Top Ten Tuesday: Worlds I would NEVER want to live in

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


Hey guys :) This week's top ten is about book world's we'd NEVER want to live in, no matter how much we liked the actual story. Or about character's whose shoes we'd never want to walk in. I'll give you 5 of each.


World's I prefer watching from the outside

Fever series - Karen Marie Moning
After the walls come down and the dark fey enter the world, most humans die. No power, little food, lots of baddies... I'd be toast.

Blood of Eden - Julie Kagawa
Either donate blood to your local vampire or live on scraps and be backstabbed or killed by rabids? Again, I'm not the most physically fit person. I wouldn't make it for too long. And it's a very bleak and hungry kind of life.

Wither - Lauren DeStefano
To be kidnapped on the street and sold to some old rich dude to bear his babies, then die at 18? Can't imagine anything much more horrible. Pregnant over and over, then death *shudders*

Any totalitarian regime that restricts knowledge and burns books
Book burning is one of the worst things ever, and one that makes me the angriest. Destruction of knowledge, of beauty... no. Think Fahrenheit 451. Definitely not a society I'd want to live in.

Coldtown - Holly Black
I'm actually divided on this one. Living in a Coldtown is very dangerous. You can never get out. Law is barely existent.You need connections, and you need your wits. Vampire slaying skills are advisable. And yet... I do feel the allure of the place. The never-ending parties. Immortal creatures. Desire. Passion. I admit, I feel torn. In the end I wouldn't make it though.



Characters I wouldn't want to trade places with

Cassel from the Curse Worker series by Holly Black
If you can't even trust your brothers or you mom, life is bleak. Loving the daughter of the biggest crime lord around, also not good. Having an ability everyone wants to use to strengthen their own position? Yeah, better make sure they never find out...
Seriously, ma heart ached for Cassel :(

Karou - Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
The things that girl is forced to do... and her position is even worse at the end of that book than it was at the beginning!

Juliet - Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Slandered, beaten, bullied, put away into asylums and detention centers, isolated, forced into electroshock therapy... there's pretty much nothing that girl hasn't been subjected to. And her touch kills. Everyone. Apart from maybe the son of her worst enemy, who used to hold her prisoner.
Yeah, being Juliet truly sucks, despite her incredible powers.

Kaylee - Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent
That girl never gets a moment of peace. Some hellion always wants her soul, or her loved one's souls, or is possessing innocent strangers... her love life isn't a piece of cake either. Though I sure wouldn't mind spending some time with Tod ;)

Matthew Swift - Urban Magic series by Kate Griffin
That dude. Always in over his head! Made Midnight Mayor against his will. Always some crazy sorcerer or fey queen or other strange personified part of the city to deal with. Not to mention the annoyingness and not quite trustworthiness of his own Aldermen. Let's not even talk about the women in his life. The guy doesn't stand a chance. I feel this strange affection for him though. Can't resist the scruffy reluctant hero type with awesome magic, I suppose.


This was actually harder than I thought! What do you think of my picks, and what/who made your list?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall 2013 TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week is all about the books on our Fall TBR lists, be they books actually released around now or just books we are planning to read. My list is a mixture of both.



The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, by Holly Black
I can't believe I still haven't bought it! I'm so busy >.< But she's one of my top authors and I've been waiting for it for almost 1.5 years! I need it. I loved the world of the original short story.

Allegiant, by Veronica Ross
Obvious, isn't it?

The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
I've already borrowed it from the same friend who lent me book one, but I'm holding off because once I start there's no way I'm getting anything else done until I finish... and it's a big book. But I don't think I can wait too long because I'm going through withdrawal.



A Darkness Strange and Lovely, by Susan Dennard
Also on my stack of not-yet-read books. Also one of the next lovelies I'll get to. I can't wait to meet Eleanor and Daniel again!

Stray Souls, by Kate Griffin
This is a spin-off of sorts of her Madness of Angels series, so I had to have it. I love her writing style and the way she suffuses a supposedly ordinary urban setting with magic.

