Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Unique Books I’ve Read

Top Ten Unique Books I’ve Read

Avid readers know that uniqueness is a priceless quality in a book. No matter how good some books are after you’ve read so many, they all start to sound the same. That’s why stories that put a different spin on things are to be treasured.

Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

              I feel like I’ve talked about these books a bit too much but, still! Everybody knows that fairytales work on certain rules but in this version the characters know it to. There’s a lot of tongue in cheek humor about ‘fairytale logic’. You know things like, following directions and how old women in the enchanted forest should definitely be avoided because they’re probably fairies in disguise. If that doesn’t classify as unique then I don’t know what is.

Larklight by Phillip Reeve

Now putting aside, the characters, plot and writing (which are quite unique enough to warrant this books placement on the list) you have to appreciate Reeve’s world if nothing else. How many books have a Victorian-esque world with the British Empire’s influence spreading from Earth to Saturn? 

And that’s not even touching on the giant space spiders or immortal interdimensional beings. Interested yet?

Mirrorworld by Cornelia Funke

              Is actually rather similar to the Enchanted Forest Chronicles honestly. Except much more serious. And with a few more stab-happy stone monsters than Chocolate mousse loving dragons. Still these books have every fairytale imaginable somewhere in there and even have more magical-fairytale-ish versions of countries like Germany or Russia. How cool is that!? Again, that’s not even touching on the awe-inspiring worldbuilding and gorgeous characters.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

              Admittedly I am a musical squib. But dang! I want more music based magic systems. There is a literal monster boy who eats people by playing the violin. And I’m totally not biased because the heroine is named Kate. Nope. Not even a little bit. And here’s the really unique bit. It’s a YA book without romance! Hallelujah, it’s a miracle.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

              Now I love this series (and I also have a few problems with it but that’s not the point) but you’ve got to admit, cyborg Cinderella is pretty unique. If this post shows anything it’s that I love fairytale things. Fairytale retellings, homages etc. But I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite as weird as cyborg Cinderella, genetically engineered Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel trapped in a space station. Absolute Gold.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

              Kind of like romances, heist books (and movies but that’s not important) are done a lot. But they’re rarely done well. So in a way Six of Crows is unique simply because it actually works. The plans are clever, the settings are interesting and the characters, as unlikable as they are, are amazing. And frankly that’s the most impressive part. Unlikable characters are easy enough to put up with for a movie, they are after all only there for a few hours at most. But in books it much harder, and much more impressive, to pull off such despicable, mildly-evil and ultimately awesome characters.

   

Basically, everything Brandon Sanderson gets his hands on

              I would be hard pressed to pick just one of his books as an example. No matter how cliché or overdone his premises seem this man always manages to put some kind of spin on it to make it fascinating. Super heroes who are actually evil. High Fantasy except no, it’s a dystopian. And that’s barely scratching the surface. Can these books be huge? Definitely but dang they’re worth it.

Half Upon a Time by James Riley

              We get a lot of books, especially middle grade books, about the person from earth accidentally ending up in another world. But how often do we get to see that story from the point of view of the poor local who has no idea what this kid is talking about? When I picked, this book up, and its subsequent two sequels, I thought I was going to die laughing. Not only that but it was the first middle grade book in a while that managed to surprise me. Good on you book, some adult books can’t even manage that.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater

              I don’t even know how to escribe these books. There’s five extremely three dimensional characters and a romance I magically got behind and a semi-sentient magical forest. Also a dead welsh king who’s hanging around waiting for somebody to wake him up. Like I said these books are really hard to describe but just take my word for it. They’re unique.

The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

A story about a girl born in an underground sanctuary who goes out to find herself a family. Also, she might be on an alien planet. Or possibly the earth after a couple million years of evolution. One of the two. What else can you expect form the guy who worked on the Spiderwick chronicles? And those illustrations. 

 There’s some artist envy for you. WondLa is brilliant that’s all I’ve got to say. The story hops genres from Si-Fi to fantasy to anything. Everything. They’re beautiful.  

Thanks for putting up with my confused ramblings. And thanks again to the ladies at the Broke and the Bookish for starting Top Ten Tuesdays you can check them out here if you're interested.