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Xtanstic posted:Yeah I enjoyed Verus. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought the succubus girlfriend was laaaame. Seems like I just can't stomach UF a tier below the top grade. I couldn't get into The Laundry Files either. So far I've been listening to Cinder Spires on audiobook and it's not bad. Certainly better than Alera at least. The Laundry Files gets a lot better in the third book. LOL at thinking Cinder Spires is better than even the worst Laundry Files book (Jennifer Morgue).
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Dec 22, 2017 13:10
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Jack B Nimble posted:What's a good "urban" fantasy set in rural America? I want to read a fantasy book in a mundane setting and no city, let alone London, is mundane to me. Eliott James' Pax Arcana series takes place in a rural - or at least small town -setting in several books. It's also very good, despite the lead being a werewolf.
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Dec 22, 2017 13:25
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The Silver John stories by Manly Wade Wellman (actual name of author) are Appalachian rural folk fantasy, but they were written before the big UF boom so they're not well known. I enjoyed them. Ursula Vernon aka T. Kingfisher is writing some really excellent American rural fantasy shorts, some in the Southwest.
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Dec 22, 2017 15:09
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Jack B Nimble posted:What's a good "urban" fantasy set in rural America? I want to read a fantasy book in a mundane setting and no city, let alone London, is mundane to me. Twenty Palaces is sub-urban fantasy. And its sequels all also take place in the 'burbs or small towns, I think. (I haven't read the latest novellas yet, though, so those might change it up.)
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Dec 22, 2017 17:51
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Thanks for all the recommendations! Pitchfork County #1 is apparently free on Amazon (?) so I'm reading it now, but I'm going to keep all these in mind and appreciate the responses.
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Dec 22, 2017 18:05
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Blasphemeral posted:Twenty Palaces is sub-urban fantasy. And its sequels all also take place in the 'burbs or small towns, I think. (I haven't read the latest novellas yet, though, so those might change it up.) Pretty sure one of the (terrible) fights take place on a skyscraper in the second book of the series (first written, not the prequel).
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Dec 22, 2017 20:39
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Decius posted:Eliott James' Pax Arcana series takes place in a rural - or at least small town -setting in several books. It's also very good, despite the lead being a werewolf. Not everyone thinks so. I still haven't made it past half way in the first book. Terrible writing.
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Dec 22, 2017 21:30
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torgeaux posted:Not everyone thinks so. I still haven't made it past half way in the first book. Terrible writing. There are spots of it where it's a little rough, but call me curious. What makes you think it's terrible?
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Dec 22, 2017 22:51
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The Laundry Files gets a lot better in the third book. Eh Cinder is pretty average but I guess Butcher has a lot of built-in goodwill with me. I believe you guys when you say Laundry Files gets better (and bleaker) in later books but on my first read I couldn't get past the unevenness of book 1. It's probably gonna get a second chance down the line for me.
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Dec 23, 2017 01:16
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Khizan posted:I also feel like the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey hits most of the same notes as the Daniel Faust series does, only better in basically every single way. The big difference between Castor and Faust is that Faust spends a lot of time waffling between dark and light mages and Castor's like "Yup I'm a oval office. Come get some.".
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Dec 23, 2017 01:44
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:There are spots of it where it's a little rough, but call me curious. What makes you think it's terrible? It's trite and cliched in dialogue beyond all reason. It reads like a first novel, and cannot overcome the relatively unoriginal story elements. quote:I did hear something, however. It was the voice of the blonde from the bar, carried on a slight breeze. “I’m a Valkyrie.” torgeaux fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Dec 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2017 02:48
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I find a lot of UF has an awkward start, even if it gets better later. Book 1, especially the first third of it, was pretty rough. Pax Arcana didn't hit that critical mass of awkwardness for me that makes me unable to finish reading it and as i got past the start I stopped caring any more. There's a lot of UF that's just too bad and never stops being cringy, though. The Vesik series, which is inexplicably popular, comes to mind as just extremely bad.