A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray
Because I always thought this book sounded amazing and I've never read one of her books before. It's also on the stack. I have quite a big stack of unread books.



The Falconer, by Elizabeth May
It's out next week I think and how could I not love a Scottish noble girl going out at night to hunt down and kill fairies in the Victorian age?!

The Way of Shadows, by Brent Weeks
I have a boxset of the entire trilogy (I'd been looking at it for at least 2 years before buying it) and I want to start it soon because... assassins.

Rogue, by Gina Damico
I LOVED the first two books in the trilogy! They were so funny XD Also, I can't resist reaper books.


The Fiery Heart, by Richelle Mead
This comes out in November and I don't know if that's still Fall or already Winter? Whatever. I want it. It has Adrian POV!! And the ending of Indigo Spell was o__O I can't see this going well, but I can't look away either.


Runners-up:
 Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano, Premediated by Josin L. McQuein


What do you think of my reading list? And what do you have on your TBR?

Stacking the Shelves: Crowns, Stray Souls, and a Terrible Beauty

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)

Whenever I'm in London, I buy quite a few books! This time it wasn't as many as I'd anticipated, but hey - at least I could fit them into the suitcase with all the other stuff without driving myself crazy and having a panic attack ;)

So here's what I bought in several stores across London:

Shadows on the Moon, by Zoë Marriott
The Night Itself, by Zoë Marriott
Stray Souls, by Kate Griffin
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas
Crown of Midnight (ARC), by Sarah J. Maas
Sentimental Jewellery, by Ann Luise Luthi
A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray
Blackbirds, by Chuck Wendig

I'm really excited about all of them! I love Kare Griffin's Urban Magic books! I've wanted to read Libba Bray for more than a year, Blackbirds had me intrigued since I first saw that cover, and Zoë Marriott is an author I've had a manga discussion on twitter with but I'd never read her books ^^'' So it was about time. The book about sentimental jewellery I got in Highgate Cemetery. Victorian mourning customs are an interest of mine, as is post mortem photography.
But you guys, the Sarah J. Maas books were the greatest surprise!! I was in a used book store on Charing Cross Road and I was just about to leave empty handed when I glimpsed the white spine of ToG on a shelf!! It looks unread, no spine broken, no bent edges!! I already counted myself super-lucky and was just turning to the register when a shelf further down I saw another white spine. With red writing. And I just about died when I saw that it was an unread ARC of Crown of Midnight!!! And both books were so cheap even though they look new!! I've already read Crown of Midnight (of course :P ) and you'll get my review on Monday.


Won:

Marco's Story, by Page Morgan

I won it in a giveaway over at Publishing Crawl :) Thanks again!

For blog tour:

Steel Lily, by Megan Curd
Disconnect, by Imran Siddiq

Particularly excited about Steel Lily!


Ebooks:


Neverfall, by Brodi Ashton
Shadows, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Boys of Summer, by C.J. Duggan
Lost, by Nadia Simonenko
Real Ugly, by C.M. Stunich
Dream Dark, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl


So that's it! Took forever to link them all up o.O I'm really happy with my haul though! Have you read any of them? Because I don't know where to start ^^' Also, please leave a link to your own haul so I can check it out :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors that deserve more recognition

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


This week's topic: top ten authors that deserve more recognition

The tricky thing about this topic for me is that sometimes I'm not actually sure just how well-known an author is... so maybe some of my picks are a bit off? Let me know in the comments, I guess ;)

Cat Winters
Her debut, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, is haunting and brilliant. It made me feel anything ranging from happiness to sadness to anger or despair. I'm looking very much forward to reading more from her! I think the book has gotten a bit of coverage in the blogosphere (and rightfully so) but still I think the majority has never heard of it.

