My Problem With YA Fantasy - PT. 2 (Lies & Limitations) 

I'm just waiting for the female protagonist to choose between two guys so she can finally save the world.

how YA romance works: he was boy she was girl can i make it anymore obvious? 🎶

Daniel: “If you treat females like they’re human beings, suddenly you’re writing good female characters, who would have thought?” Me: (applause) THANK YOU DANIEL

"Why do YAs all have shoehorned underdeveloped romances" You might have heard of this thing that was very nearly as popular as Harry Potter that also shaped the genre called uh...Twilight?

Daniel is looking like a hip university lecturer but lacking a torso.

I'm terribly disappointed in this video, Daniel. Every time you asked "why," you had the opportunity to say, "... A." You dropped the ball EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. For shame, sir!

As a Non-native speaker, reading English YA in my teens actually really helped me and nowadays I only read English literature and my studies are entirely in English. As much as the writing might be simplified, it's a really great way to join the English literary world.

As a would-be author myself, I once wrote a draft of a novel that could be considered YA since the protagonist was 16 years old. One editor told me that I NEEDED to add a romance to the story. I argued that it made no sense to the story. It was suggested by another that I read the Harry Potter books so that I could understand "how" to write a YA. I let her know, in no uncertain terms, that JK Rowling does just fine on her own and the world doesn't need yet another author trying to be her. Marketing over substance? OH yeah!

He is not invisible, he is slowly becoming one with the books. The days are not far when the tales of Daniel Greene will be told as a man, for then he will not be but a presence.

As someone who reads a lot of YA and has begun to read more Adult, I feel that YA is written to be read fast so that you read more. I find myself flying through YA and moving on to the next. Adult has me taking my time and really delving into the story. Anyone else agree?

Personally, Percy Jackson is such a fun book series aimed at kids that it kinda appeals to anyone, a child or an adult. Truly a great book series.

"They want to be smart, they want to be not like everyone else, and yet they are the same"

You're literally if the Green Brothers had a long lost third brother who focused on books instead of crash course history and science

every time Daniel said "WHY" my brain would just automatically say "A"

It's 2 years late, but as someone who does primarily read YA fantasy-supernatural and romance, I read it because it goes down easy. A lot of it is just my power fantasy and escapism, so I'm not asking to be challenged. If I want something more substantial, yeah I'll pick up a more adult fantasy or science fiction novel. But when I'm tired and want to be comforted, or just want to befriend or obsess over a nice character, it's hard to beat YA fantasy.

I distinctly remember feeling absolutely immersed in Riordan’s world every time I sat down to read one of his books growing up (The Red Pyramid especially). I miss that feeling and hope to be able find that again, but I’m not sure where to start now that I’m so far removed from the YA world after spending 4 years in university and not having the time to read for fun.

I really agree with the romance thing - I have nothing against it but just like you've mentioned - when it's just a box to tick and it has no real substance then I don't see the necessity of it appearing in the story. GIVE US FRIENDSHIPS TOO.

I almost want to endorse the Throne of Glass series just to see how much he would hate it

Omg, you're so right about the romance -_-. I'm a girl, and that's the main reason I don't read YA that much; I don't NEED freacking romance everywhere. I want to read about fantasy, not love triangles! It's driving me insane

As for romance in YA, I feel like that's sort of how "romance" works sometimes when you're a teenager. "We're friends! Oh, we're boy and girl? That must mean we're in love now."

platonic friendships between a girl and boy is something i crave so hard in YA books so i agree with you about the forced romance.. its annoying.

As maybe an answer about the over-inclusion of romance into books that otherwise shouldn't need it: Someone I know is currently shopping a YA fantasy (that has no romance in it) around to publishers and the overwhelming consensus is "needs more romance, what about pairing X character with Y character?" So it could be that it's not always the fault of YA authors for including unnecessary or uninspired romances. A lot of publishers seem to think it's necessary, perhaps after seeing the success of very romance-focused books in the YA genre-not-genre (SJM, I'm looking at you)

The "Six of Crows" duology is what lured me back into YA after walking away in complete disgust and frustration. It was a trap of horrifying proportions. Never again.

I don’t think the YA “genre” came into prominence until Twilight. I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong about Harry Potter being the spearhead of the genre but Harry Potter was often regarded as Children/Middle Grade in the bookstores and libraries I went to

As a person who reads a lot of YA. I complain about the short comings of YA all the time.

I appreciate how transparent you're being, literally.

