Worldbuilding can make or break a book for me. If the setting is strong enough, I’m able to sink into the novel. I’m an escapist reader, so I want to be transported elsewhere. It’s the reason I read primarily paranormal and fantasy novels.

What’s even better is when the world crafted in the book takes on a life of its own—when the city where the characters live and work becomes a character in its own right, I’m straight-up in love.

The best settings are the ones that influence the life of the protagonist. They aren’t just the surroundings, but what shapes the book, the plot, the people. Here are a few of my favorites.

Downside
In Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series, Churchwitch Chess Putnam lives in the seedy Downside part of Triumph City. It’s the place with endless fires and air tinged by the slaughterhouse. This neighborhood is a maelstrom of filth, depravity and drugs. It mirrors, in many ways, how Chess sees herself. Drugs, sex and violence are all part of Downside, but there’s also this hope of getting by. Less people using facades to get through the day, because you are what you are in Downside.

Would we want to live in Downside? No, but how could a place like that not shape the people who live there?

[That's probably why they call it Downside...]

Climbing into a character’s mind is a big perk to being an avid reader, part of the escape we so often get as readers of romance and genre fiction.

Often in romance we get to flit from the hero’s to heroine’s point of view, and it’s nice. It’s engaging to understand where the hero is coming from when he’s being a complete dick to the heroine. We like knowing what she’s hiding when she refuses to see the obvious adoration the guy has for her.

But—oh, c’mon you knew it was coming—the more points of view in a novel, the more we can get pulled out of the story itself. Punting the reader between five or six characters can lead to distraction, whiplash and unending cliffhangers.

[How do you treat mental whiplash anyway?]

Even though I’ve currently declared a moratorium on paranormal reading, that does not mean I ignore the subgenre completely; I still buy plenty for my library patrons to read, and I follow many bloggers who are diehard paranormal fans. One thing that is typically always mentioned in reviews for paranormal books is the world-building. Was it good, bad, or indifferent? In some cases, the world-building can make or break a book for a reader—too much and the romance gets lost. Not enough and the reader is slogging through wallpaper. But what about world-building in other corners of romance?

Any story worth its salt—regardless of genre or subgenre—needs to have decent world-building. It’s what helps transport the reader into the story, as opposed to relegating us to the sidelines where we’re barely interested observers. I love getting lost in a book, sucked in to the point where I don’t want to come up for air. World-building does that for me.

[Take the first step...]

When we think of worldbuilding, we’re likely to think about fantasy or paranormal romance where a writer creates an entirely new world for their characters to inhabit. But worldbuilding isn’t just for fantasy; when an author writes a contemporary romance, she is building a world. A world that readers have never been to. We may all live in contemporary settings, in houses and apartments, and work in office buildings or whatever; but nobody has ever seen the world an author’s characters inhabit―because she’s making it up.

Authors know the importance of setting in fiction. Setting has even been described as “the main character” of the novel. It must be described in enough detail that the reader can experience it, but not so much detail that the reader gets bogged down in pages of description. Good worldbuilding also creates a setting that integrates with both the story and the characters.

[Welcome welcome welcome...]

Welcome to the world of the lupi series, created by Eileen Wilks. Death Magic, the eighth book in the series, releases next week. First, let’s introduce:

THE CHARACTERS

Age: 28
Height: 5’2-1/2”  (she insists that I mention that 1/2 inch)
Weight: 120
Eyes: very dark
Hair: black, thick, straight; usually gets long enough to brush her shoulders before she gets it trimmed
Race: Chinese ancestry
Description: Even features, well-balanced in an oval face; honey-and-cream skin
Favorite music: Eclectic. Current favorites include Yo-Yo Ma, anything from Tchaikovsky, some pop, some jazz.  Recent purchase: Not Too Late by Norah Jones.
Profession: Until recently she was a homicide cop, but last fall a special unit within MCD (Magical Crimes Division) of the FBI recruited her.
Education: Associate degree in law enforcement/criminal justice from the University of California; graduated first in class at San Diego Police Academy.
Magical Gift/Nature: A touch sensitive. Lily can feel magic tactilely, but it can’t affect her.
Habits: Likes order, hates clutter.  Practices judo regularly; second degree black belt. Runs for exercise.  She has a large, messy family and is owned by a huge orange cat she calls Dirty Harry.  Lily’s deepest need is to stop the monsters—human and otherwise—who prey on the vulnerable.

