Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week there is a new topic for bloggers to choose and list their top ten. This week’s theme is Top Ten Bookish Worlds I’d Never Want to Live In.
I love to travel, and I read a lot of fantasy books with incredible world-building; but for every couple of worlds I’d give anything to see with my own eyes there’s always one I’d never want to find myself in. I’d kill to visit Le Cirque des Rêves one night, or explore Red London for a day, but I know I wouldn’t survive five minutes as a tribute in the Hunger Games.
Angelfall by Susan Ee
As much as Penryn’s San Francisco is one of the less brutal dystopian worlds I’ve read I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a city where angels are hunting humans. And that’s saying nothing of the scorpion/locust experiments Penryn and Raffe discover.
The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid
It’s way too brutal for me. I’d never be able to keep up with the physical battles Nemesis has to fight, or the political manoeuvring Tyrus has to do, just to survive and remain on top.
Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
While life aboard the Mao is pretty bleak, life on Kerenza is even bleaker. Although honestly even before the BeiTech invasion I wouldn’t want to live on that planet; it sounds way too cold for me.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
I definitely wouldn’t have survived past childhood if I lived in Darrow’s world on Mars. If I was a Red I would have died in the mines, and if I was a Gold I would have died at the very beginning of the Institute trials like Cassius’s brother did.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
I love the idea of the High Court of Faerie, but I’d never be able to adapt to life there the way Jude and Taryn do. I’d probably forget one of the (many) rules and poison myself trying to eat the faerie fruit.
Gilded Cage by Vic James
No, just no. If I was one of the Equals I’d never be able to keep up with the political battles for power that seem to constantly happen, but the thought of ten years of slavedays if I was a normal citizen terrify me.
Alice by Christina Henry
I’ve always said that Wonderland is one of the fantasy settings I’d love to visit, it’s one of my favourite bookish worlds, but I would not love to visit Christina Henry’s Wonderland. Old City, where Alice is set, is a dark and terrifying place.
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
A world where World War II was won by the Germans, where Hitler is still alive committing horrifying acts and experiments, is not a world I want to live in.
The Savage Song by V.E. Schwab
I love V.E. Schwab, she’s one of my all-time favourite authors and I’d love to visit Red London, but a world where monsters are real, where I’d have to chose between paying for protection or fighting for it, is not a choice I want to make.
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Samantha Shannon’s London in The Bone Season is very much a police state, just 50-odd years in the future where clairvoyants are real and very much hunted.
So what do you think? Did you take part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, if so what bookish worlds would you never want to live in? Did any of the books I picked make your list, or are any of these worlds you’d want to live in?
So agree about Angelfall and Obsidio! Those would be so bleak! And yeah I’d hate to live on Darrow’s Mars and Verity! and I really thought the world of bone season was horrifying. Great list!
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I wouldn’t survive in any of these worlds, so in these cases I’ll stick to the ones I have (for me the main thing I didn’t like about Obsidio was how cold the planet of Kerenza sounded, any cold setting is an ultimate “no” for me!)
Thanks so much! 😀 ❤
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Ooh! This is a really interesting post and I loved hearing your opinions on the worlds! I haven’t read any of the books apart from the cruel prince but I definitely agree with that one!
I’d probably just forget to turn my stockings inside out or something! I’m really excited to read Obsidio! I read Illuminae and it was so good! All the books sound so good!!! They’re on my tar now! *why??? Why??? I don’t need any more books to read???*
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Thanks so much, and yeah I talk about bookish worlds I love to visit enough figured it was time to flip the tables a little. 😀
I would not survive in The Cruel Prince world, I think it takes a strong mortal to cope there and I’m not ashamed to admit I wouldn’t be able to cut it. 🙂
Obsidio is amazing, I’m sure you’ll love it, and yeah I know the feeling. I’m always adding more and more books to my TBR list but I have more than enough to get through already. 😀
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No problem! It is quite different and I like it! I know! I get distracted so easily and like food??? You can’t expect me to not eat food?!?!?!
I really hope I get to read it! I have so many books I’m supposed to be reading! And writing reviews for!😂❤️😀
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Same here, if a book has a yummy food description in it I’m ten times more likely to fall in love! 😀
Ha, yeah I know that feeling. 🙂
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Definitely! Reading Harry Potter is torture for my little stomach! Yay! xx
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Cruel Prince is the only one I’ve read here, but I absolutely agree I wouldn’t be able to accept the life of Fae like these character did…like, I’d be outta there from day 1. 😂 Great post!
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It takes a certain amount of strength to live as a mortal in the fae world, how Jude managed it for so long I’ll never know.
Thanks so much. 😀
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Ohhhh Obsidio, see I haven’t even read that book, but I KNOW I wouldn’t want to live in that world either hahaha 🙂 And I’m with you for This Savage Song, couldn’t handle that one either haha 🙂
Lovely post! 😀
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Ha, I feel like once you’ve read it you’ll only think that way more. Of all the settings in the trilogy Kerenza is the one I’d like to find myself on the least.
