Urban Fantasy discussion

The city setting is often described as a supporting character in many Urban Fantasy novels. What is your favorite example of this and why?

For me it's Dresden's Chicago that best exemplifies the supporting character role. Butcher does a masterful job of using the REAL city and adding his own touches to it. Each of the events or encounters in his novels have a city scene that drips with thematic color and atmosphere. As an example, the scene in the Botanical Gardens in Cold Days is unforgettable. Then there are the magical places that appear in nearly all the books, like McAnally's Pub, Dresden's Office and basement apartment before they went boom. We've had scenes in various parks, museums,a parking garage, a Walmart, hotels, the undergrouns, and countless encounters right on the city streets. And Dresden actually built a model of the entire city which he used for his location spells, how cool is that.

What other cities have we enjoyed?

Ilona Andrews' post-apocalyptic Atlanta.

While it's not *quite* urban fantasy, the city that is the most vivid for me is New York, in J. D. Robb's In Death series.

Carolyn Crane's Disillusionists series - Midcity with the Tangle, the Mongolian restaurant, the derelict buildings, the same face appearing on buildings around town....

Kate Daniel's Atlanta would be my second choice, especially with the waves of tech and magic that are constantly buffeting it. Very atmospheric.

In non-urban fantasy I love Manhattan Island portrayed in Go'd of Gotham,what an amazing book.

Minneapolis in Emma Bull's War for the Oaks.

I like Chicago in Chloe Neil's Chicagoland Vampire novels.

Other cities as characters that I think are great is in the Downside Ghost series and sorry I cannot recall the name of the city. The other really good one Golgotham ...Manhattan's Lower East Side in the Golgotham series I think the first one was Right Hand Magic

New Orleans in the Jane Yellowrock series Skinwalker not all the books take place there, but the in the ones that do, Faith Hunter really re-creates the atmosphere.

Albuquerque in the Sunny Baca series Zia Summer As a native New Mexican, Rudolfo Anaya really knows his home town well and you feel you know it too after reading.

And of of course the fictitious city of Newford by Charles de Lint

I second Jane Yellowrock's New Orleans! Also, I love Richard Cadrey's take on Los Angeles in Sandman Slim, and since I used to spend a bit of time there, I even recognize some of the locations (the bar he hangs out, etc). LA as Hell, pretty much. Makes me laugh every time.

I second Newford.

Also Tempe, AZ for the Hounded.

I like Remy Chandler's Boston in A Kiss Before the Apocalypse.

I like Minneapolis in War for the Oaks.

I like the shared universe that is the Borderlands/ Bordertown in various books of short stories including Welcome to Bordertown and Borderland and novels like Nevernever and Finder.

Newford is awesome! I also love Washington state as described in the Mercy Thompson series , and the southwest feel of Maria Schneider's Moon series.

Julia wrote: "I second Newford.

Also Tempe, AZ for the Hounded.

I like Remy Chandler's Boston in A Kiss Before the Apocalypse.

I like Minneapolis in War for the Oaks.

I like the shared universe that is the ..."


That's right Bordertown! I feel like I have been there reading

Finder by Emma Bull and Elsewhere by Will Shetterly!

I notice many Urban Fantasies focus on their cities a lot. The Hollows series by Kim Harrison focuses on the hollows, a bit made up but awesome. The Anita Blake series (before it went bad to me, yech) made me want to visit on St. Louis. I like how the cities and worlds are built up in this genre.

Phoenix in the first couple "Iron Druid" novels.

New York in the Joe Pitt novels.

To me a true "Fantasy" story, whether UF or straight fantasy, needs some serious world building. My favorite books always have the best world building so I'll definitely have to check these out.

Can I add:
- San Francisco and Faerie are both well wrought places in the October Daye series.
- Rob Thurman's NYC is dark and I love it!

Definitely have to second Newford and Bordertown/Borderland.

I think that the less grounded a story is in its setting, so the less 'real' it feels to us as readers, the less well written it is. Who wants to read some generic story that may have great characters, but not really set anywhere?

The three most successful of the books I've read have already been mentioned, but I'll mention them again:

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (Chicago)
Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels Series (Atlanta)
Kim Harrison's Hollows Series (Cincinnati)

While I've read some of the other stories mentioned, these are the ones I feel are most successful at painting vivid pictures while giving an almost tactile sense of the city. These are also longer series, so the authors have had a lot more pages to expand on.

