The best thing about connecting with hundreds of urban fantasy lovers on Tor.com Urban Fantasy Facebook and Twitter? Book recommendations! I asked the Tor.com Facebook Urban Fantasy followers to give their best “If you like X, you should try Y” urban fantasy recommendations.
For example, if you like Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series, you should try Nicole Peeler’s Jane True series
Here are more that we came up with:
If you like Patricia Briggs you should try Carrie Vaughn
Patricia Briggs fans, especially of her Mercy Thompson series, should also check out Richelle Mead’s Georgina Kincaid series.
Fans of Kim Harrison should try Jaye Wells (and vice versa).
If you like the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, you may want to try Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau Family series.
Being intrigued by Jeaniene Frost also makes you susceptible to Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters series.
Admirers of Bitten by Kelley Armstrong, tended to also like Stray by Rachel Vincent
If you like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, be sure to try Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series.
Similarly, if you like Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, you should try Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series.
Or DD Barant’s Bloodhound Files series.
If you like Strange Angels by Lili St.Crow, you should try Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton.
Fans of Jeri Smith-Ready’s WVMP series might also appreciate C.E. Murphy’s Negotiator trilogy.
Finally, if you like Kraken by China Mieville, you might like A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin.
Thanks to johnnie_cakes, Shelley Romano, Andy Lawler, Ju Lee, Tiffany Smith, Bella Franco, Majda Čolak, Stephanie King, Mary Whitener, and everyone onTor.com Urban Fantasy Facebook and Twitter for all the suggestions. Have a “if you like X, you should try Y” urban fantasy recommendation? Let us know in the comments.
Abigail Johnson manages the Tor.com Urban Fantasy Facebook and Twitter accounts and loves engaging with readers about paranormal fiction and pop culture. Need a good UF/PNR/Paranormal YA recommendation or have one to share? Hit her up @tordotUF.
If you like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, try Anton Strout’s Simon Canderous series (starting with Dead to Me).
My biggest pet peeve about urban fantasy is that you never know if what you are about to read is a romance novel. My wife and I love Butcher and Briggs. She has read Andrews. I am currently flying through Green. I handed her Kane and she threw it right back and said it seemed to be more romance.
I understand Urban Fantasy is a very broad genre that can encompass those elements, but for those of us that read mainly Sci-Fi and Fantasy, this is a very off putting sub-genre. A simple statement that it is Urban Fantasy/Romance would solve things immediately. I won’t buy a UF book unless it is someone I have read before just because I am sick of wasting money on something that should have been mentioned from the start.
The romantic element that Mercedes and Adam have, or Dresden and Murphy dance around, is one thing. Anything that goes like “As Vlad came towards me with his ripped shirt, and his gleaming muscles, my loins quaked”…. Definately crossed the line into another genre that seems like they are trying to dupe people.
End of my rant.
I really like Nicole Peeler’s Jane True series, but I can’t stand Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books. For some reason Sookie really annoys me as a first person narrator, while Jane doesn’t.
I run an “If You Like…” feature on Vampire Book Club, because I love these kinds of recommendations. While some of ours are paranormal romance or YA paranormal suggestions, I’d highly suggest fans of Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts read Carolyn Crane’s Disillusionist books (first one is Mind Games) and vice versa.
(Though, I should admit when I posted the Downside/Disillusionist If You Like it somehow sparked Kane and Crane to have their heroines hypothetically duke it out.)
@elketra – Thanks. I definitely see the similarities.
@StarTide – I hear a lot of that same type of frustration from readers. The genre line is blurring more and more and it can be difficult to find the more tradtional UF titles. Have you tried Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series? Or maybe Sonya Bateman’s Gavon Donatti books? The Charlie Madigan series by Kelly Gay is also light on romance (it does pick up in later books though). I also think Kane’s series is more dark UF than romance IMO. The ‘romantic subplot’ is really a small part of that series.
@erinlb – I’ve not had huge sucess with either series personally, but I’m thinking about starting over with Sookie.
@chelsea – I love that feature! And I’m a big fan of both Kane and Crane too (although the names in Crane’s series always throw me…Cubby and Otto?)
Startide – Garrett PI is arguably UF and not romance, and Ben Aaronovitch has a nice pair of books Midnight Riot/Rivers of London (US/UK titles) and Moon Over Soho that are UF but sufficiently masculine.
