YA Novels Today

If you're like me, you read a lot of dystopian novels. Probably too many. Alien invaders, plagues, corrupted governments, rebels--they seem to dominate the YA market. And of course, we can't forget the vampires, werewolves, and love triangles of YA fantasy. There sure seems to be a lot of that. But why?

Let's start with dystopia.

I think dystopia is a way of taking today's problems and thinking about how they might affect the future. Sure, I don't think we'll end up throwing a bunch of teenagers into a deadly arena and telling them to kill each other while everyone else sits at home and watches, but it seems just possible enough that it scares us. And many of us like to be scared. It's what pulls us into a novel. The feeling of "What if they all die? Oh, no--what if that happened to me? What would I do?" keeps us reading. Those are the kinds of dystopian novels that I like. I don't like it when dystopian novels--or really, novels in general--have unrealistic and unbelievable aspects. For example, Legend by Marie Lu. Overall, I enjoyed the novel. But there was something about the world that bothered me. When it was explained that the Earth had warmed up and the ice caps melted so that about half of the United States was submerged, I was confused. Why did the Earth warm up? And why did it cool back down again? I wanted the full explanation, but it wasn't there. Maybe that's just me being a picky science geek, but that's what bothered me about it.

Moving on to YA fantasy.

I love fantasy. I grew up on it, and it's my favorite genre to read and write. But once I grew out of middle grade fantasy and into YA fantasy, I was somewhat disappointed. I wanted a story with magic, an original plot, likeable characters, and maybe a touch of romance. Instead, I got bombarded with vampires, werewolves, and more romance than I had bargained for. And I haven't even read Twilight.
To be honest, it isn't always the vampires and werewolves that bother me. What really bothers me are the love triangles.
I don't like love triangles. They're annoying, and many times they get in the way of more important things in the plot. And many times they make me take sides. There's the first guy, introduced early in the novel or series, and I usually end up getting attached to him. Then the second guy comes around, usually with stunning good looks and a dashingly flirty personality. He's normally the guy who annoys me. I just want him to leave, so that the main character can get around to the bigger, more important things.
Then there are the love triangles that tear me in half. The ones in The Infernal Devices and The Frost Chronicles did this. I liked both the guys, and I wanted both of them to be happy. But of course, the main character could only choose one. These are the better love triangles, because you actually care what happens.

(Some of) My Favorite Books

One afternoon seven years ago, I sat on my bed holding a book. A novel, to be exact. It was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. I sighed, wishing that, like my mom and older brother, I could read it. I opened the book, expecting the words to be a semi-incomprehensible jumble, as usual. But they weren't. To my amazement, I discovered I could read.
I was seven years old, and there was no going back. From that day forward, I was never far from a book or two. Or three. Or over a hundred, living in our house.
Here are some of my favorite books (of which there are too many to list in one blog post), listed in no particular order:

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
Shannon Hale is undeniably one of my favorite authors. I've loved fairy tales for as long as I can remember, and I love it when I find a retelling that is as good or better than the original. Actually, my mom found this one. So thanks, Mom.
The Goose Girl is a retelling of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale called, well, The Goose Girl. It's about a princess, called Ani, who is sent away from her homeland of Kildenree because she has a strange gift. She can talk to birds and her horse, Falada. Her mother is afraid of her gift, and sends Ani to a neighboring country to be married off to the prince of that country. But on the journey there, Ani is betrayed. Stripped of her identity and everything she has, Ani has to prove that she is the true princess of Kildenree.
I devoured this book in a day. Trust me, it's awesome.

Pretty Much Anything by Rick Riordan
No, that isn't the title of a book. I mean literally pretty much anything by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, Heroes of Olympus...I love them all. If you haven't read them, then what could you possibly be waiting for?

The Inkheart Series, by Cornelia Funke
I love Cornelia Funke. I love her writing style, her worlds, her characters. Inkheart just barely beats Reckless in my list of favorite books. It's about a girl named Meggie and her father, Mo, who discover the world of books in a completely different way. There are worlds inside books, worlds with dragons and magic and buried treasure. When Mo, called the 'Silvertongue', reads a book aloud, he can make characters come out of it. Unfortunately, someone must go into the book for each person who comes out. In the case of a book named Inkheart, it's Mo's wife, Meggie's mother.
I've read this book at least three times and enjoyed it more every time.

The Leviathan Series, by Scott Westerfeld
Yay, steampunk! That's what I thought the first time I saw these books, and it's what I thought while reading them. My brother recommended them to me, and I am forever grateful to him for it.
Leviathan takes place during an alternate World War I, when Alek, the prince of Austria, and Deryn, a British girl disguised as a boy working on an airship that happens to be giant flying whale, cross paths in a, as Deryn would say, most peculiar way. Though on opposite sides, Alek and Deryn have to work together to stop the war from destroying everything they know.
In this case, World War I + whale-airships + undercover royalty = possibly one of the best steampunk books ever.

That's all for now, folks! I hope you enjoyed it.