Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week they provide a topic and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. You don’t have to do all ten. Instead you can do three, five, fifteen, whatever you want. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here.
This week’s theme is Settings I’d Like to See More Of (Or At All). I haven’t done one of these in a while, the prompts just hadn’t been sparking anything in me, but I love me a good setting so I hopped right aboard the Tuesday Express for this one. Choo-choo! Below each setting I will give a few examples of books I feel show that setting well.
Desert
One setting I would love to see more of is the desert theme, not to be confused with dessert although I wouldn’t say no to that either. I mean big, sandy expanses. And don’t give me US southwest desert, that just won’t cut it. I spent several years in the southwestern desert and that brings to mind cowboys, John Wayne, and randy university students on holiday. Hard pass.
Ocean or coastal
I love the ocean. I could sit for hours just watching the waves, listening to the seagulls, and dodging dead jellyfish half buried in the sand. Okay, I could do without the jelly fish but I still love the ocean and I’ve seen precious few fantasy or sci-fi novels with a good coastal or ocean setting.
Vegas strip vibe
This one may seem weird to some people but if you’ve meandered the Las Vegas Strip after dark you may understand what I’m getting at. I want a setting that gives me the same vibe of barely controlled debauchery for the masses. Oddly specific, I know, but it is a certain feeling that city gives and I would love to see fictional settings give the same vibe.
Dark Carnival
I think the idea of a carnival needs very little explanation. Or does it? What I like is a carnival that is less clowns and more sinister undertones. What? If you haven’t figured out by now that I love a little darkness with my fantasy then I don’t know where you have been. Carnivals are often, at least in the US, seen as traveling kids entertainment and that just doesn’t work for me. I want the mischievous and malevolent current running through it.
Competitions
I’m not sure this one quite fits the theme but I am going to roll with it. I love getting into the book where the main setting is for a mass group competition. Like, “last one alive gets the crown,” or ,”last one alive gets to…stay alive.” You know what I mean. I am 100% a sucker for those stories.
I thought that this week’s theme was a lot of fun! Obviously I am easily sold for a book with massive competitions. I can’t help it, apparently I have a type. What are some settings or tropes that you adore?
Literary Weaponry 
I love competition books!
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They are so much fun. I love the fierceness that comes out in characters during competitions.
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Have you ever read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Day Bradbury? It is about two boys and the dark carnival they encounter.
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I hadn’t but I just looked it up on Goodreads. Is it like a carnival horror? I’m down for that.
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I’d call it more of a dark fantasy than a horror novel. But there is definitely a dark carnival that’s central to the story.
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Great list! I need more desert (and dessert) stories in my life, too, and I need to read more books set in/on/near oceans. 🙂
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Everyone needs more dessert. That is just a fact.
I love good ocean/beach fantasy novel. There just aren’t enough of them, I struggled finding three to add to the photos for the post. I need more!
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Dark carnival is a great one and so is competition books! Love your choices! 😊
My TTT: https://lifewithallthebooks.com/2019/07/23/top-ten-tuesday-settings-id-like-to-see-more-of-or-at-all/
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I LOVE your list! The vegas strip vibe made me chuckle, but I totally get what you were going for and breaking down! I also included carnivals on my list as well as “gladiatorial arenas,” which I feel are basically competition books! So I’m saying we’re solid twinning this week!!
You can check out my full list (my first TTT in almost 7 months) here if you’d like: https://nerdnarrationblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/23/top-ten-tuesday-book-settings-i-live-for/
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I love that at least one person got my Vegas strip vibe comment. Hah! But really, it does have a certain feel to it that I’ve never found anywhere else. It’s weird. Probably all of the debauchery.
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Hahah! I totally get it. Maybe you just have to have been there to truly understand? I don’t know, but I liked the inclusion =D
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I like Dark Carnival. It’s always so fun!
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It really is and I love the different variations of it I’ve seen, too. Nothing beats The Night Circus for that vibe but I have to say that Daughter of the Burning City is a close second, vibe wise.
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I am currently reading a series that is more Las Vegas circus than dark carnival right now (Aerial Ethereal by Krista and Becca Ritchie), but it reminded me how much I like the circus atmosphere.
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Ha! I wouldn’t say no to a dessert setting either. But yes to deserts! K.A. DOORE’S The Perfact Assassin is a recent one that I liked. It’s also got wonderfully queer characters! And I LOVE the idea of more Vegas Strip-esque stories.
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