Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 19, 2016 by Nicky in General / 6 Comments

This post is a little later in the day than usual, because apparently I suck at timekeeping. Sorry! This week’s theme is “books set outside the US”. Which does actually cover a fair old number of books I know, since I come from the UK, but I’ll see what I can do to make an interesting list!

Cover of Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates by Kerry Greenwood Cover of The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff Cover of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch Cover of Midnight Never Come, by Marie Brennan Cover of The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

  1. Cocaine Blues, by Kerry Greenwood. This is the first book in the Phryne Fisher series, set in Australia. It’s a lot of fun, has LGBTQ characters, found families, and a proactive, capable female lead.
  2. The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff. This is a solid historical fiction, based on real findings about Roman Britain, and suitable for just about all ages. The protagonist, Marcus, is injured seriously, early in the book, and throughout the book there are also excellent depictions of how he deals with the pain and disability.
  3. Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovitch. Urban fantasy, but set in London and the surrounding environs, this is the start of a series which features Peter Grant, a police officer who turns out to be able to use magic and thus solve magical-related crimes.
  4. Midnight Never Come, by Marie Brennan. This is historical fantasy set in Elizabethan England. I might not love it quite as much as the slightly-alternate-reality in Brennan’s Lady Trent books, but it’s awesome nonetheless.
  5. The Sudden Appearance of Hope, by Claire North. This hops all over the place, but it starts in Dubai and spends a good portion of the time there and in other countries round the world.
  6. Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds. Most of the action takes place in an alternate version of 1940s France; some takes place in the future, in floating habitats in Earth’s atmosphere. (Guess who managed to mess up the environment.)
  7. The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Very fine historical fantasy, set in the reign of Mary Tudor. It’s partly based on the ‘Tam Lin’ story, but it also becomes something very much its own.
  8. The Girl from Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig. Noticed how many of these are fantasy set in our world? It’s my thing, sorry. This one, too, set mostly in Hawaii and using mythical aspects of life in Honolulu.
  9.  Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal. I’m not a huge fan of the first book of this series, but the second book took off for me. Alt-Regency, with an interesting form of magic…
  10. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This one is pretty popular, but I must put it in the list anyway because I love how very British it is (though it does feature other places in Europe). It’s a huge tome, but worth it, I promise.

Cover of Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds Cover of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope Cover of The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Hellig Cover of Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Now let’s hope I find some time to visit other people’s posts for more bookshelf inspiration!

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6 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday

    • I’ve enjoyed the Ben Aaronovitch series a lot! It starts off feeling kind of light, then punches you in the gut… several times.

  1. The Eagle of the Ninth has been one of those books that has been with me all my life. My grandparents lived just south of the Wall, so I used to love (still do) going up to look down there and I always imagine Marcus and Esca riding through the gates.

    • You know, despite living within reasonable distance most of my life, I never have gone up to the Wall. I should fix that sometime.

  2. LOL I was just commenting on another post that The Sudden Appearance of Hope would probably take care of the whole list. There had to have been more than ten countries, the way she hopped around the globe.

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