purplerabbit (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
purplerabbit) wrote2009-07-08 12:02 am
purplerabbit) wrote2009-07-08 12:02 am
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Alternatives to Twilight? Teen fantasy novels to read and write...
My sister calls and says that her her teenager daughter has finally found an interesting in reading. The girl hasn't liked reading before but has just read the Twilight series. (I shudder.) My sister would like to keep her daughter reading so calls "the author in the family" to ask what books her daughter might like to read next.
So, I am turning to you folks to tell me. What books should I recommend? I am not up on young adult reading. I am really good at picking what son (same age group) wants to read but not sure if it is the vampire or the romance part that has my niece reading. Suggestions?
In related and interesting discussions of the week. My thirteen year old son was asked by one of our friends what he looks for in his reading. My son will read just about any fantasy books. He is the one who got me started on Harry Potter and has read the entire series himself, as well as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, the Avalon series, and now reading the Pendragon series. My son had no hesitation in speaking his mind (nothing new) and was quite specific in what he favours most. He says the books he is most drawn to are ones that feature a young person who has some powerful potential but had not yet figured out how to use it or developed it and who is up against a very powerful evil villain. He likes to read about them trying, stumbling and then succeeding. Captain_Snark (one of his dads), pointed out to the boy that it sounds like he likes "coming of age stories" and my son readily agreed. I guess I knew this about his reading but hadn't realised that my son could so quickly and clearly explain what it is that he liked.
The other thing my son has also show me is that he doesn't care what the gender and/or sexual orientation of the characters is. While most boys are assumed to only want to read about boys, and girls about girl protagonists, both my son and his girlfriend have said that it doesn't matter to them. And since the Avalon series my son liked features girl characters as the protagonists, I can see he is right.
One of the things this has stirred up in me is the idea of going back to writing a fantasy romance novel I had the idea for that features two young teenage boys. The current version has explicit sex in it, but I was wondering if I wrote a version that was less explicit, if it might not have a wider potential market and if I want to try that.
So, I am turning to you folks to tell me. What books should I recommend? I am not up on young adult reading. I am really good at picking what son (same age group) wants to read but not sure if it is the vampire or the romance part that has my niece reading. Suggestions?
In related and interesting discussions of the week. My thirteen year old son was asked by one of our friends what he looks for in his reading. My son will read just about any fantasy books. He is the one who got me started on Harry Potter and has read the entire series himself, as well as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, the Avalon series, and now reading the Pendragon series. My son had no hesitation in speaking his mind (nothing new) and was quite specific in what he favours most. He says the books he is most drawn to are ones that feature a young person who has some powerful potential but had not yet figured out how to use it or developed it and who is up against a very powerful evil villain. He likes to read about them trying, stumbling and then succeeding. Captain_Snark (one of his dads), pointed out to the boy that it sounds like he likes "coming of age stories" and my son readily agreed. I guess I knew this about his reading but hadn't realised that my son could so quickly and clearly explain what it is that he liked.
The other thing my son has also show me is that he doesn't care what the gender and/or sexual orientation of the characters is. While most boys are assumed to only want to read about boys, and girls about girl protagonists, both my son and his girlfriend have said that it doesn't matter to them. And since the Avalon series my son liked features girl characters as the protagonists, I can see he is right.
One of the things this has stirred up in me is the idea of going back to writing a fantasy romance novel I had the idea for that features two young teenage boys. The current version has explicit sex in it, but I was wondering if I wrote a version that was less explicit, if it might not have a wider potential market and if I want to try that.
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http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com/
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A books I loved from my own adolesence with similar themes but well-written and not anti-feminist:
The Changeover by Margaret Mahy
The Darkangel, A Gathering of Gargoyles and The Pearl of the Soul of the World by Meredith Ann Pierce.
Terri Windling's Bordertown Books
some well-recommended dark fantasy YA books:
The Mortal Instruments series
The Summoning
Wicked Lovely
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Do you have any other qualifications than Young Adult? Romance specifically? Goth-y stuff? PG-rated?
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