Borderland

Borderland #1

by Terri Windling (editor), Charles de Lint, Ellen Kushner

The land of fairy returns, and it’s a messy reunification at best. The land between the normal human world and Fairy is called "The Border," a place where one can easily become lost—or found. In the rements of evacuated cities from this rebirth the two worlds come together in Bordertown, where magic and technology don't always work. The town is teeming with the outcasts, runaways and dreamers of both Fairy and
Earth children.

NOTE: all the "Bellamy Bach" stories in the Borderland series were written by the editor/Borderland founder, Terri Windling.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Young Adult, Fairy Tales

252 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 6, 1986

About the author

Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. Windling has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and her anthology The Armless Maiden, a fiction collection for adult survivors of child abuse, appeared on the shortlist for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. She was also honored with SFWA's Soltice Award in 2010, a lifetime achievement award for "significant contributions to the speculative fiction field as a writer, editor, artist, educator, and mentor". Windling's work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.

In the American publishing field, Windling is one of the primary creative forces behind the mythic fiction resurgence that began in the early 1980s—first through her work as an innovative editor for the Ace and Tor Books fantasy lines; secondly as the creator of the Fairy Tales series of novels (featuring reinterpretations of classic fairy tale themes by Jane Yolen, Steven Brust, Pamela Dean, Patricia C. Wrede, Charles de Lint, and others); and thirdly as the editor of over thirty anthologies of magical fiction. She is also recognized as one of the founders of the urban fantasy genre, having published and promoted the first novels of Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, and other pioneers of the form.

With Ellen Datlow, Windling edited 16 volumes of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (1986–2003), an anthology series that reached beyond the boundaries of genre fantasy to incorporate magic realism, surrealism, poetry, and other forms of magical literature. Datlow and Windling also edited the Snow White, Blood Red series of literary fairy tales for adult readers, as well as many anthologies of myth & fairy tale inspired fiction for younger readers (such as The Green Man, The Faery Reel, and The Wolf at the Door). Windling also created and edited the Borderland series for teenage readers.

As an author, Windling's fiction includes The Wood Wife (winner of the Mythopoeic Award for Novel of the Year) and several children's books: The Raven Queen, The Changeling, A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale, The Winter Child, and The Faeries of Spring Cottage. Her essays on myth, folklore, magical literature and art have been widely published in newsstand magazines, academic journals, art books, and anthologies. She was a contributor to The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, edited by Jack Zipes.

As an artist, Windling specializes in work inspired by myth, folklore, and fairy tales. Her art has been exhibited across the US, as well as in the UK and France.

Windling is the founder of the Endicott Studio, an organization dedicated to myth-inspired arts, and co-editor (with Midori Snyder) of The Journal of Mythic Arts. She also sits on the board of the Mythic Imagination Institute. A former New Yorker, Windling spend many years in Tucson, Arizona, and now lives in Devon, England. She is married to dramatist Howard Gayton, co-director of the Ophaboom Theatre Company.

Reviews

[Nathan Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a teenager, a 15-yr-old angsty boy struggling with ADHD, in desperate need of an escape. This book will always have a special place in my heart, and heavily influenced me as a writer.

[Jukaschar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting collection of four fairy tales set in Bordertown, between elven and human lands.
The stories have a distinct late 70s, 80s feel to them, which I like. There are some blunders, very much typical of the time the anthology was published in, some minor scenes that felt very out of place from a modern perspective.
The influence of these stories on modern fairy tale and urban fantasy is very obvious and as someone who really enjoys the fairy tale subgenre I'm very impressed.

[B.R. Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borderland is the very first installation in the series of the same name—a corpus of shared-world short stories and novels which collectively serves as a foundational text for the urban fantasy genre. Written in the 1980s, the books meld punk sensibilities and old-world high-fantasy glamour.

