Sunday, April 26, 2015

SFF: The 5 Book Maps That Could Be/Are Works of Art

The Sunday Fun Five #26

Sunday Fun 5:
#19: The 5 Books To Kickstart Your Reading Journey
#20: The 5 Character Couples that are Matches Made in Heaven
#21: The 5 Unconventional Romances that Somehow Worked for You
#22: The 5 Books That Remind You of Spring
#23: The 5 Irish Authors Whose Works You Want to Read More Of
#24: The 5 Books With Endings that Made You Mad
#25: The 5 Sunday Fun Fives I Had the Most Fun With
#26: The 5 Book Maps That Could Be/Are Works of Art
For the 10th of May: #27: The 5 Books You've Been Meaning to Review But Haven't Yet
Feel free to participate by commenting below or writing a blog post: I wrote up some guidelines for blog participation here.

A Countdown of

The 5 Book Maps That Could Be/Are Works of Art


From Entropy
5. A Map of Middle Earth from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is the classic fantasy map: many (or most) fantasy maps try to emulate this one. As a classic piece of map-art, it's great, but some maps are a bit more functional/user-eye-friendly than this one.

From Entropy
4. A Map of Florin and Guilder from The Princess Bride by William Goldman
More decorative than functional, this map of Florin and Guilder captures the spirit of the book in brilliant turquoise color. Still, it was this map that made me want to finally pick up the book again- I think I may have read it before, but my book memories are somewhat murky on whether I have or not.

From Geek
3. A Map of Westeros and Essos from the A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
The original map that came with the books isn't that lovely- but with a little help from rabid fans (and/or the HBO series), we now have realistic maps of Westeros to aid you in your A Song of Ice and Fire travels. The one I've linked to even has an interactive version you can play with.

From The Stormlight Archive Wikia
2. A Map of Roshar from The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
I like this map mainly because it shows you how huge the world of Roshar is, and what little we've seen of parts of it (as of the second book in a ten tome series). Nothing makes me more excited to read the third book in the series than this map, except maybe that the series kept getting better for me as I read more.

From Harry Potter Wikia
1. The Marauder's Map from the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
This map gets an A+ in functionality: not only is it pretty to look at- it also shows you where someone is. For that reason, the Marauder's Map takes the cake as far as bookish maps go, as long as you solemnly swear you are up to no good, that is.

A Notable Exclusion:
From David Anthony Durham's Website
A (Complete) Map of the Known World from the Acacia series by David Anthony Durham
This is another of my favorites, but mainly because when you begin the series, much like A Song of Ice and Fire, you are confined to one area. And the area in play broadens with each book until the third, when you get this huge map. Not many series have as much depth in their maps as this one does.

What's your favorite literary map? Do you use the maps that come with books, or do you just power through without referencing it?

4 comments:

  1. I love referencing the maps especially if the storyline includes a lot of country/area names and such. It helps me picture the journey - especially in Lord of the Rings! I went back to that map quite a few times! I also really love the Marauder's Map in Harry Potter.

    Laura @BlueEyeBooks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Marauder's Map was one of my favorite magical objects in the Harry Potter series- and that's saying a lot because there is every variety of magical object you can imagine in that series. I also use the maps when reading, especially when a book tops 500 pages- that's a long journey.
      Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Laura!
      ~Litha Nelle

      Delete
  2. I love maps in books! Even if they are relatively small.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do too! I get aggravated if I get a review copy for an epic fantasy (or journey-taking book) and it doesn't have a map. Like how am I to know when they're headed straight for a cliff or Mount Doom otherwise? ;)
      ~Litha Nelle

      Delete

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