Top Ten Tuesday #66

Hey everyone! I’m back with a new Top Ten Tuesday post this week, courtesy of the lovely ladies over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s prompt is Top Ten Books Set Outside The US, which I love as a topic because I’m always looking for books that aren’t set in the US (I seem to read an abundance of US based fiction), so hopefully I’ll find lots of great recs this week! It took me a while to compile this list (it’s a lot harder than you’d think to find books set outside of the US), but I did eventually manage it! So here are my Top Ten Books Set Outside The US:

1. Noughts And Crosses series-Malorie Blackman-UK

Admittedly this is an alternative, dystopian UK where people are divided into Noughts & Crosses (the Crosses being the black ruling class and the Noughts being the white underclass) but the UK is the UK be it alternative, dystopian UK or normal UK. I am actually rereading this book at the moment and had forgotten how amazing and addictive it is to read. It’s not an easy book to read by any means, but I think it’s an important one as the issues raised in the book are still prevalent in society today. This amazing, powerful story of Callum and Sephy will never grow old for me, I don’t know what number reread I am currently on (I’ve read it a lot) but it’s still just as amazing as the first time I read it.

2. Cross My Heart-Carmen Reid-Belgium (and briefly Germany)

This book is all about the Belgian resistance in WWII and so obviously most of it is set Belgium (though there are parts that are set in Germany). I loved this book, I learned so much about part of the war that I never knew about before, and that was so great because so often we hear about our side of the war and the German’s side of the war, but we never really get to see about all the other countries involved.

3. Skulduggery Pleasant series-Derek Landy-Ireland

Actually one of the things I miss most in Demon Road is the Irish setting of Skulduggery Pleasant as it was such a cool setting! Ireland was definitely the perfect setting for this series, it works so well as a setting for an urban fantasy and I love the Irish humour that is infused into the books.

4. Artemis Fowl-Eoin Colfer-Ireland, France, Russia, London, Spain, Taiwan, Morocco, Vietnam

One of the best things about Artemis Fowl is the number of settings, he goes to so many places throughout the series, so you get to see a lot of different countries (yes, there is one Artemis Fowl book where he goes to America, but I didn’t include that here, obviously). The main setting is Ireland though and again I loved that, because it fitted so well with the the story, something about Ireland makes it a great setting for magic stories!

5. The Book Thief-Markus Zusak-Germany

This remains one of the most beautiful books that I have ever read! It’s such a different view of WWII and such a unique story, I really recommend that everyone reads this because it’s so brilliant.

6. Young Sherlock Holmes Series-Andrew Lane-England, France, Russia, Scotland, China, Ireland, Oxford, Egypt

One of the coolest things about this series is that each book is set in a different place and you get to follow Sherlock on his adventures all over the world, I’ve been to so many different places via this series and because they are all set in Victorian times, you get to see these countries as they were back then and as a history nerd, that’s very cool for me. If you like Sherlock Holmes, I would definitely recommend this series as it’s a brilliant look into what Sherlock may have been like as a teenager.

7. Dangerous Girls-Abigail Haas-Aruba

I can honestly say I’ve never read any other book set in Aruba! This book is a great psychological thriller which will mess with your mind and have you thinking about it for days afterwards and the ending will leave you with your mouth hanging open, saying “WHAT?”. Seriously you need to read it now!

8. Code Name Verity-Elizabeth Wein-England, Scotland, France

This is such an incredible book about the enduring power of friendship and basically girls kicking butt during WWII. It’s one of the best WWII novels I’ve ever read and gave me all the feels! If you love female friendship then there is not a better book for it than this.

9. Ink and Bone-Rachel Caine-London, Alexandria, Oxford

This is an alternate history book about what might have happened if the Great Library of Alexandria had survived. There are three different settings, London (which only a small part of the book is set in), Alexandria and Oxford. Alexandria was definitely my favourite, it was such a rich, vibrant setting and I loved it.

10. Between Shades of Grey-Ruta Sepetys-Lithuania and Siberia

This book! It was harsh and heartbreaking and yet beautiful at the same time and I think that was really reflected in the setting. This was such a great book, I learned so much about a part of history that I never knew about before. There is so much more to WWII than just Hitler and Germany people!

11. The House of Hades-Rick Riordan-Greece, Italy, Malta and Croatia

Okay so admittedly there are 3 books in the story before this and five afterwards and the characters are US teens and the US remains a major setting in most of the series, but this book is set entirely in Europe with the Seven travelling through Italy, Malta and Croatia to get to their ultimate destination Greece. One of the best things about the Heroes of Olympus series as compared to the original Percy Jackson series  is that because of the nature of their quest, there are a lot more locations than just the US in this series! (though I still love the original series just a tad more).

12. The Roman Mysteries-Caroline Lawrence-Italy

I loved these books when I was a kid and one of the major reasons was that the setting of Ancient Rome was so cool!

13. Extras-Scott Westerfeld-Japan

This is the fourth book in the Uglies series, but to be honest, it’s more of a companion novel, so you could probably read it without reading the rest of the series beforehand (though it might be worth reading the rest of the series to understand the world Westerfeld created). I’ll admit, I didn’t love this book, but the setting of dystopian Japan was rather cool.

14. Breathe-Sarah Crossan-UK

I didn’t even realise this was a dystopian UK until there was a mention of the underground in the book! It’s so rare to find a dystopia set in the UK (okay admittedly I have two on this list but I don’t know of many more, I think I know of about 3 series that are dystopias set in the UK) so I was very excited when I realised that it was a UK based book.

15. Harry Potter Series-JK Rowling-UK

I couldn’t have done this list without my favourite UK based series! I mean these are some of the most famous books to have ever come out of the UK, so I figured I had to include them on this list (or I’m just looking for another excuse to include Harry Potter on one of these lists, take your pick!).

I know, I know, I went over again, but this was a lot of fun! What books were on your list this week? Do we share any? What are the best books that you have read that are set outside the US? Let me know in the comments! Next week’s topic is Top Ten Things Books Have Made Me Want To Do/Learn About After Reading Them, which sounds like a really fun topic, so I’m really excited to do that one. In the meantime, I will hopefully have a new Wishlist Wednesday post for you guys tomorrow, so be sure to check that out!