Definitely Newford is the best Ive come across but who knows what cities await. Im an urban child and love cities.

The city as a palpable entity is one of my favourite aspects of UF.
Two that deserve a mention:
-- (Neverwhere): one of the earliest UF books in which the city truly takes on a life of its own.
-- (A Madness of Angels): of all the UF I've read, this is the book where the city has the most palpable personality, and where the author's obvious love of the location really comes through the pages. The magic itself stems from the chaotic life of the city. Urban sorcerers conjure with graffiti, London Underground passes, chewing gum, etc.

The perfect example of the city as a character is the Crimson City series. Futurisic L.A. has 3 levels, one each for weres, humans, and vamps. Going between the three levels is not easy or encouraged. The levels add to the racial tension.

I think that Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a love letter to Prague. When the story is there the novel sings.

I reccomend and as being two books where the city really is another character in an urban fantasy story...the city of London in this case. It has so much history you can do wonderful and nasty things with it.

Julia wrote: "I think that Daughter of Smoke & Bone is a love letter to Prague. When the story is there the novel sings."

Agreed!! In book two, there is a slight change of setting, and it's just as interesting.

Kelly Meding's Three Days to Dead has a great urban setting

I think it's interesting that a number of people mentioned Dresden's Chicago since I've seen quite a few complaints about how much he gets wrong from people who live there. He does a good job of making it feel real even though it isn't.

My favorites are Ben Aaronovitch's London and Kat Richardson's Seattle. Both of them make me feel like I'd recognize their cities if I went there as if I'd visited before.

Kadrey's LA is very good too although I'm more familiar with the city so I feel differently about it because my memories of what it's like get tangled up in his descriptions. Kevin Hearne makes me want to hang out in Tempe even though I actually don't particularly like Phoenix. That's an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned!

Elizabeth wrote: "I think it's interesting that a number of people mentioned Dresden's Chicago since I've seen quite a few complaints about how much he gets wrong from people who live there. He does a good job of ma..."

Definitely agree re: Ben Aaronovitch's depiction of London. Mike Carey does a good job of it in his Felix Castor series, too.

I've been to Chicago, though I don't know the city well enough to nit-pick Jim Butcher's version of it. I did enjoy the part with Sue the T-rex in "Dead Beat", though, as I'd been to the Field Museum and seen her "in the flesh" myself (or "in the bones", you might say). ;)

Haven't seen the Nightside mentioned. It's definitely a character all its own!

Jalilah wrote: "Julia wrote: "I second Newford.

I like the shared univers..."

Newford. Then The Nightside, and Ilona's Atlanta. Those are my three favorites.

I have to, what, sixth, eighth, Dresden's Chicago, but I think I like Aaronovitch's London more. The bit on the first page where he describes checking a body as an extreme sport just sets the tone for the series and that's before the magic begins.

I like Aaronovitch's London too. Benedict Jacka also does a great job with London in the Alex Verus novels. They really bring the city alive -- it's like travelling without leaving home.

Aaronovitch's London is brilliant. I used to work in London a lot and stayed in a hotel not far from where the Folly is set. All the areas he describes around there and central London generally make me feel that I'm back on those streets heading to do a job, or walking round in the evening. Jacka too, but maybe not to quite the same degree as Aaronovitch.
Honourable menation to Mike Carey's Felix Castor series. The area round King's Cross, London in the first book is absolutely spot on (as is the rest of the suburbs and underground journeys he takes).

I think you might like Mur Lafferty's The Shambling Guides series where the cities really are characters that converse with the main character in the stories, the first two star the cities in their titles The Shambling Guide to New York City and The Ghost Train to New Orleans.

They sound like fun, Joseph!

I know I'm kind of late to the discussion, but I just found this thread and it's one of my favorite things about UF. I love being immersed in a gritty other-world (even if it's supposedly part of our world) with the characters. A detailed setting that plays a part in the story seems to make everything else pop that much more—and I especially love when the setting is a reflection of the protagonist's personality.

One set of books that does that really well is J.F. Lewis's Void City series. Void City has all of Eric's gritty darkness, sometimes hidden behind facades of civility, sometimes right out in the open gyrating in your face. Reading it you get the feeling that even if a monster like Eric wasn't stalking the streets, you would probably still get eaten alive by the city itself.