Karen Mahoney
A British author whose books I love! She concluded the Iron Witch trilogy in April with The Stone Demon and I can't wait for the next book in her series about Moth, a teen vampire. She has a great sense of humor and I enjoy the aspect of popular culture/nerdiness and snark in her books ^^ She's also really nice to talk to on twitter!

L.A. Weatherly
Her Angel series is amazing! She crafts strong, likeable characters and I love how she balances action and romance! I met her in April in the context of a writing workshop and she was very approachable and gave great, concrete advice :)

Sarah Rees Brennan
Not sure she really belongs in this list? Anyhow, I think many people know of her as Cassandra Clare's friend, but I actually read the Demon's Lexicon books before I heard of Cassie and The Mortal Instruments and damn, they're amazing! The snark! The dangerous, unique magic!

Kate Griffin
When I read A Madness of Angels, I put sticky notes all over the book because there were so many amazing passages! It will make you look at the city in a whole new way. One of my top favorite Urban Fantasy series!

Susan Dennard
Another case of I'm not sure she's 'unknown' enough for this list? Anyhow, her series is awesome! It's a great mixture of historical, steampunk, and zombies. I can't wait for A Darkness Strange and Lovely!

Kelly Creagh
I can't fawn enough over her Nevermore series! If you love E.A. Poe and creepy YA, you should definitely give it a try! She also wrote one of my favorite book boyfriends into existence - Varen Nethers. Her writing is wonderful and I love how she incorporates Poe and his work so seamlessly into the story! It's way too long until the release of the final book :(

Bethany Griffin
Another Poe-person! I love her Masque of the Red Death duology. Her writing is lush but with an unflinching sharpness to it. She's not afraid to hurt her characters but she also shows that they can find moments of beauty in despair. Can't wait to see what her next book will be about!

Gina Damico
If you like reaper books, get this one asap!! Gina Damico is hilarious - I laughed so much while reading Croak on the train that I kinda wanted to stop because everyone was looking at me all weird but I just couldn't because it was so damn good! She mixes the horrible and creepy with the sarcastic and absurdly funny and her imagination is made of awesome.

Susan Kaye Quinn
I've only read episodes 1-6 in her Debt Collector serial but I tell you, it's amazing! If you want male POV New Adult that is not a contemporary but an awesome kind of sci-fi retro-noir story - give it a shot! Fantastic world-building, mysterious characters, and very engaging writing! After reading episode 1-3 I had to get the bundle for 4-6 immediately and I read it all on the same day.


Well... I can't really stick with 10 this time around, so here are four runner-ups that I think are amazing but also well-known -ish, I think? Not sure.
Holly Black, Kelly Keaton, Kiki Hamilton, and Rachel Vincent.


So, what do you guys think of my picks? Have you heard of these authors? And who do you think deserves more recognition? Link me up :)

Top Ten Tuesday: books I recommend the most

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

This week's topic asks the impossibility of me to choose the top ten books I recommend the most

Like seriously how should I choose?! I think sometimes I'll have to resort to just giving you authors. I'll also try to focus on books that maybe not everyone has already read and aren't that well-known. However, I'm currently lying propped up in bed with a fever so I might not be fully coherent...

1. Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
   Yup, because her writing is just that beautiful. And Varen is my favorite book boyfriend. The way Creagh weaves Poe into her story is magnificent! You can check out my review here. It's the first one I ever wrote though so beware...


2. Anything by Holly Black really, but why not start with White Cat, the first book in the Curseworkers series? There you've got a type of Urban Fantasy I haven't ever seen anywhere like this. It's part noir, part fantasy, part gangster thing, and features lots of cons and twists and amazing characters and reader-heartbreak! I'd link you to my review, but I've only done book 3 so there'd be spoilers...


3. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
   I know, I said no super well-known books. But seriously just pick this one up. It's magic enclosed in paper.


4. The Replacement, by Breanna Yovanoff
   It was so great I still haven't found the right words to review it. It tore out my heart and I lost count of how many times I cried at the beauty and the sadness and how often my chest ached for Mackie.


5. Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series
   To this day my favorite fairy series ever. I read the last of the spin-off mangas today and was reminded of just how amazing her characters and world-building are!


6. The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
   Another book that will put you through the emotional wringer, but it's sooo good! It's also theoretically New Adult, even though back then it wasn't marketed as such. It's about an ex-foster-home-girl trying to make a living in San Francisco.


7. Anything by Ralf Isau, especially his Kreis der Dämmerung (Circle of the Dawn) books. I'm not sure if you can find them in English though, but he's a fairly well-known German YA, MG and adult author. I know his work's been translated into other languages... Many of his stories and characters are still with me and helped me through rough patches in my teens.


8. Generation X, by Douglas Coupland
   Simply an amazing book! What he writes about the 90s generation is still fairly applicable today, IMO.


9. Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift books, starting with A Madness of Angels (not god-like angels, they're the remnants of our voices in the telephone wires). Seriously THE best Urban Fantasy/Urban Magic series I have read. EVER.


10. Finally, I feel like I should list a classic. Hm. Maybe Virginia Woolf's Orlando? Wilkie Collins' Woman in White?

I could have listed so many more books you guys!! Neil Gaiman. Gayle Forman. The Infernal Devices. Kim Harrison. Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon trilogy. Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Ugh >.<
Have you read any of them? And what can you recommend? Link me up in the comments :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors on my auto-buy list

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

This week is about authors that are so amazing and that we trust so much, we'd buy anything they wrote.

There are only a few authors from whom I'd buy absolutely *anything*. I mean, if I read the book description and it's about an issue that just doesn't interest me, or if they suddenly go into another genre, or if their new book is about a topic that is a trigger for me, I'd stay away, or at least not buy the book immediately. But there are many authors that I trust and whose writing I am totally in love with so that I preorder their books.

1. Melissa Marr
   I love love love her writing style. I've read all her Wicked Lovely stories including the mangas, many stories she has in anthologies (though not all because there are so many and I only have so much money and time) as well as Carnival of Souls. However, not sure about that middle grade series she has coming out soon... but that's because at this point I'm just not into MG.
   
2. Holly Black
   Her. Writing. Is. Magic. I've loved it since I read (and reread and reread and re-borrowed so I could re-read before I had my own copy) Tithe. I'm so excited about The Coldest Girl in Coldtown coming out in the fall! And the Curseworkers books just blew my mind.
   
3. Kim Harrison
   The Hollows series. Rachel. Jenks. Ivy. Al the coffee-loving demon. Kisten. Enough said ;)
   
4. Jeaniene Frost
   Cat and Bones are among my favorite couples :) Also, I love how she combines fun writing and banter with action and creepiness. She creates memorable characters that come to life on the page!
   
5. Richelle Mead
   Fun, action, heartbreak, redemption... I've read all her books apart from the Dark Swan ones because I haven't gotten to them yet. Her style is just so readable for me, I don't want to stop and just dive into the worlds she creates :)
   
6. Kelly Creagh
   Her writing is just sooo beautiful! I love how she brings the Poe elements to life in her books but also twists them and makes them her own! I read her books slowly just so I can savor them. I'm very curious about what her next project after the Nevermore trilogy will be!
   
7. Rachel Vincent
   Her writing is just so gripping and real! And I love the characters she creates. She doesn't shy away from letting them make risky decisions and facing the consequences. Very strong heroines. No sugar-coating the bad things. I'm very curious about that new YA project she's been hinting at!
   
8. Erin Morgenstern
   She's only published one book but seriously I loved The Night Circus so much I couldn't even review it because I have no idea how. It's a masterpiece. I'll buy whatever she releases next without thinking twice about it.
   
9. Kate Griffin
   What an imagination! I love her version of urban fantasy. So magical! Gives me a book high and lets me see the world with fresh eyes. Also, reluctant heroes that don't want to do heroic things by default. Love it :) Oh Matthew Swift...
   
