6 Books With The Most Unusual Settings

6 Books With The Most Unusual Settings

From epic fantasy to outer space, there is no limit to the spectacular locations books can transport us. With no visual effects budget to worry about, the only constraints authors have when it comes to the settings for their books is their imagination. While many authors choose familiar backdrops for their stories, there are also a few that choose settings that are so unexpected or unique that they are hard to forget. Here are just a few authors who dared to be different and set their stories in the most unusual settings.

The Girl in the Box by Ouida Sebestyen

Setting: Underground box

The Girl in the Boxy by author Ouida Sebestyen tells the tale of a high school student named Jackie who is abducted by a man in the van. After her kidnapping Jackie is left alone in an underground cement room where she finds an old typewriter and ream of paper. With no way to escape and nothing else to occupy her mind Jackie begins to type...

Minology by Mark Murphy

Setting: Man named Will

What makes the setting for Minology by author Mark Murphy so unique is that it is actually the body of a 34 year old man named Will. However, instead of Will, the story focuses on the Min, which is little creatures that inhabits his body and does all the jobs to keep him going. The problem is that all the Min have their own thoughts and opinions, which means they don’t always have Will’s best interest at heart.

Weaveworld by Clive Barker

Setting: A Carpet

Author Clive Barker came up with the imaginative setting of a carpet for his dark fantasy book, Weaveworld. However, it is no ordinary carpet, but one in which a magical race of creatures, known as The Seerkind, resides. They call it The Fugue and created it by magic to not only house themselves, but also their most precious locations and possessions in order to avoid humans.

The Stone Trilogy by Graham Edwards

Setting: An endless wall

Starting with the first book in the series, Stone and Sky, the Stone Trilogy by author Graham Edwards follows the adventures of Jonah Lightfoot, a British historian. Through a series of events, Jonah along with a companion, ends up on the world of Amara. What makes Amara so bizarre is the fact that it is a seemingly infinite wall with civilizations, creatures and even dragons existing on its vertical surface.

The Deepgate Codex Series by Alan Campbell

Setting: A city suspended by chains

The unique setting for Scar Night, the first book in the Deepgate Codex series by author Alan Campbell is the city of Deepgate. Far from an ordinary city, Deepgate is suspended from chains with nothing except a seemingly bottomless abyss below it. Nobody knows what lies in the depths of the sinister chasm, but Dill and Rachel, the two protagonists of the story has to make the journey if they want to save the city from the destruction.

The Integral Trees by Larry Niven

Setting: A gas torus

For the setting of his novel The Integral Trees, author Larry Niven used a gas torus, which is the technical term for the ring of air that can form around a neutron star. Although the gas torus is thousands of miles wide, most of it is inhabitable except for the central part, which is teeming with life. Making this setting even more unusual is the fact that it is not only without ground, but also in free fall, which means all its lifeforms have evolved in interesting and unique ways to survive.

Glen Dawson - A Satirical Wake-up Call
FEATURED AUTHOR - After graduating from Duke University, Glen Dawson owned and operated a flexible packaging manufacturing plant for 23 years. Then, he sold the factory and went back to school to get his Master's degree in biostatistics from Boston University. When he moved to North Carolina, he opened an after-school learning academy for advanced math students in grades 2 through 12. After growing the academy from 30 to 430 students, he sold it to Art of Problem Solving. Since retiring from Art of Problem… Read more