Borderland (this volume) is an anthology of four pieces of short fiction by Steven R. Boyet, Terri Windling writing as Bellamy Bach, Charles De Lint and Ellen Kushner. As with Bordertown, which I read and reviewed out of order, each of the stories serves as a conceptually self-contained aspect of the shared world. The stories are unified by setting—Bordertown, the city nestled between the Elflands and the human World. Three of the four stories as further connected through the youth of their protagonists and their occurrence in Bordertown’s history. The first of the set, “Prodigy”, bucks the trend: its protagonist, a formerly famous musician named Scooter, is notably older than many of the other POV characters scattered amongst the stories, and the story itself is set in the early years of Bordertown, likely some ten or fifteen years at least before the following entries.

As with any multi-author anthology, the mix of voices and approaches means your mileage will vary. The nature of shared-world creations means that inevitably a reader will find installments somewhat uneven. Taken as a whole, I think the stories in this collection are more polished than those in Bordertown—these stories have greater clarity, more concision in their language, and better consistency of perspective.

This volume spends more time than Bordertown exploring the fuzzy borders of magic, embodied and otherwise. In “Prodigy,” a man’s musical talent becomes a literal form of magic which rages through Bordertown. “Gray” tells the story of a runaway girl with strange magical abilities who trades her human street gang for the friendship of a well-meaning if vapid elf girl. While Gray toys with the problematic position of halfies in Bordertown, Gray is revealed to be fully human (though still in possession of magic). “Stick” confronts the precarious lives of halfies more directly—when Stick, Bordertown’s resident martial artist/vigilante, saves a halfie girl from a gang bet down, she ends up saving him in turn with the help of Farrel Din (an elvish wizard) and the Horn Dance (a rock band). “Charis” takes us up the Hill, to where the dignitaries and wealthy live. Here we get a glimpse of interworld politics when Charis, the naive daughter of two human politicians, gets dragged into a complicated elfin plot.

I especially liked “Gray” and “Charis” in this volume. The two stories pair well together, actually, working as sort of mirror images of what elf-looking human teenage girls in this world might do and deal with. “Stick” is a bit…optimistic for my particular taste, I think. And “Prodigy” fell quite flat with me. In both “Stick” and “Prodigy” the characterization could have been stronger. “Prodigy” also felt overly long for the story it told. But all in all, this book serves as a very strong introduction to Bordertown.

[~Geektastic~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid intro to the collective world of the Borderlands, the chaotic and enchanted land that lies between Faerie and the ordinary world. A few unfortunate moments of "of-its-time" 80s bigotry pulled me out of the stories a couple of times but overall I think they are surprisingly timeless. The first story is the longest—at over 100 pages, it's more of a novella—and doesn't have a lot of payoff for the the length so it's probably my least favorite, though it does a pretty good job of introducing us to the early years of the "change" that created the Borderlands and Bordertown. The latter three stories are set more in the later, contemporary version of Bordertown and I find them more engaging.

I had been meaning to read the Borderland series for years. I actually started a little backwards, with the 2015 Welcome to Bordertown collection edited by Holly Black. It can be tricky to start a series with a volume published so recently and then travel backwards into books published in the 80s and 90s, but the originals hold up better than I had anticipated. The concept—an entire world built up by stories written by different authors—is really quite brilliant and I would like to see it keep going and continue introducing newer voices interested in adding to the mythos of the ever-alluring territory between the World and the Elflands.

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come :)

[Jodotha · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I want to thank my local library for tracking down a copy of this for me to read. You guys rock.

So why only three stars? Personal taste, largely. I'm not at all trying to say it hasn't earned its rep, because I think it really has. But I'm coming at it 30 years after it was written, after reading a ton of stuff written by people inspired by this book. Even if I didn't devour it in one sitting, I'm still really glad I got a chance to read it.

This is the first book in a famous series of anthologies that has been lauded as the origin of modern urban fantasy. So I had to read it for myself. As one might expect, the first book in this collection focuses largely on world-building. It's hard to imagine a time when a place like the Borderland wasn't...well...everywhere in fiction. It was a bit like reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (though not quite so extreme, it's only been 30 years). Though I never grow tired of it, I've read a ton of fiction with a similar punk/dystopian/rock paranormal feel to it, so this didn't feel at all revelatory to me. It felt a little rough, actually, which makes sense considering it was the very first one of the series, and a completely new concept, to boot.

