Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

I’m not including blurbs this week, so all images link to the Goodreads page. I have also marked all YA and MG fiction mentioned in this list, anything not marked with [YA] or [MG] should be considered aimed at “adults”.

This weeks Top Ten topic is:

Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings In Books

As always, the books are listed in no particular order.

Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

There is a LOT of description in this series. A serious amount. And whilst at times I just want to get straight to the action, or to my favourite character, the amount of thought Tolkien has put into the world and the characters is amazing. Seriously. It makes the world seem very real, like it has a history.

Tortall in Song of the Lioness Quartet, The Immortals Quartet, The Protector of the Small quartet, the Daughter of the Lioness duology and The Beka Cooper Trilogy all by Tamora Pierce [MG/YA]

Yeah, Tamora Pierce has made it onto my list again. Sorry, it’s getting to be a bit of a habit isn’t it? 😉 But seriously, I feel like I know Tortall. It has featured in so many different series, that I honestly feel like it has rich history and present. It feels like a very vivid place to me. I’ve always kinda hoped it’s real, and not just cause girls get to be knights – or whatever else they want – and there’s magic – some that even lets you talk to animals! It just seems like a place I want to explore, guess that’s part of why I love the books.

The Curse Workers by Holly Black [YA]

As soon as I started reading this the world that Cassel lives in became VERY real to me. I could totally imagine it. It is a really interesting alternative-reality. There is a very definite mob-feeling to the world, which I adored.

Hemlock from Deadly Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock [YA]

I’m not going to say much because a) I’m still reading it, b) I don’t want to spoil it, and c) I think I’m probably going to cover it in my review BUT OMG Peacock definitely captures the setting and the reaction of people in this book.

The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings

Getting to see this world twice – yes, twice! – is an interesting experience. Whilst the world isn’t as fleshed out as some on here, there is something completely compelling about it – I think mainly because of the people who inhabit it.

The Blooding by Patricia Windsor [YA]

This is a very atmospheric and almost claustrophobic book. It is also one of the best werewolf books I have ever read. The world is haunting, and sad, and intense, and scary. It’s set in England, but so not an England I recognise really.

Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling [MG]

I wouldn’t want to draw a map of Hogwarts, BUT the castle and its classrooms and corridors still seem very real and present to me five years after the final book was published.

Sabriel by Garth Nix [YA]

This has one of the most interesting and best crafted worlds in it. It is just so fascinating. All the history and the magic. I kinda want to visit it, but it would be a very scary place. The world is haunting and vivid and spectacular.

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

This is one of the best fantasy alternative realities I’ve read. Seriously, the way Novik seamlessly blends in dragons to the Napoleonic wars is just amazing. What’s not to like – there are dragons! And the way the dragons are used is really interesting, at least I think so. And the cover art is GORGEOUS!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones

This is probably influence by the fact that I saw the Studio Ghibli interpretation first, but wow – what a world! It is one of the most complicated and chaotic, but still very real ones that I have ever read. The world Wynne-Jones creates is more fantastical and somehow more real than that of the film. It’s also more complicated and heart-breaking. I really enjoy both versions for different reasons. There’s such a sense of wonder for me to this world.

. . .

So those were my top ten most vivid worlds/settings in books. Let me know what yours are, I would love to know.

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