Urban Enemies

A Collection of Urban Fantasy Stories

By: Jim Butcher, Joseph Nassise - editor

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Tanya Eby

Length: 13 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Villains have all the fun - everyone knows that - and this anthology takes you on a wild ride through the dark side! The top villains from 16 urban fantasy series get their own stories - including the baddies of New York Times best-selling authors Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, and Jonathan Maberry.

For every hero trying to save the world, there's a villain trying to tear it all down. In this can't-miss anthology edited by Joseph Nassise (The Templar Chronicles), you get to plot world domination with the best of the evildoers we love to hate! This outstanding collection brings you stories told from the villains' points of view, imparting fresh and unique takes on the evil masterminds, wicked witches, and infernal personalities that skulk in today's most popular series.

The full anthology features stories by Jim Butcher (the Dresden Files), Kelley Armstrong (the Cainsville and Otherworld series), Seanan McGuire (October Daye), Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles), Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger), Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet), Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville), Joseph Nassise (Templar Chronicles), C. E. Murphy (Walker Papers), Steven Savile (Glass Town), Caitlin Kittredge (the Hellhound Chronicles and the Black London series), Jeffrey Somers (The Ustari Cycle), Sam Witt (Pitchfork County), Craig Schaefer (Daniel Faust), Jon F. Merz (Lawson Vampire), and Diana Pharaoh Francis (Horngate Witches).

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2017 Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathan Maberry, Jeff Somers, Joseph Nassise (P)2017 Recorded Books

Eh...

There were a few good stories and several not so good ones. Narration was really good throughout. Seemed like a good idea, but eh... not so much.

Eclectic mix of stories

This was an interesting collection of short stories. Each was well written and narrated. It was not, however, hang on the edge of your seat listening. Some stories were more action filled than others.

Good Short Stories, if you know the worlds

What did you love best about Urban Enemies?

I loved the stories from worlds with which I was already familiar. And I did find a few new authors whose series I want to try. However, the stories as generally too short to get oriented to the world if you aren't familiar with it. So I'd recommend to fans, not newbies.

Good stories but one is missing

I enjoyed most of the stories. I have read most of the series these stories are set in and I'm sure that helped.

One thing stands out though - WHERE IS THE C E. MURPHY STORY? I read the Walker Papers series not long ago and went back to this anthology to read the Walker story here. I skipped the first time but am familiar with the universe now and I wanted to check it out. The problem is that when I looked for it in the chapter list, it was not listed. I then listened, skipping from one chapter to the next but it just wasn't there. It says in the synopsis of the book that the story is there. I looked up the print version in my local library and it is there so why was it dropped from the audio book? It's labeled as unabridged but obviously it's not. I guess I hadn't skipped the story the first time after all.

Aside from this curious problem, my only problem was with the narrators. They were only fair at best. Many other anthologies like this get the regular narrators from each series to read the story from their world. I wish this one had been done that way. I really missed Luke Daniels for Hearne's story, James Marsters for Butcher's, and Mary Robinette-Kowal for Mcguire's.

Short stories

The majority of the stories are interesting and provide info on characters in the author's series. Some of the short stories have a beginning and end while others seem to give you just the middle. There is a different narrator for each story. As with other anthologies you get great and not so great stories and your opinion just depends on which author drew you to the story. For me, I picked it up for Faith Hunter's story.

No stand-alones & a retread from other collections

There are better collections of fantasy shorts, such as Noir Fatale or Blackguards. Those contain some shorts tied to series but also several standalone stories that can be enjoyed without having read the authors’ other works. This collection is entirely pulled from existing series and many don’t bother to catch you up on the world or the characters. Given this collection stars the bad guys, the failure to develop their backstories makes it hard to relate to their evil deeds. Many of these aren’t so much stories as they are series chapters that should have been left on the drawing room floor.

Which brings me to my frustration with Audible failing to list the shorts in the summary, so listeners can see how many they already own. Thus, this review will list the 17 short stories (all an hour or less), their authors, and the series I think they attach to (I’m admittedly not familiar with all of the series).

1. Even Hand by Jim Butcher. A Dresden series short starring nemesis John Marcone. This short is available in at least two other collections that I know of: Brief Cases and Dark & Stormy Knights.⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Hounded by Kelly Armstrong. Series: Cainsville? MC is a sort of Celtic or Fae devil who enables human in damning themselves.⭐️⭐️
3. Nigsu Ga Tesgu by Jeff Somers. Series: The Utsari Cycle? Sounded like a battle from one of the books, told from the evil POV. Confused. ⭐️
4. Sixty-Six Seconds by Craig Schaefer. Series: Harmony Black and Daniel Faust crossover.
Demon bounty hunter gets his sidekick. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
5. Kiss by Lilith Saintcrow. Series: Jill Kismet. I liked the arrogant smarm from the devilish POV. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
6. The Naughtiest Cherub by Kevin Hearne. Series: Iron Druid Loki runs Hell’s gauntlet for a weapon against the Iron Druid. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. The Resurrectionist by Caitlin Kittridge. Series: Black London?
Mob enforcer tracks warlock’s little sister. ⭐️⭐️
8. Down Where The Darkness Dwells by Joseph Nassise. Series: Templar Chronicles? Not sure where the Templars come in. This was military monster tale goes Tomb Raider. Lots of guns and gore. ⭐️⭐️
9. Bellum Romanum by Carrie Vaughn. Series: Kitty Norville. Backstory for Gaius. ⭐️⭐️
10. Altar Boy by Jonathan Mayberry. Series: Joe Ledger. A Toys love story…sort of. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
11. Make it Snappy by Faith Hunter. Series: Jane Yellowrock. Vampire Leo in a prequel escapade. ⭐️⭐️
12. Chase The Fire by John F Merz. Series: Lawson vampire. Yawn. Like Blade, but boring.⭐️
13. Unexpected Choices by Diana Pharaoh Francis. Series: Horngate Witches.
Endless talking between witches and angels with funky names. ⭐️
14. Reel Life by Steven Savile. Glass Tower book? Something about time travel. This guy is an A hole. ⭐️
15. The Difference Between Deceit and Delusion by Domino Finn. Series: Black Magic Outlaw?
Voodoo, ripping throats with metal teeth, drops right into a John Wick style fight scene.
Books 1-3 are offered for 1 credit. May be worth a sale purchase. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
16. Balance by Seanan McGuire. Series: October Daye? Excellent twilight zone-ish tale
starring an evil cuckoo creature (the bird, not the crazy, although she is pathological). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
17. Everywhere by Sam Witt. Series: Pitchfork County?
Old McDonald had a farm… meets invasion of the body snatcher. ⭐️⭐️

I bought it for the Butcher story.

I enjoyed the John Marcone story line in the Dresden books. The problem I encountered was I wasn't familiar with the characters in the other stories and couldn't connect with them. If you know the other series I'm certain you would enjoy them more than I did.

fun rides

Really enjoyed this collection. Obviously some stories are better than others, but the glimpse into different worlds is enjoyable. The performances were typically good, but a couple of times they were a little stilted. I have to imagine switching from author to author to be difficult and overall really enjoyed the experience.

Okay but cheesy

narrator is okay, story was eh.
Author had a hard time transitioning to Adult. Too many women saying sweetee and cowboy for our tastes.

liked it a lot

The first few minutes have a text to speech feel but it gets better. Glad i kept going.