Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly book meme brought by T5W on Goodreads.
This October, all the Top 5 Wednesday posts will revolve around supernatural/creepy/spooky themes. Last week I wrote about my top five favorite books with witches in it (did you check it out yet?). Some were terrifying, some were badass--but they were all ones that have made a lasting impression on me.
Today we're talking about creepy settings. Books don't have to be "horror books" to creep the crap out of us. A great author can get our skin crawling with just the right setting. Here are five books with settings that freaked me out.
Dark Matter is definitely more of a thriller than a traditional horror book, but the settings in this book--from terrifying outdoor environments to claustrophobic closets--definitely got to me.
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott is another that is more of a thriller. The monsters in this book are all human, and the setting is just a quiet town. But sometimes that's all you need--the feeling of a small town with eyes watching everything and hidden hands pulling those invisible strings.
Cold endless woods. Dark abandoned castles. The enchanted lands around them full of...whatever lurks out there. It's terrifying to be in the middle of nowhere on your own, and Meagan Spooner nailed her settings in Hunted.
Speaking of the terrifying middle-of-nowhere coldness of death and horror, if The Shining and its haunted hotel of human depravity doesn't scare the hell out of you, I don't know what you're made of. Stronger stuff than I.
Basically, every setting in this series is terrifying. The freezing wilderness, the burning desert, or an unwelcoming court--there is obviously danger around every corner and everyone should just GTFO.
If you're like me, you've now backed your brain into a cycle of terrifying locales and want something fun and happy to read. But before you go off to find a nice book to lose yourself in, let me know some of the scariest settings you've ever read.
And check back next week, when I'm going to write about some of my favorite angels and demons!