It’s time for another Friday Favorites hosted by Kibby @ Something of the Book! This weekly meme is where you get to share a list of all your favorites based on the list of prompts on Kibby’s page. Sounds fun, right? This week’s prompt is: favorite urban fantasy books. Okay, I have to be honest and say that I had a bit of trouble with this week’s prompt because I’m not really sure what constitutes “urban fantasy”. I love a good fantasy read, but I’m not very discerning with the different sub-genres; I basically just read what I like! So when asked what my favorite urban fantasy is, I had to scratch my head a little to figure out which books I’ve read that qualify as such. Looking at my read shelves, it seems that I apparently don’t read a lot of this sub-genre, so I’m not sure if the five below count, but I think so!
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This book is making another appearance because this was honestly the first book that I could think of when thinking of urban fantasy! Also, I won’t stop recommending this book because imho everyone needs to read it.
The Dark Artifices Series by Cassandra Clare. Don’t shoot me, but I haven’t read The Mortal Instruments series yet, and after watching the movie and cringing so hard, I wasn’t really pulled to pick it up. But when I saw the cover of Lady Midnight I wanted to try reading it and, while it started off lukewarm for me, I ended up really enjoying Lord of Shadows. I still haven’t read Queen of Air and Darkness though because I don’t want this series to end!
A Dark Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V. E. Schwab. Does this count as an urban fantasy? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’m making it count. Time and again I’ve said it, and I’ll say it again, this is such a fantastic series set in three different Londons, that are completely different (and yet not) to modern day London. Please read it.
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Series by Laini Taylor. I’m also unsure whether this counts as urban fantasy, but big chunks of the series is set in modern city settings, but also, fantastical city settings. It’s beautiful. Who doesn’t love angels, demons, forbidden love and star-crossed lovers? As far as I know, this book doesn’t get a lot of hype (and tbh the other covers for the books in this series are hideous, no offense to anyone who loves them) but I remember thoroughly enjoying this series.
All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. I remember discovering this series in the library in 2012 and I was shocked to find that only the first book had come out. I was completely taken by the idea of vampires and witches in modern-day Oxford and New York, without it being overly creepy. I absolutely loved this series when I read it years ago, but I think I need to re-read it because it was before the time I actively recorded my thoughts and ratings down on Goodreads. I wonder if I’ll still enjoy it!
Are you a big urban fantasy reader? What are your favorite urban fantasies? Any recommendations are welcome! Let me know in the comments below and let’s chat books 🙂
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