Viewed in context of when it was written, though, I can tell it was definitely ahead of its time, in...just about every single way. I got a kick out of how self-aware the characters could be. They knew their own clichés, and their world, and how it looked to others, how it looked to them - these were some smart teens. The stories didn't grip me, but I totally dug the Borderland world, which is, I think, the real reason these anthologies are so important in the scheme of literary progression.

It's incredibly cool to read something and recognize it as likely inspiration to the author of a book you read that then inspired you. How's that for the circle of literary life?

So three stars to me, but at the same time, I highly recommend picking this up if you have the chance. Especially if you're an avid reader of the genre, especially if you're a writer.

[Darin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these books twice as a teenager and I still have my original copies! It's one of my favorite series and even after all these years I still remember a lot of the stories and characters.

***Update***

I just got The Essential Bordertown so I am re-reading the series.

[Jaimie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this book is a slim volume, and contains only four short stories, it serves as an excellent introduction to the shared world of Bordertown created by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold. I’ve previously read many of the later volumes set in the magical town which straddles the border between the normal world and the recently-returned faerieland (the small print run of this early urban fantasy book makes it tricky to find at the public library), so I was delighted to finally get a chance to read the originating stories after picking up the book on a recent trip through Calgary.

Of all of the four stories contained in this book, the first story is the one which I like the least. Not that it’s an uninteresting story or poorly written, but more so because it’s more predictable and expected within the fantasy (and urban fantasy) genre. The opening scene sees our protagonist, a guitar player of famous repute (apparently reformed from his bad rock & roll ways), playing his guitar on a lonely mountaintop close to the border between Bordertown and Faerieland and creating/controlling magical shapes in the air through his music. From the get-go it was obvious that this kind of skill is one which is tenuous at best and dangerous at its worst, so I was completely unsurprised when the central conflict of the story occurred when his long-time girlfriend leaves him (for being lazy essentially, another wtf moment) and he goes to the mountain again, this time creating a monster of the magical shapes that has a will only for devouring the person who has wronged him. Then he has to confront the monster and defeat it with his own music, therefore emerging from the conflict a changed man and ready to contribute to the well-being of his relationship. Exciting though it may be, this storyline has been done a million times, so I expected better from the likes of Bordertown!

The second story in the collection was one that I felt was really part of a much bigger tale. The story shares perspective between Gray (a human who is cursed to shape-change into a cat) and Wicker (an elf who was born and raised in Bordertown and makes her way as a tempestuous singer), who essentially spend the story circling unknowingly around each other before Gray’s secret is discovered and the two agree to try to cross into the Faerielands together. I’m not sure if their story is continued in the later Bordertown anthologies, but I sure hope that it is, because it sounds rather interesting. Then again, if they cross into Faerie, chances are that story wouldn’t be part of the Bordertown tales since it’s not actually set in Bordertown...

I was delighted to find that my favourite author, Charles de Lint, had contributed to the origins of Bordertown with a climactic story that introduces readers to the “halfie” (half elf, half human) population of Bordertown, Stick & his dancing ferret Lubin (residents of the Bordertown museum and all-around badasses with golden hearts), and the Horn Dance (the only positively motivated gang in Bordertown). All three of these subjects come up many times in later Bordertown collections, so the discovery that de Lint had played a hand in their creation is one of which I am exceedingly proud. It’s not surprising that de Lint tackled these types of characters and conflicts in Bordertown, since his other novels often deal with themes of prejudice, social justice, and mythic traditions based around music, and doing so here sets the tone for many of the larger social forces within Bordertown. The town straddles the border between the known and unknown, relying on a unique mix of magic and technology to survive, and blending a myriad of cultures to create probably the most cosmopolitan (and potentially problematic) social situation ever created - and de Lint is certainly a master of setting up and working within these unique boundaries (or lack thereof).

