I thought since we are all hunkered down all over the world that this might be a good time to dive into a new series.
What is urban fantasy? Simply put, it's a subgenre of fantasy. Most usually, it's fantasy that is set in a cityscape. The "urban" in urban fantasy. It can be set in a modern city or even an alternate city in the modern world. There are typically strong tropes such as the hard-boiled hero of noir, gritty action, and/or a procedural style plot. Magic, supernatural creatures, and mystery play a big part in urban fantasy. Sometimes, urban fantasy can also be dark, even bordering on horror.
Sometimes it's hard to determine a book is urban fantasy or paranormal romance, but while urban fantasy can have romantic elements, it usually takes a backseat to the action. I enjoy urban fantasy over paranormal romance. While I don't mind some romance, I don't want it to be all consuming.
If you are looking to binge some urban fantasy series, these are my top 10 recommendations!
Kate Daniels by Illona Andrews
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Books in series - 10
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Book 1 - Magic Bites
The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.
Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for magic… One moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters. Here skyscrapers topple under onslaught of magic; werebears and werehyenas prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds. In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, she must choose to do nothing and remain safe or to pursue his preternatural killer. Hiding is easy, but the right choice is rarely easy…
Felix Castor by Mike Carey
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Books in series - 5
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Book 1 - The Devil You Know
Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stamping ground. It may seem like a good ghost buster can charge what he likes and enjoy a hell of a lifestyle--but there's a risk: Sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him.
While trying to back out of this ill-conceived career, Castor accepts a seemingly simple ghost-hunting case at a museum in the shadowy heart of London - just to pay the bills, you understand.
But what should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize. That's OK: Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It's the living who piss him off...
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
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Book 1 - Storm Front
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever. There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks.
So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.
Magic - it can get a guy killed.
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
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Book 1 - Moon Called
She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy's next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a bus for a vampire.
This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy's connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water...
The Hollows by Kim Harrison
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Books in Series - 14
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Book 1 - Dead Witch Walking
Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.
A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead... or undead.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
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Book 1 - Sandman Slim
Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero in Sandman Slim, star of this gripping, gritty new series by Richard Kadrey.
Life sucks and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.
Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.
Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.
Darkly twisted, irreverent, and completely hilarious, Sandman Slim is the breakthrough novel by an acclaimed author.
October Daye by Seanan McGuire
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Book 1 - Rosemary and Rue
October "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...
The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.
Greywalker by Kat Richardson
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Book 1 - Greywalker
Harper Blaine was your average small-time P.I. until a two-bit perp's savage assault left her dead for two minutes. When she comes to in the hospital, she sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring.
But Harper's not crazy. Her "death" has made her a Greywalker- able to move between the human world and the mysterious cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new gift is about to drag her into that strange new realm-whether she likes it or not.
Hunter Kiss by Marjorie M. Liu
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Book 1 - The Iron Hunt
Silver smoke winds around my torso, peeling away from my ribs and back, stealing the dark mist covering my hands and lower extremities...tattoos dissolving into demon flesh, coalescing into small dark bodies. My boys. The only friends I have in this world. Demons.
I am a demon hunter. I am a demon. I am Hunter Kiss.
By day, her tattoos are her armor. By night, they unwind from her body to take on forms of their own--demons of the flesh, turned into flesh. This is the only family demon hunter Maxine Kiss has ever known. It's the only way to live, and the very way she'll die. For one day her demons will abandon her for her daughter to assure their own survival--leaving Maxine helpless against her enemies.
But such is the way of Earth's last protector--the only one standing between humanity and the demons breaking out from behind the prison veil. It is a life lacking in love, reveling in death, until one moment--and one man-- changes everything...
Terra Vane by Katie Epstein
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Books in series 7+
Kindle Unlimited (all except book 3) |
Book 1 - Death Be Blue
My name is Terra, and I’m a Psychic. Strange, you might think, but in a world of vampires, shifters and supernaturals of all kinds, I’m not so weird—in fact, it’s my job to protect them. As an Enforcer Field Agent, I work alongside my cute boss’s annoying younger brother, a wolf shifter called Kaleb. Together we hunt down the most dangerous criminals of all, but it isn’t easy. My visions are my only weapon, and they don’t keep a schedule.
We’re on the tail of a psycho, a cannibalistic serial killer worse than any I’ve seen. We’re close now, but something about this case just doesn’t feel right. There’s a darkness approaching, but even with my gifts I can’t see past it, and if we’re not ready, I fear there might not be a future for any of us.
My review here
So there you go! A lot of these are extremely popular series but I hope I shared at least one you haven't tried yet!
