Where has the contemporary YA gone?

In the three years that I’ve been blogging I’ve become accustomed to the trends and fluctuations in the popularity of different genres within YA. Nevertheless, in the two or so years there is one which hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, I’d say that it has continued to grow and take over the shelves.

As a bloggers we receive many books from publishers each week and at least 95%, if not more, of those novels are of a supernatural persuasion. Now don’t get me wrong, some of my favourite books are from this genre: Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy, Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments and Holly Black’s Tithe. I just think with all of the attention on the paranormal we’re missing out on some stunning contemporary YA.

It was through contemporary novels that I fell in love with YA and it breaks my heart to think that those new to the genre may be bypassing these incredible reads. Most of the authors that I discovered during my introduction are now on my auto-buy list and it happens to contain very few paranormal authors... Lots of the chance finds I made encouraged me to start a blog and shout their praises from the rooftops and have shaped my reading, my writing and just me in general.

Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen was one of those early chance finds. The beautiful cover, an intriguing synopsis and the idea of reading a new-to-me author made me buy it. I fell in love. Since that day six or seven years ago I’ve read every novel she’s written and I will continue to do so until she stops publishing her work - it crushes me that a teenage girl walking into Waterstone’s tomorrow won’t be confronted with Sarah Dessen’s beautiful stories but with rows and rows of paranormal novels. Although Sarah is incredibly popular among lovers of contemporary YA, she just doesn’t get the shelf space and her novels become drowned by the likes of Becca Fitzpatrick, Alyson Noel, LJ Smith, PC Cast and the rest of the ‘dark romance’ authors. (I really do feel at this point that I need to reiterate that I do read (some) of these authors and thoroughly enjoy their novels, I just think there’s more to YA out there.)

It is entirely possible that without these early bumbling trips to my local library and bookshops I might never have discovered the delights of Sarah Dessen, Sarra Manning, Meg Rosoff, Melvin Burgess, Kevin Brooks and Louise Rennison. Now you would need to seek them out, probably on the recommendation of a seasoned YA reader or a trusted blogger, because you’d have a fairly difficult time dragging them out from behind the vampires, werewolves and angels by yourself.

So, am I over-reacting? Or do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Sophie

Blog Tour: Haunted

Haunted  

Pages: 336

Publisher: Andersen Press

Release Date: 1^st September 2011

A face in the mirror...

Howling in the night...

A black dog at your door...

Cold hands dragging you down...

Some of the best-loved children’s authors have come together to bring you this terrifying collection of ghost stories.

There’s a lost ghost child trapped in a mirror and wanting to pull you in; an evil Soul Eater waiting for its next victim; a ghost walk with a haunting twist; and the spirit of a drowned boy who needs to be put to rest. These and many more spine-chilling tales will make you scream, shiver amd gasp. Open if you dare...

Haunted is a fantastic treat for fans of the spooky and supernatural. Dipping into these dark tales will definitely leave people reeling after a scary story swap. As there were so many fantastic stories in Haunted, I am going to highlight a few of my favourites.

Mal Peet’s Good Boy was one of my favourite stories in the anthology. I loved the idea of the terrifying recurring dream that manifested in reality and how the dream faded back and forth through her life. It had a brilliant theme of death, nightmares and mystery.

The Little’s Ship’s Boy told the story of a boy trying to rescue an ill-fated drowning victim and restore him to the ghost ship that cruises the Cornwall coast. It was incredibly atmospheric and stunningly vivid with a sense of impending doom hanging over the entire story.

I have to admit that my very favourite short story of the collection was a rather unusual one: Matt Haig’s The Ghost Walk. This one took me by complete surprise. Dorian Deadwater was a character straight out of a Gothic ghost story and I loved him. The twist at the end of the story, while expected, was beautifully done and strangely enough, I was left with a yearning to go to the beautiful sounding city of York.

Haunted is a brilliantly fun collection of spooky stories that will keep their impact long past Holloween.

