Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance v. 4.0

[dog-days]

Just got back from a Q&A with Ben Aaronovitch. He comes off in person as I expected him to be - a rapid talker with a quick wit and a sense of fun. His research for The October Man included learning about Feuerkartoffeln from German Twitter, eating Schnitzel and being impressed by Deutsche Bahn. 

Upcoming novellas include a PG Wodehouse-influenced story about Nightingale in 1920s America, and Abigail visiting Paris (accompanied by one stowaway fox), plus another Tobias Winter book. 

I think often at these events it feels as if the challenge is to ask a somewhat-relevant question that the author hasn't already answered a million times before - someone almost managed it tonight with "Do you speak to foxes?" 

[lady narcissa]

7 hours ago, dog-days said:

Just got back from a Q&A with Ben Aaronovitch.

That sounds so nice! He is probably one of the few authors I have not seen in person who I would like to see.  Thanks for sharing the information.  Very much looking forward to reading all of those should they hopefully get written.  Getting ready to start the newest one tonight.

I read the latest book in Anne Bishop's Other's series, Crowbones, which came out last month.  It was very much 'Rural' Fantasy, set in the same small town and with the same characters from 2 books ago, Lake Silence.  I had been a bit on the fence about Lake Silence when I first read it but after Crowbones, I went back and reread it and liked it a bit better than before.  I still prefer the original 5 Others books but do enjoy the concept of expanding out into other cities and communities in this alternate Earth in which humans are not the dominant species.  My only criticism is the humans are a bit too good or too bad, there is very little shades of grey in between.  Obviously there are always people who are going to think they can get away with things but there are too many just plain bad and stupid humans.  I'd like to see some more human controlled cities, further away from the Others, and then humans from there having to grasp with the situation after the Others have carried out their more recent human extinction exercise.  Never the less still enjoying this world and will continue to read any further books in the series.

[ants]

On 11/14/2021 at 3:13 PM, El Kabong said:

Gladstone has more craft books planned, don't know when he plans on writing them though.

Oh and while I'm in here, anyone have thoughts on the October Daye(I think I spelled that right) series? The opinions on goodreads on that one are...wildly different.

(I need to go back and read this thread it seems)

I’d rate the October Daye series as amongst the better UF series out there. Good writing, good characters and a strong underlying arc. 

[ants]

Wow, not touched this in a while.

A whole heap of books I've read recently are the Magiford city books by K Shea. A combination of romance and urban fantasy, they're set within a high magic world and specifically the city of Magiford (duh!). They are a series of trilogies which each have different races but with each trilogy centering around one romance. The romances do vary in type, although there are some common themes (the men are always kick-ass). The stories are mostly told from the woman's perspective, although not exclusively. 

Although trilogy is separate, they're all set within the same area and build on each other. Some minor (and some major) characters show up in the later trilogies allowing the reader to track what is happening for a lot of the characters the books have moved on from, and creating a clearly defined arc. There is both an overarching villain group, as well as characters within each book and/or trilogy. 

The story writing is very good and engrossing, and although the mysteries can often be solved ahead of time, they're still definitely solid. The romances are all very fun; albeit they follow some stereotypes. The series has overall been a lot of fun, and I consumed it across a relatively short period. Now waiting for the next book, but luckily the author seems to write quickly. I'd strongly recommend it for anyone who enjoys paranormal romance, and probably for those who just like urban fantasy. 

[RedEyedGhost]

On 5/16/2023 at 2:23 AM, ants said:

A whole heap of books I've read recently are the Magiford city books by K Shea.

Wow, those covers are hideous.

[ljkeane]

9 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Wow, those covers are hideous.

Heh, yeah, they're very paranormal romance.

There's another Rivers of London novella coming out next month. This time featuring the FBI agent from Whispers Underground.

[Poobah]

I got pretty ill a few months back and ended up reading the whole Rivers of London series while in bed. I meant to post about them at the time but didn't have the energy and didn't see this thread.

They leave me with very mixed feelings. I enjoyed them and will continue to read them, and there's a lot about them and the setting / world building that I really like, but I felt that they also tended towards some messy/anticlimactic finales and I think Aaronovitch is massively hampered by having decided that his protagonist would be in the Met.

