Ten books I’d combine to make an even better one!

Hi folks, I’m linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl this week for Top Ten Tuesday! This week’s topic is ‘books you’d mash together (pick two books you think would make an epic story if combined)’.

 

1. The Raven Boys X One of Us is Lying

 

Can’t you just see it? Blue, Gansey and the gang involved in a totally non-supernatural murder and a bunch of normal high school drama? I see Gansey as Bronwyn, Blue as Addy (at the end rather than the beginning), Ronan as Nate, Adam as Cooper and Noah as Simon (of course!). In fact, now I think about it the similarities between these two groups of characters are huge! It would be even more fun to combine the two groups and see how the dynamics changed.

2. Six of Crows X Throne of Glass

 

I reckon Kaz could give Celaena/Aelin a run for her money in the mad scheme area. Somehow their plans always seem to come together in the end, even if things go horribly wrong somewhere in the middle. They also both have a band of misfits and outcasts for friends, with a variety of talents and abilities, who are loyal to the death. I think they’d start out as enemies and wind up friends (with a bit of healthy rivalry thrown in).

3. Red Rising X Cinder

 

Something about these two just fits together for me, like they could be going on concurrently in the same universe – Cinder is what’s remaining of Earth, and Red Rising is just one of many new colonies across the galaxy. The sci-fi elements feel like pieces of a jigsaw that would fit neatly together, and I think Cinder and Darrow are a match made in heaven.

4. Stalking Jack the Ripper X The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

 

Wouldn’t Audrey Rose and Felicity just be the best of friends? They could go on adventures together, share tips on medical procedures, and generally show the boys how it’s done. I love single-minded and bold female characters, and these two are even better as they’re so ahead of their time and incongruous to the historical setting, yet so believably written. Thomas and Monty would probably be firm friends too, they share the same cheeky sense of humour.

5. The Bone Season X Clockwork Angel: The Infernal Devices

 

Both of these novels give me a strong steampunk vibe, despite the fact they’re set around 200 years apart. I can imagine Will, Jem and Tessa living in the same world as Paige and Warden, just a couple of centuries earlier, can’t you?

6. Strange the Dreamer X The Sin Eater’s Daughter

 

Strange the Dreamer and The Sin Eater’s Daughter are both full of gorgeous imagery, strange new mythologies and selfless, heroic characters – and they’re two of my absolute favourite books/series in the world! The gods and magical goings-on in Taylor’s novel would absolute fit with the world of fairytales-come-to-life created by Salisbury. In fact, I might need these two to collaborate on something now…

7. Flawed X Delirium

 

In Oliver’s beautifully written trilogy, love is forbidden and everyone undergoes a lobotomy (delightfully named ‘the Cure’) at age 18 to prevent them from developing feelings. In Ahern’s YA debut, Flawed, moral and ethical mistakes have been outlawed and those who commit errors of judgement are labelled ‘Flawed’ and branded with an F on the related part of their body, whether that’s their head, chest, hand or even tongue. I can totally see these two regimes coinciding, and as dystopians go they’re two of the most credible I’ve read. Scary.

8. The Hunger Games X The Maze Runner

 

The similarities between Panem and WICKED are massive – both think it’s totally cool to send a group of kids into a man-made arena with engineered monsters, and a strong possibility they’ll all die. The main difference is that one is doing it because of a (man-made) virus that broke out and almost wiped out humankind, and the other because war broke out and almost wiped out humankind…(how is killing more people the answer?? Who knows.) I definitely think The Maze Runner could learn a thing or two from The Hunger Games, particularly in the fashion stakes.

9. Fallen X Hush, Hush

 

Ah, two of my favourite teenage reads. Actually I was probably in my early twenties, but same thing. Aside from the similarly beautiful covers, both stories centre around a girl who falls in love with a fallen angel, who are both your typical brooding YA males, with a divine twist. I loved the strong family and best friend bonds Nora has in Hush, Hush, but I am a sucker for a boarding school setting, so a combination of these two books would be the ultimate angel story for me.

10. Nevernight X Prince of Thorns

 

I can’t think of two more stabby and sassy characters than Mia Corvere and Jorg Ancrath. Both went through a terrible, bloody and traumatising experience as young children, forcing them to become the badass assassins they are today. Mia’s story is set in a fantasy world resembling ancient Rome, complete with gladiators, whereas Jorg’s setting is suggested to be the future of our planet, centuries after some event, the likes of that which killed off the dinosaurs, has destroyed everything we currently know and returned civilisation to the Dark Ages. They’re both incredibly detailed and well-drawn settings, providing the perfect stage for our murderous little friends to perform on. I wonder what Mr Kindly would make of Jorg?

There you have it, ten pairs of books that would combine to make an epic tome of the absolute best kind! Which two books would you create a mash up of if you could?

 

Lyndsey

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