Top-Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings In Books

Top-Ten Tuesday is Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

The Top-Ten Tuesday theme today is “The Most Vivid Worlds/Settings In Books.”

1. London Below
   There’s many a reason why Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman is my favourite books, but one of the big ones is the way, Neil Gaiman has created a world that when I’m reading the book, I am absolutely convinced is real.
2. Harry Potter
   I’m guessing this one will appear on many people’s lists, and there’s a reason for that. JK Rowling did a great job of bring lots of things that people just ‘want to exist’ together to create Harry magical world, wonderful creatures, exciting games, and foods and snacks that you just want to try. It’s these things that even when it’s at its darkest, make it one you want to visit.
3. Ankh Morpork
   Ah, the city of Sam Vimes, the Unseen University, The Broken/Mended Drum, C.M.O.T Dibbler and the steady grip of Ventari. Really not sure I’d want to stop by and visit, but there’s few cities (real of fictional) that can claim to be more vivid than this one!
4. Le Cirque des Rêves
   I liked the story and the characters, but, boy, what an amazing place this Night Circus is, I’ve heard people complain about the book that it’s only about the setting, that’s a little unfair, but even if it wasn’t. When it is as wonderfully realised as the Cirque des Rêves is, I wouldn’t care anyway!
5. Mortal Engines
   Any series that opens with: “It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.” and then maintains (and exceeds) that potential across the series is something pretty special.
6. Swindon and The Bookworld
   The world Thursday Next lives in and the world she works in are both wonderful, the Bookworld itself can almost be anything Jasper Fforde wants, but I also love the world of Goliath and The Toast Marketing Board!
7. The Child Thief’s Neverland
   Brom’s dark and twisted version of Neverland took me totally by surprise when I read it last year, even though the book is not perfect, it reminded me, that even among loads of maybe better books, just how brilliant reading a book can sometimes be.
8. The Bazaar on Deva
   Once upon a time, I tore though the first 4 of Robert Asprin’s M.Y.T.H series in a day (travelling and returning to the shop 3 times to make sure I had the next in the series!) and the market Aahz & Skeeve make their home, is one of my favourite places in the series.
9. Prague and Paris
   Couldn’t quite decide between these two very different places (and very different books) but the cities we get to visit in The Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Anna and the French Kiss, but the one thing they both have in common is the way that you believe you are there, walking the streets on and off the beaten track with the main characters.
10. The Beach
    An idyllic place until Alex Garland turns into the place of nightmares his main character, Richard.