What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

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Windcutter

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I suddenly remembered the Graceling thing.
The evil king tortures animals, though not on screen.
And Katsa (the protagonist) is infamous for riding her horses into extreme exhaustion, since she feels less pain/exhaustion herself because of her abilities, so she doesn't watch for signs of it (or maybe just doesn't care.) I opened the book at the exact page where Po says he's worried about her horse again.
 

Becca C.

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Why is she a misogynist? :) Just curious, not arguing.

Granted, it's been a long time since I read it, but I seem to remember her sneering at the girls at court who were girlier than her and thinking less of them for not wielding swords and wanting to have babies. I just couldn't stomach her arrogance and close-mindedness -- and the whole book was so bizarrely anti-marriage that it put me off. Which is weird, because I'm no fan of the institution of marriage.

I have no tolerance for animal cruelty whatsoever (I absolutely could not stomach Cannibal Holocaust for that reason), but I can't remember any in Graceling. I mean, Katsa killed some animals, but I didn't think it was out of cruelty.

And I'm a person who cries when pets die in movies, so...

She rode her horses into exhaustion frequently and didn't care, just kept spurring them onwards even when they were injured. It was pretty disgusting to me (I'm somewhat of a horse person, so).
 

Windcutter

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You know, about horses, I saw an old adventure movie and was horrified at how easily the protagonist and his company rode poor horses practically into death. And it just flew over the radar of the audience, because the director never paid any attention to it, the script never paid any attention to it, it was like a technical detail. I was like, eh? that's a light-hearted adventure, why do we have semi-dead horses in a light-hearted adventure and no one seems to notice?

As for the babies and marriage, I see. I think I remember something like that, too, but I guess it also flew over the radar. What stayed was how her love interest, Po, kept saying he likes a girl who can kick his ass, and he explained some feelings to her, being more in touch with the emotional side, and then he got called "too feminine" in some reviews, with obvious derision. I guess he should have slapped the damn wench to put her in her place and then beat himself on the chest.
 

Smiley0501

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So I'm reading Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and while it is really college age/new adult, it just got picked up by S&S.

It is total crack. The contemporary romance Twilight. I don't recommend this book for anyone because it deals with an abusive relationship that never goes away but...honestly...I can't. stop. reading. it.

O-o
 

Windcutter

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Continuing with my YA fantasy wave --> GRAVE MERCY. This is the first YA fantasy where I see religion played like that, with an edge. Interesting.

So far, there seem to be mostly three types of MC in this genre:
1) Kickass assassin/young mercenary (Graceling, Throne of Glass, Grave Mercy)
2) Nobody from nowhere turned into Child of Destiny (Shadow and Bone and too many to count)
3) A princess or a nobleman's daughter, unremarkable and bored out of her mind until a call to adventure changes everything (the rarest type) (The False Princess, Girl of Fire and Thorns)
 

Nakhlasmoke

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...

So far, there seem to be mostly three types of MC in this genre:
1) Kickass assassin/young mercenary (Graceling, Throne of Glass, Grave Mercy)
2) Nobody from nowhere turned into Child of Destiny (Shadow and Bone and too many to count)
3) A princess or a nobleman's daughter, unremarkable and bored out of her mind until a call to adventure changes everything (the rarest type) (The False Princess, Girl of Fire and Thorns)

Wooh hahahaha yea that's pretty accurate. Mine falls into group three, though I purposefully wrote her to show up the MC is the saviour of the world trope. (Mainly because I scoff that any one person can save or change an entire nation, especially when that person is a marginally skilled teenager with all the associated flaws.)
 

Pinguicha

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Continuing with my YA fantasy wave --> GRAVE MERCY. This is the first YA fantasy where I see religion played like that, with an edge. Interesting.

So far, there seem to be mostly three types of MC in this genre:
1) Kickass assassin/young mercenary (Graceling, Throne of Glass, Grave Mercy)
2) Nobody from nowhere turned into Child of Destiny (Shadow and Bone and too many to count)
3) A princess or a nobleman's daughter, unremarkable and bored out of her mind until a call to adventure changes everything (the rarest type) (The False Princess, Girl of Fire and Thorns)

This sounds like something! Adding to my to-read list.

Reading Before I Fall now. Ten pages in and the main character's already annoying me, with her cheating on her tests and being completely superficial. Hopefully, that'll change.
 

