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Can you all name me some comparatively recent (ie, less than 20 years old) YA urban fantasy (ie, not set in a fantasy world or post-apocalyptic world) in which the protagonist does NOT have any magical powers or attributes or devices (ie, no magic rings), does not develop any later, and is not a professional demon-hunter or anything like that?
I'm thinking of books like A Wrinkle in Time (but more modern) or Neverwhere (but for teenagers.) Also, ideally, more along the lines of Charles de Lint than "my vampire boyfriend."
The only ones I can think of offhand are Holly Black's Valiant, Flora Segunda, Fire and Hemlock (borderline - Polly does have a power, of sorts), and some of Charles de Lint's novels.
It's a little hard to write stories like that and not have the action be entirely driven by the magical characters, leaving the protagonist drifting passively in their wake. The characters with abilities are inherently going to be far more powerful. Tolkien used this type of plot very well, but even so, Frodo and Bilbo had the One Ring. I'm thinking of books in which someone like Sam is the protagonist.
I'm thinking of books like A Wrinkle in Time (but more modern) or Neverwhere (but for teenagers.) Also, ideally, more along the lines of Charles de Lint than "my vampire boyfriend."
The only ones I can think of offhand are Holly Black's Valiant, Flora Segunda, Fire and Hemlock (borderline - Polly does have a power, of sorts), and some of Charles de Lint's novels.
It's a little hard to write stories like that and not have the action be entirely driven by the magical characters, leaving the protagonist drifting passively in their wake. The characters with abilities are inherently going to be far more powerful. Tolkien used this type of plot very well, but even so, Frodo and Bilbo had the One Ring. I'm thinking of books in which someone like Sam is the protagonist.
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B.R. Collins, Tyme's End
Scott Westerfeld, The Last Days
Annette Curtis Klause, The Silver Kiss
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I can't remember the plots of them well enough to be sure, but I wonder if some Margaret Mahy books fit your description.
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She doesn't, but it's post-apocalyptic sf, not fantasy.
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(Goes back to thinking of examples)
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I recommend Karen Healey's first novel Guardian of the Dead, a YA fantasy set in New Zealand with a wonderfully human protagonist, blending European and Maori myths and legends.
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Michael Chabon's Summerland might count - 2002, sometimes shelved in YA (sometimes in middle-grade), spends a lot of time in a fantasy world but starts out in ours, there is sort of an item but it's not a power ring or anything.
Graphic novel: Clubbing, from the short-lived Minx line. I didn't think it was great, but it fits what you're looking for.
Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater, werewolves, YA urban fantasy. First book fits, later books borderline.
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No vampire boyfriends... Well, you made me think of 'Companions of the night', which made me give up on all other vampire books. So in case you don't get enough of the Charles de Link types...
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Also, partly set in a fantasy world.
It's a tough requirement, isn't it? This clearly used to be a far, far more popular premise.
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I think in the first Artemis Fowl book he has no supernatural aids of any kind, although he has a LOT of cool tech and he uses magical books for research (but it's more to get a laid of the land, not a device he can do magic with).
I think this plot is slightly impossible because YA/children's lit is meant to empower children, and leaving them magicless in a world with supernatural beings is the opposite of a good idea. Which is why the genre used to be so much darker (eg. The Owl Service)
You just made me realise I read a lot of my best friend/boyfriend/etc is a vampire, i think The Little Vampire warped my sense of proportion at an early age and I decided vampirism was a common and enticing attribute. Those books, for all they were funny, also had an underlying sense of danger for Anton, a human among vampires and vampire-hunters who believed him to be a vampire.
*goes read other comments for successful answers*
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Ah- Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon series- the protag of the first definitely doesn't count, but Mae is one of the POV characters in Demon's Covenant, and she's ordinary. I think Frances Hardinge's Verdigris Deep (Well Witched in the US) qualifies- I think the protagonists are ordinary kids caught up into a witch's snares- and maybe Maureen Johnson's Devilish? I don't remember that one as well.
ETA: Peter Beagle's Tamsin was published in the nineties, wasn't it? It's mostly set on a farm rather than in a city though...
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It's a very enjoyable read, if naught else.
Sadly, that was the only that popped to mind.
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I just double-checked my lists, and this is the only book I've read in two years that fulfills your requirements.
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Not a protagonist, but I very much appreciate that Diane Duane's later Wizard books develop Carmela as a nonwizard character who is formidable anyhow.
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You might also try Jane Langton. She wrote a series of YA books set in Concord, Massachusetts, the first (and my favorite) is The Diamond in the Window, followed by The Swing in the Summer House and others. The children are ordinary, but some of the adults are not, and none of the dreams are.
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I don't think I'd realized 'til you asked this question how the whole YA zeitgeist seems to have swung from ordinary kids having magical adventures, to seemingly ordinary kids discovering their own magical specialness. That's really interesting.
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And another 'my immortal boyfriend' one -- Tananarive Due's My Soul to Keep has a protagonist who is an investigative journalist and married to a creepy member of a SECRET IMMORTAL SOCIETY. There are sequels, which I think focus on their secret immortal daughter, who would obviously not qualify.
Another question: does it count if everyone else thinks the protagonist has magical powers, even if it later turns out they don't? The (boring) protagonist in China Mieville's Kraken is widely rumored to be the GREAT SQUID PROPHET but it all later turns out to be a misunderstanding.
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Not very helpful, am I. . . .
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_My Boyfriend Is a Monster_, Evonne Tsang (graphic novel).
_Things That Are_, Andrew Clements -- Not really urban fantasy because there is only one magic/science fictional mcguffin, but two of the books center on kids who don't get the magical device.
Joseph Bruchac has lots of books with ordinary kids facing monsters; the ones I've read are borderline young YA: _The Skeleton Man_, _The Dark Pond_ are two I've read recently.
_Team Human_ (Larbalestier & Brennan) will probably qualify, but I haven't got hold of it yet. It looks like a book directly written for your specification -- urban fantasy world with vampires and stuff, but the main character is just standard human.
Although really, Meg's tessering with C.W. is a bit of magical powers, so even _Wrinkle In Time_ doesn't quite fit.
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It sounds to me like you want something like Half Magic or Five Children and It, but modern--is that about right?
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Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin
The Shattering by Karen Healey
I Was A Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block (well, there are three protagonists, and one of them is indeed a fairy, so I don't know if it counts).
Midsummer Night by Freda Warrington
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Definitely YA. Isn't set in current day, however, it's apparently set in the late 1860's. Zombies, but not widespread enough to be post-apocalyptic. And if any of the main protagonists have magical powers it isn't mentioned in the book description or the reviews on Barnes & Noble's site.
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