Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Ten Favorite Urban Fantasy Books Part Two




So here are the others:

Among Others by Jo Walton: A teenage girl who loves science fiction novels and whose twin sister's death was caused by her mad mother, attends a boarding school in England, where the magic she is used to in Wales is scarce.

Tithe by Holly Black: A sixteen-year-old girl learns she's a changeling when the world of faery presents itself in the form of a beautiful elf knight and his weird and dangerous enemies.

Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand: A young woman attends an eccentric college in Washington D.C. and makes two intriguing friends whose fates are entwined with the resurrection of an ancient goddess cult.

Daughter of Hounds by Caitlin Kiernan: A dark fantasy set in New York, this time about a changeling named Soldier, a young woman who is one of the soldiers of the Cuckoo, monsters who abduct human children to serve them. It's also the story of a little girl called Emmie who can see those monsters.

Moonwise by Greer Gilman: In modern England, a young woman named Ariane must rescue her best friend from the otherworldly forest that has drawn her in. A story of friendship told in strange and bewitching prose.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Ten Favorite Urban Fantasy Books: Part One



Okay, picking only ten was difficult and I left out a lot of great ones. These are the books that appeal to me. Not listed are the urban fantasies based on the ballad Tam Lin mentioned in a previous post.

MOONHEART by Charles De Lint
A magic house in Ottawa, Canada is the setting for this fantasy that beautifully mingles Celtic and Native American mythology, as several residents of the house--a folk musician, a police offer, an antique shop owner, and a biker--must face an ancient evil.

WAR FOR THE OAKS by Emma Bull
Eddi, a young woman in a Minneapolis rock band, meets the faery folk, who draft her into a war between the dark and the light courts. She also falls in love with an elusive young man who is an Irish shapechanging faery.

WITCH BABY by Francesca Lia Block
In this series, set in Los Angeles, a girl named Witch Baby grows up with her eclectic family. The descriptive language and the characters are the magic here.

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT by Tanith Lee
16-year-old Hesta runs away from home and takes up residence in a rundown hotel on an English beach. The former resort town has some sinister inhabitants. Then she meets a mysterious man who may be far older than he appears. A weird and lyrical urban fantasy.

EXCEPT THE QUEEN by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
Two fairy sisters are punished by the fairy queen and become elderly mortal women in two different cities. As they try to help a mysterious girl and a lost boy against a malicious Elfin knight who is a tattoo artist, they discover what it is to be human.

Next five. Next time.