Top Ten Tuesday #152

Hi all! I hope your week has been good, I’m currently suffering with some medical issues (not going into the details) and in quite a bit of pain and discomfort, but it’s nothing serious, and hopefully should clear up soon!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so that means another Top Ten Tuesday from Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Books That Take Place In Another Country, which I’ve done as Books Not Set In The US, which was a topic I did back when The Broke and The Bookish hosted TTT, but since it was a year and a half ago and I’ve read a lot of books since then, so I figured it was about time for an updated list. So here we go, my updated list of Books Set Outside The US:

1. Shades of Magic Trilogy-VE Schwab-London, UK (for Grey London at least!)

Granted, yes, three of the Londons in these books are fantastical, but there is one real London and they are all inspired by the real life London, so I figure they count! When I was at VE Schwab’s event with Samantha Shannon and Neal Shusterman last week and she was asked how she chose the setting for her world, she said she choose London because it was instantly recognisable, so it would be easier to strip down to its barest bones and build the other Londons on top of it.

2. Chainbreaker-Tara Sim-Enfield & London, UK & India

I could count both Timekeeper books for this post, but I figured I would just use Chainbreaker because although some of it takes place in the UK, the majority of it takes place in Victorian India, such a cool setting and allowed for so much depth in the worldbuilding of different cultures and societies in Tara’s clock tower controlled world.

3. Orphan Monster Spy-Matt Killeen-Germany

This is one of my more recent reads, and it takes place mostly at a Nazi girls boarding school in Germany. It’s not my favourite WWII book I’ve ever read, but I did appreciate it explored a different story as so often WWII stories can get kind of samey!

4. Frozen Charlotte-Alex Bell-The Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK

Why don’t more books take place in Scotland? It’s so beautiful up here and has so much history and culture, you’d think more people would want to use that in books! The Scottish setting definitely works here, an old school house with creepy Frozen Charlotte Dolls? Could only be set on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland!

5. The Pearl Thief-Elizabeth Wein-Scotland, UK

I don’t know if it’s actually mentioned where in Scotland this book takes places, I remember that it mentions the Tay at one point, so it’s either Perth, Dundee or up in the Highlands, I have a feeling its Perth but I can’t remember! Anyway, it takes place in Scotland and is a delightful 1930s mystery based prequel to Code Name Verity, giving us insight into a young Julie Beaufort-Stuart.

6. The Crown’s Game-Evelyn Skye-Imperial Russia

Not only is this book set in Russia, it’s Russia during the times of the Tsars which is a really interesting time in Russian History. Add magic to that already pretty awesome setting and you have the makings of a really good book (also the author did a degree in Russian Literature and her passion for the country really comes through).

7. Salt To The Sea-Ruta Sepetys-East Prussia

If you have not read a Ruta Sepetys book yet, then you are missing out and you definitely should! She takes lesser known historical events for her books, like this one which is based around the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff during WWII, one of the biggest maritime disasters in history and yet relatively unknown. I always come out of her books feeling like I’ve learned a lot and wanting to do further research. This book is set in East Prussia, which was a Kingdom of Prussia in it’s day, but is now a part of modern day Russia, Lithuania and Poland.

8. Daughter of Smoke and Bone-Laini Taylor-Prague, Czech Republic

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is set in Prague, where my friend Nicola is currently studying (I think in part due to reading this book!) and it is the perfect setting for this slightly whimsical fantasy! I always say a great book will make me want to go and visit the place where it’s set and whilst I may have had my issues with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the setting certainly wasn’t one, I would love to go and stroll the streets of Prague with Karou and Zuzana.

9. Every Breath-Ellie Marney-Melbourne, Australia

I wasn’t totally in love with everything about this Sherlock retelling, but I did love the setting, I’ve never read any books set in Australia before this one, so it was nice to get to go somewhere new! Plus the romance was totally shippable 🙂

10. The Bone Season series-Samantha Shannon-London, Oxford, Manchester and Edinburgh, UK

One of the things I love about The Bone Season series is that it keeps moving around, in 3 books, we’ve been to four places in the UK, and the next one will take us further afield to Paris, at the event with VE Schwab and Neal Shusterman, Shannon said that her plan is to keep moving out as she wants to explore lots of different places , which I think is awesome as I suffer from a severe case of wanderlust and want to go everywhere possible (in my books as well as in life)!

Over to you! What books set outside of the US have you read? Do we share any? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is Characters I Liked That Were In Non-Favourite/Disliked Books, I’m not sure about this topic as if I dislike a book, the characters are usually a big part of that, but we’ll see. In the meantime, I will hopefully have a discussion post up before the month is over, so stay tuned for that.