Urban fantasy anthologies are always great fun to read. It doesn't matter if you haven't read anything by most of the authors before, heck, it's a great way to be introduced into series.

This anthology appealed to me because I recognized authors like Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire and Kevin Hearne. The rest were new ones for me, but for the most part did all of the stories work, even though most of the series in this book were new for me, like even though I have read books by Seanan McGuire before haven't I read anything before from her October Daye series, and I have only read the first book in the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (and a short story) before so the villain in the book was pretty unknown for me. But, it worked. Most of the stories worked, despite the fact that I had pretty much zero knowledge before I read them. Then again, I love interesting villains so that helped.

The best story was without doubt Kelley Armstrong's. But, I started to read her Cainsville series a while back, and I love it so that's not really a big surprise. It did spoil the series a bit since I have only read the first two books, but that's alright. It doesn't put me off reading the next books.

If I had been wise would I have taken notes of every story, but I was too lazy for that so I will not comment on every story. However, I will say that it's a great collection whether or not you have read anything by the others before.

There were so many stories in this and, though a lot of them had similar aspects, there was also a lot of variety between the villains brought into this anthology by different authors.

I found myself liking most the stories about origin stories, although of course there was one acception. Origin stories I loved included:

Lilith Saintcrow's "Kiss"
Jonathan Maberry's "Alter Boy"
Caitlin Kittredge's "The Resurrectionist"
Carrie Vaugn's "Bellum Romanum"

Many others, particularly those that were enmeshed either in series that I hadn't read at all, or hadn't gotten up to the later parts of the series yet, were just a bit too convoluted to stand alone for me. For every one I loved, there were probably as many that just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

But whether they were villains who had secret rules that they didn't break--such as John Marcone in Jim Butcher's short--or dark and evil villains--such as Steven Savile's Seth in Glass Town--or even Seanan McGuire's more neutral cuckoo villain, there was something in here for everyone.

Special mention to both Jonathan Maberry and Diana Pharoh Francis whose names I'd never heard of before but whose stories I enjoyed the very most from this set.

At this time I am unable to give a review to issues with the version of publishing I received.

A decent collection of stories. I only read the ones of authors that I read so I wouldn't become confused. I do have to say, I'm disappointed that the 'headliner' story by Jim Butcher is a reprint of a story from another anthology. I was looking forward to new content.

These compilations are an excellent way to find new authors and new series to read. The only series reflected in this work that I'm familiar with are Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series. Both of these stories, while they don't necessary move the series' plots forward, do serve to provide background on what Marcone and Loki, two villains, are up to, and gives us a little more depth to their characters.

A fantastic eclectic sampling of authors villains. From our favorite non redeemable, to the trying to be redeemed. We get back story on Leo from Jane Yellowrock, gory goodness from Dresdens Marcone, Toys was a special treat, as I need to read those novels to find out more. They suck you in and introduce you to authors you may not have read, and boy do I want to read the ones I've got a taste of now! The best anthology I have read. Long live the villains! (insert evil laugh here) I voluntarily reviewed an ARC from Netgalley.

This collection is a lot of fun! I picked it up because some of my favorite authors have stories in it but it was also a good introduction to authors I haven't read. For the ones I'm familiar with, these weren't just new stories by them but new stories in familiar settings but from different points of view that show the usual protagonist in a new light.

For the authors I hadn't read, this may be a strange way of being introduced but you can learn a lot about a character by the enemies they make. Now I want to learn more about the good guys because they have such interested bad guys.

A huge anthology of the best urban fantasy short stories told by the point of view of the most notorious and nefarious villains.... It is not bad, but in a way it spoiled all my favorite series, specially the one I'm most attached to: Kevin Hearne's druids and Butcher's Dresden Files, because I didn't want to like the villains mostly.

Una massiccia antologia di alcuni di storie tratte dalle serie piú famose urban fantasy e raccontate dai cattivi piú famosi....Non male, il mio problema peró é che se mi affezioni anche ai cattivi in qualche modo mi si rovina la serie, come per i druidi di Kevin Hearne e per i Dresden Files di Jim Butcher...

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

I do love a good anthology and seeing this advertised I couldn't wait to read it. Now I will be frank and say I'm not sure if all these short stories are new and have a feeling that perhaps one or two have been released before so I'd suggest checking the titles and comparing with books you already own . That being said all were fresh to me and as it included works by six authors I follow for me this was an excellent read.
Hmm how do I start? Well if I review each and every story this would be far too long and tedious to read so I will sum up my thoughts. Quite often in urban fantasy we see the bad guys but are not always sure just why they act as they do. It's easy with say a demon to understand that they are by nature evil incarnate but when faced with more human villains I always have questions. So it was interesting to occasionally see a different side with the baddies having standards of their own! We have characters trying to use magic for good and realising that some things really shouldn't be taken for granted. So many variations in play here from the more humourous and frankly quirky to tales with a bitter twist. Prideful men who underestimate others and even angels realising that even they are perhaps not infallible . Yes there's a simple truth throughout these stories and that is that you should always be careful what you wish for!
I'd read books by several of these authors and had heard of some others and this was a delightful way to sample their styles. In fact one or two actually surprised me as I hadn't kept checking the authors names as I sailed through so got completely blindsided. Ok not everyone will enjoy all these stories and yes of course I had favourites but as an introduction to new authors works this was an entertaining collection. All in all I thought this anthology had lots of variety and definitely held my attention
This voluntary review is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and feelings are I believe honest and fair

I was disappointed when I started to read the first story. The Jim Butcher book was already in another anthology so it wasn't new to me (and it didn't thrill me much the first time I read it...the "surprise" didn't ring true for me). Things went down from there. None of the stories were interesting to me, not even those from favorite authors like Faith Hunter and Kevin Hearne. The story by Hunter seemed a little out of tune with the character of Katie though the focus of the story is on Leo. Half of the authors were new to me and what I read didn't make me want to look up their series.

Big disappointment.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

What a phenomenal collection, and from the enemies point of view. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

This anthology is full of well-known authors of the genre. However, the stories are somewhat light in content (as told from the villain's perspectives) and would be best recommended for diehard fans.

Full review to be ready for publication by mid July.

URBAN ENEMIES will be an ongoing read for me this summer, to read and savor each story leisurely and in a timely fashion. The story I read immediately is the one I picked up the anthology to get my hands on. 'Make it Snappy' is a fun bit about my favorite bad boy vampire Leo from Faith Hunter's fantastic "Jane Yellowrock" series. Next up will be Jim Butcher and the story from "The Dresden Files" series, and the Diana Pharaoh Francis and her entry from her "Horngate Witches" series.

URBAN ENEMIES looks to be a great read in the pnr/uf worlds of the various authors.