What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?
- Thread starter sharpierae
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JUST finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I LOVED a lot of the imagery, but the story wasn't really something that overly resonated with me. Insta-love is not my thing, and this book as it ALL OVER THE PLACE. I was definitely more into it in the beginning, and as mysteries were unraveled I found myself going "really? REALLY?" a lot.
Still tons of fun to read, and really carried by some beautiful prose.
Still tons of fun to read, and really carried by some beautiful prose.
Reading WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson. Perfect example of a voice-driven novel where the MC isn't sarcastic. I'm envious of her writing like always.
Finished CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein and I can see what all the fuss was about. It's tightly written, the characters are engaging and she doesn't pull her punches at all. There are a few anachronisms, I had guessed most of the twist and I found the beginning hard going (mainly because it seemed so artificial) but it was still a very good read and I've gone out and bought the companion novel today.
MM
MM
I liked Code Name Verity a lot and do intend to read Rose Under Fire sometime. Though Stockport is not and never has been a city... (However I did check her description of the place with a friend of mine who lives there, and he thought that was fair enough.)
The last YA book I read was John Marsden's The Third Day, The Frost (also known as A Killing Frost) the third of the Tomorrow series. The series could have been a trilogy as there is an ending of sorts at the end of this volume...but there are four more to read and I definitely want to. Marsden doesn't pull too many punches either, with some graphic violence in places and (possible spoilers in white) ...don't get too attached to some of the characters, is all I will say. (and there's a sex scene in Volume 2.)
This series was everywhere when I visited Australia three years ago - the film of Tomorrow, When the War Began opened while I was there and I saw it in Melbourne on opening night - but it has never seemed to have done much in the UK. I'm not even sure if the whole series has ever been published here before, though the first few books at least were. Quercus are currently reissuing all seven books.
I liked Daughter of Smoke and Bone but definitely thought it got weaker as the book progressed. Gorgeous writing, as you said. The sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight, is excellent - much more consistently strong than the first book.
Currently reading Laure Eve's Fearsome Dreamer. Struggled a bit at first but really getting into it now - fascinating world-building, cutting between the technologically advanced World and the technophobic Angle Tar.
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Finally got round to buying Arclight by Josin L. McQuein / Cyia; very much looking forward to it!
I read Arclight last week. Probably one of my favorites of the year! I just finished Origin by Jessica Khoury yesterday. It wasn't quite what I expected I guess ... the rainforest setting was lovely, but there was a little too much black & white and "science is evil" for me.
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I finished STEELHEART, enjoyed it a lot. It's a long book, especially for YA, but it's so tight and action-driven that it just whizzes by in a cloud of explosions and twists like a big blockbuster movie.
Finished Sex and Violence by Carrie Mesrobian and started Falling Boy by Allison McGhee (I'm only on chapter 4, but it seems to have an MG feel to it).
Finished ENTANGLED by Cat Clarke. Very strong voice. I love that her MC doesn't like Jane Austen or the Brontes. Too often writers use 'loving classic novels' as a shorthand for sensitivity.
Haven't posted here in a while. I've recently finished
THAT SUMMER, by Sarah Dessen
WHY WE BROKE UP, by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman
WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, by Sarah Dessen
And I'm now reading HOW TO LOVE by Katie Cotungo.
http://www.amazon.com/Maira-Kalman/e/B001HCWTCC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2
THAT SUMMER, by Sarah Dessen
WHY WE BROKE UP, by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman
WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, by Sarah Dessen
And I'm now reading HOW TO LOVE by Katie Cotungo.
http://www.amazon.com/Maira-Kalman/e/B001HCWTCC/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_2
I'm super excited to read this. I'm probably going to be picking it up today.
I finished THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING last night, and BLAH was it boring. Very cardboard characters, I guessed the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's secret from the very beginning (and I suck at predicting plot twists) and it takes place in the most clichéd high school setting I've ever read. Cheerleaders are slutty and cheat on their boyfriends, jocks are hulking masses of muscle and nothing else, the only people who don't completely suck are the misunderstood weirdos who quote popular culture and watch Doctor Who. UGH.
