Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set In Another Time

Welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! This week’s topic is Books Set in Another Time. These can be historical, futuristic, alternate universes, or even in a world where you’re not sure when it takes place you just know it’s not right now. I thought this topic would be a tough one, but I managed to find 10 books fitting this prompt. So, buckle up and let’s do some time travelling!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

  1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Although I didn’t really enjoy the book due to the amount of physics it definitely is set in another world. It’s set on a spaceship, and I hardly understood what was going on because of the science used. However, this book came to mind immediately when I saw this week’s prompt.
  2. Caraval by Stephanie Garber – This series takes place in some kind of circus and the world keeps changing because of magical elements. Definitely not a world as we know it.
  3. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – This is yet another futuristic world which definitely differs from our world.
  4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – What would this post be without a good old dystopian?
  5. The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau – Okay let’s add another dystopian into the mix.
  6. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – let’s go back in time, back to London in the 1800s to be exact. I was a bit torn between adding the “The Infernal Devices” or “The Last Hours” series by this author, because they are both set in a historical London.
  7. A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson – This book is set in both 1923 and in an alternate universe.
  8. The Novice by Taran Matharu – This “Summoner” series feels like it’s set in medieval times, combined with a bit of Pokémon due to the creatures.
  9. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco – I tried and DNF’ed this book twice myself, but this one is also set in historical London.
  10. Cinder by Marissa Meyer – I didn’t want to include this series at first because I’ve talked about this a lot in the past, but I just couldn’t stop myself. This first book in the series published in 2012, and the world Meyer created was very futuristic at the time. Nowadays many elements in this series seem to quickly become reality nevertheless.

If you have any, what’s your favourite time travelling trope?


Comments

34 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set In Another Time”

  1. My favorite time traveling trope is the one created by Jodi Taylor in her series The Chronicles of St Mary’s

    Wherein the historians there do not time travel, but are “investigating major historical events in contemporary time”.

    I’ve read a lot of time travel, from A Wrinkle in Time to Slaughterhouse Five to Outlander.

    My favorite time Travel story remains the fairly short novel Thrice Upon a Time by James P. Hogan. I must have read it 20 times and it never gets old. https://www.amazon.com/Thrice-Upon-Time-James-Hogan/dp/0345275187

    1. Il ove Jodi Taylor’s books as well!

  2. I’ve only read The Hunger Games from your list. Here’s mine: https://damppebbles.com/2025/02/25/toptentuesday-25th-february-2025/

  3. I tried reading The Iron Widow, but it was a DNF for me. I struggled to connect with the story.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-historical-fiction-reads-from-2024/

    1. Maybe the audiobook works for you?

  4. There are several on this list—Cinder, Caraval, Clockwork Angel—I’ve always thought about reading.

  5. Iron Widow sounds good.

  6. I’ve only read finder from your list , I really enjoyed it

  7. Fab list! I love Jodi Taylor’s books too, espeically The Chronicles of St Mary’s and The Time Police series!

  8. Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog Avatar
    Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog

    I haven’t read any of these – not even The Hunger Games! It’s so interesting to see the variety on everyone’s lists.

  9. I haven’t read any of these yet, but they sound very interesting. Happy Tuesday!

  10. Clockwork Angel was such a good book. I loved that series. Great post!

  11. Fab list! Loved The Infernal Devices!

  12. I have not read any of these. Not sure why I never tried The Hunger Games.

  13. Stalking Jack the Ripper was a DNF for me, too.

    Thank you for visiting Long and Short Review’s post earlier!

  14. Poinsettia Avatar

    I really enjoyed The Hunger Games and Cinder. I read Stalking Jack the Ripper, but couldn’t get through the second book in the series. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

  15. I’ve read 4 from your list – great list!

  16. I haven’t read any of these, but they do look intriguing.

  17. I really enjoyed Caraval and its two sequels! Definitely a different place and time.

    (My TTT list focused on historical fiction this week.)

  18. I’m glad you included Project Hail Mary. I loved the book so much. I listened to the audiobook. I wonder if that was the difference.

    1. I read it in my native language, because no way would I understand this one in English!

  19. The Hunger Games is one of my all-time favorites. I’m going to reread all of them this year.

  20. I really liked The Summoner – one of these days I’ll have to continue the series.

  21. I didn’t think I would like PROJECT HAIL MARY because I’m not a science or math kind of person, but I actually really liked it. My eyes did glaze over when it got too technical and math-y. Overall, though, I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. I definitely get why you didn’t, though.

    Happy TTT!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  22. I have had the Clockwork series by Cassandra Clare on my shelf forever. I really want to read them but can’t seem to bring myself to do it. I loved TMI and I guess I am afraid I will be disappointed with out all of those characters in these stories

    1. If you read TMI, you already know Jem and Tessa and they are our main characters in this series 🙂

  23. So many good picks! I’ve been wanting to read A Language of Dragons since it came out this year but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Hopefully soon!

  24. Some great picks here. I have A Language of Dragons on my TBR, and would like to get to a Hunger Games re-read at some point (no idea when though!)

  25. Quite a different list from mine. But I have read The Hunger Games (with a book club) and Project Hail Mary is on my TBR pile. It was interesting to see all your choices.

    Thanks for visiting my post:
    https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2025/02/top-ten-tuesday-another-time.html

  26. I really want to read A Language of Dragons!! And I tried and failed reading Stalking Jack the Ripper as well.

  27. The Hunger Games and Cinder will always be favorites of mine too 🙂

  28. Great list, Laurie. I have read The Hunger Games and Cinder and really enjoyed them both. I have Project Hail Mary on my TBR shelf, but not sure when I will read them.

  29. Great list! I’ve read a few of these and have some of the others on my TBR.

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