So Many Books, So Little Time is honoured to welcome Berlie Doherty who’s story, The Little Ship’s Boy, is included in the anthology.

Hallowe’en is a special time of year, when the days are narrowing down and the darkness of winter sets in. When I was little I used to go next door to join in their hallowe’en party. I was very much the youngest child there, so the other children had a wonderful time scaring the wits out of me. We would start off with apple bobbing, which was fine and great fun. You were blindfolded, and you had to duck your head into a bowl of water and try to clamp your teeth round one of the apples that was bobbing in the water. Next, still blindfold, you had to catch apples that were hung on a string from the ceiling. They thought it was a great joke to hang half a lemon or a piece of soap up when it came to my turn. And next, flying! I had to grope my way into another room, where they tied me to a chair, and lifted me up into the air. I heard cackling and whispering, I swooped and floated, and I was convinced that a witch had me on her broomstick and I was really flying. It was a bit scary, but it was also wonderful.
    I have always loved the notion of the ‘other’ world that might be inhabited by spirits or ghosts. I’ve often written about such things – two of the stories have been put together in a book called ‘Nightmare; two Ghostly Tales’. One day a musician sent me a tune that he had written for a song. He called it Merandee-o and he said he had thought of a chorus for it but he couldn’t think of anything else, and asked if I could write him a ballad. Listening to the music, I immediately thought of the Cornish coast which I visit three times a year at least. Many a ship has been wrecked on the rocks there, and many a time you can’t see anything beyond the mist, or hear anything beyond the mournful wail of the fog warning. So that became my setting for the song. Soon after, I was invited by Andersen Press to write a ghost story for their Haunted collection, I was still dreaming of swirling mists and churning seas, and wrote them the story which I called The Little Ship’s Boy’. I hope you like all these spooky tales!

A big thank you to Andersen Press for sending me a copy for review and organising the blog tour.

Sophie  

Last Breath: The Morganville Vampires

Last Breath: A Morganville Vampires Novel – Rachel Caine

Pages: 447

Publisher: Allison and Busby

Release Date: 1^st November 2011

Other Titles in this Series: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls’ Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade Out, Kiss of Death, Ghost Town, Bite Club

Claire Danvers is concerned when three vampires vanish from Morganville without a trace. The last person seen with them is someone new to town – a mysterious individual named Magnus. Claire is convinced creepy Magnus isn’t human...but is he a vampire, or something else entirely?

Claire’s hunt for answers leads her to solving another mystery that’s long been puzzling her: why do vampires live so far out in a sunny desert when they’re sensitive to light? The answer has nothing to do with sunlight, but with water – and an ancient enemy who has finally found a way to invade the vampire’s landlocked community. Vampires aren’t the top predator on earth. There’s something worse that preys on them...something much worse. Which means if Claire, and Morganville, want to live, they will have to fight on until the last breath...

*I cannot review Last Breath without some possible spoilers from previous books.*

Man, I love this series so much. They just get better and better with each instalment and Rachel Caine never fails to make me gasp in shock, laughter and awe.

In Last Breath the stakes (pun completely intended) are raised. The whole of Morganville is on edge about Michael and Eve’s engagement and the effect it could have on the precarious balance of power between vampires and humans. And some of the reactions from characters we’ve known for all eleven books were unexpected, some obvious, but one in particular left me slack-jawed with shock. But in all honesty, that’s the least of the problems for the residents of the Glass House.

What awaits them is something incomprehensible: a creature the vampires themselves are afraid of. We don’t know what this is for a fair chunk of the novel and it’s rather unfathomable and very hard to guess at. And I definitely wasn’t expecting what was revealed and, even more so, what was to follow. My reaction was as follows: What the actual hell?! I was left stunned, sad and incredibly confused. I mean, seriously Rachel Caine, seriously? Last Breath is one of those books where you get punched in the stomach every couple of chapters and I just couldn’t put it down.

