Top Ten Urban Fantasy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Urban Fantasy Books

by Kayla

Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.

Okay, I know this is supposed to be the best books in a particular genre, but most of these are going to be series because they all contribute so much to the story as a whole. Yes, it is cheating, but I do what I want. {{sticks out tongue}}

1. The Hollows Series by Kim Harrison

There is absolutely no way in the world that I could choose just one of these that I like the best. However, I don’t think I liked Black Magic Sanction. (It was one or two books ago that came out a few years ago.) Whichever one it was, it didn’t really impress me.

2. The Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris

Okay, I’ll admit that they start to drag around book 8, but they are amazing up until that point. I know there are a few people that have given up on the series altogether, but I will not leave Eric Northman until the very end. (Maybe you should take a page out of MY book, Sookie.)

3. The Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

I love, love, love some Mercy Thompson! This series is fun, fresh, and you’re not ready to bash the characters heads in, even though book seven is coming along soon. (Okay, I was kind of mad about how something went down in Iron Kissed, but we’re not going there today.)

4. The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series (Book 1-5) by Laurell K. Hamilton

These books are fantastically great, but I had to quit reading them after the sixth book because she turned into a simpering little puppy. It wasn’t necessarily bad or anything, she just stopped being a bad a**. I just lost all respect for her and interest in the series. I was all “blah blah blah” about it and moved on about my business.

5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Mythology + Mystery + Action = Awesome – I’m totally marrying this guy when Amanda Palmer is done playing with him.

6. The Sabina Kane Series by Jaye Wells

This is a very interesting spin on vampire, witch (okay, mage), and [some] werewolf mythology. The world-building is exceptional, and the heroine is one of my favorites. Jaye Wells is not afraid of doing what is necessary to move the series along (I don’t want to spoil anything), and the books are not suffering any sort of blandness because of it.

7. The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

You guys should have known that Atticus O’Sullivan will be on every list that could possibly pertain to anything about that man. He is a hot, 2000 year old Druid on the run from the various pantheons of gods. And he’s hot. {{swoons}} Okay, now that I have that out of the way, I can tell you that it is a great, funny read. Oberon, Atticus’ Irish Wolfhound, is a fantastic sidekick and a fan favorite. However, my heart belongs to Atticus fully. Well, maybe I’d leave him for Perun (see Hammered).

8. Ariel by Steven R. Boyett

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the book on this blog or mine, but this is one of my all-time favorites. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel about a boy and his unicorn. Yep, a unicorn. All of the rules of science suddenly stop working for no apparent reason, and magic takes over. It is a gripping read, and I did a lot of thinking/fantasizing about what I would do if I was faced with the same situation as the characters.

9. The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

This book chronicles the life of Lestat de Lioncourt from his birth in the 1760s to present day (which was the late 1980s when it was written). This is what inspired my love of vampires, and I would one day love to see a cage match between Lestat and Edward. Just sayin’.

10. A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

This book is about suicide victim, Eden, and her struggle to adjust to “life” as a Sider – an individual caught between life and death. She’s fallen in love with a fallen angel, dies, and is thrown into a different world within our own that has a completely new set of rules. Yes, there is some of the teen angst thing going on that I usually detest (passionately), but it works in this dark novel. Awesome. Sauce.