I'm looking for suggestions for urban fantasy/horror books to read. I include horror there because when you say 'urban fantasy' a lot of people discount books that primarily feature paranormal creatures like ghosts/vampires/werewolves, because they're more iconic of the 'horror' genre.

Some books in the genre I've really enjoyed include:

• Holly Black's "Modern Faerie Tales" series, as well as her standalone novels "Coldest Girl in Coldtown" and "The Darkest Part of the Forest". (I fully intend to pick up "The Cruel Prince" when it drops next month!)
• Simon R Green's "Novels of the Nightside"; I also recently started reading his "Secret Histories" series and I enjoy those as well.
• Laini Taylor's "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" trilogy.

Recently I've also delved into the 'trashy' side of the paranormal/fantasy side of things, after four years of literature studies made me stop caring. So suggestions for novels or series' that include explicit sex are fine, too. Of that sort of novel I've read and enjoyed:

• Laurell K Hamilton's iconic "Anita Blake" series, which I've only gotten halfway through (I know they get progressively worse, but I don't really care)
• Kresley Cole's "Immortals After Dark" series
• I've also started to collect Sherrilyn Kenyon's "The Dark-Hunters" series from used book stores and library/church sales.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, and bonus points if they primarily features faeries or fae folk!

Not sure if you're into the New Weird subgenre of fantasy, but if you are, China Miéville's books are amazing:

The City & The City Perdido Street Station The Scar Kraken Railsea Un Lun Dun

check out some Clive Barker stuff.... some of his stuff has been made into movies...

I'm a bit picky with my New Weird, but I did read Kraken for a class and loved it! I also own Perdido Street Station and Railsea, and I'll definitely check out the rest!

Any specific suggestions? I did read The Hellbound Heart, but I haven't checked out any of his other stuff.

The Hollows series by Kim Harrison Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn (though I only read the first two, tbh, but I liked them)

And I second China Mieville! I love Perdido Street Station and Un Lun Dun c:

all "the books of blood" are short stories...so you can get a taste of his different types of stories..

After reading some of the short story summaries from "The Books of Blood", I'm reminded of the horror and fantasy works of the late Tom Piccirilli, so that definitely seems up my alley.

Oh gosh, three long-ish series'! xD That will be perfect to fill the void when I finish Anita Blake and IAD, though.

Kim Harrison's The Hollows series is one of my favourites. Starts with Dead Witch Walking.

And ugh, Anita Blake, I stopped reading when I was skipping through half the book for the sex scenes....

Carrie

I highly recommend the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It's most fun in audiobook form with James Marsters reading it.

China Mieville is one of my favorite authors! He signed my copy of Kraken and I treasure it.

I'm still scarred by the Anita Blake series to this day. :/

I actually own the entire Dresden Files series, I just haven't read them. I even own the books for the tabletop RPG! It seemed like a natural progression, since Jim Butcher's endorsement quotes are on basically every Simon R Green book ever written.

I'm about halfway through the series and still enjoying it. I think it has something to do with the fact that I was a university literature major, and so four years of schooling drilled it into my head that I should HATE these kinds of books, and therefore I like them out of spite.

If your main problem was not liking the prose but liking the sex scenes, I highly recommend the Immortals After Dark series. They're shorter books with episodic romances (a new couple per book, with the older couples and other assorted characters filling out the rest of the cast), and the sex scenes dominate the story, but the world building and character building going on in the background is pretty solid.

If you want a good Urban Fantasy series that's still in the works, I recommend the Vesik series by Eric R. Asher. The books so far are:

Days Gone Bad Wolves and the River of Stone Winter's Demon This Broken World Destroyer Rising Rattle The Bones Witch Queen's War

There is also a book of short stories in the series, Whispers of War.

Seanan McGuire's October Daye books are great.

Beep boop! This post has been locked due to old age. The necro rule in this forum is 6 months. Please see the official rule listing for more details, or file a ticket if you have any questions.