The final story in the book treads the realms of an expected fairytale - a human having to rescue a man (in this case an elfin lord) from the high lady of faerie - but Ellen Kushner puts a decidedly Bordertown spin on the tale. Instead of the rescue being in the name of true love (or even “right”) as it generally is in the original tales, the challenge is falsely set by some meddling elves from Faerieland as a means of dividing the human and elvin political factions in Bordertown who they deem to be growing too close. Bordertown has a myriad of gangs (elfin, human, and mixed) and social groups who are common plot devices and characters in the stories, so Kushner’s brief foray into more traditional politics within Bordertown makes for an interesting tale. I don’t recall any other stories which centre on this group of people, and I can’t blame most authors from steering clear of a topic that could easily make a Bordertown story quite mundane (politics are old hat, especially traditional ones), but that doesn’t detract from Kushner’s story.

[tatterpunk · Rating 2 out of 5]

ONE STAR for the first three stories, FOUR STARS for the last (and shortest by far) by Ellen Kushner; split the difference and it's TWO STARS -- aka I don't see myself re-reading this book, except maybe Kushner's "Charis?" But even then, eh.

I grew up on the Bordertown books and anthologies, but never found this installment before. Maybe it suffers through the lens of adulthood and how fantasy has matured over the thirty years since it was published. But "Charis" convinces me it was more of a shaky start, no one really knowing what this series or concept could do, all off the ideas just beginning to get fleshed out. So the first three stories all feel weirdly bloated and self-indulgent; they all triumph the power as music as its own magic, for instance, the then the biographies of each author detail their interest in rock and roll or side hobbies as folk musicians. There's just not enough grit to the series yet, none of the immediacy or ironic send-ups of the Tolkein blueprint, everyone seems a little unsure. The first story seems almost completely separate from the others except for a mention of Trader's Heaven -- post-apocalyptic setting, humans can cross the border into Elfland, the people there are conceived as an amalgamation of indigenous tropes. The second the third stories reference each other in the details, and they focus more on the urban aspect: street gangs, club life, introducing a bit more of the racial tensions between elf and human.

But none of the first three offerings, in my opinion, really shine. They're a lot of fluff, the appeal seems to be mostly "what if MAGIC but mixed with REAL STUFF." And yeah, that was still a relatively unique take in the mid-eighties, even if War for the Oaks did it all better (even the music-as-magic) and showed them all up a year later. It still feels generic and formless. None of the characters evolve beyond their stereotypes or basic premise. The first story is especially egregious, as it's basically 100+ pages of a manchild whining and then getting to save the world from his own selfishness given form.

"Charis," though. I was questioning my decades-old dedication to this series, and then I hit "Charis." I'm still mad at Kushner for Privilege of the Sword, and I'm still not sure Charis is much to write home about as a character. But at least she's a very believable sixteen-year-old human girl. And the story itself hold all those wonderful enticements that Bordertown delivers, when it does deliver: clever little details, politics, cultural clashes, and somehow managing to resurrect the fascinating terror of the fey. If you've ever gotten chills listening to the old ballads about fairy lovers, you know what I mean. Bordertown has always been adjacent to the horror genre in that sense, and "Charis" brings home its appeal just in time to save the first book in the series.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to see where the genre of YA urban fantasy began. There was this multi-page description of an abandoned US Bank in an elf wood that had trees growing around it that was clearly like, this revolutionary depiction of magic and industrialization mingling that was supposed to ABSOLUTELY BLOW READERS’ MINDS, and I found it very charming. Definitely a product of its time, and there were some things that really made me cringe, but I blasted through this collection and had a great time nonetheless. Loved the werecat, loved the punk bands, loved the 80s dance-off faery bar fight <33 I wish this series wasn’t out of print! I’d love to have it as an ebook.

[Carter Kalchik · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting historical document in the urban fantasy genre, but not very successful. Here are capsule ratings for each of the stories.

Prodigy: 2/5, overly long, unlikeable MC who barely grows, racially insensitive dialogue, and the whole things is essentially the set up to a punchline.

Gray: 2.5/5, an interesting but not very memorable story of a shapeshifting cat.

Stick: 4/5, the best of the bunch, and old hand saves an Elf/human hybrid who wants to befriend him. The story ends with a bang.

Charis: 3.5/5, a solid but short story of Elfland politics that ends in a dance off.

