Another Idiot's Thoughts on Urban Fantasy

So by now everyone and their dog, mom, dad, and old man across the road has read an urban fantasy. And for the minuscule handful that hasn't let me explain it to you, Urban Fantasy is fantasy set in a city at any point during the Industrial Age. I know many people say that it can be during any time period, but once upon a time there were HUGE medieval cities. So I say any time during or after the Industrial age so that you have some modern...ish...kinda tech to throw at the fantasy creatures. Isn't that such an interesting idea?Now I'm sure plenty of you newbies have seen this before in the mega hit Harry Potter and that questionable series Twilight, so let me get this clear now, Harry Potter is urban fantasy, Twilight is Paranormal Romance. The difference is mostly that one is romance between a human and a fantasy creature as the focus while Urban Fantasy expands on it. Now can urban fantasy have paranormal romance?

Of course!

So with that said let's move onto the actual idea of the blog post, my thoughts on urban fantasy. Personally I see urban fantasy as the awesome uncle that takes out its nephew, futuristic fantasy. It can be the breeding ground of so many interesting ideas such as, elves with shotguns, dwarves working for NASA, and orcs being part of the navy. However, like most genres, we really can't get beyond what other successful writers have done. This has resulted in Harry Potter: Attack of the clones. Like I said, this can be a good or bad thing, it depends on how good the writer can pull it off, but I feel like a lot of the potential has been untapped. However, I won't complain about that sort of thing and instead talk about the good things such as...

Females as the main characters. Granted most of the time they're depicted with strange tattoos, their midriff showing, and holding a gun in an unrealistic sexy manner, but we're at least shifting to the point where we have females as the main kick-butt crew. Princess Peach, high priestess of getting kidnapped, you have finally been dethroned!  Maybe one day we can get some realistic women who actually have feelings and aren't overly sexualized. But until then I'll be happy that the females can actually be useful towards the plot in a way that isn't getting kidnapped or being a healing mage. Huh, that reminds me of a certain post I need to put up....

Seeing how our typically boring world would be with magic. The entire point of the urban fantasy genre! I don't know about you, but sometimes I just want to escape into the books that I read. However, in the urban fantasy genre, that's never even an issue! In a world where you can watch some HD TV while practicing your fire magic must be a blast. Of course you also have the fun of trying to decipher magic from science, keeping magic secret from normal people, and a hundred and two other possibilities.

Being able to relate more to the main character.  Question, how many of you have had your parents slain by stereotypical orcs before your very eyes while a dragon burns down the village and the cows begin mooing in harmony? None? Okay, so then maybe this has happened to you? Your parents got a divorce, on your birthday, and you managed to get fired from your job on the exact same day? On top of all this your powers suddenly decide to manifest and your entire apartment floods with icky green water. Okay, maybe not the last one, but I'm sure a few of the other scenarios have happened to you. Unlike high fantasy which can go to any extreme that it wants, urban fantasy has plenty of limitations depending on the rules of the world. You're high more likely to connect to characters that have to deal with a few of the same things as you. Now I;m not saying high fantasy is inferior, I actually prefer it, but let's be honest. I don't think you could identify the issues with being a half orc with a wing coming out of your left eyeball now can you?

And those are my thoughts on urban fantasy! I guess they're no more eye opening than the post you read before, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less! Now I'm off to go read King of Thorns...