Some of these bookish worlds are better for reading than living in right?! 🙂
Thanks Marie. ❤️
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OMG could not agree more than about Alice. Like, there is no happy place in that book!
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Nope there really isn’t. The original Alice in Wonderland yes I’d love to visit there, but Christina Henry’s version no way in hell! 😀
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ugh i agree with red rising too! it’s such a hard world to live in!
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Yeah, no one has an easily live in that book. No matter what colour they are. 🙂
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Dangerous worlds make for fun stories… so a lot of books would kill us all! My TTT
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Oh they really do.
I suppose at the same time if we grew up in those worlds instead of our own we’d be better equipped to actually survive them wouldn’t we? 🙂
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Very true.
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I forgot about The Bone Season. Nope, wouldn’t want to live there!
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Yeah, on one hand London with clairvoyants sounds amazing, but not in The Bone Season where they’re hunted like they are. 🙂
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The faerie world from The Cruel Prince does sound pretty rough! And no thank you to Kerenza either!
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Yeah those are two places I doubt I’d survive five minutes in. If I ever get a chance to visit a bookish world those two places would be at the bottom of my list! 😀
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I’m with you on Obsidio–Kerenza would be way too cold (and way too blown up) for me. I almost put The Cruel Prince on my list but then realized I would actually kind of love to see the magic of the fae lands (only for a little bit though, then I’d be back to the human world).
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I don’t do well in the cold at all, so even before the planet was all blown up it would have been hell on earth for me.
I think it would be nice to see, it certainly sounded beautiful in The Cruel Prince, but I don’t think I’d even want to risk it for a short while. I would wanna risk getting trapped. 🙂
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I’d have to agree about This Savage Song and Obsidio! Though these were intense and exciting novels to read, I don’t think I would be dreaming about the chance to live in Verity or on the Mao any time soon. I’d prefer somewhere with good food and where my life isn’t threatened every other second haha 🙂
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There are some worlds you would anything to live in, and some you’d give anything not to live in no matter how amazing the story is right?
Yes same here, and I can already think of a fair few bookish worlds that would meet that criteria! 😀
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I had Red Rising on my list too! Even if I was a gold, I feel like I’d be lost in the first round of the institution
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Ha, yeah, you know a world is a brutal one when even those at the top of the food chain die really quickly right? 🙂
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Awesome choices. All the books seem so dark yet beautiful. And what amazing designs as well. I definitely have to try Alice. Placing it on my to-read now.
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Thanks so much, and oh dark yet beautiful is a good way to describe some of these books. I hope you enjoy Alice then, it’s a gruesome story but amazing all the same. 🙂
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I really love to think I could have teamed up with Kady and the gang and survived The Illuminae Files but i definitely would probably be killed almost right away 😂
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Ha, yeah I’d love to think I’d have survived too, but I’d probably have been dead within the first page or something. Maybe I’d have been one of the (many) people AIDAN killed. 🙂
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haha, that definitely would have been my fate 😅
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My goodness. I don’t think I would survive well in any of these books :O 😦 Alice sounds cool though. What is that about? I saw it the other week in Waterstones and I didn’t manage to pick it up and check it out 😦 lovely book cover though 😛
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Yeah, it’s much safer reading about their adventures than living in them. 🙂
Alice is really good. It’s a dark (really, really dark) retelling if Alice in Wonderland. Alice escapes from an insane asylum and ends up in the Old Town where she runs into characters from the original tale but who are cruel and brutal and run the streets. I rated it five stars. 🙂
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Wow that sounds dark but really cool. Think I may invest in that next time I see it at the book store 😮 thank you 😀
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It’s a great story, and that’s all right, I really hope you end up enjoying it. 😀
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Lol! Yes– the Bone Season’s setting is terrifying!!! That would be #1 on my list.
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Yeah, don’t get my wrong I love reading that series but I’d never want to live in it! 😀
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I so much agree with Cruel Prince, there were so many rules and I’m forgetful af??????? i would for sure die for some stupid reason XD
I’ve never read any of the other books which makes me sad, but now I want to read red rising even more bc I had no idea it took place on mars????? THIS IS SO COOL??????? (also is this series more friendship or romance??? I need a good book about friendshipppp c: )
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That would be the worst way to die right? Because you forgot one of the rules everyone else seems to live by.
I don’t think I can recommend Red Rising enough, it’s such an incredible book. Granted it has a slow start but once the plot gets moving you’ll be hooked for sure.
It’s kind of hard to describe, kind of a mixture of both, there’s romance but there’s also some epic friendships (and a lot of betrayal too).
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Such a good list! Agreed on red rising, I would not survive on Mars…
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Thanks so much, and yeah I don’t know how Darrow and the other characters do it. 🙂
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