This is a new feature I developed where each month we will look at our favorite – the best – series in a genre.
I picked Urban Fantasy to kick off since it is my favorite genre. This also made it the hardest to narrow it down to the 5 series I planned to choose. You will see from my choices I couldn’t narrow it down to 5; I enjoy strong women (characters) in well developed worlds with plenty of action. They also have integrity, intelligence and compassion which allows them to develop a group of oddball friends and allies.
My favorite Urban Fantasy series are (in author alphabetical name order):
Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews The Others by Anne Bishop Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost Jane Yellowrock by Faith Hunter
What are your favorite series?
Vote for your top 3 favorites! You can vote for my favorites or add favorites of your own to the poll.
Then enter the raffflecopter giveaway. The winner will get the first book in the winning series! Open to anyone who can receive an Amazon, B&N ebook or internationally is serviced by Book depository.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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This decision was hard b/ Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost was my introduction into Urban Fantasy and is therefore the reason I discovered my favourite genre, but right now I am all about Ilona Andrews and I absolutely love Kate Daniels!
jessi IKR!?!?! I could have just listed all series by Ilona Andrews for my top 3. But I love others. I also LOVE, LOVE the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs, just as much, maybe more, than Mercy Thompson series. With this being my favorite genre it was hard, difficult, tough, heart-wrenching to narrow it down. i hope you will join us and follow the fun on the Kate Daniels Read-Along we are doing from now until May, also!
My favorites are the Kate Daniels and October Daye series, both for the same main reason (of a long list): a lot of the time these books and in general action/thriller types rely on tearing everything/everyone good from the protagonist’s life to up the tension from book to book, things get darker and the main characters more bitter as the time goes by.
However, these are different: the main characters grow, and add people to their lives, and learn from the mistakes they’ve made, make changes in their lives, have romances past the will-they-won’t-they stages… they feel so real! Plus, all the world-building and mythology is superb, and October Day gets points for a diverse cast, too.
reese, sorry if you haven’t commented before and sometimes even then I have to approve the comment.. I’m trying to figure it out. So I deleted the duplicate
Anyway I would like to read the October Daye series. It’s on my list. One of these days I’ll post another poll of the series like this where I even own some of the books and pick a few to read the whole series. I’m almost up-to-date on the Harry Dresden series. I’m also working on the another series (not UF)
I hope you will join us on the Kate Daniels Read-along over the next few months. I’m surprised about details I had forgotten and I’m enjoying reading it again.,
I think I still have the last KD book to read, but I definitely want to do a re-read before the next release so I’ll definitely join the read-along if I have the time!
Also, from your list I have to try the Jane Yellowrock and Harry Dresden series (I love Mercy T, but didn’t like The Others, and I thiiiink I didn’t like Nighthuntress either, but it was ages ago so I’m not sure it even was that series), so fingers-crossed, heh
I’ve read the October Daye series, and really enjoyed most of it, my only problem with the character is that she throws up all the time, she seems to live on coffee and nothing else, and, even though she’s surrounded by beings who have more magic and more power than she does (and they always swear to protect her) she always ends up saving one or the other of them and nearly killing herself in the process. It just seems odd to me that she’s the only competent warrior in the world.It also seems odd that everyone except her nearest friends hate her with the fire of a thousand suns…why all the hate? It doesn’t make sense.
Yeah, the coffee thing always bugs me too (as does her ‘I’m not going to sleep at all until I’m done with this case’ philosophy). About the other two things, I think she’s meant to have an edge over the rest of the fae because she’s lived in the human world and trained as a human detective, so she picks up on things the others don’t. And the hate, I think it’s because of who her mother is, and also because she’s a changeling (one who always had the favor of the Duke, and still went off to live with humans!).
You raise a good point, I would certainly like to see the people around her have their chance to shine, it’s not like they’re not capable or that it would make her into a damsel in distress!!
deann and reese I can’t comment knowledgeably on the October Daye series since I have yet to read it. But I’m thrilled you are able to discuss it!
Yeah, I figured that some of the hatred had to do with her mother and the fact that she’s a changeling, however, there are other changelings that make appearances throughout the series who don’t get even half as much hatred as she does, and it is well known that her mother hates her, too, so I can’t believe that has such a huge impact on her throughout the fae community. And she is always saving people, finding people, doing good deeds (like killing that minor god who was stealing children) and she still (like Rodney Dangerfield) can’t get “no respect.” And yes, that is a great point, she can hardly be considered a damsel in distress, considering all she’s done by herself to help others. Thanks for the reply! I haven’t met very many people who have read the whole series, so that I can discuss it with them!
Uh huh, It’s kind of a thing with a lot of UF protagonists, that they’re either hated ‘because of reasons’ or every man they meet (or the ones that have more weight in the story, anyway) falls in love with them, so they can be all “I’ll show them how capable I am!”, heh.