I feel like a big problem in Urban Fantasy is the line between UF and Paranormal Romance. A lot of book stores just sort of toss the books on the shelves at random (including having half the series in one place, and half in another some times). I can’t see any real solution to this, at least not until UF and PNR get their own shelves instead of being scattered through Fantasy, Scifi, and Romance.
@abigail – Otto as a love interest is hard to picture. And the dude wears a cape. Still, love her world-building.
I agree with Startide. That’s actually why I avoid anything described as Urban Fantasy. I won’t read one unless someone I know had read it and can tell me it isn’t romance.
@abigail – Thanks for the mention !
I agree with Ramenth, that the major barrier to finding new authors is where the books fit in the PNR/UF spectrum. Few (save Ilona Andrews and earlier Kim Harrison) to a great job of sitting in the middle. I joked on Facebook that I wish books came with a scale measuring where they ‘sat’.
I don’t think it’s a new observation, but I find the difference is simple. UF is plot-driven with interesting relationships. PNR is relationship-driven with interesting plot.
If you liked C. E. Murphy’s Walker Papers (starting with Urban Shaman) you will probably like Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series (starts with Skinwalker.) I do know they like each others’ books.
How about something for people who liked Kat Richardson’s Greywalker?
Anyone have recommendations for those of us who prefer/are stuck on the UF of Emma Bull and Charles de Lint? (And some of Borderland…) Have read several of the authors mentioned above, and just cannot really get into them, though I will grab the latest from Jim Butcher from the library.
Seanan McGuire (seanan.mcguire.com) writes TERRIFIC fae fantasy which really feels Emma Bullish (with a dash of Brust).
@glinda
John Crowley – Little, Big (1981)
Elizabeth Hand – Waking the Moon (1994)
Patricia McKillip – Something Rich and Strange (1994)
Sean Stewart – Resurrection Man (1995)
Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere (1996)
China Mieville – King Rat (1998)
Peter S. Beagle – Tamsin (1999)
Nina Kiriki Hoffman – A Fistful of Sky (2002)
Guy Gavriel Kay – Ysabel (2007)
Andrew Lawler:
Oh, yes. Luckily, the library has her books, but I’m scouting for them second-hand, they’re definitely in the “I’m going to need to reread” category.
Malazan:
Thank you. Spot on for most of those.
I bounced off the Crowley, twice; not sure why. Still haven’t found a copy of the Stewart, though I’ve read and liked others of his.
Beagle and Kay are “buy in hardcover even if I really can’t afford it” authors, as is Gaiman. I guess I hadn’t classifed them as urban fantasy, more as authors whose work is sui generis (ditto Bull and De Lint).
I’ve read and liked everything by McKillip (my favorite is her SF Fool’s Run) and Hoffman. The others, I’ve liked as well.
@glinda:
I would suggest McKinley’s Sunshine.
A bit off the beaten path and similar, but different would be Connie Willis To Say Nothing of the Dog.
Jeri-Smith Ready’s works feel almost Emma Bull-ish, especially the vampire series.
Magical realism with a hint of romance and southern charm are books by Sarah Addison Allen.
Urban fantasy fans should try Yasmine Galenorn’s kickass Sisters Of The Moon series, and the Indigo Court series that follows it. Great stuff!
If you like “A Madness of Angels”, you should read definitely read “Sandman Slim”.
I’ll second MistyMassey’s suggestion, with the note that while both of those books fall firmly into Urban Fantasy, neither one has much at all to do with Paranormal Romance.
“A Madness of Angels” would probably also work well for Charles de Lint fans.
If you like Kim Harrisons Hallows series try Jocelyn Drakes Dark Days series,
SAVEWHEN DOES THE LINE BETWEEN A REMOVABLE WHEN PIPE GET KNOWLEDGE? I’M HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME OF ABOUT A THIRD OF THE BOOKS MENTIONED, BUT ONLY BECAUSE I READ HALF OF EACH AND SLEPT THE REST? IT WAS A GOOD OCCASION THOUGH FOR MYSELF. THANKS AUTHOR
I, too, am suffering from the frustration of looking for urban fantasy with a touch of romance, and instead getting an insipid bodice-ripper. It’s a relief to see others here feeling the same way. I love Mercy and can even enjoy Cat and Bones, but I tried Highlander by Karen Marie Moning and you’ve got to be kidding me. A lot of the suggestions here look promising, many I haven’t read (yay!).
