Good morning people! As you all know by now, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. I’m actually pretty excited for this week’s topic, because it’s something that’s kind of a major thing to me when it comes to really liking a book –> Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books. Let’s do this thang!
1. The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant - Sure, it’s about zombies. But there are SO MANY THINGS that seperate it from other zombie books. First off, it takes place decades after the first zombie outbreak, which means the author creates a world in which zombies are a fact of life, and it is astonishing how much detail she put into creating that kind of society. Definitely stuff that I never even thought of, because normally when you think about a zombie outbreak, you only think about the first days / weeks of fighting them and trying to survive.
2. The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - In these books, Jemisin gives us an incredible fantasy world in which the world is dangerous, magic is abound, and gods are enslaved. Absolutely fantastic.
3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I just finished this book, and I LOVED learning about the world that Cline has created here. The outside world has gone to hell, and to escape reality people practically live in the virtual reality online world of OASIS. Cline’s attention to detail and innovation is apparent in his version of the real world and the fake world of OASIS, and it made this an incredibly fun read.
4. The Postmortal by Drew Magary - Imagine that someone stumbles upon a cure for age, effectively allowing you to evade old age and a natural death infinitely. The imagine how that would completely screw up our world and society. Welcome to the world of The Postmortal. Once again, the author impresses me with little details and issues that I never would have even thought of, and for a long time I couldn’t stop talking about this book to people. It was so exciting to read.
5. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss - Probably the best epic fantasy world I’ve encountered. It’s mostly due to Rothfuss’s absolutely spellbinding writing, but the magic and adventure in this series is awesome. I cannot wait until the next book!
6. The Wicked Years series by Gregory Maguire - This is not the Oz of your childhood. Gregory Maguire takes the land of Oz and digs a lot deeper, and the result is impressive and amazing. This land of Oz is full of political turmoil, prejudice among the different races in Oz, and philosophical debates. I’ve only read the first two books, but I love the author’s take on Oz, and I definitely grew to love Elphaba and Fiyero.
7. The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer - Imagine a parallel universe in which history took a different course – the Neanderthals survived and flourished, and we didn’t. Then imagine that a weird rift in timespace allows those two universes to interconnect. BRILLIANT. I loved seeing Robert J. Sawyer create the world of the Neanderthals and all of the little differences. This trilogy is also what initally motivated me to start reading about quantum physics and the multiverse theorie, because the science used in the books was so intriguing.
8. The Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde - Oh man. A world in which there is cloning of extinct animals, time travellers, literature is taken incredibly seriously, characters and people can jump in and out of books… come on. These books are incredible at making your imagination come alive. These books and the world in which they take place are so engrossing that when I read one, even my dreams start to get all loopy and weird. Love it.
9. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - I mean, come on. Obviously.
10. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - While the book ends up primarily being pretty action-packed and thriller-like, the set up for Jurassic Park actually shows some pretty impressive thoughtfulness and imagination in thinking about the possibility of cloning the DNA of extinct animals such as dinosaurs, the financial perks to such a risk, and all of the little things that could go horribly wrong. Once again, I got completely sucked in by the science and consequences of a fictional world.
Yay! Honestly, world-building is so important to books and it’s actually why some of these books / series are on my all-time favorites lists. I also realized that there are some books that I absolutely love, but it’s less for the world-building and more for the awesome characters, which is why Outlander isn’t on this list 
So, what are some of your favorite settings or fictional worlds?
~Sarah
I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, I see. I haven’t read nine out of ten. I definitely agree on Jurassic Park.
Ooh, I just picked up Ready Player One!
Jurassic Park and Harry Potter made my list too. Ready Player One has been on my TBR list forever. I really need to make time for it.
This is a really great list. I especially agree with The Postmortal and Jurassic Park, two books I read recently and really loved. A few of the other series on here I haven’t read but they sound so intriguing. I’ll have to bookmark this page and come back to it when I need some reading recommendations!
Haha, love your comment for Harry Potter! I was going to do this and then didn’t get round to it (I realise the day’s still young, but I can’t be botherrred) but I had 2 books on my list and one of them was, of course, Harry Potter
Very good picks! I really want to re-acquaint with Thursday Next. Do you think you have to read the associated classics before the Thursday Next book? This is what held me up last time I read them. I wanted to read the classic before the Thursday book. Also, I’m interested in MacGuire books.
I don’t think reading the classics first is too necessary, but I did start reading Great Expectations because Miss Havisham keeps popping up and I didn’t know her from the actual book, lol. I’m waiting to read the 4th book until after I finish G.E.
Oooooo….a zombie series I haven’t read yet…definitely want to sink my teeth into this one!! It sound great! I’ve heard great things about The Postmortal too. So going on my wishlist! I’ve only read the first two in the Oz books, wanting to read the other two for ages now! and I loved Jurassic Park!
Yeah just talking about the Oz books makes me want to go ahead and start the third one. I have it on my shelf, there are just SO MANY BOOKS, lol.
I was SO ANGRY at the end of Feed. I haven’t read the other 2 because of it, but I definitely want to. I think I’m over it now and can sit down without emotion clouding my judgment. lol
I was SHOCKED and crying all over the place at the end of Feed, but I liked the other books a lot too. You should absolutely give them a try.
I love Maguire’s Oz! People keep saying I should read Rothfuss’ books — yes?
Absolutely! Rothfuss is a fantastic author.
Ahh! I’ve had Feed and Ready Player One forever! I really have to read them!
Great list! I absolutely LOVE the Kingkiller books and the Wicked books. Both contain worlds (and stories) that are so painful and real and pessimistic, but at the same time, strangely hopeful.
Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy didn’t draw me into the world so much, since, from the beginning of the first book, almost all of it takes place in one city. The best part is trying to comprehend and empathise with the mindset of the gods, since ‘their world’ is far more complex and fluid than the world where the trilogy is set.