Urban-Fantasy

REVIEW: The Iron Hunt by Marjorie Liu

Dear Ms. Liu, I’m a fan of your Dirk and Steele series, so I’ve been looking forward to your urban fantasy debut for a long time. I’ve always found your paranormal romances to be very action packed so I assumed the transition to urban fantasy would be an easy one. Good thing I didn’t bet(…)

REVIEW: Through The Veil by Shiloh Walker

Dear Ms. Walker: I know it has taken me a long time to complete this review, but the truth is that it took me a long time to complete Through The Veil. At first I kept thinking it was just that I couldn’t sit down and focus long enough on the story to feel engaged,(…)

REVIEW: Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

Dear Ms. Saintcrow, While I haven’t finished your Dante Valentine series, I enjoyed enough of what I read to seek out the first book in your new Jill Kismet series. I’ve said in the past that I do like reading about unsympathetic characters provided they’re compelling and the text doesn’t want me to believe the(…)

REVIEW: Night Child by Jes Battis

Dear Mr. Battis, While it can be said we have a female author bias here at DearAuthor (and maybe that’s true to a certain extent), we have previously reviewed and enjoyed books written by male authors here. If a book interests me, it interests me regardless of who wrote it. So when your urban fantasy(…)

Anne Sowards, Editor, Gives 2008 Urban Fantasy Preview

Sarah of SmartBitches wondered if you can follow an editor like you would an author, or maybe I can take that a bit further, and ask whether you can follow an editor like another reader who you trust. I initially thought that there was no correlation between an editor’s output and reader taste, but I(…)

REVIEW:  Key to Conspiracy by Talia Gryphon

REVIEW: Key to Conspiracy by Talia Gryphon

Warning: This F review may contain language that is offensive to Sensitive Readers. Dear Ms. Gryphon: The cover quote for the book is by Laurell K Hamilton and it says “A unique idea in the paranormal genre.” I have to agree. It was unique. Unique like I’ve never read anything so bizarre in the paranormal(…)

REVIEW: Rogue by Rachel Vincent

Dear Ms. Vincent, Like Jane, I found myself disappointed by your debut, Stray. I think my expectations had been raised so high by the pre-publication buzz that there was no possible way the actual product could have met them. That’s a danger I sometimes encounter with the internet, which offers up so much information about(…)

REVIEW: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

Dear Ms. Andrews, When I read your first novel, Magic Bites, I was struck by your fresh worldbuilding. Sometimes I feel like many urban fantasy novels feature similar worldbuilding details. Execution makes all the difference, of course, but because of those similarities, I really appreciate unique worldbuilding when a book presents it to me. That(…)

Am I Cheating on Romance?

see more crazy cat pics As was reported last week, urban fantasy is on the rise. More and more UF books are being published and these books are increasingly being marketed toward the romance reader. These books are commonly referred to as part of the cross over genre. There is a boon and a curse(…)

Urban Fantasy Appeal Increasing Steadily

Orbit Books, the SFF branch of Warner Books, posted last week that Urban Fantasy is growing in popularity and the evidence is the number of books showing up on the bestseller lists. According to Orbit, in 2004, only 1 Urban Fantasy was on the Fantasy Bestseller list and in 2007, there were 7. SB Sarah(…)

REVIEW: Madhouse by Rob Thurman

Dear Ms. Thurman, I can’t remember exactly how I first discovered your books. When your first novel, Nightlife, came out a couple years ago, I dismissed it as just another straight urban fantasy. We already have Jim Butcher and Simon R. Green for that. Then I read a couple favorable blog reviews that made it(…)

REVIEW: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Dear Ms. Briggs, I’ve been putting off writing this review for some time. As readers, we each have our own preferences and quirks in what we like to read. We also have our personal hot buttons with regards to what we don’t. While I liked the first two-thirds of Iron Kissed, the last third hit(…)

REVIEW:  My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon edited by P.N. Elrod

REVIEW: My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon edited by P.N. Elrod

Dear Authors, While many readers dislike anthologies because the good stories are often outnumbered by the bad, I’m not one of them. I love anthologies. They let me sample many different authors at once — old favorites and new-to-mes. And sometimes all it takes is one perfect story to make an anthology worthwhile. The follow-up(…)

REVIEW:  Blood Drive by Jeanne C. Stein

REVIEW: Blood Drive by Jeanne C. Stein

Dear Ms. Stein, I love urban fantasy but lately I’ve found myself getting tired of the genre. Too many books feature the usual suspects (vampires) and the same plot conflicts (love triangles). So when Jane sent me a copy of your book, I admit I sighed. A vampire bounty hunter? And a comparison to Anita(…)

GUEST REVIEW: Servant: The Awakening by L. L. Foster

GUEST REVIEW: Servant: The Awakening by L. L. Foster

Dear L.L. Foster, I just finished your new book Servant: The Awakening and before I expound on its virtues first let me tell you how excited I was to find out that one of my favorite erotic authors, Lori Foster, had a darker side, L.L. Foster. I even joined the Dark Muse Society – does(…)