Honestly, I'm a bit annoyed by the characters. I don't see what the MC sees in the LI. But it's still an interesting story, and I'm certainly intrigued enough to keep reading and see what happens.
Liosse de Velishaf
Banned
I've just finished SHINE by Candy Gourlay, which is sort of on the border of MG and YA. It's a weird story to try and summarise - part ghost story, part relationship and character study - I was very much enjoying it until the final quarter when there was a sudden FATAL ATTRACTION element thrown in that really threw me out. The writing is beautiful however and I believed completely in the main character and her family relationships.
Am reading some 'grown up' fantasy fiction at the moment. Not sure if I'm in the mood for ROSE UNDER FIRE or something more YA contemporary after that.
MM
Am reading some 'grown up' fantasy fiction at the moment. Not sure if I'm in the mood for ROSE UNDER FIRE or something more YA contemporary after that.
MM
Just finished MONUMENT 14 by Emmy Laybourne the other day. Not impressed. Concept is good, but lacked execution.
Also read THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater before that. Absolutely wonderful. I love how her prose reads almost like poetry and her descriptions are seem abstract but give you a perfect image of what she is talking about.
Also read THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater before that. Absolutely wonderful. I love how her prose reads almost like poetry and her descriptions are seem abstract but give you a perfect image of what she is talking about.
Just started DYING TO KNOW YOU by Aidan Chambers. It's good so far. Very spare writing, mostly dialogue, so it's fast to read. And it's narrated by an old man, but still very YA. Interesting.
Wow, I had no idea he was still writing! I had an anthology of ghost stories he edited back in the 1970s! <feels old>
Haha he is very old himself
in his late 70s, I believe. But he's still writing really, really good YA! His Printz award winner (2003, I think?) Postcards from No Man's Land is freaking amazing.
You're making me reconsider my rating! I predicted part of the twist: I thought it was obvious her brother was dead, but I didn't guess it had anything to do with Ezra's accident. I think I was blinded by the quality of the prose and the second part of the twist. But looking back, the characters did annoy me with their hipster-nerd personalities, like we're so uncool but cool at the same time. I remembering eyerolling at Cassidy's little quirks, too, like her German insults and shit. And the hotel party, although fun to read about sounded more like a twenty-something party than a high school party. And the parents and Charlotte and his old friends basically had zero personality beyond the surface.
Yeah, the second part of the twist was more surprising. I didn't really see that coming. But the first part, oh yeah, it was totally obvious. But I'm not really sure how that kept her from competing in debate? Of course it upset her, but it felt like the reason she wasn't debating had something to do with a more debate-related cause... like a cheating scandal, or she was trying to cover up that she was actually banned, or something like that. And yeah, his old friends were so poorly written. And it wasn't really their fault, I felt more like Ezra was the one isolating himself, and they would've easily accepted him back into the group if he'd wanted them to.
Anyway... I thought it was pretty lame
Finished R0TTERS by Kraus. Mixed feelings. I loved the Dickensian style and the grave robbing lore, but in the second half, the MC started to feel to me like a construct rather than a real person. Like the author was just pulling him this and that way at the demands of the increasingly over the top and outlandish plot, which stopped being so resonant when it lost its grounding in plausible motivation. It fascinates me that a book this literary (in both its virtues and vices) can be sold as YA.
Anyway, now I'm reading THE WAKING DARK by Robin Wasserman. It also doesn't feel stereotypically YA, more like Stephen King with teen protagonists. There's a fair bit of omniscient narration, and the town itself is a character, which I like. At least one scene so far was seriously creepy and disturbing.
Anyway, now I'm reading THE WAKING DARK by Robin Wasserman. It also doesn't feel stereotypically YA, more like Stephen King with teen protagonists. There's a fair bit of omniscient narration, and the town itself is a character, which I like. At least one scene so far was seriously creepy and disturbing.
Started I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga. I didn't expect much, but it's been quite engrossing so far.
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