My passport is empty. My reading tracker says I have been everywhere.
This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday, the weekly bookish linkup hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl at thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday where book bloggers everywhere answer the same prompt each week. This week's prompt is bookish places we have visited, and I am taking the spin the prompt generously allows, because my honest travel history is a database, a couch, and a candle that smells like a forest I have also never been to.
So here are the ten fictional places I have visited most, the ones I could navigate without a map. Judged on time spent there, willingness to return, and whether I would survive a full week as a resident. Spoiler on that last one: mostly no. Every location comes from a book on our shelves, so consider this a travel guide where every destination is one library card away.
Velaris, from A Court of Mist and Fury. The City of Starlight is the fandom's collective happy place and mine too. Rooftop dinners, an art quarter, a bakery-to-bookshop ratio that suggests excellent urban planning. With the Valkyrie Cycle arriving in October, I am bracing for property damage.
Basgiath War College, from Fourth Wing. Awful place. Deadly curriculum, hostile weather, dragons that eat underperformers. I have spent more hours here than at any fictional location in the last three years and I regret nothing except the parapet. Would not survive a week. Would not survive a Tuesday.
Elfhame, from The Cruel Prince. The food is a trap, the wine is a trap, the boys are a trap. Elfhame is what happens when a travel destination is also a hostage situation, and the Folk of the Air series makes it impossible to stop visiting anyway.
Lunathion, from House of Earth and Blood. Crescent City is the rare fantasy metropolis with functioning nightlife, angel landlords, and a drug problem, which makes it the most realistic city on this list. The Crescent City books are the only urban fantasy that makes me miss a commute.
Ketterdam, from Six of Crows. Cold, corrupt, smells like canal water and bad decisions. I love it dearly. You visit Ketterdam for the same reason you reread heist scenes: to watch competent people do crimes beautifully.
Feyre is broken and traumatized from her time in the Spring Court. Dragged into the Night Court by a creature of terrifying power and beauty, she finds herself on the edge of a dark abyss. In a world of privilege and beauty, cruelty and nightmares, she must learn to trust in order to survive.
Violet Sorrengail was meant to become a scribe until her commanding general mother orders her to enter the dragon rider academy. She must survive deadly competition and paranormal creatures while uncovering dangerous secrets. As her world expands, so does her capacity for power and love.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. She'll have to outwit the cruel prince who rules there.
A paranormal investigator and a warrior hunt a killer in a world where fae, vampires, and humans collide in uneasy peace. They uncover a conspiracy that reaches into the highest powers of their world. Their investigation becomes personal as they discover how deep the corruption runs.
Kaz Brekker and his crew of dangerous outcasts are offered a heist that could make them all rich, if they survive it. In a city full of enemies and a fortress that's never been breached, success seems impossible. But Kaz's crew never plays by the rules.
The Scholomance, from A Deadly Education. A magic school with no teachers, no windows, and a graduation ceremony that doubles as a casualty report. Fascinating to visit, insane to attend. The Scholomance trilogy is dark academia with the safety rails removed.
Midscape, from A Deal with the Elf King. The land beyond the Fade runs on seasons, sacrifice and marriage politics, and every Married to Magic standalone opens a different wing of it. The rare fantasy world where you can complete a visit in one book and leave happy.
Caraval. Technically a game, technically an island, entirely a scam you consent to. Stephanie Garber's carnival is the best theme park in fiction because the fine print is the plot.
Otherworld, from Poison and Honey. A dark, decadent fae palace where the servants are spies and the prince is a problem. This one is here for a reason: Kristen Brand submitted her book through our submissions page, and it turned into one of my favorite visits of the year. The pipeline works, authors.
And the newest stamp: the floating Isles of Dreadmark, from Savage Monsters. Chained islands in the sky, a lunar goddess, wyverns rising from the dark below. I have been there for two weeks now, courtesy of another author submission, and the descent is not finished.
That is the itinerary. Ten places, zero flights, one increasingly judgmental couch cushion. If you came from the linkup, welcome, the whole site is a map of places like these, sorted by trope and spice level. Tell me your fictional hometown in the comments, and if you cannot pick one, the book quiz will assign you a destination in about a minute. I read every comment, usually from Velaris.
El Higgins attends the Scholomance, a school for wizards with no teachers and a graduation ceremony that kills most students. She has the power to level cities but is trying very hard not to. Novik writes a magic school that is actually terrifying, not whimsical. The slow-burn friendship-to-romance with Orion Lake is chef's kiss, and the worldbuilding gets better with every book.
A human woman makes a dangerous bargain with an elf king, exchanging her freedom for the safety of her people. Trapped in his kingdom, she discovers the man behind the crown is far more complex than she expected. Their connection could save both worlds or destroy them.
Scarlett dreams of leaving her oppressive home for the legendary Caraval, a magical competition where anything can happen. When she finally enters, she discovers that the stakes are far higher than winning a prize, and her sister Tella may have been kidnapped as part of the game itself. The world blurs between reality and illusion as Scarlett uncovers dark secrets about her family and finds herself caught between two mysterious men.
Leigh Morgan's mission is simple: pose as a servant in the dark, decadent palace of Otherworld, gather intelligence, and destroy the fae monsters who stole her sister. She's not here to be seduced by silken lies and dangerous magic. But when she catches the eye of a cunning fae prince, everything changes.
Luna is worshipped as a lunar goddess on a floating isle, which makes her the prize in a succession race between three heirs she'd rather not marry. Then wyverns twisted by shadow start dropping death from the skies, and finding out who is making them matters more than any throne. Multi-POV dark romantasy with arranged bonding, why choose romance and a runic alchemy system.
Our spice guide explains exactly what each heat level means.
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Published August 2026 by The Fae Shelf editorial team. Updated regularly with new releases and community feedback.