Yeah, it’s nice, no one reads the same books I do, so I never have people to talk them over with (which is a shame, because you can see books in a different light and find new enjoyment in them. Or vent about the things you don’t like, and plenty of stuff like that, right?).
I am a big fan of the Others series by Anne Bishop, and of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I’ve tried Briggs and Frost’s series, and just couldn’t get into them, and found the latter to have somewhat inferior prose and characters. I have enjoyed Devon Monk’s series of urban fantasies, from her Magic in the…. series to her Ordinary Magic series, she’s always got great stories and well drawn characters.
deann – There are always series which work for some people and not others. Sometimes I have been able to get into them by trying audio. I love Devon Monk, all her series. I loved House Immortal but that might be more sci-fi. I also love the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones (the audio is amazing) and the Jane Jameson series by Molly Harper ( also the audio is fabulous) Also, there is the Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill which I love. So yes, I could go on and on and on. It is really my favorite genre.
Hey Anne, I am well aware that some series work for some and not for others, believe me. I’ve been a bibliophile for for 53 of my 57 years on this earth, and I’ve got over 610 posts on my book blog, (and before that I wrote reviews in my journals and often wrote them on a freelance basis for two reviewing services) as well as writing reviews and author interviews while working as a journalist for the past 30 years. I also host a monthly book group at the library, where there are always people who love and hate the same book! Books are my passion, though I have to say that I never really enjoyed listening to audiobooks or reading ebooks on my Nook. Regular “dead tree” books are the way that I enjoy fiction, for the most part. I’ve read and enjoyed all of Devon’s series, including House Immortal, which was a modern riff on Frankenstein, I believe. I tried the vampire series you mentioned, but it wasn’t to my taste. I’ve enjoyed the classic Drakula, Sunshine by Robin McKinley, The first 5 or 6 books in the Sookie Stackhouse series, a few short stories and the vampires in Cassandra Clare’s YA Mortal Instruments series. I’ve never heard of Molly Harper or Darynda Jones, so I will have to take a look at those at my local library. I appreciate the recommendations!
deann – I hope you find some you love. I have so many more I want to try. I like ebooks the best because I can take so many with me on the Kindle.
Only three? You’re killing me. I bet I have 10+ favorite UF series. Kate Daniels, The Others, Mercy Thompson/Alpha & Omega, The Hollows, Elemental Assassins, Iron Druid, Dresden, Heartstrikers, White Trash Zombie, Hidden Legacy, Ivy Granger, Menagerie, Charley Davidson, Fred the Vampire Accountant, Nikki Glass, Mageri, SPI Files. I could keep going. This is my favorite genre and there are so many great series and authors.
mealanie – I love so many of the ones you mentioned. It’s my favorite genre too and picking 6 was too difficult. I love Innkeeper too. I think Hidden Legacy is UF but it is set as Fantasy Romance. Anyway, I hate to leave any of them off the list.
To me, Hidden Legacy is UF. It is no more Fantasy Romance than Kate Daniels. At least in my opinion.
I voted for Kate, Mercy, and Harry. Those are hands down my top three. But there are so many more I love. However, I couldn’t get into Jane Yellowrock after three books, and while I finished Kat and Bones, it was okay for me. I do love the Others and cannot wait for the spin off in March. Some of my other auto-reads are Elemental Assassins, Iron Druid, Hidden Legacy (I don’t care what anyone else calls it – it’s UF, but I think Innkeeper is sci-fi. haha), Deadtown, and Charley Davidson… just to name a few.
It’s like Melanie said and I said, it’s so hard – I love so many! I am behind on Elemental Assassin and Iron Druid. Have you listened to Menagerie by Rachel Vincent? There are 2 in the series so far and it is gut-wrenching. I love it. I went for slightly longer series I guess, also. Your top 3 are my top 3, well if you can count Hidden Legacy along with Kate and Alpha/Omega along with Mercy. It’s just sooooo tough. I want all the books. 🙂
I’ve heard great things about Menagerie, but I haven’t tried it yet. I also didn’t list series that I loved for a few books, but then it petered out – like SPI Files – I’m still on the fence, but loved the first couple. Same with Chloe Neil’s Devil Isle series – I liked the first two books a lot, but the third was meh. So I have to wait and see.
I love the Menagerie series, but it is really dark. But I like dark stories, so that just makes me like it more. I also agree that Hidden Legacy is UF. I’ve labeled Inn Keepers as Fantasy, but Sci-Fi works too.
I have emailed the winner with no response so far. Check your email and possibly your spam. The email would be from BooksMyHeart @gmail.com. If I get no response by Wednesday Jan 24, I will choose a new winner.
[…] It is urban fantasy, which is my favorite genre. I included The Dresden Files in my favorite UF Series on Saturday. It was also on my list of Best Audiobooks I’ve Read in 2017. Harry has managed to […]