Review - Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy

St. Martin's Griffin, 541p,
Isbn-0312385242

In this thrilling collection of original stories some of today’s hottest paranormal authors delight, thrill and captivate readers with otherworldly tales of magic and mischief. In Jim Butcher’s ”Curses” Harry Dresden investigates how to lift a curse laid by the Fair Folk on the Chicago Cubs. In Patricia Briggs’ “Fairy Gifts,” a vampire is called home by magic to save the Fae who freed him from a dark curse. In Melissa Marr’s “Guns for the Dead,” the newly dead Frankie Lee seeks a job in the afterlife on the wrong side of the law. In Holly Black’s “Noble Rot,” a dying rock star discovers that the young woman who brings him food every day has some strange appetites of her own.

Urban Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, even though I arrived late to it. Too late, by the looks of this book. If you're a fan of any of the no-doubt wonderful authors who've contributed a story to this anthology, then you're going to LOVE this book. However if, like me, you're not familiar with them, then better go read some other book.

Reason - this anthology is composed of stories that are offshoots of popular (ongoing) series by the authors, featuring characters that fans of these series are no doubt fully familiar with. And that's why this anthology will be of interest to only those fans, as other readers, like myself, are left largely guessing when it comes to understanding the whys and wherefores of the stories and characters.

The one exception, I felt, was the very first story - Curses: A Dresden Files Short Story by Jim Butcher. This story is written in a way that a reader is able to understand who and what the protagonist is and the story is thankfully nothing that needs the reader to know the ins and outs about this series. In other words, it's a standalone and one which was easy to understand, and thus appreciate.

Note - This book was received for review/feature consideration.
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