The Dresden Files > DF Books
Alternatives While We Wait
LoopyGuru:
I just finished reading The Oversight Trilogy by Charlie Fletcher (The Oversight, The Paradox, The Remnant). Absolutely loved them. Set in London in early 1800's revolving around The Oversight, a group of humans with supernatural abilities who act as a sort of peacekeeping force between the supernatural and normal humans.
Very well written with some very imaginative takes on the genre. Gone straight to the top of my can't wait for the next instalment list, even, at the risk of blasphemy, ahead of Peace Talks. Cannot recommend highly enough.
g33k:
There's also the two series by Laurell K. Hamilton (though I expect most Butcher fans already know of Hamilton, there's probably a few who don't)...
Anita Blake, Vampire hunter (book 1, Guilty Pleasures)
It's a magic-is-out-and-public setting, rather than the hidden-magic of Dresden Files; there's still a lot of secret stuff, and stuff that the supernaturals by consensus agree it's better the Muggles not know.
Anita raises zombies for a living, generally for a brief (usually 1-night) purpose such as giving legal testimony, secret financial info, or other critical data only the departed knew. She also has one of the few licenses to execute vampires, so she gets called in by law-enforcement when a rogue vamp (and other supernatural threat) is on the loose.
The series drifts over time. The protagonist (Anita Blake) starts as a relative lightweight (like Harry) but ramps up in power such that by late in the series she has people -- well, monsters -- from all over the world who are variously admiring, afraid, etc. She begins even weaker than Harry, supernaturally speaking. By late in the series, she has (within her sphere) even more power than Harry does.
It also drifts in the romantic/relationship issue: the early books seem to be developing a cliche'd "thwarted love triangle" scenario, where Anita is being courted by a vampire AND a werewolf... but Nobody's Getting Any. By late in the series, she's Getting So Much, it's a problem in the rest of her life... and Hamilton doesn't draw a polite curtain, either: some early fans complain the series has "devolved into full-on porn." Well... no. I've read one porn novel, because I made myself. I tried to pick a "good" one with plot and characterization &c (it actually wasn't bad, though there were a few pretty contrived and unbelievable bits, to get moar S3X! into the book); however the least well-plotted and character-driven of the Anita Blake series was better (and had less sex) than that novel had... so, not porn (imho). Still, the tone of the series drifts a lot, from the police-proceedural/detective/semi-horror early on, to decidedly erotic-fiction/detective/semi-horror later; if explicit sex in the novels is an issue for you, stop reading Anita at book 5 (Bloody Bones).
Then there's the Merry Gentry series (book 1, A Kiss of Shadows)
Also an overt-magic (instead of hidden-magic) setting; also one where despite being "in the open" there's lots of "only the insiders know" magical secrets. Also sex. This one BEGINS with quite a bit of overt sex, and ramps up, so reader beware (or eagerly seek it out, if that's your thing)... one other point about the sex in this series -- it's often important to plot and character issues, so you can't always "skim ahead" if you dislike those bits. It moves smoothly along to another Reverse Harem series like Anita Blake (but sooner).
Reading both series, and many of those curtain-not-drawn details, I'm honestly left feeling a bit uncomfortably-voyeuristic about the author's own erotic fantasy life, and how her actual love-life has proceeded over the past decade or two (and she has "come out" to her fans about some of those details, enough for me to suspect I'm right about many more).
Merry (Meredith) is literally a faerie princess -- her dad was the Unseelie Queen's brother, she herself is nominally 2nd in line for the throne (after her cousin, the Queen's son). The faeries are mostly European-descended, exiled from Europe after WWII, where they were involved in the war and so fearsome that the European peace-treaty kicked out both Seelie & Unseelie courts, who came to settle in the USA (under threat of banishment if they behave badly again).
Merry is living in disguise, hidden among mortals (she's part mortal herself), because the Queen hates her, and (as a half-mortal) so do many other courtiers; after a duel almost killed her, she realized she wasn't safe (the duels would continue until she died), so she went into hiding.
Early in the 1st novel, her cover is broken. She is summoned back "home," with promises of protection. This is another one where the protagonist's power ramps up as the series progresses; but it ramps up much faster. As the series opens, her only substantive power is "Glamour" -- she can cast tremendously effective personal disguise magic, but not do much more than that. She gets a big powerup early in the first novel, and generally gets more and more throughout the series. By late in the series, she's up to world-spanning power (not entirely under her control) bordering on demi-goddess-hood.
Arjan:
That was the first urban fantasy I read but I stopped after obsidian butterfly. The books changed after that one.
Navis:
I'm currently looking forward to the completion of the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks that will be released 9/Oct/2019. The first book in the series is The Black Prism. This is more of a fantasy based series but does take an interesting spin on the way magic works and is powered.
For Urban fantasy
Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews is a 10 book series that is finished. The first book in the series is Magic Bites It is a world magic and technology "take turns " being in charge of the world and the books take place during a time when the world is swinging back towards magic. This isn't a smooth swing though so it fluctuates between the two during the series making for some interesting situations. Kate is something like an investigator at the beginning of the series and after reading both series I think that Kate and Harry would be friends and booth have the same snarky attitude. Also The way vampires are depicted in this series i thought was pretty cool and original.
Mercy Thompson series is an ongoing series by Patricia Briggs. The first book in the series is Moon Called. The world this series takes place in is pretty much mundane. Mercy is a mechanic that owns her own little garage in a small town. She has the ability to turn into a coyote. She has a vampire as a friend and lives down the road from a pack of werewolves.
Regenbogen:
--- Quote from: Navis on October 20, 2019, 06:04:18 PM ---Mercy Thompson series is an ongoing series by Patricia Briggs. The first book in the series is Moon Called. The world this series takes place in is pretty much mundane. Mercy is a mechanic that owns her own little garage in a small town. She has the ability to turn into a coyote. She has a vampire as a friend and lives down the road from a pack of werewolves.
--- End quote ---
I agree. Love those.
I'm currently slowly re-reading all the Dresden Files with other books in between. Like Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series (including graphic novels). Also I like Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson" and the spin-of "The Trials of Apollo".
Not so long ago I have been reading and re-reading the " Alex Verus"- series by Benedict Jacka. Very nice. Especially the protagonist's character development. There was the new book "Fallen" out in October.
After that I am planning to read the " Hellequin Chronicles" by Steve McHugh. Those have been recommended to me, but I still haven't read them.
I still haven't read Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and Good Omens either.
... Oh dear. I really can't complain, I have nothing to read. ;)
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