[Delve into the World of the Lupi...]

Sherrilyn Kenyon’s phenomenally popular Dark-Hunter series is actually four series combined into one: Dark-Hunters, Were-Hunters, Hellchasers, and Dream-Hunters.

First and foremost we have the Dark-Hunters, those luscious men and woman who gave up their souls to Artemis and vow to eternally protect humans in exchange for one act of vengeance against the beings whose actions caused their death. 

The Were-Hunters, a species considered to be an affront to the gods, was born out of the desperation of a king who wanted to save his queen’s life. He used his magic to mix the essence of his wife’s people with species of animals known for strength, courage, and longevity. Cursed by the Fates for interfering in their domain, his “children” are doomed never to know peace.

The Hellchasers were introduced late into the series, in Bad Moon Rising. Unbelievably powerful, they are the damned souls of shapeshifters, demons, and anyone else who happened to stumble down a path best left undisturbed. When something escapes from Hell, they are the ones sent to retrieve it or kill it. Led by the mysterious Thorn, no one is sure which side they are on.

[And last but not least...]

Got a fondness for giants, dwarves, elemental magic and badass heroines who are willing to kill to protect the people they love? If you do, you might already know about Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassins series, the fifth book of which, Spider’s Revenge, releases tomorrow.

The series features Gin Blanco, a.k.a. Genevieve Snow, a.k.a. The Spider. When Gin was thirteen, her mother and older sister were burned to death by a fire elemental who tortured Gin and branded Gin’s silverstone spider rune into the palms of her hands. Gin’s stone magic allowed her to survive as she literally brought the house down—and now she blames herself for killing her baby sister Bria in the collapse. She spent months living homeless on the streets before being taken in by Fletcher Lane, a.k.a. The Tin Man—one of the best assassins in the city of Ashland. He traines Gin to follow in his footsteps and acts as her handler.

While we wait for tomorrow—hurry up, tomorrow!—we’ve got details (i.e. SPOILERS) on the Elemental Assassin series thus far:

[The story so far...]

Best-selling author Elizabeth Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series are enchanting, historical romances with a heavy bite of darkness and intrigue. In the series, Hoyt layers bigger story arcs within her HEA romances.  

The series take place in Georgian England, but not just within the world of the glittering ton; she also places her books in seedier areas. We aren’t given larger then life beautiful characters, but everyday people with real problems. And not everyone is guaranteed a happy ending—her characters are given hard choices and often have to make even harder decisions. Decisions that may result in their happily ever after or may leave them lost and alone.

The romance between our heroes and heroines is delicious and quite risque. Hoyt does a fabulous job of imparting sensual love scenes without having to describe every single detail.

[Sometimes less is more...]

We’re edging ever closer to another dose of Cat and Bones goodness, compliments of the sixth novel in Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. The series does an excellent job of straddling the line between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Our heroine Cat is always out to catch the bad guy, regardless of physical injury, but our hero Bones makes his top priority keeping Cat safe and happy. Also, he’s got a hot accent and impressive bedroom skills.

If you aren’t up-to-date on the series, I’m here to give you a crash course in the high points of Night Huntress. There will be spoilers and lots of references to blood, and by the end you should be ready for One Grave at a Time.

[You heard the lady—spoilers ahead! And blood! And spoilers!...]

Nalini Singh’s Angels’ Blood is the first book in her Guild Hunter series and flings you headlong into its dark, lush world. This futuristic Urban Fantasy series brings to mind all the wicked, decadent thoughts you hide in the deepest part of your soul. Set in an alternative version of Earth, the series revolves around two main characters, Raphael (an archangel) and Elena Deveraux (a vampire hunter). The romance is more subdued than in Singh’s Psy-Changeling world, yet equally seductive.