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of the Borderland books. What a ride.

Such a great anthology with riveting characters and a world in which I could lose myself for days, and have done so on many an occasion since its discovery.

Windling was a genious to put this together and it resonates alongside the other Urban Fantasies that seem to pop into existence around the same time.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this is quite dated nowadays, it feels very 80s but in a way that's nice having read how important this series was to outcasts in the 80s. Definitely worth a read for fans of urban fantasy to see where the amazing genre originated from! The only shame for me was that just as I was becoming interested and getting attached to all the students the stories would finish...

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved these books when I tripped over them in the 90s, and I’m enjoying them again. A world where mythological creatures have reappeared and try to coexist with late-20th-century humans is a great culture-clash set-up; in these short stories by various authors, that clash plays out in the lives of ordinary individuals trying to navigate such a world.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book almost as much as Emma Bull's Finder. My favourite story is Stick by Charles De Lint... I wanted more yet it was just right as it is, leaving some mystery as to the future for the characters.

[Rebeca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the fantasy meet modern world that didn't end up with everything being sunshine and daisies. It does have some dated and bigoted moments due to being a product of it's time but overall I was able to enjoy it.

[Peggi Warner-Lalonde · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of fun - I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

[Vae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can understand why this is a classic - it's a lovely introduction to the world, every story building out a little more as well as introducing great characters.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was just the right age for these when they came out...

[Līga Sproģe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novērtēju ideju, vēstījumu un izpildījumu, bet kaut kas līdz galam nesagāja emocionālajā piesaistē. Tomēr cita dekāde, un man vienmēr ar stāstiem gājis kā pa viļņiem.

[Katy Came · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was there ever such a fantastic shared world! Wish there were more Borderland and Bordertown books

[Jessica Lerbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love shared-world stories! It's been so long since I read these that I'm starting over, and hope to keep going through all of them, this time.

[Cheryl]

for series read 2026

[Иван Величков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Упорито препоръчвана ми от системата на гудрийдс книга на която реших да дам шанс. Води се за един от основоположниците на стила ърбън фентъзи(аз му викам постидустриално). Действието се развивва на неизвестно как появилата се граница между нашия и елфическия свят, на която хора и елфи са построили град обслужващ взаимните им търговски интереси. Пълен с гета, банди, музика, недобре работещи технология и магия, бунтари и бегълци от двете страни на границата.

Prodigy - Steven R. Boyett - Най-добрият разказ в сборника. Действието се развива години преди другите в серията, когато се е появила границата, а градът е далеч от мегаполис. Един музикант разбира, че да свириш на границата е опасно и каквото създадеш с музиката си е твое.

Gray - Bellamy Bach - Това е дамата измислила Бурдюрландия(да знам :P)Terri Windling. В разказа дава посока на съавторите си, как точно ще се случват нещата в света и, повечето не я слушат(писатели какво да ги превиш). Грей е момиче от нашия свят, над което тегне странно елфическо проклятие, показващо се в граничните земи. Чувствайки се по-близо до елфите, от колкото до хората, тя оставя сегашните си човешки приятели, заради дружбата на елфическа девойка.

Stick - Charles de Lint - Тука вече съм пристрастен, но това не е от най-добрите му неща. Стик е човек с леко мистична аура около него. Живее в града от както го има(поне 2 века), раздава правосъдие между бандите(човешки, елфски и всякакви други). Спасява момиче със смесена кръв и си създава голям проблем с шефа на Кръвта - най-голямата елфическа банда.

Charis - Ellen Kusher - Действието се развива на Хълма - квартала на богатите. Дъщерята на един от човешките управници на града е замесена в схема от елфите отатък границата.

Във всички разкази има много музика, заради която много от елфите идват на границата, защото при тях когато свириш стават бели. Много улично насилие, интересни образи.
Смесването на технология и магия може и да е новаторско през 86(макар че не е) и сборника заслужава похвала, но за фен на Зелазни, който ги прави преди закуска тези неща, ми дойде малко семпло. Все пак това е юношеска литература, а аз отдавна не съм юноше бледен. Гледах ревютата тук и високите оценки се дължат повече на приятни тинейджърски спомени. Все пак си заслужава да му се отдели време, само четири разказа са.
Три звездички(по-скоро три и половина) и ще дам шанс и на втората.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books I'd always heard about, but never been able to track down. Finally, last year, Greg at Dreamhaven books sold me a battered old copy so I could see what everyone was talking about.

