Epic Urban/Contemporary Fantasy?

[FitzChivalry]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but all series of Urban Fantasy, are series of standalone books. Is there some series of Urban Fantasy that is epic in scope, with world effecting coherent plotline that keeps on rolling for several books and then actually ends? in other words, is there an urban fantasy series that is as epic as High Fantasy series?
The only series that comes to my mind is maybe Lukyanenko's Night Watch, but i haven't read it, so i don't really know.
If not, why do you think there aren't any? i'd sure find it interesting.

Just to clearify, i'm not talking about such fantasy series as Thomas Covenant, Imajica or Amber, that has characters moving between Earth and some fantasy realm, i'm talking about the kind that Hamilton, Butcher or Gaiman, for example, write.
Actually, come to think of it, American Gods was almost as epic as what i'm looking for, but not quite.

 

[kmgrey]

To some extent Butcher's Dresden Files fits the bill. It starts off seemingly standalone but as the series goes on you find out everything basically serves one rather epic overarching story and the serial elements have been increasing with each book. Butcher has an exceedingly good grasp on his macro story and it is quite clear that he has known where he was going right from the start.

The series is planned to be 20 books and then capped off with what Butcher is calling an "Apocalyptic Trilogy" which presumably will have the world altering events that you are looking for.

EDIT- Paul F. Wilson's Adversary Cycle might also fit the bill with what you are looking for.

 

[Hobbit]

And to some extent so does the Anita Blake series for the reasons given above by kmgrey.

Increasingly most of the new urban fantasies are connected through the series, though the canny writer ensures that they're stand alone enough so you can work out what's going on if you read book 3 by accident first.

Blame that Buffy the vampire slayer....

Mark

 

[DailyRich]

Terry Brooks' The Word and the Void series seems like it might fit the bill.

 

[FitzChivalry]

kmgrey, Cool, nice to know Butcher is heading somewhere, i like his books as they are, but knowing it's heading towards some epic climax will add to the fun when reading future books, i was under the impression he has no big story arc, certainly not planned from the beginning.
Btw, does The Adversary Cycle a finished work or a work in progress? it sounds interesting.

Hobbit, I only read 10 Anita Blake books before i gave up on it in disgust, but it didn't seem epic to me, sure there was connectivity between the books, as there is usually in a series of books about the same characters, but i didn't notice anything world effecting or epic, or any coherent plotline that is planned to actually reach a conclusion at some point, it seemed like Hamilton is making it up from one book to the next.

DailyRich, not a big fan of Brooks here, but thanks.

And before someone suggests the up and coming series by Terry Goodkind... not a fan of his either.

 

[kcf]

Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule trilogy mostly fits the bill. It's contemporary and epic. Some of it's urban and some of it's rural.

 

[Rob B]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but all series of Urban Fantasy, are series of standalone books. Is there some series of Urban Fantasy that is epic in scope, with world effecting coherent plotline that keeps on rolling for several books and then actually ends? in other words, is there an urban fantasy series that is as epic as High Fantasy series?

Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule might fit the bill, especially if you enjoy Celtic mythology. Check out this thread: Mark Chadbourn - Age of Misrule & Dark Age series?

I also posted my review of the first book, World's End.

I see Ken beat me to the punch as I was posting.

 

[kcf]

I see Ken beat me to the punch as I was posting.

Great minds...

 

[kmgrey]

kmgrey, Cool, nice to know Butcher is heading somewhere, i like his books as they are, but knowing it's heading towards some epic climax will add to the fun when reading future books, i was under the impression he has no big story arc, certainly not planned from the beginning.

How far have you read? You start to see some of the bigger stuff by the third book but I think it's really after Book 5 or so where it becomes clear that there is a major arc occurring.

Btw, does The Adversary Cycle a finished work or a work in progress? it sounds interesting.

Finished. Sort of. I've actually only read the first book ("The Keep") which doesn't really qualify as Urban Fantasy but I've read up on later installments of the series. I say "sort of" because the second novel of the sequence, "The Tomb", actually spawned a second series, called the The Repairman Jack series, and I think the events in that series are gradually building to the events chronicled in the later "Adversary" books.

 

[FitzChivalry]

How far have you read? You start to see some of the bigger stuff by the third book but I think it's really after Book 5 or so where it becomes clear that there is a major arc occurring.

Umm.. i read 7 books, if you mean the war between the white council and the red court, i guess you could call it epic in scope, but it seemed to me more like a backstory to the central plotline of each book, which were standalone in nature. It also seemed to me that it's not a plotline that will last for much longer, not all the way through to the end of the series at least.



And yeah, i should try Age of Misrule, i'm not sure why i didn't so far.

 

[kmgrey]

Umm.. i read 7 books, if you mean the war between the white council and the red court, i guess you could call it epic in scope, but it seemed to me more like a backstory to the central plotline of each book, which were standalone in nature. It also seemed to me that it's not a plotline that will last for much longer, not all the way through to the end of the series at least.

Nah, there is a lot more to it than just the White Council and Red Court standoff. You should have started seeing hints of the bigger stuff in the first seven (especially book 7 itself) and more gets filled in during each book.

Offhand, I believe just about every "standalone" plot in each book is part of a connected whole.

 

[FitzChivalry]

Nah, there is a lot more to it than just the White Council and Red Court standoff. You should have started seeing hints of the bigger stuff in the first seven (especially book 7 itself) and more gets filled in during each book.

Offhand, I believe just about every "standalone" plot in each book is part of a connected whole.

Well, i'm still not sure what is the bigger stuff, but i'll take your word for it.

 

[ottox]

I would'nt call Butcher's Dresden Files epic. They are primarily humorous detective stories, in each of which the (cool and funny) detective solves a mysterious crime. This usually culminates in a pitched battle against supernatural beings with strange personalities. I guess you could call those battles epic but this is only a minor aspect of those books.
"Urban Fantasy epic in scope" - this sounds to me like a definition of mainstream science fiction.

 

[ChrisW]

While we are talking Butcher I find odd that down here in Australia his Dresden books arn't widely available. The only place i've seen them is at Borders. None of the Aussie chain bookstores seem to carry them even though most of them now have half the fantasy section dedicated to vampire/urban fantasy books. I have seen his codex Alera books though? What's Orbit doing?