a few months ago. Another extremely good entry in the series. It is very refreshing to have a series where the bad guys are actually competent, especially in a multi-book way. 

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  • 1 month later...

Anyone reading anything?  30 June is financial year end in Australia, plus I changed jobs, so I've been avoiding books.  Too distracting.  I know I have the latest (last?) Charming book to download, and the sixth Craft book.  Looking forward to both. 

Anything I've missed over the two months? 

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Oddly enough, I'm getting back into urban fantasy after a two year drought. Watching Twin Peaks again made me think of a fully formed character in my head and resulted in my creation of I WAS A TEENAGE WEREDEER.

http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2017/08/hey-folks-i-thought-now-would-be-great.html

However, this isn't me plugging my stuff but actually complaining about my inability to wade through the dross to find the diamonds. I'm finding myself in a position where I want to read urban fantasy again but have no idea who would be a good place to begin with. I love to immerse myself in the genre of whatever I choose to write in and figuring out which series to read is daunting. I've just been re-reading Patricia Briggs A&O and MT series from beginning to end. I've realized I don't actually LOVE them but they're a surprisingly good "comfort food" in terms of reading as they're consistently entertaining without becoming overblown--weird gender dynamics aside.

I'm thinking of trying the Daniel Faust series next.

I loved the Valducan series by Seth Skorkowsky but that's a bit far from my were desires right now.

My wife is recommending Kitty Norville and Jane Yellowrock but I'm suspicious of the descriptions.

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The craft novels are brilliant, although a little more fantasy. Alex Versus is very good. I loved the 20 palaces series, and the Peter Grant books are very good. 

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Anyone else been reading the Hidden Legacy novels by Ilana Andrews? Cracking good fun. Totally goes for it magic wise (don't think too hard), and the characters develop!!! From creepy kidnapping, to actually speaking about what is upsetting them. Now, the stereotypes are strong, and while I liked the focus on family, Nevada really, really needs a female friend.

 

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9 hours ago, Deedles said:

Anyone else been reading the Hidden Legacy novels by Ilana Andrews? Cracking good fun. Totally goes for it magic wise (don't think too hard), and the characters develop!!! From creepy kidnapping, to actually speaking about what is upsetting them. Now, the stereotypes are strong, and while I liked the focus on family, Nevada really, really needs a female friend.

 

Read all three. I am an Andrews addict. Extremely entertaining light UF.

I agree about the female friend part. Her world is basically her family (who are awesome) and Connor. She needs an Andrea

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