Tag Archives: Urban Fantasy

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a peculiar children’s story: its most striking moments are not of joy, adventure, discovery, or magic, but those that are traumatic, violent, and – unfortunately – realistic. The wondrous elements serve almost as an excuse to deal with those more grounded issues: fantasy is not the goal of the story, but …

Seven Faceless Saints is a competent YA novel that successfully builds a compelling central dynamic between its main characters, even if it forgets to properly develop the main conflicts that define their world. The story is set in Ombrazia, a city where people blessed with magic become disciples and live separate lives from the unfavored, as magic is considered a …

Foundryside is a great urban fantasy novel set in a world where people can change the properties of matter – an ability held by powerful merchant houses that, like any good company, monopolize the technique to maximize profit and gain political power. The protagonist is Sancia, a young thief with a very special ability: she can “communicate” with any object …

Written by Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere is an urban fantasy novel that can amuse with its whimsical world as much as it can annoy with its unbearable protagonist. Offering a funny but shallow story, the novel is far from being one of Gaiman’s best works. Neverwhere accompanies Richard, a young Englishman who lives a quiet life, pretending to be happy with his …

At a time when the current president of the United States is known for frequently making xenophobic statements and policies, a work like American Gods becomes even more relevant: by presenting a pluralist America, this urban fantasy novel unveils the hypocrisy and monstrosity of those positions, tracing an overview of the multiplicity of peoples and beliefs that make up the …

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine’s first novel, is a different and ambitious book, presenting a strange world with a fascinating style. The Circus Tresaulti is known for its extraordinary members: people who have had various parts of their body – such as their legs, eyes, or even their heart – replaced by gears, scrap metal, and …

City of Blades – the second book in The Divine Cities trilogy written by Robert Jackson Bennett – manages to easily surpass its already great predecessor. The novel offers a complicated discussion on the problem of soldiering, juxtaposing the idealized purpose of the military with its real one in a narrative tinged with blood and violence, but also deeply melancholic. …

Written by Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs is a great urban fantasy novel that frames its narrative around religion, persecution, and war, excelling when it comes to worldbuilding, but faltering when it’s time to build suspense at the beginning. After an important Saypuri historian is found dead in the ancient city of Bulikov, Saypur tasks a young female ambassador, …