World-building takes hard work on the author’s part. But here are some of my favorite settings that take you out of this world. Here are some of my favorite world-building settings.

1)Flower of the Witch.

Tami has to go on a journey away from his people to become a man, he’s fought monsters rescued princesses. But none of this is enough, he has to get the flowers from a witch. But after fighting a monster and passing out in the snow, he’s rescued by a villager. 

 I picked this world for the world-building setting because of its own monsters, gods, traditions, and mythology. Tami is also an interesting hero who is on a journey which is specific to the world.

You can find my review here.

2) The Tea Dragon Festival

Rinn is used to life around tea dragons. Their village is full of them. But when they stumble across a real dragon, that seems to be a different matter! Aedhan is a young dragon who was supposed to protect Rinn’s village, but somehow fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago.

 I chose this book at first because of the art. I could literally fall into the beauty that is Katie O’Neil’s art. But the fantasy setting is so much more than their art. In all their books, the relationships between people. The traditions they set up, the accessibility they include in their fantasy world. That’s the real reason I picked this favorite.

My review is here.

3) The Nightmare Theif

Life was perfect for Maren Partridge before her sister’s accident. Maren’s life isn’t perfect now that her sister is in a coma. Her parents are busy talking about hospital bills and long term care facilities. Maren knows what this is code for, Hallie never getting better.

While Maren isn’t busy worrying about her sister, she works in her family dream shop with her Gran Gran Lishta. Together they can handcraft any dream imaginable.

I picked for its light magic. Like magic bubbles and ice cream which seem like something I’d like to try, super whimsical and cute. I picked it for it’s dark magic and nightmares which were wonderfully scary. I wonder if Lesperance had a fun time coming up with all the dreams and nightmares.

4) Skyhunter

Skyhunter is set in a world after advanced technology has failed, there are remnants of the technology. These make the story very interesting and they make you want to know more about the world.

The reason I chose this book is the world is immersive, do I want to live there, oh lord no. But you are lost in the different fantasy elements Lu makes up for the world. There are bits of the old world mixed with the new. There are monseters that are actually pretty scary. Lu also has a way of mixing various current cultures and putting them together to make them interesting and new.

You can find my review here.

5)The Dark and Deep Blue 

This book has one of my favorite fantasy settings. Why, because it includes a great trans-inclusive order of priestesses called the Order of the Blue who weave and do magic.. You should read the book just for them.  

If reading the book for the Order of the Blue isn’t enough. There is plenty more to keep your intrest, such as, lots of sword fighting. An unexpexted miltary coup. An inclusive magic system Oh and wonderful beautiful art. 

You can find my review here 

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash