I like Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels series.
I really like Kate Daniels.
I really, really, like Kate Daniels.
Why? Because it’s a welcome change from all those angsty sexy vampires that infest most urban fantasy.
How are you different, let me count the ways:
-The setting is original. The books take place in a future Atlanta, where magic and technology come and go in waves.
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NO SEXY VAMPIRES. Actually, in the Kate Danielsverse, vampires are mindless walking corpses controlled by necromancers.
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In many paranormal romances, there’s Your Heroine, and then there’s the Sexy Bad Boy Supernatural Suitor. The Herione has a token internal struggle: He’s sexy! But he’s bad! But he’s sexy! After a few pages, she decides- suprise, suprise!- to sleep with him. Cue hot vampire love.
Ilona Andrews does something different here. Yes, there’s the sexy/bad tension between Kate and her Supernatural Suitor. But there’s actually a reason besides “Hmm, we need some sexual tension for the next ten pages”. The Supernatural Suitor is a controlling jerk. The Heroine is pretty sure that he’s only [del]stalking[/del] courting her because she told him to go away. They’ve had a love/hate relationship for the last three books, and she still hasn’t given in. Now that’s real sexual tension. -
For that matter, she doesn’t want to sleep with anyone until they’re in a serious relationship. I can’t tell you have tired I am of the ubiquitous it’s-been-a-whole-five-minutes-since-meeting-you-and-I-want-to-have-sex-now types. Again, this creates more tension because she doesn’t just flop into bed with any old man.
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The werewolves are interesting, too. For one, they’re not just wolves- everything from jaguars to rats to hyenas. They have their own culture, rules, and clans.
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There are a lot of other interesting things, too, but it’s getting late and I’m getting tired. I just want to say that I love this series, and you should buy it.