The Issue With YA Novels (and a book review)
I love words. I like books, stories, and reading (so long as it doesn't involve a textbook or anything to do with studying), and as a child I was constantly working through several novels at a time. And yet, despite a childhood of non-stop reading there came a point sometime at the mid-teen age where it became more of an arduous task than a form of enjoyment. This I boiled down to laziness: I considered it to be a side-effect of spending so long on computers and other devices to the point where anything involving more than a few minutes' attention was no longer worth my time.
I'm also quite picky when it comes to genre - I refuse most things fantasy or sci-fi because of some of the ways that the magic involved seemed unrealistic or forced. I also avoided most of the typical romance novels, finding them predictive, and though I always enjoy a good whodunnit mystery it was difficult to find one that was well-written and genuinely gripping, especially anything written for so-called young adults. All of this contributed to a reading dry-spell (and conversely increased my time spent on YouTube), and reduced a reading rate of about four to six books a month to one every three - if I was so lucky.
There was, I knew, the option of moving on to adult novels, but regardless of the number recommended to me by several people, they were daunting and unrelatable, especially when the protagonist often ran through marital issues and midlife crises, something that was far beyond the comprehension of an average teenager. I thought this an unpopular opinion - until I joined a book club and found that my experiences with limited book options was not an uncommon one.
This we boiled down to the huge age difference between the target audience of "Young Adult" and adult novels, resulting in a jump between problems with algebra homework and a spouse's extramarital affair. But this isn't the only issue - there seems a large discrepancy between the themes and morales in a YA novel and those of most prospective readers: a majority of YA books involve little variation in protagonists, or lack decent plot, and many authors seem set on including some form of romantic interest, resulting in most of the novels to be vapid and pointless. Worse yet, there seems to be an idea circulating publishers that all young adults are concerned with are relationships and sex, such that the relationships between young couples within books revolve heavily on a physical relationship alongside an emotional one.
This, to me, is a strange notion. Throughout most of my teenage years I was satisfied with the idea of not dating, and yet it was a thing in books that I felt restricted to in which most of the authors insinuated that it would be more normal to be in a relationship than not. It had me wonder how old most of the authors of these novels were. After all, with the aid of the internet to rapidly spread new ideas amongst the younger generation especially, it's more than likely that in the time for someone to finish young-adult age and begin a first novel things have changed drastically.
This outdated, marginalised, and stereotypic view of teenagers, I finally realised, within an hour of mildly cathartic book therapy, combined with repetitive plots and a writing style that's becoming more simplified, makes for a terrible, unrelatable, unenjoyable read. The moment that publishers recognise this and upturn their content will be a day that will become a revolutionary moment for the young adult reading world. In with the new, I say.
That being said, a revelation was made during that book club meeting which began a suggestion to begin a new section in the local library for readers in that awkward in-between age, and in a very serendipitous series of events I was recommended a book which will fit well in that category exactly.
BOOK REVIEW: VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab
Vicious is a novel of two boys in university who are researching into the world of EOs (extraordinaries - those with supernatural powers), and the combination of their two particularly bright brains has them diving head-first into a new world of theoretically impossible. Despite being sci-fi, it focuses strongly on scientific theory, and the aid of just the right amount of book magic made it less of a teen's journey into becoming the town hero than a much more realistic, twisted path that is believable and gripping. The story spans a decade, leaping from the origin of their university days to ten years following, yet is structured such that it is easy to follow without being predictable. The plot is excellent, a good mix of science, myth, and no romance in sight except for where it was truly required. In addition to it were likeable characters and an eloquent writing that was at the same time not overwhelmingly formal. The best book I'd read in possibly a couple of years, I rate it a good 19/23.
I'm also quite picky when it comes to genre - I refuse most things fantasy or sci-fi because of some of the ways that the magic involved seemed unrealistic or forced. I also avoided most of the typical romance novels, finding them predictive, and though I always enjoy a good whodunnit mystery it was difficult to find one that was well-written and genuinely gripping, especially anything written for so-called young adults. All of this contributed to a reading dry-spell (and conversely increased my time spent on YouTube), and reduced a reading rate of about four to six books a month to one every three - if I was so lucky.
There was, I knew, the option of moving on to adult novels, but regardless of the number recommended to me by several people, they were daunting and unrelatable, especially when the protagonist often ran through marital issues and midlife crises, something that was far beyond the comprehension of an average teenager. I thought this an unpopular opinion - until I joined a book club and found that my experiences with limited book options was not an uncommon one.
This we boiled down to the huge age difference between the target audience of "Young Adult" and adult novels, resulting in a jump between problems with algebra homework and a spouse's extramarital affair. But this isn't the only issue - there seems a large discrepancy between the themes and morales in a YA novel and those of most prospective readers: a majority of YA books involve little variation in protagonists, or lack decent plot, and many authors seem set on including some form of romantic interest, resulting in most of the novels to be vapid and pointless. Worse yet, there seems to be an idea circulating publishers that all young adults are concerned with are relationships and sex, such that the relationships between young couples within books revolve heavily on a physical relationship alongside an emotional one.
This, to me, is a strange notion. Throughout most of my teenage years I was satisfied with the idea of not dating, and yet it was a thing in books that I felt restricted to in which most of the authors insinuated that it would be more normal to be in a relationship than not. It had me wonder how old most of the authors of these novels were. After all, with the aid of the internet to rapidly spread new ideas amongst the younger generation especially, it's more than likely that in the time for someone to finish young-adult age and begin a first novel things have changed drastically.
This outdated, marginalised, and stereotypic view of teenagers, I finally realised, within an hour of mildly cathartic book therapy, combined with repetitive plots and a writing style that's becoming more simplified, makes for a terrible, unrelatable, unenjoyable read. The moment that publishers recognise this and upturn their content will be a day that will become a revolutionary moment for the young adult reading world. In with the new, I say.
That being said, a revelation was made during that book club meeting which began a suggestion to begin a new section in the local library for readers in that awkward in-between age, and in a very serendipitous series of events I was recommended a book which will fit well in that category exactly.
BOOK REVIEW: VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab
Vicious is a novel of two boys in university who are researching into the world of EOs (extraordinaries - those with supernatural powers), and the combination of their two particularly bright brains has them diving head-first into a new world of theoretically impossible. Despite being sci-fi, it focuses strongly on scientific theory, and the aid of just the right amount of book magic made it less of a teen's journey into becoming the town hero than a much more realistic, twisted path that is believable and gripping. The story spans a decade, leaping from the origin of their university days to ten years following, yet is structured such that it is easy to follow without being predictable. The plot is excellent, a good mix of science, myth, and no romance in sight except for where it was truly required. In addition to it were likeable characters and an eloquent writing that was at the same time not overwhelmingly formal. The best book I'd read in possibly a couple of years, I rate it a good 19/23.
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