Seanan McGuire - A Local Habitation

Urban Fantasy at it's very best has the gritty noir and cynicism of Chandler's Philip Marlowe, a dry humour bordering on bitter and a well constructed, logical, fully functioning supernatural element. This doesn't mean cute fluffy vamps that are always falling in love with their sworn enemy. It means a system that makes sense and carries conistantly through the series.

This isn't paranormal romance, this is a mystery which the protaganist must solve against the odds and in spite of the threat to their own lives which will suggest a simple case is rather more complex. For me it accesses the same delight as the old noir mysteries too, but with this new twist to freshen it all up.

In Toby Daye's second outing she has to come to terms with the attempt to bring Faerie into the 21st century, blending modern technology with the old magic. Once again she is asked to investigate what could be a simple case just to discover that things are much more sinister than first appeared. Toby uses her magic as little as possiblem, it's weak and using it leaves her with crippling headaches and vulnerable so she has to rely on her talents as an investigator and her instincts to resolve the case or she may not live through it.

There are a number of reasons Seanan McGuire is near the head of the pack of UF writers for me. The world she has built is well considered, running smoothly along our own and with complex systems (check the interview for the details of the naming tradition) that she adheres to. Her protaganist has to deal with every day mundane issues, like arranging for someone to feed her cats and getting home before her daily glamour runs out of power and her pointy ears are revealed to the world. Those little details and the fact that Seanan never forgets the neccessity of them all contribute to the sense of reality and allow the reader to be drawn fully in.

The people's of faerie are equally well thought out, vulnerable to the same pettinesses and kindnesses as we are but with longer to work on things. The rules are similar to other stories, don't say thank you, abide by the rules of hospitality etc, but Seanan allows her characters to live within these without obsessing over them. There are ways to acknowledge a kindness in Seanan's books without endebting yourself forever and Toby as part fae adheres to things naturally and automatically for the most part. She also survives on her own merits, no superpowers, her friends often unable to ride in at the last moment, making use of the wisdom of her enemies and having the backbone to do what she needs to do no matter how terrified she is. At the end of the day the book contains people, not always human people, but people non the less and that is definitely a good thing in what is a character led genre.

I love this series already, it's definitely for urban fantasy fans but A Local Habitation delivers on everything that makes the best urban fantasy.