Well developed YA romance? Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Started out as acquaintances, grudgingly developed a friendship after gaining respect for one another as they had to work together, a bond that was strengthened by trusting and relying on each other in the midst of life and death situations, as well as complexities of life in general. They came to count on one another, for support, and after five books, finally got together once romantic feelings had developed organically and had been hinted at for two, maybe even three of the books. There’s mutual respect, strengths and weaknesses that compliment one another, trust, encouragement, respected boundaries, honesty and no melodrama whatsoever. Their relationship is a source of stability and strength once the second series takes a more mature tone with higher stakes. Probably the healthiest relationship I’ve seen in YA. Wish more were written like it. (I’m aware PJO is middle grade, but their relationship is just as prevalent and developed in the subsequent YA series.)

Tamora Pierce. Tamora Pierce. Tamora Piiiiiierce! :D She's been writing in the same universe since the 80s, and you can definitely watch her style evolve as the YA category does. But even within the "limitations" of YA, she does a fantastic job of exploring complex themes and characters, and a lot of that dark side of people and society. I just. Adore her. So if you're looking for a gem, I would suggest her.

laini taylor's work, while all featuring romance to some degree, have some of the most whimsical writing i've personally encountered. and unique worlds, imo

The worst publishing marketing mistake (that I’ve seen personally) is to The Raven Cycle series. The blurb in book 1 only focuses on the “romance” when that’s a very small piece of the book. Maggie Stiefvater did a really great job of creating a very magical story and taking you on this journey with the characters, her writing style is really interesting too.

Rick Riordans series will always be my favorite. No because did nostalgia but because I think they are genuinely good. I don’t know if YOU would include his writing in the “bad prose” category, but I love it. I’ll use Percy as an example. In the books told fr9m his perspective there are a lot of sarcastic comments, but he’s just acting like a REAL teen. And that sort of comedic element makes it a lot easier for me to read personally. Also for the romance aspect (I’ll use Percy and Annabeth as an example) it’s not just “shoehorned in”, it’s been built up for the MULTIPLE series they have appeared in, and it grows in a realistic way. These are just my thoughts though.

I'm 64 and an avid reader since i was 8 - you do a great job Dan. I like your balanced approach and your insights and I've learnt a lot from your work as well.

V.E.Schwab has written adult and YA fantasy, which I both loved. Her writing remains consistent through both genres imo with the only difference being more self-discovery themes in the YA ones.

I think there’s this weird misconception that YA readers never question YA at all, when we’re actually discussing a lot of these same problems all the time! Also that people can only read one genre.... because personally I just read the books I’m interested in, regardless of their genre/age category! Best prose in YA fantasy has to be Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle, or anything by Laini Taylor. Both have beautifully whimsical and distinct styles that really stand out from the rest.

I'm always reading a few books at once; I'm usually reading a celebrated literary classic AND a YA book at the same time. It's sort of like watching a Criterion film and then following it up with a sitcom. Just gives the brain a break, haha.

The new Hunger Games book about Snow for sure goes into his deep side and shows that characters don't always turn good.

Last time I was this early people were driving by and spoiling Harry Potter books

Hunger Games: Mockingjay definitely has legitimate darkness to it. The pacing of the book felt terrible, however Collins didn’t back down from turning Katniss down a darker path. She clearly never cares about fighting for the good guys and her trust in any authority is definitely shattered. I mean for a large part of the book she is a morphine addict, the only thing that allows her to fight the addiction is her all consuming hate of the capital and her fear for her boy toy. I feel like even though she is clearly the protagonist, Katniss is no where even close to the hero of the books

Read the Bartimaeus Trilogy. It has some of the best prose in YA I've ever seen.

One of the best YA series (though maybe it's middle school now?) was Lemony Snicket. Fantastic prose to the point of even criticizing readers who skim through books to "say they read it", complex themes and vocabulary, incredible story arcs, and the world was unique and wonderful.

Definitely agree with you that YA has 'aged up' with its readers over the years. As a teacher working with12/13 year olds, around 15 years ago there was a range of YA books (what I'd now call teenage fiction) that I could recommend to them. These would be heavier than middle grade content-wise and usually involve teenage protagonists, dealing with hormones and first attempts at romance, higher stakes and characters dying, exploring these emotions and addressing some real life issues (not always all of these in the same book!) Nowadays, I struggle to find appropriate content for 12/13 year old readers. Many of the books classed as YA now tend to have explicit content that I don't feel comfortable recommending. Feels like there's a gap in the market for this age group.

