Good Guy Garlan Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 That's right, I'm looking for that most rare of creatures, a really good YA (fantasy/sci fi) novel, a true white whale of a book (kidding, I respect YA as much as any other genre). So far these are the YA books I've read and enjoyed for different reasons: 1) Harry Potter series (let's get that out of the way first) 2) The Book Thief by Markus Suzak (for what is worth one of the most beautifully written books I've read in recent years) 3) Un Lun Dun by China Mieville (Mieville Lite, to be sure, but head and shoulders above 90% of the genre. I also have Railsea somewhere in my shelf waiting to be read) 4) The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman (it's not perfect by any means, but you won't find more flawed or realistic characters in YA (that I know of)) 5) Red Rising series by Pierce Brown (not the best written series, but engaging enough space opera) 6) The Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve (Municipal Darwinism, still awesome) Also: The Hunger Games, Ender's Game, The Giver, The Hobbit, about half of all things Narnia...and I think that's it, that's my YA baggage. Any recs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Surely the Magicians isn't YA by any definition of the term? Anyway, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman doesn't appear to be on your list. Fix that, stat. The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett. They're a subset of Discworld and a sorta-continuation of the Witches series therein, so it might be advisable to read at least one book in which Granny Weatherwax previously appears if you haven't already, but it's not that necessary. Monster Blood Tattoo by DM Cornish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Selig Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 The Earthsea books are supposedly YA, so they have to be mentioned. The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger is really fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 I used to love William Nicholson's Wind on Fire trilogy. The first book is The Wind Singer. It has a mysterious magical system, enough adventures, and really interesting character relationships, as far as I can remember. 24 minutes ago, Leap said: I enjoyed Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books, although I haven't read all of them (three, maybe) If you're looking for more atmospheric books of questionable quality, Darren Shan's Demonata series, Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, and Michael Grant's Gone series are all things. Artemis sadly gets progressively worse in the later books, so this was probably the right decision (or maybe I just grew out of that series). I read Michelle Paver's books too, but I did not find them all that good. Though if we are going into recommendations of "questionable quality", maybe Mary Hoffmann's Stravaganza are worth a mention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 The Bone World Trilogy by Peadar Ó Guilín Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Its place in the YA Pantheon has been greatly debated, but technically Abercrombie's Shatter Sea Trilogy is marketed as YA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheep the Evicted Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 You've already read my favourites Enders Game and the Hobbit. Then its The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time by Mark Haddon if that counts as YA. I also really enjoyed the first few books of the Artemis Fowl series but my favourite YA series is the Bartimaeus Trillogy by Jonathan Stroud. You also can't really go wrong with any YA that Neil Gaiman has written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 +10 to Earthsea (although it's about 20 years that I read it and only in translation, but it has a fairly unique setting and atmosphere) +1 to the first 3 (or 4, not sure how many I read) Artemis Fowl which are quite entertaining even for adults. I am not quite sure what "Young adults" is supposed to mean. For me (as an old geezer in his 40s) a young adult is someone between 18 and 25 but this is probably not meant, so I guess it's kids between 13 and 16 or what? (Sorry, they are not adults, except maybe in a very narrow biological sense of being technically fertile.) Susan Cooper: The dark is rising. This seems a classic and while I only read two (I think) a long time ago as a kid, I found them quite good and atmospheric. Probably more for 12 year olds, though (but so is Narnia) Ende: Neverending Story Quite a bit of Discworld would also be appropriate for teenagers, at least in my recollection it is free of explicit (sex or gore) scenes (and the cruelty is tempered with humor). Teenagers would probably miss a bit of the fun, though because they would not get all the references, homages and parodistic elements, but this depends of course mainly on how well read they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckwheat Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 11 minutes ago, Sheep the Evicted said: Then its The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night Time by Mark Haddon if that counts as YA. This is way below the level of what is usually talked of as "YA" (though, as Jo here, I agree that the definition is not all that clear). I read it when I was about 13 or even younger, and did not miss anything from it. When we had to read it in English for our end of high school exam (at 17/18), I considered it way too easy both in contents and as far as the language goes for my and my classmates's ages (and levels of English knowledge, with English being a foreign language for us). I consider it a children's book, like Narnia. If Jo is already mentioning The Neverending Story (which I wholly agree with and will always recommend to anybody ever, though it can also be considered a children's book), then surely I am allowed to add any and every novel by Walter Moers? Starting with 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 *puts on annoying nerd fact hat* Actually, Shattered Sea was never marketed or sold as YA, although it was originally supposed to be. I'm not sure what is and isn't YA anymore, or who gets to decide. Is their a secret YA council that meets on a moon base? For example, I keep seeing Novik's Uprooted on YA lists and mentioned as YA and just..no. I can only assume it's judged by its cover. I will also by the villain here and say AVOID His Dark Materials. I hate it with the passions of a thousand thousand burning suns. My problem is I kind of skipped YA growing up and went straight to the adult book section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 I second the Tiffany Aching rec. I enjoyed all of them (although I still need to read the Shepherd's Crown) and they can easily be read without any wider experience of Discworld. As someone else mentioned, Abercrombie's Shattered Sea was marketed as Young Adult, though its status is...debatable I guess. V E Schwab's "A Darker Shade of Magic" was enjoyable and I think it may be YA though I am not to sure. It's the first in a series, with the sequel coming out next month I think. Another one I don't personally consider YA but is sometimes labelled as such is Uprooted, Naomi Novik's dark fairy tale-esque novel. It also proved pretty popular around here last year Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series is supposed to be quite good but I'm afraid I can't say I have read it. Her "A Court of Thorns and Roses" had some interesting ideas and a strong ending, though I wasn't interested enough to read a follow up. And I may lose what little credibility I have gained on the forum for suggesting this, but as far as generic coming of age stories go, David Eddings is alright too. I've read The Belgariad and the Malloreon by him, which admittedly are just rehashes of each other (one bit of dialogue pretty much acknowledges this even) and while they have their issues they aren't too bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 19 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said: *puts on annoying nerd fact hat* Actually, Shattered Sea was never marketed or sold as YA, although it was originally supposed to be. I'm not sure what is and isn't YA anymore, or who gets to decide. Is their a secret YA council that meets on a moon base? For example, I keep seeing Novik's Uprooted on YA lists and mentioned as YA and just..no. I can only assume it's judged by its cover. I will also by the villain here and say AVOID His Dark Materials. I hate it with the passions of a thousand thousand burning suns. My problem is I kind of skipped YA growing up and went straight to the adult book section. That's why I said that the position in the YA Pantheon had been debated. I don't know that I'd call it YA, but I know that's what Joe originally intended with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater (last book of the four-book series will be out in March) Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (only the first book is out) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said: The Bone World Trilogy by Peadar Ó Guilín Thanks, REG! For me, I'd recommend Sabriel by Garth Nix. And I'll second with enthusiasm Monster Blood Tattoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 But Shattered Sea wasn't marketed as YA... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 3 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said: But Shattered Sea wasn't marketed as YA... It was in the UK. I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedles Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Damn it X-ray, that was going to be my ace in the hole! 47 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said: The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater (last book of the four-book series will be out in March) The Bone World trilogy by our own Peadar. i quite enjoyed "court of fives" by Kate Elliot. The world building doesn't hold up to questioning but it's a fun read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 9 minutes ago, polishgenius said: It was in the UK. I think... Oh right, you silly brits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Nah, it's just that our children are mentally stronger than yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 oh I'd believe that. the uprooted as YA thing still bugs me. Hard to really get into it without spoiling Vaguely but Spoiler It has some naughty bits plus some gruesome violence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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