The right setting can make a story unforgettable. It can inspire readers to pick up a previously read book just to thumb through familiar pages and picture a city in their mind's eye.
There have been many great cities in both books and movies. Some made you want to run away screaming, while others made you wish you could pack your bags and move there.
So tell me, what’s your favorite fictional city?
Me, I would have to go for the Gotham City from either Nolan's or Burton's Batman movies (but only the first Nolan movie, Batman Begins). I would not want to live in that city or even visit, but the texture of the city - the dank, decayed weariness - is captivating.
What about you?
P.S. Hat tip to Nathan Bransford for asking a similar question last year (he also gets credit for the format of the title).
I would have to say London Below, which is the very non-real version of an alternate London that Neil Gaiman invented for NEVERWHERE.
Lankhmar.
Haven in Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series
Off the top of my head, the New York in Caves of Steel. It’s not a good place, but does an amazing job of capturing the essence of Communist industrial architecture and life. Doubly so for someone who lived far to the other side of the Iron Curtain. Truly memorable.
On second thought, China Mieville’s titular _Un Lun Dun_ isn’t so bad either. There’s something about the idea of lost, forgotten bits of our lives getting a second chance in a place that’s not quite besides our own world. Much more compelling than the same author’s oh-so-praised Bas-Lag.
Trantor
Gondolin. I’m old school.
That’s easy… Ankh-Morpork
Greater Helium. I’m pulp school.
Thaiburley, from Ian Whates’ City of Dreams and Nightmare. So much vertigo.
Macondo.
(Of course).