Urban Fantasy Heroines

What is urban fantasy?

Urban fantasy is a popular subgenre in fantasy; it is a term used to describe stories that happen in the modern day world with supernatural elements.

In fact, some of the most popular stories in urban fantasy is Harry Potter; potentially less known stories are the Mortal Instruments and the Supernatural tv series (one of my favorite series to watch).

Why do I like this subgenre?

One of my favorite things about urban fantasy is to experience women in these stories. In fact, most of the times, they are strong, vulnerable, clever and relatable. They have problems and they try to solve them. They are empowering and this is what I love about these stories.

Now I have a specific take on urban fantasy; I am not big on vampire stories, I enjoy stories of other supernatural creatures. I can have a bit of vampire on the side but it is important that the protagonists are not vampires. This mindset limits a bit my ability to read and experience urban fantasy, yet there are options out there and they are great!

First urban fantasy heroine I remember!

The first heroine in this list is Buffy the vampire slayer! In fact, she might have been the first heroine in this genre that really spoke to me; while I did not have the same problems in high school (and I was not the pretty blond student, I loved how she had a group of friends that made her better, she was athletic and I enjoyed the fact she needed to deal with much bigger problems than her high school grades!).

I have recently being on a urban fantasy kick and I wanted to get to know more of these women!

Heroines

The first one I got to experience is October Daye (by Seanan McGuire), Sir October Daye with a pretty traumatic story since the very first page. She needs to deal with a discriminatory environment of fae who need to keep hidden but also do not think highly of half-breeds. October is herself part human, yet she is daughter of an incredibly powerful fae and she has developed a reputation for herself.

Her story is interesting, she is compelling, she wants to make the world a better place.

Another wonderful experience is Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs. The first reason I picked this story up was the fact that Mercy is a native American and the second is that she is a shapeshifter. In fact, she can be a coyote whenever she wants.

What I did not know is that I ended up working on werewolves (and loving their pack approach), getting exposure to vampires (and they are an interesting bunch, not friendly and approachable but scary and the type of creatures one needs to be far away from but their system is nicely set-up and logical) and learning about the fae (and they are a fun bunch).

I have also started dabbling into a couple of more series and I cannot wait to learn more about these wonderful characters.

The first is Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews. She is a human with the ability to use magic and has a fantastic sword, called Slayer. She has to collaborate with different types of beings. What I appreciate the most is that fact that the authors are husband and wife working on these stories together, making male and female characters well rounded and realistic.

The main thing here is that I want to know more of Kate Daniels, I want to know more about Roland and I want to know how her alliances continue developing!

Another great nugget, so far, is Jane Yellowrock by Faith Hunter. Same points of interest as Mercy Thompson: native American and she shares her skin with a beast (and she is an actual shapeshifter, she can take different forms). The best part, so far, is that she does not know where she comes from (so exploration of who she is becomes an integral part of the story) and she is (at least in the first book) in New Orleans. She also needs to deal with nasty vampires and then a government that has more awareness of supernatural beings that in other stories (although both Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels have a significant exposure of the supernatural for the regular human being).

Why do I like reading these stories?

In essence, I am enjoying my journey experiencing the adventures of these great women. The most relevant aspect of their lives is that they have their own personalities, are happy with who they are (even if they are different) and are able to have their own lives in this complicated world, they deal with their problems, one day at a time and they retain their own genuine self!

What are you favorite heroines in urban fantasy? What other stories are out there to explore? What other great women are out there to get to know and know their stories?

Please comment down below!