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Dec 23, 2017 10:13
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Khizan posted:I also feel like the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey hits most of the same notes as the Daniel Faust series does, only better in basically every single way. You should read Carey's Hellblazer run if you like the Castor books
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Dec 23, 2017 12:22
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Jack B Nimble posted:What's a good "urban" fantasy set in rural America? I want to read a fantasy book in a mundane setting and no city, let alone London, is mundane to me. I recommend 'The Hum and The Shiver', about redneck elves.
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Dec 23, 2017 13:04
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Xtanstic posted:How's book 2? I listened to the first book and was pretty unimpressed. It felt like it was pretty average UF but it might just be that I need a break from the genre. I disagree with some of what has been said. Book two gets better in that it sets a stage for a longer arc and introduces/fleshes out characters a lot more. I'm halfway through book three and while my socks aren't exactly knocked off, I'm enjoying it and wondering how much further it will ramp up. The books are cheap and it's fun enough so I'll likely go the distance unless it gets really terrible somehow. I'd say that if you're on the fence, give book two a shot. If you aren't feeling it at all, stop. If you're still curious, try book three. Given that I'm only halfways through book three, though, I can only give so much advice. Disclosure: I'm relatively inexperienced with UF, with Repairman Jack being my first series, Sandman Slim my second and Harry Dresden the third. I love all three which may revolt some people. Always up for more recommendations, myself!
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Dec 23, 2017 13:56
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Does Repairman Jack get better? I tried reading a couple books and got turned off by the really dumb negative culture stereotyping.
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Dec 23, 2017 14:56
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anilEhilated posted:Does Repairman Jack get better? I tried reading a couple books and got turned off by the really dumb negative culture stereotyping. It's been years and years since I read them, but I stopped after a couple.
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Dec 23, 2017 15:14
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anilEhilated posted:Does Repairman Jack get better? I tried reading a couple books and got turned off by the really dumb negative culture stereotyping. It's been a while for me but I remember them getting better after the first 2 or 3 which is pretty typical of UF, in my experience. The first few I "read" via audiobooks while working so maybe that's how I got through them? Anyway, I consider it worth it. At the very least, I recommend reading the Adversary Cycle books by the same author, of which the RJ books tie into (after retconning from the originally published books if I'm remembering right) The Adversary Cycle books are essentially the beginning and end of the overarching narrative that Repairman Jack fits into, despite the fact that there are way more Repairman Jack novels than AC novels. It's really weird, I tend to disagree with the consensus of this thread more often than not. I don't know if people are just a bit snobby (no offense, but it happens) or if I'm a bit of an inexperienced schlub when it comes to UF. Maybe a bit of both? I think Sandman Slim is kind of loving great where most see it as average or below average and RJ really entertained me, although it's been a while since I read them and I don't remember much about it. Like I always say, though, anyone who thinks I'm loving stuff that isn't great: I sincerely want recommendations to stuff that you think is top-tier. Maybe I really HAVE been missing out, in which case I want to experience the best the genre has to offer. Mr Scumbag fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Dec 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2017 15:33
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anilEhilated posted:Does Repairman Jack get better? I tried reading a couple books and got turned off by the really dumb negative culture stereotyping. As the series progresses, it moves more towards the villains being domestic and supernatural in nature. I think he even tries to address his earlier Muslim = terrorist, with one of the later books having a guy RJ helps be a programmer who's a Middle Eastern immigrant. His family (wife and son) is kidnapped by what turns out to be just some schlub who use to work with him. Guy got poo poo-canned, and had a serious hate-on for Muslims and decided to target the programmers family. There's other things in that situation that intersect with the over-arching plot because nothing RJ gets involved in (willing or no) ends up as coincidence. His entire life has been manipulated since he was child by otherworldly forces move him in place for the events in Night World. I liked the series, but yeah there were some earlier books with sections that were... problematic. Proteus Jones fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Dec 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2017 15:46
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Proteus Jones posted:As the series progresses, it moves more towards the villains being domestic and supernatural in nature. Now that you mention that, I remember the same. I dunno how stringent this thread is about spoilers, but the bit after your tagged part is still pretty spoiler-y. I doubt many will care, but it's a pretty big revelation that happens pretty far into the series, relatively? Mr Scumbag fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Dec 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2017 15:53
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Mr Scumbag posted:Now that you mention that, I remember the same. Yeah. I spoiled that last sentence. I can't do anything with the quote in yours though, so you may want to edit it.
