October Daye series by Seanan McGuire (mild spoilers without a cut)
The October Daye series is an urban fantasy series about a half-fae (half-fae are called changelings in this series which I'm still adjusting to, as that isn't what a mythological changeling is, but moving on) knight, October "Toby" Daye. It's not quite like any other urban fantasy series I've read: there's the obligatory triangle with the sexy "others," but they're no more "other" than Toby herself (perhaps less so, actually) and Toby is generally too busy trying not to die to worry about her love life, and six books in, it's playing out in a very non-triangley way (bonus points for the fact that I genuinely like one a lot and don't mind the other, despite finding him considerably less interesting than most other characters in the series), and the supernatural world/real world is blended together in a more interesting (and "convincingly"-as much as the world can be used for an urban fantasy series) way than most series, with the majority of the action taking place on the fae side of things. It's also very much worth noting that the fae aren't all white.
But there are two main things that set it apart for me.
The first is that this is one of the few series that makes me genuinely fear for the main character's survival. I mean, it's written in first person past tense and I read five of the books knowing that there was at least one more after it, but still worrying about Toby's chances of survival. Part of it is that Toby has something of a death wish (and not one that isn't noticed or is treated lightly, but one that's consistently met with "OMG Toby STOP ALMOST DYING AND MAKING US HAVE TO PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER. No, we aren't exaggerating or just tired of you doing dangerous things, STOP TRYING TO DIE ON US!", but also because the very first thing that happens to Toby in the series is that an enemy turns her into a fish and leaves her to die on dry land, and she's only saved by a tourist tossing her into a koi pond. Where she proceeded to stay for 14 years, coming back to learn that her life is gone and her fiance and now-teenaged daughter (understandably) think she ran out on them and wants them to welcome her back. I mean, when the writer kicks things off by doing that to the main character, it can be safely assumed that the writer can and will do anything short of permanent death to the character. (Some might remember McGuire's post that was circling around a while back about a reader asking when Toby-and her other female leads-was going to get raped, because it was unrealistic for them to not get raped, and how McGuire said she never was going to have her female characters get raped, and why. Well, McGuire is doing a good job in these books of showing how very many ways you can traumatize for female characters and make them afraid without ever even hinting at sexual assault, and I admit to loving every minute of it despite it being terrible for my nerves.)
Another part of that is that the plots of the book tend to be much more intimately connected to Toby and the people she cares about than I remember most UF plots being back when I read more about it. Instead of Toby being pulled into cases that end up being Big Things, the case tend to start by being directly connected to Toby and her loved ones, and even "the world might end!" tends to be overshadowed by Toby's personal connection to whatever's going on. Even Toby's "epic destiny" type plot that all urban fantasy heroines get isn't so much about the epic destiny, but about the mystery of Toby's mother (who I find utterly fascinating despite the fact that she's had exactly one scene in six books and otherwise is mentioned by others or remembered by Toby) and the impact it has on the people around her.
The other thing is that Toby has TONS of important, emotionally fraught relationships with other women, many of whom, in other series, would be put forth as antagonists or rivals. (There's actually a plotline where someone is targeting people who would normally be assumed to be Toby's enemies in an attempt to frame her, but they aren't and so things don't go as planned.) Instead, Toby is consistently a mixture of frenemy, BFF and ally to most of the women she encounters, and these relationships are given as much, if not more, attention (depending on the book and circumstance) as her relationships with men. My favorite of these is with The Luidaeg, an ancient sea witch with whom Toby has a very Dread Pirate Roberts/Wesley type of relationship, and I freely admit that that was my OTP of the series until something happened (something good, storywise!) that just made that too terribly awkward. (Then I switch to what appears to be the endgame, and I'm ok with that.) I'm also extremely fond of her relationship with May, who can't really be easily explained without reading the books, and of course Toby's mother, Amandine, a mysterious but very important figure who apparently went mad while Toby was a fish, missing and presumed dead, and has since almost becomes a legendary figure, only briefly spotted wandering around the Summerlands. Out of probably a dozen or so important female characters, there are only 3 who are straightup antagonists to Toby, and only one of whom can simply be labeled "the bad guy" (and I'm actually just assuming this character will end up being important based on her role in the sixth book).
Toby also has a couple of adorable teenaged fae boy sidekicks, and possibly acquired a female changeling sidekick in the latest book. (We'll see. I can hope.) There are lots of politics that I, at least, find interesting, and I'm not sure there's an important character who I actually dislike except for a couple of the villains (both of whom may never be seen again at this point), and I find the mythology very interesting. The naming system is a bit odd-women are often gicen nature and date-related names (October, Lily, May, Luna, January, Acacia, April, etc.) and men's names often seem to be lifted from romance novels (Sylvester, Tybalt, Etienne, Quentin, Raj, Connor, etc.) but I got used to it after a couple books, and there's an explanation-of-sorts given at one point. The series seems to be a bit hit and miss-some people seem to dislike the series for some of the reasons I'm drawn to it-but I'll definitely be reading more.
