Monday, April 29, 2013

The Iron Locket Blog Tour: Top Five Fairy Urban Fantasy Books

She was raised to hunt faeries. He was raised from the dead.
***
Aiofe Callaghan comes from a long line of faery hunters. Hired by one of the faery queens, they protect the human world from chaos and destruction. But when Aiofe stumbles through an open door into the land of Faery, she discovers the job isn't as simple as it seems, nor is she.

Arthur Pendragon spent centuries in blissful nothingness, until the day the four queens banded together to raise him from the dead. Along with his twelve most talented knights, he leads the warring armies of Faery against the greatest enemy they have ever known: one of their own.

Can they overcome their differences to confront the greatest challenges either of them have ever faced?--Goodreads



Top Five Fairy Urban Fantasy Books 
Thanks so much for inviting me over to share my picks for the Top Five Faery Urban Fantasy books. Some of these aren’t just about faeries, but they’re too awesome to leave out. 


5) Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge - This book was one of the first steampunk books I ever read, a random discovery, and I’m so very glad I found it. It has been described as “steampunk meets faeries”. The protagonist is about to turn 16 and face a fate that may be worse than death: insanity. Her attempt to avoid that destiny will have you reading nonstop and on the edge of your seat.

4) Iron King by Julie Kagawa - Meghan Chase has a secret that even she doesn’t know - she’s the daughter of Oberon. When she’s thrust into the faery world, she’s forced to face not only who she is, but what she’s willing to do to save her family. This is an exciting book, even though I found the romance portion a bit forced and I didn’t like the second book in the series. 

3) Need by Carrie Jones - It’s been compared to Twilight a lot and one of the reviews on Amazon actually says “Zara is Bella with a backbone.” I’m inclined to agree. Subtract the vampires, add some faeries, improve the writing, and you have an enjoyable YA read with a stronger female lead.

2) Dresden Files by Jim Butcher - While this series isn’t just about faeries, they play a big part, especially in the later books. Even after 14 books, Butcher does a fantastic job of drawing you in and keeping you up way too late at night. Cold Days, the newest book, focuses almost entirely on the faery world. It was an inspiration for some of The Iron Locket.

1) Shrilugh by Myndi Shafer - Even though this isn’t technically about faeries, it has a lot of similar elements. Another world, beings more powerful than humans, magic-like abilities, and a whole lot of awesomeness. And that’s not even mentioning the crazy love triangle or the insane step-family bent on revenge.


Author
BIO: Samantha Warren is a fantasy and science fiction author who spends her days immersed in dragons, spaceships, and vampires. With her pet dragon, Anethesis, she ventured to the ends of the universe, but the cost of space travel cut into her sock fetish fund, so she sold her ship and returned home. When she isn’t writing, she’s milking cows or trying to feed them Pop-Tarts. She spends a lot of time in her weed patch (aka: garden), watching any show featuring Gordon Ramsay, or posting random things on her blog (http://www.samantha-warren.com).
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