Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday 27: Most Vivid Settings

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week, they post a subject and the goal is to answer the question with your top ten picks. Once you've done it, link back to The Broke and the Bookish and check out what other bloggers have to say!
Top Ten Most Vivid Settings
1) Wizarding World of Harry Potter (JK Rowling)- I was thinking of just saying Hogwarts but I quickly realized that Hogwarts doesn't even begin to cover what I love so much about Harry Potter's world. I love the idea of a train platform that is 9 3/4, thinking about what it would be like to stroll through Hogsmeade in the winter when the snow is following and to explore Diagon Alley. All of these things rolled up into one make the enchanted world that Harry lives in right under our nose. Hogwarts is a place I could never get enough of and will always be on the top of this list.

2) Divergent's world (Veronica Roth)- From the moment I started reading Divergent I was hooked. Thinking about the world splitting into 5 different factions that valued different things was absolutely riveting. I was hooked by this setting when Tris entered the Dauntless headquarters and I could just see the carved stone snaking its way around the compound. 

3) A Great and Terrible Beauty's Victorian London (Libba Bray)- Like with Harry Potter, I couldn't resist the allure of living in a world where magic was hidden around every corner. Beautiful ballgowns and stifling conversation fill Gemma's oppressed world but at night among the wild woods of her big old boarding school, she and her friends wove magic into the air and were transported to another place. Every page of this trilogy is filled with beautiful things but there is always an edge of danger and wrongness to them that is addicting.

4) Eve's America (Anna Carey)- I've just finished Once and was delighted to see a different type of place than we got from Eve. Eve paints the Americas after the plague as a dark place where food is scarce and their is a wild sort of beauty among the broken things. I loved this wild natural world which is made all the more real next to the City of Sand which we see a lot of in Once.

5) Poison Study's Ixia (Maria V Snyder)- Poison Study gave me a world of magical and mysticism. I saw vast deserts and bustling medieval cities and circuses and palaces folded into one amazing series. It gave me everything I could want in a fantasy setting and more!

6) Touch of Frost's Mythos Academy (Jennifer Estep)- I must like a good magical boarding school because this is another one that ranks high for me. I love how mythological creatures are woven into the filthy rich in a seamless manner. From it's glorious library filled with marble statues of the gods to its lush lawns and fancy dining room, I can't get enough of the location!

7) The Demon Trapper's Daughter's Atlanta (Jana Oliver)- Atlanta is crawling with demons and most people are living in broken down hotel room's converted into apartments. Necromancers and witches have set up a section of town where they can roam and you can get your secondhand goods at a huge market set up in an old park. Want coffee at school? Well, that's not likely to happen but your school room could very well be an old Starbucks. It's gritty, dirty and demon infested but it's home to Riley and it has never looked better.

These are a few of my favorite settings. Which made your list?

8 comments:

  1. The Harry Potter wizard world is one of my favorites too. It was pretty hard for me to just pick ten for my list!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The wizarding world of Harry Potter made my list as well. Sigh, if only I could hop Platform 9 3/4.

    I also loved the world of Ixia, although I have yet to read Fire Study.

    My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Great and Terrible Beauty was one of the first ones that came to mind when I started working on this week's list. I loved how Bray's "real" settings were just as vivid as her magical ones!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can you believe that I own Insurgent and I still haven't had a chance to read it? I blame Game of Thrones! Libba Bray does amazing settings, and all are so unique! I almost added Beauty Queens to my list.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really need to read the Jana Oliver series. I live in Atlanta, and I'd love to see how she portrays it!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is where I get in trouble reading Top Ten lists... They make me want to read ALL THE BOOKS. Like, immediately. Poison Study, Touch of Frost, and the Demon Keeper's Daughter all sound awesome! And unfortunately I must interlibrary loan them. :( Anyway, great list! I'm glad I found it. :)

    My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  7. Reading Demon Trapper's Daughter was so much fun since I live in Atlanta. So glad I don't live in THAT Atlanta. I would be a delicious snack for some demon. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh yes yes yes. How could I have forgotten A Great and Terrible Beauty?? Great pick! :)
    Mine: http://sweet-tidbits.blogspot.com/2012/07/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-most-vivid-book.html

    ReplyDelete

Thinking of writing something below? Well, that's why you are awesome! I always love feedback!

This blog is an award free zone. With the demand of a full time job, blogging time is becoming much more precious and I just don't have the time to meet the demands of awards. Thanks so much for thinking of me anyway!