Urban Fantasy

I’m still reading Ananzi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. So far it’s really funny and magical. As always Gaiman takes something we know and turns it over and over. With this story, Gods are real and Fat Charlie is the son of Ananzi who is a trickster in South African tales. Although I have gotten to the point where he meets his brother, Spider, who isn’t really so far to me someone you should trust. (I mean come on he smooched the crap out of Fat Charlie’s fiancé.) But I really can’t wait to see what happens from here on out, what misguided adventure is going to happen. I think Gaiman really likes misguided adventures; his characters just seem to fall into them unexpectedly.

            Of the books I have read by Gaiman, are Coraline and The Graveyard Book. Oh and Good Omens, which he wrote with Terry Pratchet. Gaiman has a real knack for blending horror, fantasy and comedy, so that his novel really does feel as though they are in reality. Like one day you could open your door and fall into one of his misguided adventures. That is the general appeal of good urban fantasy books.  We want to go into worlds of magic and mischief but when they are close to the reality of today they feel so much more tangible. I don’t ever think I would meet anyone who would be like Aragorn or Boromir, but I can imagine meeting someone like Fat Charlie or Coraline. So the stories Gaiman writes have a grounded feeling and easily relatable. We know people like the characters he presents and in some ways they could be like ourselves. They just happen to be in a world full of mystery and magic. Not to far from our own, I would say, we have magic of our own in this reality.