Personally my biggest gripe with YA books is primarily the protagonists. At least from my experience the vast majority of them seem to be purposefully made bland, presumably for the sake of 'self-inserts. You can kinda see that with Harry potter himself and it only got worse from there. They never seem to have unique personalities and quirks, they are just the every-man/woman people can identify with. This also makes it hard to get satisfying character development for them as well. Side characters almost always have more personality than the protagonists and that is generally what kills these stories for me. I read to learn about and follow characters and their development and I just don't get that from YA that much, Not saying that all of those books are bad, but that they generally don't provide what I'm looking for.

The prose in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is probably the best I have ever read, including all adult fiction I've read. That book also touches on very dark themes and was published in 2005 I think :)

Brandon Sanderson's Skyward and Steelheart are my favorite YA. He is also my favorite author so I am biased in that. I think the simpler prose and less villainous characters do make YA a choice when you want a light fun read, which I think is often why people like YA.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I don’t really like YA romances anymore either. Yet I think YA books were the first place I ever saw anything about LGBT+ relationships. Especially about characters my age. During the mid 00’s and early 10’s most media with LGBT+ characters focused on adults.

YA fantasy got me into reading and I think it was a great introduction for someone whose native is not English. Now I'm ready to jump to other genres with more complex concepts but seeing Cassandra Clare and Leigh Bardugo evolving as writers will always please me

In general I completely agree with this video, and you raised some points I hadn't thought of before, being someone who self-professedly doesn't like YA? There's so much wrong. I cringe at any book with romance in it now just because I'm scarred by YA. Yet, I'd like to say! There's a YA/Children's author, Frances Hardinge, she has impeccable prose. Absolutely wonderful. She even won the costa book award for The Lie Tree. Not just the Children's Costa Book Award, but the overall Costa Book Award. I know you were making a generalisation, but I felt like I had to scream this into the void a bit because she's DEFINITELY exempt. OH WAIT! You asked! Yes please, read The Lie Tree. The main character has very realistic maturity for a fourteen year old but actually acts like a human. Also Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire is written absolutely beautifully. I find that middle-grade is actually far more well written than YA. 100%. Middle-grade is more where you get the "children's books for everyone" like Narnia was. Children's/YA unfortunately sometimes gets grouped together and gets confusing. Genres are an absolute mess.

As a non-native English speaker, YA was my gateway to fantasy, since it's much more digestible than adult fantasy and I enjoyed them a lottt. It's just the ongoing trend in YA is not my cup of tea anymore so I have been straying away further from that genre these last five year-ish. If u guys hv amazing YA books you want to recommend I'd love to jump back to the genre. Side note: hell I was born in 94 too and I pay my own taxes alrd so who ure calling kids now?

This may be a weird point but I occasionally read YA and one of the main reasons is its simplicity and predictability. I also like how the first book is usually ultra simple but the sequels start getting more and more complex, never too much mind you. Sometimes I just want to read something easy to digest and comfortable. Last 3 YA I read were the maze runner series, hunger games and more recently throne of glass. Of course now I'm deep into the wheel of time for thr first time but I might be reading something simple again after it.

Know this series ain't exactly new but, highly recommend the Earthsea Cycle and basically anything Ursula K.LeGuin because Earthsea is amazing! It truly was something ahead of its time. That is all. Honourable mention also goes to Lois Lowry because that woman is just as much of an absolute writing goddess.

How is ACOTAR(Court of series) considered YA when its super explicit. LOL

“ the romances are just shoehorned in with no real attempt to have any chemistry or buildup” Daniel, you’re a wheel of time fan

I really enjoyed the writing style of The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I'm fairly certain that that series is considered YA.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. Has romance everywhere, but I feel they are earned and natural.

Tamora Pierce! One of my favorite authors of all time, I started reading her works around 7th grade.

My problem with the YA genre comes from more of a bookseller problem. I was constantly trying to juggle the expectation of kids not wanting to read "kids book" like Percy Jackson because they're in the kids section and not wanting romance, while also juggling the parent's expectation of what content they're comfortable with the child reading. Especially if they have a young child with a high reading level and the schools are telling them they have to read at a certain level but not giving them a list of book.

I've noticed that the only romantic relationships in YA that feel justified are the ones that don't fully come together until the end of the story (and not because a love triangle was involved). YA has grown up in some ways, but the expression of love can be quite juvenile. Too much melodrama for someone in their mid-twenties, who has experienced love in a more nuanced fashion. Also, I think too many people believe that two people of the opposite sex could never remain just friends over a prolonged period of exposure to each other. In some cases, forced romance in YA books could be the result of the author being uncertain of how to handle friendship with the opposite sex. In others, it provides a nice buffer for a dull plot.