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Dec 23, 2017 15:55
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Proteus Jones posted:Yeah. I spoiled that last sentence. I can't do anything with the quote in yours though, so you may want to edit it. Thanks! Done and done!
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Dec 23, 2017 15:56
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Khizan posted:I also feel like the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey hits most of the same notes as the Daniel Faust series does, only better in basically every single way. Reasons I really like the Castor books: - Carey is a good writer and his prose is a cut above. There's some rough spots where the execution is not great, but for the most part it's clear he has that Chandler tone in mind and is able to get most of the way there. - The premise is rote (PI noire, but with a guy hired to stamp out ghosts) but almost immediately he flips that on its head and starts ramping up the existential internal conflict in a convincing way. - Castor has a pretty lovely ability; he can play a flute to exorcise ghosts. That's it. His power doesn't ramp up, he's not great at fighting or anything else, he's just kind of a drunken rear end in a top hat with a weird superpower that's in demand. - Juliet is actually a cool succubus character and her interactions with Castor kinda darkly funny. - Castor deals with demons and ghosts and zombies, but the worst people in the books are always the humans. Humans are really evil and lovely. Even Castor's allies. Butcher tries to write that sort of thing with Marcone and fails miserably, but there's no such issue here. It's not really gory but it doesn't flinch from the dark stuff. Everything feels really grimy and yucky like you're dredging the depths of human nature.
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Dec 23, 2017 23:06
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The fourth Faust book is way better than the first three, because that's where it becomes a heist series instead of a regular UF series with lower power heroes It also has a great Dresden joke about reanimating Sue
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Dec 25, 2017 02:01
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Book four is where the Faust series really finds its legs. I've told friends to just read White Gold Score then skip to book four. I don't think the first three are terrible (I mean, I read them and kept going), but you can really see Schaefer starting to figure out his mistakes and find his footing with each book. (He's also been pretty candid in interviews about the ways he thinks he hosed up early on, and how he thinks he's still loving up, and how obsessed he is with improving his work and delivering a good story to make his readers happy. He's pretty much SandersonBot 2.0 with depression.)
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Dec 25, 2017 02:49
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Khizan posted:I also feel like the Felix Castor series by Mike Carey hits most of the same notes as the Daniel Faust series does, only better in basically every single way. Theoretically, there's a sixth Castor book in the pipeline. Early this year the author said "yeah I want to do the sixth one still, we'll see" 
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Dec 25, 2017 06:14
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StonecutterJoe posted:Book four is where the Faust series really finds its legs. I've told friends to just read White Gold Score then skip to book four. I don't think the first three are terrible (I mean, I read them and kept going), but you can really see Schaefer starting to figure out his mistakes and find his footing with each book. (He's also been pretty candid in interviews about the ways he thinks he hosed up early on, and how he thinks he's still loving up, and how obsessed he is with improving his work and delivering a good story to make his readers happy. He's pretty much SandersonBot 2.0 with depression.) The fact that the fourth one is basically Oceans Eleven but with magic rules hard Edit the first three chapters of the third, and the rough thrust of the second arc, are wiiiild BENGHAZI 2 fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Dec 25, 2017 |
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Dec 25, 2017 08:21
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I really liked Schaefer's take on the Garden of Eden, I think that's the third book?
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Dec 25, 2017 11:22
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Hey for all of you who listen more than read Furthest Station(Latest Rivers novella) did get an audiobook.
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Dec 25, 2017 14:57
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anilEhilated posted:I really liked Schaefer's take on the Garden of Eden, I think that's the third book? Yeah, that's the third one.
