Books with Fae/Slayers/Vampires/Necromancers/Demons

dclary · Jan 19, 2010

Outside of Whedonverse fiction and Karen Marie Moning, can anyone recommend some good books in the urban fantasy realm involving multiple fantastic races?

I've got an idea, but I'm new to this genre, and I don't know what's been done before. I don't actually plan on having vampires, but maybe druidic shapeshifters in a lycanthropic role, fae, and undead/demons.

Kitty Pryde · Jan 19, 2010

Check out the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko. It's not "typical" UF, but it's very very good. And you can't go wrong with Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

Tasmin21 · Jan 19, 2010

Kim Harrison's series includes vamps, weres, her version of the fae, demons, witches, etc.

(and for the record, I LOVE the idea of shapeshifting druids to fill the lycanthrope slot)

ETA: Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series also involves vamps, weres, and various fae creatures.

MGraybosch · Jan 19, 2010

Kitty Pryde said:
Check out the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko. It's not "typical" UF, but it's very very good. And you can't go wrong with Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

Seconded on both Lukyanenko and Butcher.

SPMiller · Jan 19, 2010

Warcraft and Diablo already did druid shapeshifters.

Kaiser-Kun · Jan 19, 2010

The Dresden Files manages to put all of these and more with interesting twists.

AceTachyon · Jan 19, 2010

Another vote for Butcher.

Also Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series. About a late-night radio talk show host who's also a werewolf.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 19, 2010

What are slayers? Sounds like something from a game.

ChaosTitan · Jan 19, 2010

Jackie Kessler's Hell series has a variety of different kinds of demons and angels.

Kelly Gay's The Better Part of Darkness has a bunch of critters in it, and they aren't your typical vamps/weres, either. Male siren, anyone?

Also adding to the recs for Briggs and Butcher.

dclary · Jan 19, 2010

Shadow_Ferret said:
What are slayers? Sounds like something from a game.

Slayers are, (to quickly stereotype them) humans involved in the maintenance and extermination of the supernatural.

Examples would include Buffy Summers, Van Helsing, etc.

Pthom · Jan 19, 2010

You could do worse than to read Kelly Meding's Three Days to Dead.

dclary · Jan 19, 2010

Pthom said:
You could do worse than to read Kelly Meding's Three Days to Dead.

I saw it at Barnes and Nobel the other day and shouted out "LOOK! THERE'S MY FRIEND'S BOOK!!!"

dclary · Jan 19, 2010

Is it ok to mesh various cultural mythos? I mean, can I have (for instance), a character caught between (as an example) Norse Dwarves and Giants and the spiritual beings of Aztec legend?

fadeaccompli · Jan 19, 2010

dclary said:
Is it ok to mesh various cultural mythos? I mean, can I have (for instance), a character caught between (as an example) Norse Dwarves and Giants and the spiritual beings of Aztec legend?

There aren't really rules on that sort of thing; if you can make it work, you can certainly do it. I find "a little bit of each of these mythologies is true" or "these creatures showed up as X in this mythos, Y in this one, and Z in this one" a lot easier to buy than "All of the stuff from modern American folklore totally exists, but none of that other mythology stuff." But that's just me.

Anaquana · Jan 19, 2010

Ilona Andrews, Charlaine Harris, and Kelley Armstrong also have good multi-species series.

Wavy_Blue · Jan 19, 2010

If you don't mind YA, Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments is a decent enough read.

Tasmin21 · Jan 20, 2010

dclary said:
I saw it at Barnes and Nobel the other day and shouted out "LOOK! THERE'S MY FRIEND'S BOOK!!!"

I do this too, all the time. I'm prone to walking through a bookstore now and just picking up AWers' books going "And I know her, and him, and her and her and him and..."

thewakingself · Jan 20, 2010

Lilith Saintcrow's two series (Dante Valentine and Jill Kismet) both have demons and interesting worldbuilding. For fae, Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye series is quite good.

Cathy C · Jan 20, 2010

Yasmine Galenorn's Otherworld and Indigo Court series

My own upcoming series (as Cat Adams) called The Blood Singer

Have you dropped by the Urban Fantasy thread here? There are a TON of names there.

whistlelock · Jan 20, 2010

Go to any book store and ask for Urban Fantasy.

Then randomly point to a book.

There you go.

Oberon89 · Jan 20, 2010

dclary said:
I don't actually plan on having vampires, but maybe druidic shapeshifters in a lycanthropic role, fae, and undead/demons.

My book's MC (coming in 2011) is a Druid. He can take a few animal forms if he wishes, but he's definitely not lycanthropic. The Fae are present in a minor role, as are a pack o' werewolves and one vampire, and...there are demons. I threw in some gods, witches, and an elemental as a bonus.

So yes, you can do this!

AlterEgox5 · Jan 21, 2010

It's a bit old (like, 80s old), but War for the Oaks by Emma Bull is a fun read, focused mostly on Fae but with a few other creatures involved. In fact, I'm waiting on mine to arrive any day now (I've already read it, but hey, it was free, so now I get to enjoy it again).

Shadow Dragon · Jan 21, 2010

Karen Chance's books include fae (several different variations), demons, vamps and mages.

Books with Fae/Slayers/Vampires/Necromancers/Demons

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