10. a tie between Julie Kagawa and Sarah Rees Brennan and maybe Cassandra Clare
    Yup. Julie because I was hesitant about trusting her with the vampires but she was amazing at it, and I also loved her adult story in the 'Til The World Ends anthology. If she decides to go for adult horror next, I'm in.
    Sarah Rees Brennan because her writing is jus so fun and addictive, but also heartbreaking! She sure loves to torture us poor readers :P I loved the Demon books and Unspoken, but I haven't bought Team Human yet. I just don't know if I want to. I'm sure it's funny but... I dunno. The co-authoring bit might also play into my decision...
    Cassandra Clare because I don't know if she can do anything non-Shadow Hunters. I love those novels, the Infernal Devices even more so. But another trilogy? I mean, I'll certainly read it, but I'd also like to see her branch out a bit. I read a non-nephilim short story of hers in an anthology once but that one didn't really do it for me...

There are quite a few authors I feel sort of bad about not including but yeah... there can only be ten. And unlike for other people, J.K. Rowling is not an auto-buy for me.

What do you think of my list? Anyone you'd like to chuck out? Someone you also picked? Also, leave a link to your own list, I'm curious about maybe discovering new authors :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors and Books I'm Thankful For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely people at The Broke and The Bookish. Every week, all the bloggers participating post their Top Ten list of a certain topic.

This week's topic is: Top ten authors and books I'm thankful for.

I'm not American so I don't do Thanksgiving, but seeing all those posts on twitter and around the blogosphere always gets me in a pensive mood, too, and makes me remember what and who I'm grateful to have in my life. So I'll give this list a try... as always, no particular order.
Sorry for the lack of pictures but there would be so many and the formatting always drives me nuts if I want them to look nice in the text.

1. Stephen King - On Writing
   I love this book and I've read it several times. Most of what I know about writing and how I approach it I've learned from here. It's written in a way that even my 17-year-old self could understand.
2. Ralf Isau - Der Kreis der Dämmerung (Circle of the Dawn)
   This is an epic saga in 4 volumes, spanning the entire 20th century. I've read all the books at least twice. They've made me laugh and cry and feel pretty much any emotion known to man. Reading makes me remember what's important. And I just love David Camden as a character.
3. J.R.R. Tokien - The Lord of the Rings
   Probably no explanation needed for this one... I first red it 10 years ago and have been meaning to re-read it... for the 5th time. It was part of my introduction to fantasy books.
4. Wolfgang & Heike Hohlbein
   I'm grateful for pretty much any book they've co-written between 1982 and 2004. I don't really know their more recent work. Some of my favorites are Der Greif, Dreizehn, Krieg der Engel, and Spiegelzeit. Those were the reads of my early to mid teens and fueled my imagination. I got another 2 or so from the school library every week (yes they wrote tons of books).
5. Kate Griffin - A Madness of Angels
   One of the best Urban Fantasy books I've ever read. Her writing blows my mind every time! It makes me see the city through fresh eyes again, and it makes me believe that maybe magic is still possible even these days.
6. Holly Black
   Anything she's written is amazing. She comes up with such great ways to express things, and her writing is very courageous and touches on topics that I think many authors shy away from or skirt around.
7. Poppy Z. Brite - Lost Souls
   For putting the bite back into vampires. Well, for me at least since I read it about 18 years after it was published. Great writing, though sometimes on the vey gory side.
8. Stephen King - Dark Tower series
   Roland Deschain and his ka-tet. Their journey will be with me until the day I breathe my last.
9. Edgar Allan Poe
   I love his poems and short stories. He's hard to grasp but he was a big influence on me, especially his way of approaching short story writing in one of his essays.
10. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
    I have no way to express my feels. I really love and admire this man. I even visited his grave in Paris, and I'm grateful I got there before they put this weird glass wall around it. One of my most treasured memories.
11. John Keats, Stephen Crane, John Donne, William Carlos Williams, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, John Milton, William Blake...
    I'm sure I forgot some. A very cut-back list of some of my favorite poets.