If you like Dresden Files, how about the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Or the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia.
I also just enjoyed The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty.
And on the more romanc-y side [but not too bad], the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones.
If you like Laurel K. Hamiltons early Anita Blake novels, you’ll love Shannon Mayer’s The Rylee Adamson Novels; PRICELESS (The Rylee Adamson Novels, Book 1). Book 5 in the series releases on Nov. 21st.
This series has also been comared to: Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison and Ilona Andrews.
These books are paranormal urban fantasy with a touch of romance and a kick butt heroine. Highly addictive.
If you like Jim Butcher you’ll love Kevin Hearne.
if you like Jim Butcher you may also like John Conroe.
I’ve read all of the kate daniels series and I’m halfway through the first novel of the unholy ghost series and i have to say this is a terrible pairing. The character in this novel is ….intersting, don’t get me wrong, but as a huge fan of kate daniels jumping from that series to this is just so not what i was looking for.
Maybe if i had picked this book up without the pairing….perhaps i could have like the book more, but just no.
Guys, can I just say – the Georgina Kincaid series is the worst piece of “paranormal fantasy” I’ve ever read. The villains are predictable, the only twists that are really twist your head are the ones in Georgina’s love life and that too is not the best I’ve ever read. In fact, the best that I can say of Seth )her primary love interest) is that I don’t hate him. I mean, she might as well be in love with a blowup doll. Please do read the series before you recommend them. This was neither urban/paranormal fantasy or a romance, especially compared to Kate Daniels or Mercy Thompson.
Please refrain from reading this series – you’ll never get that time back.
I’m quite frustrated looking for book series. My favorites are Dresden, Iron Druid, Nightside, Mercy, Sandman Slim, Verus. (I loathed Harrison’s the Hollows, Wilkes World of Lupi, and an OMG for my wasted time on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time). A little off genre, I liked N K JEmisin, Justin Cronin. I’m a fan of dystopian and post apacolyptic.
Is there something out there that is a consensus on MUST READ? Seems like Ilona Andrews maybe? I feel like a lot of people on this page that has burned time and dollars on unsatisfying books. I’d like someone to say “Hey dummy. I can’t believe you haven’t read…!” Thanks.
Jesus, but those are some god awful book covers. Talk about attack of the bland and the triumph of the generic. Only the China Mieville and Nicole Peeler books really stand out.
Publishers need to start putting some effort back into their cover art, because right now whoever came up with those is really doing their authors a grand disservice.
I’ve got to say, I was surprised the Kitty books were paired with Briggs. I’ve never been so annoyed with a lead character as with Kitty, I read 1 and a half of the books and I just didn’t have the patience to see if it got better. Love Briggs anything, especially Mercy and the Alpha&Omega stuff, so it seems odd to me that the Kitty books are paired with them.
Also, no Nahlini Singh?
If you enjoyed Desden Files and/or Kate Daniels, you will probably enjoy the Hunter Kiss books by Marjorie M Liu
If you like Dresden Files, Jackaby, October Daye, InCryptid, or Generation V, you should read Iron Druid Chronicles. And vice versa, probably. I’ve never personally read Dresden Files, and I found Generation V to be less “fun and funny” than it’s said to be when I read it soon after finishing the exceedingly funny Iron Druid.
You should read A Fable of Tonight, by Mike Resnick, if you like…um, I don’t know what to compare the series to, as fantastic noir of the hilarious parody variety in a zany “alternate Manhattan.” Maybe a bit like Discworld, but far less serious..
I would recommend the lesser known but equally complex and kickass Kit Colbana (J.C Daniels) if you enjoyed Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews), Mercy Thompson (Patricia Briggs) and Jane Yellowrock (Faith Hunter).
I tried the first disillusionist book mentioned above which is positively super. Except that a huge percent is devoted to romance and descriptions of how sexy are the guys and a whole lot of hard core sex. Even so, it’s incredibly well done and I recommend it to women readers who are into that sort of thing. I’m more of a fan of Jane Yellowrock who can tool around on a motorcycle and whale on the bad vamps.
Would F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack fit into this paean to urban fantasy? I think it’s something the Dresden fans could enjoy.