Book #18 of 2023: Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (Alex Stern #2) Overall a three-star read for me, and a marked step down from its predecessor. I actually do like the middle of this book — the slowest part of many novels — when, as promised by the title, the protagonist and her companions invoke …
Tag Archives: urban fantasy
Book Review: Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk
Book #186 of 2022: Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk Like most novellas, this fantasy story feels like it probably could have been improved by developing its plots, themes, and worldbuilding at greater length, but in the short space allotted, it gets by just fine on pure premise and tone. It’s …
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Book Review: Book of Night by Holly Black
Book #80 of 2022: Book of Night by Holly Black This urban fantasy story is generally fine, and it closes on a stronger note than it begins (albeit in a way that seems it’s likely meant as the launch to a series, rather than the standalone work it’s been marketed as). But it all feels …
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Book Review: The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
Book #73 of 2022: The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross (The Laundry Files #1) This 2004 publication — which in my edition includes the novel The Atrocity Archive followed by a sequel novella “The Concrete Jungle” — introduces the Laundry, a secret British intelligence division dealing with magic and related otherworldly threats. It’s urban fantasy, …
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Book Review: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
Book #284 of 2020: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix This urban fantasy reads like a quirkier Neverwhere, and its worldbuilding isn’t really distinctive enough to merit all the heavy infodumps in the first half of the novel. I know from works like Sabriel that author Garth Nix can introduce a setting more …
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Book Review: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Book #225 of 2020: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas There’s a certain climactic reveal in this YA urban fantasy novel that I found disappointingly telegraphed from early on, but that’s honestly one of the only critiques I can make about it. What a refreshingly original story overall, populated with delightful personalities who ring with #ownvoices …
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Book Review: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
Book #149 of 2020: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow This 2020 YA novel has so much to say about contemporary racism and sexism (and their intersection, sometimes called misogynoir), and I could see it both validating the experiences of some readers and providing others a valuable window into their lives. From school …
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Book Review: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
Book #81 of 2020: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (Great Cities #1) I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but author N. K. Jemisin’s foray into urban fantasy reads rather like a 1990s throwback, with its tale of five New Yorkers who become powerful avatars of their respective boroughs harkening …
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Book Review: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky
Book #31 of 2020: The Straight Razor Cure by Daniel Polansky (Low Town #1) The misogyny in this urban fantasy debut is so pervasive that it sometimes occludes the racism, ableism, and homophobia that also populate the work. (I lost track of how many times someone’s purported gayness is used as an insult — including …
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Book Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Book #201 of 2019: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Alex Stern #1) This mature urban fantasy is a major departure for author Leigh Bardugo, both in genre and in tone. Although its college-age characters aren’t significantly older than her YA Grishaverse bunch, the traumas they face are so much darker than anything encountered in that …
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