It's not just because the general sentiment about the real Met is that they're are an enormous bunch of corrupt cunts (Sorry BFC) which makes reading about the inclusive multi-ethnic happy band of overworked paragons of justice feel pretty uncomfortable to say the least (not to mention Grant's "ha ha yeah remember back in the day when we used to beat up suspects" shtick), but rather the vary nature of having your protagonist be a member-in-good-standing of a vast and powerful organisation really screws with the stakes and pacing. Grant has access to amounts of backup and resources (especially Nightingale, but also endless amounts of mundane police power) that make it very hard to feel like he's the underdog in any given case and often I felt like things rather ground to a halt in what I can only assume is Aaronovich showing his research in all the organisational layers of "how a police investigation works" with all the actions whatnot which isn't at all what I'm reading urban fiction detective stories for. For better or worse it is the main comparison point I have and while I've gone off Dresden Files for a multitude of reasons, Butcher always managed to give a great sense that Dresden was under pressure, racing against time, and up against forces far beyond himself which brought the tension and compelling page-turningness that often feels lacking in Grant's rather more professional but also sedate investigations.

While I really enjoy the concept of the masquerade breaking down and seeing the Folly grow/be reborn and Grant kinda modernising and reinvigorating british magic after previous events I did often wonder while reading if he'd been better having Grant basically leave the met behind him after the first book with the Folly being more of an underground dubiously-official only semi sanctioned organisation. It feels like he was at least considering something like this what with setting up the rarely used and often vestigial feeling ex-sas kill team but instead leaned hard in the other direction. This would have enabled a lot of the more traditional noir trappings that have been key parts of other urban fantasy that I've read.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Poobah
Bit of copyediting I should've done before hitting the post button.

[ljkeane]

Yeah, I disagree on that one. One of the things I like most about the Peter Grant books is the way Aaronavitch subverts the usual expectations of the urban fantasy genre. A lot of urban fantasy is very, er, American, I suppose, with the focus on a sort of rugged individualism and lone wolf figures getting the job done in the face of overwhelming odds. I like that Peter is working in an institutional setting and there's a cooperative approach to solving the various issues. I also quite like that not everything is a big apocalyptic problem.

[Maia]

42 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

 I like that Peter is working in an institutional setting and there's a cooperative approach to solving the various issues. I also quite like that not everything is a big apocalyptic problem.

Couldn't agree more. Underdogs "up against forces far beyond themselves",  managing to win in the nick of time, flying by the seat of their pants, have been massively overdone in urban fantasy (and genre in general). Oh and somehow, they can at most only have a couple of friends and/or romantic interests by their side, while people who should have actually been competent to help deal with the crisis are never available or interested for reasons. 

Case in point - I have recently torn through the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka. Now, there is a lot to like, although the influence of The Dresden Files, Harry Potter, Babylon 5 and Star Wars is maybe a little too obvious. But the whole - "what if the Sith/Shadows have a point because  you can only rely on yourself and any kind of societal organization/legal framework is actually  as bad or worse than straightforward "might makes right"?" edginess grows rather tiresome. Also, the worldbuilding  doesn't make sense and seems to exist just to screw with the protagonist. On the plus side, the main character has fresh and cool powers, which he uses in interesting ways, writing is decent, no intrusive male gaziness, etc.  Might be up your alley @Poobah.

[dog-days]

I thought the female characters were pretty disappointing in the Alex Verus series, and have a bit of an ick reaction to some of the author's comments on his blog. The books were fun reads when I went through them in lockdown, starting on them as audio-book then jumping to Kindle when they ran out. At the same time, I find that I like them less and less in retrospect. (And having said all that, I'll still be buying the first instalment in Jacka's next series when it appears this autumn.) 

Re: Aaronovitch. I enjoy the collaborative nature of the books, though I do think the author's conscientiousness about checking in on the regulars has been causing plot bloat. I liked the What Abigail Did That Summer spin-off novella more than a lot of the most recent Peter books since it felt like more of a real adventure. Fingers crossed Aaronovitch will engineer some ways to put our hero in situations of more than just very mild hazard in future. ETA: Terry Pratchett managed it with Vimes. 

Re: the Met. I imagine that the reality of it is very patchy with a few teams being almost as good as the RoL ones, others being nests of snakes and most in-between. No evidence, just based on my experience of moving through a lot of different jobs and seeing how different the atmosphere/organisational culture of places within the same sector could be. 

I don't think the RoL books go in for realist depictions of the non-fantastical aspects of London, or are interested in being driven by social issues. (Or more of the characters would be sharing poky flats and working as cycle couriers on top of their full-time jobs). For me, the books always feel like a comfort read. Peter lives in a fantastic apartment and free feasts are laid on at his job every day, then he lives in a fantastic house with a beautiful river goddess lover. So it makes sense that the version of the Met he works with is the best version, not the lousy one we've all been reading about recently. Lesley's character is at least a nod towards the dark side. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by dog-days

[williamjm]

7 hours ago, ljkeane said:

There's another Rivers of London novella coming out next month. This time featuring the FBI agent from Whispers Underground.

When I first saw the title Winter's Gifts I had assumed that it would feature Tobias Winter, but apparently not.