I realized that I put a big (too much?) focus on modern authors and forgot about all the Classics I read for university, many of which have left a big impression on me. That's part of the reason for number 11. Also, poems are very underrated. More people should read and discuss them.

Waiting on Wednesday: Stray Souls, by Kate Griffin

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we can't wait to get our grabby bookish hands on.


My pick this week:

Stray Souls, by Kate Griffin

add it on goodreads

Expected Publication: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback, 464 pages

'Don’t look back. It wants you to look back.’

London’s soul has gone missing. Lost? Kidnapped? Murdered? Nobody knows – but when Sharon Li unexpectedly discovers she’s a shaman, she is immediately called upon to use her newfound powers of oneness with the City to rescue it from a slow but inevitable demise.

The problem is, while everyone expects Sharon to have all the answers – from the Midnight Mayor to Sharon’s magically-challenged self-help group – she doesn’t have a clue where to start.

But with London’s soul missing and the Gate open, there are creatures loose that won’t wait for her to catch up before they go hunting.

Stray Souls is the first novel in the Magicals Anonymous series, set in the same fantastical London as the Matthew Swift novels.

I wasn't planning on doing a WoW this week, but then I sorted throug my books on goodreads and noticed this one! And it comes out in ONLY TWO WEEKS!! I had totally forgotten about it! Back when I added it, there was neither a cover nor a description. I love love love the Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift novels!! Among the most genius worldbuilding I have EVER read. I devoured the first book. Slowly - because it was so gorgeous to read and I didn't want it to end. I put sticky notes into my favorite bits - I had never done that before. So of course I am super excited that this new series is set in the same world, and the idea of London having a soul and a shaman from a magic self-help group having to retrieve it? I'm so in! I love how Griffin often writes reluctant heroes or heroines. And now I will shut up and take my babbling somewhere else ^^''

Have you read any of the Matthew Swift novels? No? You can check out the first one, A Madness of Angels, right here.
What are you guys waiting for this Wednesday?

Top Ten Tuesday: most awesome worldbuilding

Top Ten Tuesday is a weeky meme by The Broke and the Bookish, where they post a topic every week and ask the participants to post their top tens. This week is a freebie, so we can choose whatever topic we like. And because I've recenty read a few novels with really great worldbuiding, I've decided to present you...

Top Ten Most Awesome Worldbuilding in a Novel/Series

In no particular order.

1. Kim Harrison - The Hollows series


This was the first Urban Fantasy series I ever read, and I am still in awe of how thorough the worldbuilding is! Rules, laws, species, habits, rockstars, food, history, places... it seems so real I know I'd be disappointed if I ever actually went to Cincinnati and none of it all was there. I love how Kim Harrison adds new aspects to the Vampire myth (living vs. dead vampires) and also bring in weres, witches, demons, pixies, fairies, leprechauns, banshees, elves, gargoyles... and all of it fits together to create one gritty, realistic world!

2. Neil Gaiman - American Gods

Neil Gaiman is a master of worldbuilding and I could just as well have chosen The Sandman graphic novels, but I decided to go with American Gods. I love the basic ideas of people taking their gods with them when they emigrated to America, then slowly forgetting about them. Old gods having to fight for survival as new gods, gods of technology, appear... intriguing idea. Loads of research on Old Norse gods, Native American gods, as well as eastern European, South American and many other regions must have gone into this. I just love how it all comes together, though I am not pretending that I understand everything in this book. But it contains some of my favorite passages in fiction.

3. Kelly Keaton - Gods and Monsters series

I am re-reading Darkness Becomes Her right now to prepare for A Beautiful Evil, and I was once again struck by how awesome the worldbuilding is! The series is set a couple years in the future, in a New Orleans (now called New 2) which is privately owned by the Novem, a city council of nine old and wealthy families. It is no longer part of the US nor under US law. New 2 has become a haven for all things freakish and paranormal. I love how Kelly Keaton combines traditional New Orleans imagery and themes with old Greek myths and creatures! I have never been to New Orleans or even the US, but the city with its old houses, smells, mix of cultures and beliefs, maskerades, rituals and cemeteries has forever nestled into my mind now.