As a bookseller, I’d like to add that YA helps to lead teen readers to age appropriate books. Of course, we still need to read and research a lot to match readers with stories that best match their reading level, readiness for different content AND the genres they prefer. Many people stop reading in their teens, so it’s super valuable to have good books to recommend and keep them enjoying reading, hopefully for life 😊

I like that Percy Jackson was able to do the opposite of your relationship problem for the most part. Percy and Annabeth don't get together till the end and don't even kiss till the 4th book.

I was always have a soft spot for YA as it was my first intro to fantasy, as your first video pointed out with Harry Potter. That said, I’ve been trying to read more adult fantasy than YA lately. Thanks to your videos, I’ve been accomplishing that, much to my wife’s chagrin (lots of dollars been spent)

To be fair to YA, most modern adult fiction has the same issues: oversimplified writing, forced romance, adhering very closely to tropes that are popular, over cautious and stilted character development, telling the reader what to think and feel in a condescending way. The difference is, when an author chooses not to do these things they are not pushed into another genre because there is nowhere to go.

My favorite YA series with good prose: Young Wizards, the first books are more so for kids, but the development, especially later on with regards to loss, are excellent. Artemis Fowl, the writing always reminded me of Clancy and while in the end the protagonist ends up as a good character the first several books defiantly portray a antihero with solid development. Airborn Series, the romance parts can be juvenile and cringy but the prose and world building are excellent and the stories themselves are awesome adventures. Garth Nix. The Sabriel series is a genre all its own with excellent writing and I thoroughly enjoyed the Keys to the Kingdom series.

Tiffany Aching series, and “The Amazing Maurice and Good Educated Rodents”, both by Terry Pratchett. He’s also talked specifically about writing YA.

This remind me of something an older friend said years ago: "I'm looking forward to when I got to my mid-thirties, because once a nerd becomes older that 30-years-old, the nerd-geek-otaku-gamer comunity start to treat all their oppinions like words of wisdom from a respectable elder... No matter how stupid those opinions really are"

THANK YOU for mentioning the bad prose!!! I've tried to talk about this with other people so many times, and they always were "no, it's not that bad". Being non-native English speaker notwithstanding I really can tell good prose from bad prose. And YA so many times got it bad. But what's mostly frustrating is that books that have ACTUAL good prose (like The Bone Witch, although it has many other limitations you mentioned), world setting, character setting and growth, are being labelled as BORING and looked down upon. That's probably the saddest thing I've seen in the community.

Oh my goodness, you showing Hatchet and Narnia books lit a spark of childhood nostalgia.

3:05 lmao he didn't film that segment long enough to fit with the footage so he slowed it down. I love it.

To be fair, the awkward pointless romance plots with zero chemistry are pretty dominant everywhere. Not many authors can write good romance and make it feel like it doesn't step on the main plot -well renowned fantasy authors included. It's just YA is known for beeing cheesy and it does treat romance like a box tick, but I wouldn't say this is a problem just in YA. About the prose... yeah, its diggestible and easy, I 100% aggre, but as someone who does enjoy YA I really don't mind that it is simple (simple, not bad!) as longs as it manages to deliver interesting stories, themes and emotions. The morale limitations on characters though I feel like it's totally a matter of personal taste, which is totally fine. There are some morally grey characters in many YA, just not hardcore grimdark twisted morally grey characters. I don't think it's because of editorial limitations, just that fans are not generally into that sort of thing. In my experience YA tends to be much more lighthearted and hopeful than (most current) adult fantasy. Again, I just personally think that point is a matter of taste. Anyways, I liked both videos a lot even though I don't necessarily aggree with a lot of it but it was pretty interesting to hear form someone so well read and whose opinion I usually agree. I hope to see some more videos up of this kind in the future!

The romance thing is real and its also targeted at kids who dont understand love and think that a crush is love. It appeals to them because that's how kids see people they are attracted to. They have "strong" attractions to them for like 2 weeks, and move onto someone else. None of it means anything, just like it seems not to in the book. Hormones are just out of whack.

I'd say Maggie Stiefvater's prose are a cut above the rest, and she's pretty mainstream. She's got an almost lyrical way of writing. An example, when she describes things, say characters, she uses vivid symbols to convey not physical characteristics but emotional ones. She's also fantastic at picking verbs and adjectives that are both used in unusual ways but at the same time powerfully convey the scene. Worth a read if you haven't tried it.

