Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup of book bloggers hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! This week, it’s the annual Halloween-themed freebie. I had a hard time coming up with something I haven’t done before, especially considering I don’t read a lot of horror (I’m too easily frightened!), but decided to look at books that take place in other worlds.
His Dark Materials: This amazing series takes place in a parallel version of England, called Brytain, which is both quite similar to and very different than our own.
The Old Kingdom: Perhaps my favorite other world, this richly-imagined land has its own magic system and an intricately designed world of Death as well.
Wild Magic: Like many (maybe all?) of Tamora Pierce’s books, this series takes place in the medieval-esque, magical world of Tortall.
The Lord of the Rings: Middle Earth may be the most iconic fantasy realm of all!
Oryx and Crake: This is less “another world” and more “a version of what our world could become”. Honestly besides her thinking that CD-ROMs were going to be the storage mechanism of the future, this felt eerily prescient.
The Hunger Games: This is another one that is, I think, technically set in the far future, but it’s such a different social arrangement that it’s basically another place entirely.
A Song of Ice and Fire: These gigantic novels create and explore the rich territory of Westeros, its seven kingdoms, and the larger world beyond. It’s loosely inspired by medieval Europe.
Wicked: This one is based on an already-established fantasy world, Oz, which is familiar even to those who haven’t read Baum’s books because of the enduring popularity of the film. I love the rich politics of the world that Maguire fleshes out!
Stardust: This is a fairy tale, and has both a “real world” and fantasy realm of its own. It’s truly magical to read!
A Wrinkle in Time: This series of books is almost more magical realism than anything else…rooted in our world, but with supernatural possibilities for the Murray family (time travel! space travel! angels!) that mean it’s not quite our world as we know it after all.