My love affair with books for young adults began with the Twilight Series. I know not everyone agrees, some have even called them boring but personally I think they're amazing. It doesn't matter that not much happens for the first two thirds because Bellas voice is so fantastically well written it doesn't matter. Stephanie Meyer did a brilliant job creating it and I really think voice is one of the reasons why I love Y.A so much. Authors of Y.A understand that a really well defined, first person voice can make or break a story.
I started reading my next favourite set of Y.A books because Stephanie Meyer recommended it on her website - it was - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was immediately hooked by another stupendous voice - that of Katniss Everdeen. Add in a mind blowing concept and two more books in the series, each one better then the last if possible and you have an incredible trilogy.
So, I may be in my thirties but I love Y.A and if I'm honest I'm quite jealous of teenagers today having such a wealth of books aimed at them. When I was the same age there was nothing written especially for us. After I'd read Judy Blume and Lois Duncan I moved straight onto the books on my parents bookshelves, massive blockbusters by authors like ; Judith Krantz, Stephen King, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Dean Koontz, Harold Robbins, to name just a few.
Much as I love Y.A books now I know without a doubt that I would have loved them even more when I was actually a teenager.
My other reasons for reading Y.A are that they're not allowed to get away with anything. By that I mean, they don't waste time, the plots move very quickly ( in the belief that all teenagers have low boredom thresholds) so there's no extraneous, unnecessarily long descriptions, slow, boring passages or anything that isn't entirely intrinsic to the plot. As such they grab and hold my attention entirely.
Books for adults on the other hand can often wallow in the unnecessary and I do find myself giving up on certain books more easily now and unfortunately in a bit of a temper. "Why?" I ask the author, "why are you boring me? Just because I have a longer attention span doesn't mean I want to waste it on unnecessary dross."
Anyway, if you haven't opened up your heart to the Y.A market then I urge you to do so - more amazing books include -
The Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Yelana Zeltana trilogy by Maria V Snyder
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Graceling by Kristen Cashore
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy - Y.A rocks dude!
P.S - Am going to see the Hunger Games Film tonight and am desperately hoping it will live up to my expectations. My next post will involve a look at movie adaptations from books - the good, the bad and the downright ugly!
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