One thing I’m struggling with in the YA category lately is the author using common slang and whatnot to appeal to the current audience (ex: using hashtags in a sentence, the actual letters WTF, amongst many other things people wouldn’t actually say out loud but would probably put on social media or in a text message). I just feel it wouldn’t age well. Just say what you mean in plain words 🥴 I guess I’m just too hopeful for books during our time to become a “timeless classic”. Just my opinion - don’t come for me 😅

I'm a teen librarian and spend a lot of time thinking about this. From a reading perspective, I'm an adult woman who wants to read adult fantasy written by and for women in addition to the awesome fantasy I grew up on and continue to read written primarily by men. From a professional standpoint, I'm a teen librarian beyond frustrated that publishers marketing aged-up YA to adult women has pushed teens out of YA. I read about 200 YA books a year as part of my job, and I also read every professional and review publication out there, paying a lot of attention to trends in publishing. While I agree with many of your points made here, I think this topic is impossible to discuss without fully diving into the fact that the majority of adult YA readers are female, and that YA fantasy has become a stopgap of sorts to make up for the lack of books written by women in adult fantasy. This is a problem that I hope becomes a non-issue - there has been a rise in female authorship in adult fantasy over the past few years and hopefully in 10 years this is a moot point. I was disappointed that your suggestion for a well written female protagonist was a book written by a man - it sort of highlights the problem, no? Not to say men can't write awesome female protagonists, but that as a woman I also want female voices writing my female characters in addition to those written by men. If you look at the books that are most popular right now in YA fantasy, you see a variety of authors from a variety of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, including LGBTQ+ authors and characters. While there are standout adult fantasies written by non-white women - The Poppy War, The Daevabad Trilogy, anything by NK Jemisin - on the whole, adult fantasy is not as diverse as YA and that is a consideration to make when discussing why adults might turn to YA. People - particularly women - who are avid fantasy readers want more than a small handful of diverse choices to pick from. YA tends to change faster than the adult publishing machine, since it is already attuned to the quickly changing interests of teenagers and was better prepared to adapt to the call for diverse books. I know adult publishing is catching up, but it isn't there yet and it is a huge reason why there is such a substantial YA fantasy adult readership. YA is still going to have hallmarks of books targeted for teens, since it's ostensibly still trying to market itself as teen lit - angst, romance, easier to digest prose... but maybe a better understanding of why so many women avidly read YA fantasy despite the flaws could better highlight the disparities in what is marketed to men and women.

I'm just waiting for the video where you are a pair of floating eyes in space

Thanks, Daniel, this has been very helpful. I am currently working on fantasy and thinking about the audience, this video has helped me steer in the right direction for myself.

My 4th grade teacher read Hatchet to us and I was captivated by how quiet and lonely the setting felt to me. I never thought of it as a young adult book because I always thought of stories like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, teen dystopia, and so on

I would have to recommend the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness (which I’m happy to see a lot of other people in the comments recommend) and The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. Both have some of the most beautiful writing I’ve seen in a fantasy ya. For the Raven Cycle, while I liked the Raven Boys, the next book in the series, The Dream Thieves, really establishes the series as one of the greatest in my opinion.

'The Goose Girl' and 'Princess Academy' both by Shannon Hale are really underrated, both books introduced me to the fantasy genre outside of Narnia and both involve great character growth and I still believe they hold up to this day. Please give these books more attention cause they deserve it!!

i love it that you add some other points and clarifications while editing, just because it will make the content better

As a 14 year old YA reader I am impressed that I did not misunderstood a thing you said in these two videos and I even enjoyed the fact that someone is ready to talk about the problems in YA. Actually I totally agree with you. As a person who has read(not YA) only A Song of Ice and Fire and is halfway through Hobbit I didn't imagine to have an opinion but I do and I share it with you . Have a great day, man. You are pretty cool 😎. Edit: I wish a good day to everyone who is reading this comment and sorry if it has mistakes in it(english is not my first language). 🙂

Daniel has become the epitome of quality shit posting on book tube and I love it. Not only do we get quality content and reviews, it’s also funny as hell and enjoyable to watch.

I read this like "My problem with ya fantasy" like you had a Brooklyn accent or something and it still works.

I really enjoyed both part 1 and 2 of your thoughts on YA. I love young adult novels/series, but getting to dive into the, "whys" they became so popular is so interesting. I am now subscribed and excited to watch more of your videos!

