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Good Urban Fantasy

Discussion in 'Books and Anime Discussion' started by Invictus, Aug 8, 2013.

  1. Invictus

    Invictus Master of Death

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    So, I'm very interested in this genre, but it's suprisingly hard to find good ones. I already have Dresden Files( read the first 6, too big to read quickly) and just got the Iron Druid Chronicles. Please, modern urban fantasy only. If you could say a little about the book and why you think it's good, I would really appreciate it.
     
  2. J22

    J22 Seventh Year

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    Check out the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka. Very similar to Dresden files. There's even a small reference to Dresden at one point. It's well written, has good action and kept me entertained.
     
  3. Anarchy

    Anarchy Half-Blood Prince DLP Supporter

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    Southern Vampire Mysteries. Yes, this is a serious recommendation. The final book (#13) was released a few months ago. The first half of the series is really good, with the best being book 7 in my opinion, while the second half slowly goes downhill. It's a bit of a wishfulfilment by a 60 year old woman, but it's intriguing enough with actual plot and character development, and some pretty badass characters, if you can just ignore the occasional eye-rolling moment. And just to get it out of the way, its TV adaption is awful (trueblood) and completely jumps ship after the third season.

    It's no Dresden Files, but I wouldn't say DF is perfect either. The two series both have some problems, with DF having a lot of fan service annoyances in the later books, since both series have increased in population quite a lot over the last few years. If only HBO picked up Dresden Files instead... how fucking epic would that be.
     
  4. Joe

    Joe The Reminiscent Exile ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter ⭐⭐⭐

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  5. Aekiel

    Aekiel Angle of Mispeling ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    If I had any thumbs to give, you'd have them.

    As an aside, typing with no thumbs is difficult.
     
  6. Khortez

    Khortez Third Year

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    How do you use your thumbs to type?
     
  7. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    SPACE BAAAAAAAAR
     
  8. Invictus

    Invictus Master of Death

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    I'm interested Joe, I loved your fics, but since I live in a Third World Country, it's prohibitively expensive to buy from online bookstores, and even if I could, i would need an international credit card, something that a poor student like me can't have. But I can ask a friend to buy the ebook for me, I never used amazon so I need to ask, is the ebook kindle esclusive ?

    Thanks J22, gonna check that.

    Lord Anarchy, I've watched True Blood, while no GoT at all, I liked it, well I liked some seasons, and when I heard about the books I was interested. I will give it a shot, thanks to series it's really easy to find them, even here in Braziland.
     
  9. TheWiseTomato

    TheWiseTomato Prestigious Tomato ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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  10. KaiDASH

    KaiDASH Auror DLP Supporter

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    You can read kindle ebooks on your computer with the kindle pc application or on the web reader at read.amazon.com
     
  11. Invictus

    Invictus Master of Death

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    Thanks a lot. Gonna see if I can buy it.
     
  12. Betosa

    Betosa Third Year

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    You can try Zero Sight and it's sequel by B.Justin Shier.
     
  13. Klackerz

    Klackerz Bridgeburner

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    I read a book called Libriomancer by Jim C Hines recently. It was good. It's kinda similar to Joe's book. In it the magic involves taking any item which can exist inside the book. The second book came out last week which I have not yet read.

    I guess you can call Bartimaeus Trilogy a urban fantasy since it's set in a Earth where magic has existed and has been in use since ancient times. These books are awesome and a very fun read.

    Midnight Riot is the first book in a series of police procedural novels set in London. It's on my to-read list.

    Garret PI by Glen Cooks is a series of books about a private detective in a fantasy world.
     
  14. Bill Door

    Bill Door The Chosen One DLP Supporter

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    The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. The story of a junior magician called in the Night Watch, an basically a type of police force for Others (magical people). It's a trilogy and each book is split into three seperate stories that have an overarching plotline.
     
  15. Brukel

    Brukel Groundskeeper DLP Supporter

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    Second the rec for the Night Watch books. There's a fourth one as well, not quite as good as the previous three but still really enjoyable.
     
  16. Shinysavage

    Shinysavage Madman With A Box ~ Prestige ~

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    The fourth in this series has just come out, at least in the UK. They're rather good, although I've found they don't quite stick in the mind as well as, say, Dresden. They're not quite as action packed as the cover and title might suggest - Midnight Riot is the American name; most other places it's simply called 'Rivers of London'. Quite funny though, and pretty smart.

    Also set in London, there's the Matthew Swift series, by Kate Griffin. These are seriously good; darker and weirder than the Peter Grant books, and in terms of world-building at least probably more inventive than Dresden. The magic system is one of the best I've come across.
     
  17. Aekiel

    Aekiel Angle of Mispeling ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Great stories, but different to Dresden in a big way. Go in expecting more police, less wizard.
     
  18. Invictus

    Invictus Master of Death

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    So many interesting suggestions, too little money. And goddamn, you europeans and americans are so damn lucky, here in Brazil books are very difficult to find and over priced, a new book the size of HP SS is 30 dollars, minimum. No good book is less than 25 dollars.

    But the main problem is not the price, is how little is avaible, ebook commerce is new here, started last year, and only "pop" shit like twilight and copycats or equally shitty self-help books gets translated or published. And since I live in a more rural state, like Texas, but with less universities and more country singers, the bookstores here are utter shit. They don't have Dresden Files, or Discworld, and they only have some books by Neil G., and we only got Tolkien after the movies came out, just LOTR, the others we had to wait for the Hobbit movie.

    See why I have to bother you guys? I have no options, or I ask you and buy ebooks online or Pirate Bay. It's really sad. Sorry for the long unrelated post, it's just that I love reading, and is just so damn frustrating that I have to do all this just to get a good book. Ad I won't even start on the non-existent national books.

    Sorry for soundimg like such a whiny bithc, and thanks a lot for these incredible recommendations.
     
  19. Aekiel

    Aekiel Angle of Mispeling ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I'd suggest importing then. I assume Portuguese is still spoken in Portugal, which might get you some better books than the ones currently available to you.
     
  20. kostigan

    kostigan Temporarily Banhammered

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    I know how you feel bro, I have the same problem in my shitty corner of the world. Publishers here only recently issued Storm front for the first time. Realy keeping up with the rest of the world.

    My contribution to the thread - Felix Castor series, by Mike Carey

    Here we have a blend of mystery/noir and paranormal/occult. Main character is an exorcist/private detective in a world where the dead stoped 'crossing over' (aproximatly 40-50 years ago) and started returning as ghosts, zombies and werewolves (not the usual type). It's not an undead apocalypse scenario (at least not for now). Oh and there's also demons.

    It's quite a bit darker then The Dresden Files (hint: Satanists, human trafficking etc.).
     
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