In the previous Morganville novel, we were given a perspective other than Claire’s, and with last Breath that was taken even further with the introduction of chapters in the perspectives of Shane, Michael, Eve and Amelie. And I loved it. I found Amelie’s especially fascinating. All at once she became more human and I realised just how she’d created Morganville and managed to keep it going for so long and survive – it was a brilliant glimpse into one of my favourite characters in the series. And Shane, well, I always love Shane so I did love hearing from him again. What became even more obvious in hearing the voices of Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve is just how unfailingly loyal to each other they are and how much they love each other. There is literally nothing they wouldn’t do for one another.

There was just so much going on in Last Breath and most of it I can’t even begin to put into words so you’ll just have to read it for yourself while I sit in a corner and rock in wait of Black Dawn.  

Sophie 

This Dark Endeavour - Kenneth Oppel

This Dark Endeavour – Kenneth Oppel

Pages: 298 (ARC)

Publisher: David Fickling Books (RHCB)

Release Date: 5^th October 2011

Other Titles by this Author: Barnes and the Brains, Silverwing, Matt Cruse, Dusk, The King’s taster, Half-Brother

How far would you go to save your brother’s life?

Victor and Konrad Frankenstein are twins, born just two minutes apart but with very different personalities. Along with their beautiful cousin Elizabeth, they lead a charmed life at their parents’ chateau. But when Konrad falls dangerously ill, everything changes.

Victor’s quest to find a cure leads him into the Dark Library, a secret room full of ancient, forbidden knowledge. On the spine-chilling mission that follows, he is forced to confront strange foes, alchemical forces and the most difficult torment of all – the pain of unrequited love.

Set against the turreted backdrop of eighteenth-century Geneva, This Dark Endeavour is the first book in Kenneth Oppel’s haunting new Gothic trilogy.

Frankenstein is one of around four or five novels I’ve been made to read at school and actually liked. In fact, I loved it, so I when I heard this was a prequel of sorts I got incredibly excited.

I have to admit that as in the original novel, it took me a while to warm to Victor. He’s arrogant, jealous and rather annoying and I found it difficult to like him at first. Konrad and Elizabeth were a different matter. Konrad is the opposite of Victor: soft-spoken, warm and gentle and Elizabeth is very easy to like – in fact, I think I liked her more in This Dark Endeavour than I did in Frankenstein. She’s a strong character who remains likable even though her opinions often differed very strongly with mine.

My favourite element of the novel, however, would probably be the Dark Library – I would love to explore that place! All of those books filled with alchemy and obscure almost-spells sounds like the best way to pass many rainy weekends. I would have loved to see Victor, Konrad, Henry and Elizabeth get the chance to explore it more thoroughly as I imagine there are many more secrets lurking in there ready for the sequel. The only thing I would change about it is the entry; that’d really freak me out.

With this Dark Endeavour I expected a very dark, Gothic novel. And sure, it was dark in places and has lots of Gothic-y elements, but it wasn’t nearly as full-on as I expected and wanted it to be. To me it was more of an adventure story with a subtle undertone of a doomed romance. There was none of the overly-rich description and tongue-in-cheek melodrama that defines a Gothic novel for me.

That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed This Dark Endeavour as a whole and I’m very looking forward to what I hope will be a much darker sequel.

A big thank you to RHCB for providing me with a review copy.

Sophie

In My Mailbox 100

This meme was started by the fabulous Kristi who was inspired by Alea. Check out their blogs for more information. All summaries are from the book jackets.

For review:

Haunted

A face in the mirror...

Howling in the night...

A black dog at your door...

Cold hands dragging you down...

Some of the best-loved children’s authors have come together to bring you this terrifying collection of ghost stories.

There’s a lost ghost child trapped in a mirror and wanting to pull you in; an evil Soul Eater waiting for its next victim; a ghost walk with a haunting twist; and the spirit of a drowned boy who needs to be put to rest. These and many more spine-chilling tales will make you scream, shiver amd gasp. Open if you dare...

Look out for my review of this and a tour stop on the 30^th October. Big thanks to Andersen Press for this.

Sophie