Imma be honest—because of the amount of dystopian fiction I read, it would have been way easier to write about worlds that I absolutely do NOT want to live in. Those worlds just fall trippingly off the tongue—Panem. The Earth of the Last Policeman. The Wool silo. Wayward Pines, ID. Prentisstown. Divergent’s version of Chicago. The Astrophage-rich Earth of Project: Hail Mary.
The other side is way harder. Where do I want to live? I mean, obv Hogwarts. But everyone wants to live at Hogwarts (Hufflepuff represent! Go Badgers!) so I was hoping to come up with some options that wouldn’t involve running into everyone I know at the Gringott’s Starbucks.
Oh, come on! You KNOW there’s a Starbucks there.
Anyway, leaving Hogwarts off the list, and after much introspection, here are three other places that I would live in a cocaine heartbeat.
Three: Amber
From the moment that I read Nine Princes in Amber, I’ve wanted to walk in Shadow. I’ve wanted my own set of Trumps. I want to walk The Pattern. I want to see Rebma. I know, it’s really quite treacherous, but I don’t care. Want.
Two: Isla Nublar
I know. I know. Breeding dinosaurs is never a good idea. You think that you can control it, but life, uh…finds a way. However, I want to boop a brachiosaurus’s nose almost more than I want to breathe. And also a T-Rex’s nose, but I am given to understand that they do NOT like nose boops. I think they’d like one from me, though.
Honorable Mentions: Hogwarts (see above re: duh), the Lois McKendrick, Stariel.
One: Nekros City
The setting of Kalayna Price’s light fantasy series does have its danger, and political machinations abound. But there are actual pockets of Faerie in Georgia! You can get to the Winter Court via the back door of a restaurant! And the Amaranthine tree! I want to see it, even if it bewitches me!
My gaze landed on an ancient tree growing through the floorboards in the center of the room. There isn’t a tree growing out of the bar from the outside. I looked up. Branches created a false roof to the room, starting twenty feet above my head. And between the branches, I caught the glimmer of stars.“That can’t be real,” I whispered, staring...“I imagine that is where the bar got its name,” Ashen said, nodding at the giant tree. “Amaranthine. How lovely.” I looked at the large flowers far above our heads. They glowed softly, swaying in a breeze I couldn’t feel. As I stared I thought I caught an exotic scent perfuming the air. I inhaled. Definitely flowers. It was a sweet scent that filled my mind with moonlight and laughter.“I wouldn’t stare at the flowers,” an old woman whispered as she walked by our table. I ripped my gaze away, and the scent faded.
What book setting would you like to live in? I’ll take your filled-out change of address forms in the comments.
fifty-two 
If not a Starbucks most definitely a Dunkin’ Donuts. I’d be a fan of the world of Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series.
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