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Are Readers Growing Tired of New Urban Fantasy?

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More.Than.A.Mechanic:
I do feel the market is now saturated with Urban Fantasy...

Spot:
IMO, a lot of average to bad writers have jumped on the UF bandwagon (obviously because it is so wildly popular). This influx of writers and new "bad" books leads to disillusionment for those of us who crave good writing. Take for example some of the books out there that started off as UF (and rather good examples of the genre too) and that have now become an excuse for sleazy OMG-shag-everything-that-moves type of books. I am not going to name any names here, because that would be slamming a particular author/series, but we all know the type. Case in point: look at any UF section in a bookstore and how many people choose to hang out there and you'll have your answer. :)

I don't think people are growing tired of the genre, they are just growing tired of having the same ideas repeated in a similar manner.

Haru:

--- Quote from: Spot on February 11, 2012, 12:00:20 AM ---Case in point: look at any UF section in a bookstore and how many people choose to hang out there and you'll have your answer. :)

--- End quote ---

What you call the UF section is labelled "Vampires" in a lot of bookstores in my area. Gives me the shivers every time I see it. And it is three shelves while original Fantasy is lumped together with Scifi in one. It's madness I tell you. And I agree, that is probably playing a big role in the topic at hand.

synthesis:
I think one of the detriments to urban fantasy has been the whole "pop culture" phenomenon.  All of a sudden, it's the "it" thing, which means, like everything else in pop culture, the market is flooded with a few wonderful authors/books/movies/shows and also a whole lot of crap. 

I don't see the urban fantasy craze dying down all that soon because there are a lot of basic desires it touches on like:
1) immortality--in a society where youth and beauty are celebrated and death feared, urban fantasy gives society a lot of the things they really dream about.
2) magic--not in the sense of "hey, I can do a spell," but in the sense of "hey, there is so much about this world/this universe/this galaxy that we just don't know.  I think urban fantasy appeals to our sense of wonder and awe about just how much we don't know and haven't discovered.  It brings back the idea of possibility in the same way that science does (there's probably a bit of irony there considering the oppositions set up in most fantasy/urban fantasy :P)

Why might urban fantasy be dying?  I'd guess it's the same reason any other book/genre dies.  And that all boils down to writing basics like characters/characterization, setting/world, plot, etc.  --If the reader has nothing to relate to. . .

But then, that's just my opinion, and I am never (okay usually always, but I like my own little fantasy) wrong :D

The Deposed King:

--- Quote from: jeno on January 31, 2012, 10:50:20 PM ---...really?  :-\

What I find weird about this particular stereotype is that it's not even true, historically. Maybe it's a matter of people getting two different concepts (nurturing and healing) mixed up with traditional gender roles. Are women usually mothers? Well, yeah, with the varying degrees of nurturing that tends to involve. But have women, in the past and in the present, usually been healers? No.

Except, apparently, when completely made up magic systems become involved. Then suddenly women are all about the healing.  ::)

--- End quote ---

Would your baloney-a-meter have kicked over if women turned out to be the best/most powerful and most commone fighter varients?

I agree I can't find why most women would be healers in the book anywhere.

The Deposed King

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