I thought I was going to write about Urban Fantasy for this post. Then I had an idea. I was going to talk about my love for sentient places. I opened up this draft post I made to remind myself of the topic – and there were notes about writing about sentient places. So obviously it is such a good idea that I had it twice!
I’ve loved the idea ever since I read a Sarah Addison Allen book that had a house that changed its wallpaper according to its mood. I want a house with mood wallpaper.
This is the only Ilona Andrews series that I’ve been able to get into. It is about a woman who lives in Texas and runs an inn. That’s normal enough except that this inn serves interstellar travelers.
The inn is alive. It senses danger. I can remodel itself as needed to fit the needs of any guest of any species. I love it and I want to live here.
The Bishop house in New England also changes size to fit the number of guests. It also has a tendency to hide things until such time that it deems its humans need it.
I don’t just love sentient houses. I’m also a big fan of sentient cities. Minimum Wage Magic takes place in an alternate Detroit that is alive. Buildings move around as the city remodels itself.
This is a second series set in this world. It takes place after the Heartstriker series that starts with Nice Dragons Finish Last that shows how the world got this way. I read Minimum Wage Magic first and I think that it was better for me this way. I don’t know if I would have finished the whole first series if I didn’t know that it was going to end up somewhere wild. When the series starts you would never predict it. Obviously there are major spoilers for the Heartstriker series.
Oakland achieves sentience in this book and a witch with just a small amount of magic gets bonded to it. I love this book and more people need to know about it.