This is a "shared world" anthology, about a place called "The Borderlands," where the world of elves and magic has inexplicably merged with the "real" world. The short stories take place in various time periods after the merger. Each of the stories builds a bit of the "mythology" of the series, while occasionally referencing people and things from the other stories.

It's a good book, and I can see how it really (along with Emma Bull's brilliant WAR FOR THE OAKS) kicked off the whole "Urban Fantasy" genre. It's also WAY ahead of its time in terms of politics and gender roles, which is cool to read. I found each of the stories intriguing, although by nature there are huge gaps in the background information, as the first volume works out the "ground rules" of the series. For all of that, it took me quite awhile to get through the book, as other books kept pushing their way to the top of my "to read" list, which probably hurt the overall effect of the book.

My favorite two stories in the book were by Charles De Lint and Ellen Kushner, who have also written other books well worth searching out.

I'll continue on through the series, and see how it develops!

[Dave Valdez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I read this book for the first time when I was 15 or 16. It was a discarded copy which had the cover torn off. It had a black spine with white lettering, but I loved this book. I read it, re-read it and read it again. There was just something really attractive about a gritty future world with future-tech and fantasy. In my teenaged brain, it's was like a Reese's peanut butter cup: two great tastes that taste great together. In the past 26 years, I've never been able to find another copy for purchase, and I've looked off and on the entire time. Then I happened upon the website, and I asked if I could get the first book electronically. Then I explored a little further on the site and found out I couldn't.

I implore you to go to the website for the series and push for an e-collection on every major book sales site. If it's possible to get this book and the other out of print anthologies back into print, by all means, use the power of your dollars to make it happen. If you've got kids who are even remotely into science fiction or fantasy, keep a copy of this book on the shelf and let them find it. If I had the connections, I'd take the short stories and make a television series out of them.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought when it was first published, I read and re-read the book, and hoped for more. Somehow I missed seeing them until now.
Go, Goodreads!

This anthology was an eye-opener, full of new ideas. I loved it. One thing I particularly remember was Wolf-boy finding four-leaf clovers and using them to buy things. Awesome!

When the book first came out, I was already well beyond my teenage years, and never had contemplated running away from home. This book introduced the thought that maybe people run away from home when they reach the point of "anywhere is better than here." A lot of the characters are still older than I am in life experience.

I connected to the characters in the way they love their friends, and gather with the people they care about, making new fmailies. They are pilgrims looking for a better life, and the place they live is ... very interesting.

[Valerie Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that this was a fast read, it still managed to intertwine the poetic with the grim, the fantastical with the purely pedantic. I thoroughly enjoyed the connectivity between four authors' tales as set at different times in the Borderland region. The subtle (and not so demure) personalities are set against a backdrop as diverse as they are. At less than 300 pages, one still manages to come to know the characters and vie for their quests for knowledge, power and truth. It is post-modern meets faery tale in the truest sense. Contemporary authors who weave daily transactions with the supernatural should tip their hat to this gem.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this after having read the newest book in the Bordertown universe, Welcome to Bordertown, and despite my fears that this first book might feel too dated it was just as good. Sure, there's definitely things that place it in the 80's like band references, but the stories themselves felt like they could have belonged any time. There's only four stories in this collection, but I enjoyed all of them. I'm always kind of wary of shared universes, but Bordertown is really well down and has a lot of great authors writing for it.

[Kate K. F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bordertown series is where urban fantasy started to change and grow. This is I believe the first book and is a fascinating read because all the authors have a slightly different idea of what Bordertown will end up being. Every story is amazing from the first one that reads more like a post-apocalyptic scenario to the later ones where Bordertown becomes a clearer place. If you enjoy the urban fantasy of today, go find these books.