For some inexplicable reason, urban fantasy as a genre LOVES female protagonists. And why shouldn’t it? Chicks kick ass.
But what’s up with male protagonists? Do we love them or not? Is there some reason to obsessively stick to UF with female leads?
Surprise! I don’t have the answer to that (I usually do! Have the answers, that is), and can only speak for myself, and my take in general is that I love both perspectives and will read whatever strikes my fancy. If there’s some male lead that kicks trash, has a gorgeous personality, and I bond with him, I’ll follow him anywhere. Same for female leads!
But in the spirit of fairness, I decided it to throw a list together to highlight Just the Men. Just the Men, for the men. Just for Men. Like, a hair product to keep men looking young and hot. But this will be a list and not hair coloring. A list of Urban Fantasy books…
Anyway, these are the dudes that readers should never get enough of, in my humble opinion. Heroes worthy of the title of vampire-slayer, snark king, and lady-killer, and there’s a good chance you’ll be reading into the wee hours of the morning.
I’m not going to say that I’ve done it with quite a few of these books, because reading all night’s for irresponsible people, and I’d never be so irresponsible myself.
Never.
An emissary from the Dark Council has just materialized in the office of the Montague & Strong Detective Agency, and makes Simon Strong an offer he can’t refuse. Charon is missing. The legendary ferryman responsible for transporting sorcerer souls across the river Styx hasn’t been seen in days. And with each passing hour, those unable to cross the river are left to walk among the living, tilting the world further out of balance.
Meet Simon Strong, an immortal, who is also the best private detective in New York City. Together with his surly partner-Tristan Montague, a mage of indeterminate age, they must find the Ferryman and get him back to work before another Supernatural War ravages the earth, destroys humanity, and Simon’s local coffee shop.
Time is running out. His landlord wants the rent and Karma with a capital K is paying him a visit, and she can be a real…
Tops in his Paramedic Academy training didn’t prepare him for Station U.
What was more dangerous, the supernaturals or his boss?
Dean needed to learn street medicine fast. He’d trained to help humans, but he wasn’t prepared for injured fairies and monsters. Still, he was smart, willing to learn, and more than anything, incredibly curious to learn about this whole new world he didn’t know existed.
Would it get him killed?
She’d been at this job a while and was less than enthused to be given a new probie. There was always a lot going on, but Brynne has something on her mind. What happened to her old partner?
In the dark of night…
…a society few humans know, thrives.
And someone wants to bring them down.
The gods are dying. But for one man, death is only the beginning.
Murdered as a ritual sacrifice, amateur thief and professional charmer Dustin Graves mysteriously survives, finding himself gifted with strange, dark magic. Then more dead bodies turn up. Some are human, but one is a god of the old world, slain at his own doorstep.
Mortal or divine, the bloodshed must end, and Dust is the mage for the job. But first he must contend with a succubus, a talking sword, a spider queen, a goddess of magic, and eldritch abominations from beyond the stars. No big deal… right?
My name is John Cook, and my life began the day my heart stopped beating.
You meet the most interesting men in Medieval prisons. This one time, I met a guy who offered me immortality for the low, low price of changing my diet. I didn’t read the fine print. Because he wasn’t talking about a gluten free diet. More like hemoglobin full.
And now I’m a friggin’ vampire with five centuries of pop culture references.
Get ready to laugh at extreme violence. I know I will. If you’re not laughing, you’re learning.
Cocky vampires, mythical swords, steady Glocks and ghost hordes. Welcome to my world.
The vampires just woke up from a 1000-year slumber. Before nap-time they buried their fortunes around the world. Now they want their hidden treasures back.
It’s my job to get to the relics first.
My partner Rebel and I need to track down and dig up hundreds of ancient items, and fast. They’re worth, well, whatever comes after quadrillions. Most of them also happen to pack nasty supernatural powers.
Our latest target is a sword with the power to destroy the world. We just have to get past the grumpy blood suckers, the biting ghost hordes and a particularly nasty wizard.
But who am I kidding? Sneaking around won’t work. Not when it comes to vampires. There’s really only one way this can end.
On the edge of a blade.
Show me an amateur conjurer, and I’ll stop him before he gets himself killed.
That’s the idea, anyway. But New York City isn’t what it used to be, and I don’t mean the recent crash.
Amateur casters are calling up creatures they shouldn’t be able to. And there’s been a murder at the city’s most hallowed cathedral, a message in blood on the victim’s back the NYPD wants me to interpret, like yesterday.
Something tells me I’m in over my head. And that’s not just Chinatown’s newest mob boss, a scary-powerful vampire, or my possessed cat talking.
No matter how much magic I hurl, worse keeps chasing bad, and I’m amassing enemies like they’re aluminum cans.
Did I mention the end of the world might be nigh?
Damn. Maybe I’m the amateur here.
When a human shop owner is given a ritual knife containing the spirit of a powerful witch, darkness emerges from the shadows and threatens to lay Charleston to waste to get it.
Jakob Mercer owns The Oddities Emporium, a shop filled with the strange and macabre. He knows that his artifacts aren’t all harmless. When a stranger gives him an athame that contains the soul of a powerful local witch, he realizes that it will take his entire arsenal of not-so-harmless curiosities to keep his enemies from destroying him and the city to get it.
Jakob is aided by Tempest Balfour, a sassy witch whose brother is the head of the local warlocks, and Gordon Pruitt, a haphazard warlock with a penchant for destruction. The three face factions from the Church, the witches, the warlocks, and forces beyond what Jakob knew existed to keep the athame out of the hands of evil.
Ian Dex is a genetically engineered man who has abilities from all classes in the spectrum. In other words, his DNA soup includes vampire, werewolf, fae, werebear, hellion, demon, pixie (yes, pixie), and…well, everything!
He’s also the chief of the Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department (PPD).
His job is to monitor all supernaturals and their involvement in the world of normals.
Things are going pretty smoothly, until a new breed of supernaturals turns up. They’re a lot tougher to deal with than your run-of-the-mill vampires and werewolves. These bastards are larger, stronger, and they laugh at wood and silver bullets.
But fighting these ubernaturals really sucks when the mage who created them arrives on the scene. The dude is using demons to give him an inexhaustible supply of power, he’s bent on world domination, and he simply adores inflicting pain. Even worse, though, is the fact that he walks around with his shirt open because he looks like a damn Chippendale’s model.
The odds are stacked against Ian and the Vegas PPD crew, but they’ll have to defy those odds if they’re to save the city of Vegas from cashing in its chips…
To do list: Cow-tip the Minotaur. Cure a reptile dysfunction.
My name is Nate Temple, and I’m secretly a wizard. I ride a foul-mouthed unicorn, I drink with Achilles, and I’m pals with the Four Horsemen. I’ve even cow-tipped the Minotaur. I understand the theory of following the rules…I’m just not very good at the application.
Because rules were meant to be broken.
Especially when I find out a monster just murdered my parents. Now all I can hear is the sweet, soothing song of vengeance in my ears, playing on repeat.
I didn’t want, ask for, or start any of this. But I will finish it. It’s time I show St. Louis that magic is very, very real. And that an angry wizard is truly something to see—at least once in your life.
You know, right before he puts you and everyone you’ve ever met in the grave…
