Home to the Seelie and Unseelie courts of faeries, this group of downworlders have their own home sealed off from the mortal world and only accessible through hidden portals. The unique thing about Faerieland is that its geography is ever changing, so there is no map to the land. While they host revels of enchanting music and lighthearted dancing and curtains made of butterflies, there are also dark dungeons of thorns and starry night warriors lurking within the realm. Throughout The Shadowhunter Chronicles, Clary has managed to strike carefully worded deals with the Seelie Queen, and Emma has been the victim of a ruthless mind-bending game of the Unseelie King. Despite its tricks and turns, Faerieland is a mystical world like no other, and you can’t help but desire to take a trip to a faerie revel! Just be sure not to eat or drink anything while you’re there!
The trading focus and canal transportation paints this fantasy city as a grungy and gothic twist of familiar Venice and Amsterdam settings. Ketterdam is the heart of trade and crime in Kerch. This is the focal setting of the Six of Crows Duology and where the band of criminals forms their group to take on the biggest heist. Though the city may be groveling with crime, if we had the skills, we’d certainly want to join Kaz and his group of criminal misfits on these foggy, cold streets. Everything about Ketterdam is dark, gloomy, and grungy, and it’s sure to lure you in.
Check out our review of Six of Crows here.
PRR Writer, Taylor Quinn
In Wildwood by Colin Meloy, twelve-year-old Prue and her classmate Curtis must travel into the Impassable Wilderness to rescue Prue’s baby brother Mac after he is taken by a murder of crows. Once inside, they discover a secret world full of political intrigue, folk magic, and lots of talking animals. While there are countless incredible fantasy worlds across children’s literature, if I had to pick one to live in myself, I think I’d have to go with The Impassable Wilderness, aka “The Wood.” As a nature lover, the idea of living among the trees and lush greenery of a Pacific Northwest forest sounds like a dream come true. I also would love living in a world with less technology. I’ll admit that phones and computers can make life a lot easier, but they also eat up our time and cause stress. I think I’d prefer writing letters and reading books in a tree house library. Plus, who wouldn’t want to talk to woodland creatures?
PRR Writer, Emily Pimental
I was first introduced to The Phantom Tollbooth when my 5th grade teacher read it aloud to our class. As she read, I could so vividly imagine the main character Milo journeying into the “Lands Beyond.” Everything about the Lands Beyond is so clever and creative. The locations in the Lands Beyond riff on and incorporate concepts from the English language. For example, Milo visits “The Doldrums,” where the Lethargarians live in colorless boredom (a great visual to explain the saying “down in the doldrums”). Milo also goes to “Digitopolis,” a place ruled by the Mathemagician. My personal favorite place in the Lands Beyond was “Dictionopolis.” Dictionopolis valued one thing above all else: words. Words influence everything in Dictionopolis—and characters literally eat their words! I’ve never desired to know how words taste more than I did reading The Phantom Tollbooth. For me, the Lands Beyond will always be a perfectly nerdy and equally imaginative fictional world.
PRR Assistant Director, Erika Brittain
The effort that goes into fully fleshing out each character, element, creature, and relationship throughout this series is done with incredible precision. I love the way the creators play on the tangible versus the spiritual throughout its duration as well. The origins of the different elemental bending techniques derive from sources rooted deeply within our and their own world’s realities creating a wholly believable, cohesive, and immersive atmosphere. All in all, I think it provides a perfect setting for commentary on the politics of humanity, our connection with the planet, and thus, our deepest roots of being.
PRR Writer, Megan Milton