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Dec 25, 2017 16:29
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Since I've plugged it so much in this thread, I thought I'd mention that The Man from the Diogenes Club reprint came out the other day. It doesn't collect every Diogenes universe story but it seems to have all of the ones with Richard Jeperson as the main character.
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Dec 29, 2017 18:20
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Audible has book one of Alex Verus on sale today for five dollars. If you were thinking of checking the series out, there you go.
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Jan 21, 2018 16:19
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Have you guys read any of the assorted series that are gaining popularity where they're urban fantasy but explicitly not the real world? Stuff like the City of Stairs series, which takes place in a sort of 1920s world where the gods were killed but some of their works remain. Or the Craft Sequence where human magic is literally lawyers who wrested control of the cosmos through contract negotiation. The fact that some of these contracts state things like "the air is now fire," and the air listened, doesn't change the fact that magic is legalese. I've recently been through both, and loved them both, but I've been unsure if they should go in this thread or not.
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Jan 25, 2018 01:23
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City of Stairs was a bit of a slow burn but I thought it was pretty good. I read the first Craft book but gave up on the second after a while. I would recommend playing the Choice of games the author of the Craft series made. They’re pretty cool.
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Jan 25, 2018 01:26
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ConfusedUs posted:Have you guys read any of the assorted series that are gaining popularity where they're urban fantasy but explicitly not the real world? I read Flex recently, which has a main character kind of like that. In those, if someone obsesses over something enough like Star Wars or videogames they can do magic which is based on that sort of thing. So videogame people can easily steal cars and run away from the cops, or pull a bazooka out of nowhere. In Flex the main character obsesses over bureaucracy enough that he starts being able to do magic based on paperwork. It makes more sense than I'm explaining, but it isn't bad.
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Jan 25, 2018 01:33
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seaborgium posted:I read Flex recently, which has a main character kind of like that. In those, if someone obsesses over something enough like Star Wars or videogames they can do magic which is based on that sort of thing. So videogame people can easily steal cars and run away from the cops, or pull a bazooka out of nowhere. In Flex the main character obsesses over bureaucracy enough that he starts being able to do magic based on paperwork. It makes more sense than I'm explaining, but it isn't bad. I read that a couple of years ago, it was indeed decent. Fantasy needed an insurance adjuster hero, it just didn’t know it.
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Jan 25, 2018 04:27
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I have not read Flex, but from the snippets I've seen mentioned if you liked that you might also like The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes. The title is tongue in cheek appropriate. Drew also has several other stories that are entertaining, two different supers storyline, and a series where NPCs in D&D-type game become sentient in the world of the game, I don't know it's kind of hard for me to put into words right now.
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Jan 25, 2018 05:51
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The Laundry Files gets a lot better in the third book. Jennifer Morgue was hard to get through and I really wasn't thrilled with book 3 either so I quit entirely. People kept talking about it so I got Equioid and Rhesus Chart from the library and burned through them in 2 days, so I'm now excited to read the rest.
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Jan 25, 2018 06:02
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ConfusedUs posted:Have you guys read any of the assorted series that are gaining popularity where they're urban fantasy but explicitly not the real world? I think they definitely belong in the Urban Fantasy thread. They scratch the UF itch differently than “real world” urban fantasy, but they’re still in that lane. Not to mention that the Gladstone stuff is one of the coolest and most inventive take on magic I’ve read in awhile.
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Jan 25, 2018 09:53
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ConfusedUs posted:Have you guys read any of the assorted series that are gaining popularity where they're urban fantasy but explicitly not the real world? I've read the Craft Sequence up until the last book (though I think another one is coming out soon), but the sequel books just haven't gotten as good as the first one yet, to me. I honestly just couldn't care about some of the characters in the sequels. The stories themselves weren't bad or anything, I just didn't care. If stuff like that is up for inclusion in this thread then the main headline ought to be "Read the Broken Earth series of books and weep that the series is over". Very few new books can top it, except maybe other books by the same author. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jan 25, 2018 |
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Jan 25, 2018 18:37
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