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Upcoming Reviews 05/03/12
I’m a bit late with this list this week, but here it is for those of you who are curious:
Tuesday: Timeless by Alexandra Monir
Wednesday: Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz
Thursday: Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Friday: The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
Saturday: The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
Sunday: Gregor the Overlander and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
On Friday I’m going to post a special essay on a certain popular YA book and why it’s popular. Can you guess which one it is?
Update: I didn’t anticipate a sick day this week and someone has borrowed my copy of the book in question. Sorry guys, it’ll have to wait until I get my book back!
Is YA Fiction too Dark?
(Picture courtesy of Bottom of the Glass.)
This rant article was prompted by Emma Waverman over at Embrace the Chaos writing an article about how she finds YA fiction too dark. This would be okay as it is her own opinion, but what irks me is that she has condemned the YA genre without having read much of said genre. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
Ms. Waverman has absolutely every right as a parent to be concerned about what her twelve-year-old son is reading. She has said that she thinks the YA genre is generally dark (particularly since it has books like The Hunger Games) without having read any YA books, aside from a little bit of Harry Potter—at least that she mentions. My problem is that she seems to dismiss the whole genre out of hand without even truly sampling it. She proclaims she is an avid reader and a ‘book snob’, but why has she not read these books along with her son if she is so concerned? Despite what people think, YA fiction is not all that different from adult fiction, which brings me to my next point. Continue reading
Just Thought You’d Like to Know
Well, tomorrow I will be publishing my 50th review! I had no idea when I started this blog that I’d even get this far, so I’m pretty happy about this. Of course, to celebrate my 50th review, I will be reviewing a book I love (hint: it’s a fantasy book). This is something that makes me ridiculously happy, especially after my personal crisis today. My personal crisis is partly why my review of Crashed was late, but rest assured, this next review will be on time.
YA Release Dates to Look Forward to
As you can probably guess, I read a lot of YA books, which by extension means I’m reading a lot of in-progress series at once. But, I’ve made this helpful list for myself and for everyone else to keep track of some of the exciting new releases this year.
1. The Enchantress by Michael Scott
Anyone that is a regular reader here knows that I love Michael Scott’s The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. The Enchantress is the last book in this series and I’m really curious about how Michael Scott will end his series. With more Elders being forced to take sides and immortals constantly switching sides, the final book is probably going to keep me reading into the early morning hours. After years of waiting, The Enchantress is going to be released on May 22 of this year, according to Wikipedia. Continue reading
My Favourite Heroes
While there is no shortage of heroes in history and adult fiction, strong male leads are increasingly difficult to find in the YA genre. Most young adult fiction is written by women for women, but there seems to be a growing trend in YA novels geared toward teenage boys. With writers like Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer and Anthony Horowitz topping bestseller lists, one can only hope that soon boys will get the representation they deserve. Here is a list of my favourite YA heroes, in descending order.
1. Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.
You probably knew Harry Potter would feature somewhere on this list, didn’t you? Well, there are many reasons the most famous character in YA literature is my favourite hero, not the least of which is the fact that the Harry Potter series was one of the first YA series I read. Perhaps I am biased, but I can also justify my choice. No matter how many horrible things happen to him, no matter how awful things get, Harry perseveres. He does things 99% of teenagers would not be capable of doing; he shows courage he never knew he had. But he is not perfect and his friends are usually there to help him through the tough times. Harry is a flawed hero, which makes him my favourite. Continue reading