The Guild Hunter series is a fast and furious urban fantasy whose dynamic characters breathe life into this complex and multi-layered world of angels, vampires, and humans. Multiple subplots are rich in subterfuge and adventure as we immerse ourselves into the lives of this amazing individuals.

In this series, we meet the true rulers of the world: angels. But these are not the benevolent, good-natured cherubs often displayed in books and paintings; religion does not play a part in their evolution. These are gorgeous, ruthless gods and goddess who rule with an absolute power not tempered by humanity or even goodwill. The world is broken into providences, with each one ruled by an archangel. There are 10 archangels in the world and together they make up the Cadre.

[It gets cooler...]

I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that I didn’t cotton on to Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series for the longest time, because the thing is, I’m not really a big one for werewolves. I like witches and the fae and other kinds of shapeshifter—and, of course, vampires—in my Urban Fantasy, but werewolves are way down there on my scale of paranormal goodness. (Well, except for Kitty Norville. And Oz from Buffy. And I am kind of digging MTVs Teen Wolf at the moment, in a cringey kind of way. But these are merely the exceptions that prove the rule.)

It was only with the third novel in this New York Times best-selling series, 2004’s Dime Store Magic, that I decided to give this series a proper looking over. Because… magic? There was magic now? But… hadn’t the first book in the series been called Bitten? Had the blurb not promised unrelenting wolfiness? And wasn’t the second book in the series, Stolen, also narrated by one Elena Michaels, reluctant werewolf?

[So...what hooked you?...]

Earlier this month the writer Lev Grossman wrote a piece for Time entitled How Harry Potter Became the Boy Who Lived Forever. Grossman, who in addition to his duties writing about technology at Time writes fantasy novels (The Magicians, to be followed by The Magician King in August, was a big success a couple of years ago), tackled the misunderstood world of Fan Fiction, which he describes as “what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker,” adding that it “is still the cultural equivalent of dark matter...largely invisible to the mainstream, but at the same time, it’s unbelievably massive.”

Having just finished the newest entrant in her Mageverse series, Master of Shadows, I’ve decided that Angela Knight’s turning the Arthurian legend on its 12th century ear is the commercial equivalent of Fan Fiction, down to, and especially including, the kink factor. Captain Kirk and Spock may not get it on in Knight’s Mageverse, but just about everybody else does.

[Sounds promising indeed!...]

Kate Daniels, from Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series, exists in a world that has gone through a magic apocalypse. Kate is an agent of the Order of Merciful Aid, a Mercenary Guild member, and a fearless kick-ass woman all around.

The world she lives in is one in which humans have pushed the technological progress too far; magic has returned with a vengeance, and the balance between Magic and Technologic is at best extremely volatile and can be best explained by the creators (Ilona and Andrew Gordon are the writing team behind Ilona Andrews) themselves:

“It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.”

It’s an unpredictable, screwed-up world, where unthinking zombie-like Vampires, a wide array of different types of shifters, such as werebears and werehyenas, and many other such supernatural players try to co-exist the best way possible without constantly being at each other’s throats.

[Sounds fun!...]

I came to reading romance after already being a longtime reader of science fiction/fantasy and mystery, which meant that my tastes in matters fantastical and suspenseful were already pretty well formed. So when Urban Fantasy came along, my particular favorites reflected—and still reflect—my love for serious worldbuilding.

Worldbuilding that works doesn’t have to dump facts about the world on every page; details are a big part of what I like, but what I care most about it is how the writer uses those details, along with plot and characters, to give me a richer reading experience, to make it feel as though the reader is in the world.

The worldbuilding of a novel has to have room for surprises. That's why I prefer most Urban Fantasy over most Paranormal Romance, simply because UF tends to offer longer, more complicated plots spread over several books. (I realized the PR I tend to like is often the same, with an overarching plot, even if there’s only one romantic couple per book). The benefit of these meta plots is that they both create and reward my reader’s curiosity. These books bring up questions about the world, then give me opportunities to answer those questions by poking my nose into all the interesting nooks and crannies. The best worldbuilding always goes deeper. Reading, you get the feeling there’s always more to be discovered.

[Explore further...]