Windcutter

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Wooh hahahaha yea that's pretty accurate. Mine falls into group three, though I purposefully wrote her to show up the MC is the saviour of the world trope. (Mainly because I scoff that any one person can save or change an entire nation, especially when that person is a marginally skilled teenager with all the associated flaws.)
Yes, and there seems to be very little low fantasy. I don't even mean social fantasy, just a story that doesn't include saving the whole world. A story that's intimate, chamber music instead of grand opera.
I don't mind grand opera, though. :)
 

vfury

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I finished The Miseducation of Cameron Post today. It's a brilliant book, one of the best YA LGBT ones I've read, but it's also difficult. I read fast, but this is one of those books that I could only read in shorts bursts, as too much at once made me unbearably sad. And there were parts of the plot that made me downright angry. But this is to do with the MC's circumstances, and nothing against the author.

It's a book I think everyone should read, and I'm still processing it. But it's not an easy book.

I've started rereading Frances Hardinge's Fly By Night to make myself feel better. So far it's working.
 

mac3910

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Reading Girl of Nightmares, the sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood. I had to wait allll day to get started on it. I'm only five pages in, but I have very high hopes for this one.
 

eyeblink

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After a couple of months reading some lengthy adult novels, back to lean YA... Hannah Moskowitz's Gone, Gone, Gone. I've only just started it, but her distinctive voice has certainly kicked in.
 

Smish

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After a couple of months reading some lengthy adult novels, back to lean YA... Hannah Moskowitz's Gone, Gone, Gone. I've only just started it, but her distinctive voice has certainly kicked in.

Couldn't stop reading that one. It's addictive.
 

vfury

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I'm reading CHIME right now. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

Chime is bizarre and wonderful at the same time. It took me a few chapters to get used to the MC's way of thinking, but once I did I couldn't put it down.
 

Windcutter

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G1RL OF NIGHTMARES
WAKE
THR0NE OF GLASS
Ye ye ye but my Kindle's gonna burst. xd

And SKYLARK. I like dome societies. Before I got into YA dystopia, I had no idea there were so many books about them.

Also, reading G1RL OF F1RE AND THORNS, and I must say I like SHADOW AND B0NE much better. It's more simple and straight-forward--but also more colorful, crisp and structured, unlike many, many fantasy books. This one meanders and ponders a bit too much for me.
 

Nakhlasmoke

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Not everything is for everyone, and that's generally a good thing :D. I couldn't get into Shadow and Bone, though I've yet to read Girl of Fire and Thorns. I tend to prefer adult fantasy (and even then I am hard to please) because I look for very specific things that tend not to crop up often in YA fantasy and paranormal.

Though I'm really looking forward to Monstrous Beauty because it sounds dark and twisty and I am all over that yeah.
 

Windcutter

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Not everything is for everyone, and that's generally a good thing :D. I couldn't get into Shadow and Bone, though I've yet to read Girl of Fire and Thorns. I tend to prefer adult fantasy (and even then I am hard to please) because I look for very specific things that tend not to crop up often in YA fantasy and paranormal.

Though I'm really looking forward to Monstrous Beauty because it sounds dark and twisty and I am all over that yeah.
Dark and twisty is delicious. :) Btw, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, the YA version, is wonderfully dark and atmospheric. There was only one thing I wanted to see that wasn't there--an Action Girl MC. But that's my own specific preference which is a trope in itself.

Yes, wanted more of it in S&B, too. Because so much power needs to be used. xd

I actually don't read too much secondary world fantasy, because I pick and choose a lot when it comes to worldbuilding. It doesn't always have to be excellent, but it has to push my specific buttons, so I often end up bored with the world.
 

Momento Mori

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I've been on a 'grown up' kick recently but have just started Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos, which seems to be a dark tween comedy set in 1962 small town America. I'm enjoying the humour so far and the MC's got a really distinctive voice. Apparently it won the Newberry in 2012, so I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

MM
 

Kayley

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I finished The Girl With Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti yesterday. I recommend it.
 

Becca C.

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After a couple of months reading some lengthy adult novels, back to lean YA... Hannah Moskowitz's Gone, Gone, Gone. I've only just started it, but her distinctive voice has certainly kicked in.

I loved this one. So, so much.

I just started reading an ARC of Hannah's new book, TEETH! I've been fangirling ever since I got accepted on Edelweiss.
 

Smiley0501

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I finished The Girl With Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti yesterday. I recommend it.

Did you know that the author is only 19?

Currently reading- P3RS0NAL EFFECT$ by EM K0K1E (who I think is a member here?). Thank you Netgalley/Candlewick for okay'ing me to read! (I once mentioned it in an interview w/them. LOL Wonder if they remember it's me;))
 
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