The books, in order, are:
Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Light
Late Eclipses
One Salt Sea
Ashes of Honor
I know a number of people are going to tell me to red McGuire's zombie apocalypse books written as Mira Grant, and I will but has anyone read her Incrypid books? (Or at least the first. I'm not sure the second is out yet.)
But there are two main things that set it apart for me.
The first is that this is one of the few series that makes me genuinely fear for the main character's survival. I mean, it's written in first person past tense and I read five of the books knowing that there was at least one more after it, but still worrying about Toby's chances of survival. Part of it is that Toby has something of a death wish (and not one that isn't noticed or is treated lightly, but one that's consistently met with "OMG Toby STOP ALMOST DYING AND MAKING US HAVE TO PUT YOU BACK TOGETHER. No, we aren't exaggerating or just tired of you doing dangerous things, STOP TRYING TO DIE ON US!", but also because the very first thing that happens to Toby in the series is that an enemy turns her into a fish and leaves her to die on dry land, and she's only saved by a tourist tossing her into a koi pond. Where she proceeded to stay for 14 years, coming back to learn that her life is gone and her fiance and now-teenaged daughter (understandably) think she ran out on them and wants them to welcome her back. I mean, when the writer kicks things off by doing that to the main character, it can be safely assumed that the writer can and will do anything short of permanent death to the character. (Some might remember McGuire's post that was circling around a while back about a reader asking when Toby-and her other female leads-was going to get raped, because it was unrealistic for them to not get raped, and how McGuire said she never was going to have her female characters get raped, and why. Well, McGuire is doing a good job in these books of showing how very many ways you can traumatize for female characters and make them afraid without ever even hinting at sexual assault, and I admit to loving every minute of it despite it being terrible for my nerves.)
Another part of that is that the plots of the book tend to be much more intimately connected to Toby and the people she cares about than I remember most UF plots being back when I read more about it. Instead of Toby being pulled into cases that end up being Big Things, the case tend to start by being directly connected to Toby and her loved ones, and even "the world might end!" tends to be overshadowed by Toby's personal connection to whatever's going on. Even Toby's "epic destiny" type plot that all urban fantasy heroines get isn't so much about the epic destiny, but about the mystery of Toby's mother (who I find utterly fascinating despite the fact that she's had exactly one scene in six books and otherwise is mentioned by others or remembered by Toby) and the impact it has on the people around her.
The other thing is that Toby has TONS of important, emotionally fraught relationships with other women, many of whom, in other series, would be put forth as antagonists or rivals. (There's actually a plotline where someone is targeting people who would normally be assumed to be Toby's enemies in an attempt to frame her, but they aren't and so things don't go as planned.) Instead, Toby is consistently a mixture of frenemy, BFF and ally to most of the women she encounters, and these relationships are given as much, if not more, attention (depending on the book and circumstance) as her relationships with men. My favorite of these is with The Luidaeg, an ancient sea witch with whom Toby has a very Dread Pirate Roberts/Wesley type of relationship, and I freely admit that that was my OTP of the series until something happened (something good, storywise!) that just made that too terribly awkward. (Then I switch to what appears to be the endgame, and I'm ok with that.) I'm also extremely fond of her relationship with May, who can't really be easily explained without reading the books, and of course Toby's mother, Amandine, a mysterious but very important figure who apparently went mad while Toby was a fish, missing and presumed dead, and has since almost becomes a legendary figure, only briefly spotted wandering around the Summerlands. Out of probably a dozen or so important female characters, there are only 3 who are straightup antagonists to Toby, and only one of whom can simply be labeled "the bad guy" (and I'm actually just assuming this character will end up being important based on her role in the sixth book).
Toby also has a couple of adorable teenaged fae boy sidekicks, and possibly acquired a female changeling sidekick in the latest book. (We'll see. I can hope.) There are lots of politics that I, at least, find interesting, and I'm not sure there's an important character who I actually dislike except for a couple of the villains (both of whom may never be seen again at this point), and I find the mythology very interesting. The naming system is a bit odd-women are often gicen nature and date-related names (October, Lily, May, Luna, January, Acacia, April, etc.) and men's names often seem to be lifted from romance novels (Sylvester, Tybalt, Etienne, Quentin, Raj, Connor, etc.) but I got used to it after a couple books, and there's an explanation-of-sorts given at one point. The series seems to be a bit hit and miss-some people seem to dislike the series for some of the reasons I'm drawn to it-but I'll definitely be reading more.
The books, in order, are:
Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Light
Late Eclipses
One Salt Sea
Ashes of Honor
I know a number of people are going to tell me to red McGuire's zombie apocalypse books written as Mira Grant, and I will but has anyone read her Incrypid books? (Or at least the first. I'm not sure the second is out yet.)