Personally I think YA and middle grade books are two very different genres. I actually feel like middle grade books can actually be more mature in how they handle difficult topics, even though they tend to be more lighthearted. They also tend to have really good friendships because they can’t do too much in the way of romance. Obviously, everyone has their preferences, but if you want to read something cleaner, lighter, and with better friendships, I really do suggest middle grade as opposed to YA. Both genres/markets have good and bad books, but there is a clear difference in my mind, even though some series sit right on the line (ex: Percy Jackson) If you want some suggestions: Middle Grade: Of Giants and Ice (Shelby Bach), how to train your dragon and the wizards of once (Cressida cowell), guardians of ga’hoole (Kathryn lasky), anything written by Gail Carson Levine YA: the books of Pellinor by Allison croggen In between the two: grounded (Megan Morrison), the epic crush of genie Lo (fc yee)

for beautiful prose, you can't beat Laini Taylor, particularly Strange the Dreamer. For dark/edgy protagonist and also pretty fantastic prose, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is excellent

Talks about romances that sort of just pop up out of nowhere as a bad thing* * Looks at wheel of time and Sanderson* *looks back to Daniel* Pot kettle, black

I really liked this video. It helped provide some context for the issues I've felt I've come across the few times I've read YA, and between the two answered the confusion I had with YA as a genre (especially growing up with the HP books, where YA started on more of the Y, and seeing it age into the A more).

I’m a bit late (4 months worth 😅) but a YA series I looove that I don’t feel follows the typical YA standards is ‘The Queens Thief’ series by Megan Whalen Turner. I recognize the writing style is not for everyone and can understand why some may not like it but I’ve never read a story (ADULT Fantasy included) in which you have to read between the lines. The author does a beautiful job of having a unreliable and unassuming narrative and it is AMAZING I don’t know if you’ve read it or have heard of it but I whole heartedly recommend it. It’s the kind of story you find yourself thinking about months after you’ve read it realizing how deep the story really is

Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy has a beautiful prose

I would say that Erin Morgenstern (The Night Circus, The Starless Sea) has some beautiful prose, her writing flows very elegantly and she can paint excellent visions with her words.

As a big YA fan, both when growing and slightly now so I can recommend books to my siblings, I have many of the same problem. My biggest one is the romance. I 100 percent agree that it feels forced into almost every single one. BUT many also do a great job. I think Rick Riordan does a fantastic job at developing relationships of friends, enemies, and couples. My favorite though is the legend series by Marie Lu where even with the great world and action scenes I would completely label it a romance in my mind. Very well done

I recently read Star Wars: Heir To The Empire by Timothy Zahn while in middle school, and was AMAZED by how different it felt to most other books I’ve read in the past couple of years, those mostly being YA. Although it mostly uses pre-made characters, they feel more fleshed out than ever, and the new ones are extremely memorable. It just felt addictively well written. I had know idea this was a big thing until finding these videos, so thanks!

What YA series that go against my experience so far do YOU recommend? Part 1 here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ElGFNgods08.html

I recommend Strange the Dreamer & Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor if you want some beautiful prose! (And great story!)

Harry potters the only ya series i ever got into, but I know lots of people who exclusively read YA. I'm just happy to see people reading ☺️

I recommend The Inkworld trilogy. It has some really amazing characters. It’s one of my favorites.

Character depth is my issue with YA. I love the genre, but ever since I shifted the bulk of my reading to high fantasy this issue has become more and more prevalent. The YA authors, in my opinion, are the best at developing new and interesting world with wild concepts and set ups, but I’m always left wonder how much further the world and story could go if the characters were more flushed out. At this point I read YA books after reading more adult content when I need a cool down. I read it when I need something fun and interesting, but not too mentally or emotionally draining.

YA: The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima or A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness Adult: The Night Angel series by Brent Weeks Hope this helps 😁❤️

I kinda like the general simplicity of YA books, being able to turn my brain off and enjoy a story without needing to really think about what I’m reading is nice.

I find a lot of YA I read is pre-Harry Potter. The blue sword is probably one of my favorite books of all time. It is my comfort book. It is amazingly written. Tamora Pierce has several series that are both pre-Harry Potter and post-Harry Potter and really shaped the book reader I am today. Diane Duane is another author who is amazing! Her "So You Want To Be A Wizard" series is mind blowing in terms of creativity. I really have not read much post-Harry Potter Ya.