4. Rachel Vincent - Unbound series

I have not read Shadow Bound yet, but I loved the world of Blood Bound! It is gritty and cruel and realistic. If something like Skills existed, this is what it would be like. I liked the idea of a city divided into different syndicate territories by the river, the difficulty of trying to be independent of the mob and still make a living. This is a harsh world where no one without both fighting skills and a brain can survive very long. There are quite a few serieses involving people with special skills, but the ones in this series worked differently than those in any other I have read.

5. Melissa Marr - Wicked Lovely series

Hands down my favorite fairy series ever! I love how the world of fairie and our world intersect, influence, and depend on one another! I love how each fairy ruler represents the traits of their kingdom. I love the descriptions of the clubs where fairies and mortals intermingle. I love the dark, twisted relationships of some of the characters. And I'm just always in awe of Melissa Marr's writing.

6. Holly Black - Curseworkers series

All of Holly Black's novels that I have read have great worldbuilding, but I've decided on this series for this post. I really enjoyed how the workers are both wanted/needed and feared, the whole history of them and how the great families rose to power in the US. I also enjoyed the whole idea of fighting for equal rights vs. making people disclose their abilities so they can be controlled. Plus of course the whole con artist and blackmarket aspect for workers and protective amulets, as well as the family relationships in this one.

7. Kate Griffin - Urban Magic series

Honestly? If I had put this post into a particular order, this series would top it. I loved how Neil Gaiman brought London to life in Neverwhere, but the worldbuilding in this series just tops everything. I have never looked at London the same way again when I visited after I read the first novel in this series. The city is suffused with magic, a modern magic. Magic in the telephone lines, the tube map, the river, the city lights. Magic in the gutter and the routine and clockwork of the city. The rats. The pidgeons. The beggar king. The graffity and other street art. "Life is magic", and Matthew Swift can use it all. And the writing was so gorgeous that I had to plaster the novels with sticky notes for the especially awesome bits.

8. Laini Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Everyone raved about this book when it came out, and it took me way too long to finally get a copy of it... but I am so glad that I did! I loved the Prague Laini Taylor created in this novel, and I am excited to see what the city is really like when I go there in only 8 days! I loved the art and sketchbook aspect, I loved the ideas of wishes made from teeth and bones, I loved the idea of a chimaera world and a doorway that can go anywhere! Chimaeras are a type of creature/myth I had not seen in YA before - the book is just a breath of fresh air.


9. L.A. Weatherly - Angel series

Before I read the first book in this series, I was not a big fan of angel books. Very often they are just suffused with Christian/religious beliefs and ideology, and I'm not a big fan of that, nor do I believe in god. (Just for the record: I have no problem with people who do, as long as they respect that I don't and don't try to convert me.) But a book where angels are evil and suck humans' energy and nobody knows? Well, apart from the Angel Killers of course. Well, I was intrigued. Awesome read!

10. Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy / Bloodlines


Yup, last but not least I have to mention Richelle Meads. To be honest, I did not think the first few VA novels were that great, but probably that is because I read them in the German translation my sister borrowed from a friend of hers before she bought the whole thing as a boxset in English. I read the last 2 books this summer and I was so immersed in that world again, and it was so much better than I remembered, that I had to get the Bloodlines novels at once! I love the moroi/strigoi mythology as well as the alchemy aspects and the whole political dimension in these serieses!


Okay, this post took forever to write for some reason, and I'm sure I have left out a lot of novels with amazing worldbuilding... for example The Mortal Instruments / Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare. Or Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers. Julie Kagawa. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

So, have you read any of the novels I listed above? What are some of your favorite books with awesome worldbuilding? Let me know in the comments :)