rachelmanija (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rachelmanija) wrote2012-05-28 12:25 pm
rachelmanija) wrote2012-05-28 12:25 pm
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YA fantasy with ordinary protagonists
Can you all name me some comparatively recent (ie, less than 20 years old) YA urban fantasy (ie, not set in a fantasy world or post-apocalyptic world) in which the protagonist does NOT have any magical powers or attributes or devices (ie, no magic rings), does not develop any later, and is not a professional demon-hunter or anything like that?
I'm thinking of books like A Wrinkle in Time (but more modern) or Neverwhere (but for teenagers.) Also, ideally, more along the lines of Charles de Lint than "my vampire boyfriend."
The only ones I can think of offhand are Holly Black's Valiant, Flora Segunda, Fire and Hemlock (borderline - Polly does have a power, of sorts), and some of Charles de Lint's novels.
It's a little hard to write stories like that and not have the action be entirely driven by the magical characters, leaving the protagonist drifting passively in their wake. The characters with abilities are inherently going to be far more powerful. Tolkien used this type of plot very well, but even so, Frodo and Bilbo had the One Ring. I'm thinking of books in which someone like Sam is the protagonist.
I'm thinking of books like A Wrinkle in Time (but more modern) or Neverwhere (but for teenagers.) Also, ideally, more along the lines of Charles de Lint than "my vampire boyfriend."
The only ones I can think of offhand are Holly Black's Valiant, Flora Segunda, Fire and Hemlock (borderline - Polly does have a power, of sorts), and some of Charles de Lint's novels.
It's a little hard to write stories like that and not have the action be entirely driven by the magical characters, leaving the protagonist drifting passively in their wake. The characters with abilities are inherently going to be far more powerful. Tolkien used this type of plot very well, but even so, Frodo and Bilbo had the One Ring. I'm thinking of books in which someone like Sam is the protagonist.
no subject
I think in the first Artemis Fowl book he has no supernatural aids of any kind, although he has a LOT of cool tech and he uses magical books for research (but it's more to get a laid of the land, not a device he can do magic with).
I think this plot is slightly impossible because YA/children's lit is meant to empower children, and leaving them magicless in a world with supernatural beings is the opposite of a good idea. Which is why the genre used to be so much darker (eg. The Owl Service)
You just made me realise I read a lot of my best friend/boyfriend/etc is a vampire, i think The Little Vampire warped my sense of proportion at an early age and I decided vampirism was a common and enticing attribute. Those books, for all they were funny, also had an underlying sense of danger for Anton, a human among vampires and vampire-hunters who believed him to be a vampire.
*goes read other comments for successful answers*