The Shambling Guide to New York City

By: Mur Lafferty

Narrated by: Mur Lafferty

Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city—for the undead!

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can't take off her resume—human.

Not to be put off by anything—especially not her blood-drinking boss or death-goddess coworker—Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble—with Zoe right in the middle.

©2013 Mur Lafferty (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

Member of the Podcast Pickle Hall of Fame

2006, One of the Top Ten Savvy Women in Podcasting, Runner-up

2012, John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Nominated

"If Buffy grew up, got therapy and found a real job, it would look like this."—Scott Sigler

"Zombies and vampires and golems, oh my! The Shambling Guide to New York City rounds up the biggest cast of the undead and never-quite-alive ever to appear in a single novel, along with a wisecracking heroine whose picture belongs over the dictionary entry for spunky. This is a comic tour-de-force by a writer who lives and breathes popular culture. Mur Lafferty is throwing a monster party and you're invited."—James Patrick Kelly, Hugo and Nebula Award Winner

"The hip, knowing and sometimes hysterically funny narrative, interspersed with excerpts from the guide of the title, lurches along in splendid fashion. Combine wit, style and acute observation: the result is irresistible."—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

more please

awesome new take on the monster genre....love that author reads her own stories. more please

I love Mur Lafferty's books!!

Can't wait for more!! She brings life to the characters, and her style of writing is just how people think and talk!

Great story read by the author!

If you could sum up The Shambling Guide to New York City in three words, what would they be?

Fun fun fun

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the thought of writing a travel book for monsters.

What does Mur Lafferty bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

So much! Hearing it read by the author is a real treat!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed a lot. I really enjoyed all of the characters and felt they were very real. It made me look at folks differently as I walk through the street. You just never know.

It’s fun

The writing isn’t complex enough to be adult fiction and too graphic to be young adult fiction. Would make a fun monster movie.

A Pleasantly Different Urban Fantasy

The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty is her best work to date. I have listened to her podcast for over five years and have read or listened to most of the things she has written. During this time, her work has steadily improved. Don't take that as an implication that her early work was poor. I'm not saying that. Merely, her work has evidently matured and I found this book to be the best of her work thus far. Her nomination for the Campbell Award is well earned.

Urban Fantasy has been all the rage for over a decade now, so it's nice to see an author I enjoy bring something new to the table.

The accepted premise of most Urban Fantasies is that monsters of one form, or more likely many forms, share society with humans and humans fail to see them all around because we choose to not see them. Our puny human brains can't come to grips, for some reason, that monsters exist and we come up with excuses to explain their evidence away. I generally find this premise a little more than I can swallow, but I choose to not let this one thing ruin all the excellent stories that have been coming out. The Shambling Guide is no exception in using this trope.

What separates The Shambling Guide from other Urban Fantasies is the protagonist, Zoe. Zoe is not a Monster Hunter, or a Witch/Wizard, or even "In the Know" at the beginning of the story. She's an office worker. Specifically, a publishing editor. (Bet the people in the industry got a kick out of this one!) It was refreshing to read a story with an "every day" hero. Such heroes are my favorite. It gets boring reading about "experts" in the monster field with all the answers deal with problems. I'd rather read about how a "normal" person reacts to being thrust into an extraordinary situation.

Mur Lafferty handles Zoe's introduction to the local Coterie (as opposed to "monster") community in a very natural way. Zoe needed a job. If monsters existed alongside and unbeknownst to humans, this seems the most likely reason for a human to be introduced into their secret world. From there, Zoe's story unfolds into a "Save the City while protecting the Coterie Charade" as she works as the editor to the creation of a Monster's guidebook to visiting NYC.

That's as much of the plot as I'm going to give away. What I will say: This book was fun to listen to. There was a surprising amount of humor. Often used in Urban Fantasy, but rarely is it organic. The humor in the Shambling Guide came about as a natural consequence of the story unfolding and Zoe simply living in a strange new world. If you don't laugh out loud a half dozen times throughout this book, then you've never had a job where you've had to work with other people.

I suppose I give one warning: The story is read by the author. Whereas Mur has a fine reading voice, she does not "do" voices. If you listen to the audio book, as I did, and you prefer a reader who "performs" the reading with a different voice for each character, Mur is not your gal. However, after years of podcasting and releasing audio versions of many of her stories (for free), she has a professional voice, so there's no need to fear that she may not have the chops to make her own story come alive. I gave her performance 4 stars. She speaks well, but I reserve 5 stars for people who "wow" me.

Love me some Mur Lafferty

What if you suddenly became aware of monsters all around you? This was a fun exploration of the lives and needs of various supernatural beings who inhabit New York City. I've read most of what Mur Lafferty has written and this has her same blend of humor, fantasy, absurdism, and good dialogue.

loved her podcast, and this book

after running into the hidden gem 'playing for keeps', I decided to see if she had any more works I'd be interested in. she certainly did not disappoint!

Wow. That was not what I expected. It was better

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The author narrates it. You know exactly what the author wanted to convey because she performs it. Its also an awesome book.

Any additional comments?

The most common description of the book is about a woman who writes a travel guide for monsters.

That's true. And its so much more. It's way more engaging that it has any right to be (I haven't read a book so fast since Old Man's War, and that's about the highest praise I can give).

Mur's great. The book's great. Read it.