YA fantasy with ordinary protagonists

[rachelmanija]

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.

Comments

[sholio]

The Fablehaven books by Brandon Mull might qualify - they're very much in the old-school mold of "ordinary kids discover magical stuff happening around them". (Despite that, I had to quit reading the series because I was too disgusted by the kids' approach to indigenous cultures -- which basically amounts to "Whee, steal their stuff, it's awesome!" Plus a Pokemon-like "gotta catch 'em all!" focus on capturing and "collecting", i.e. enslaving, sentient magical creatures. Yeah, the books are not without issues.)

I don't think I'd realized 'til you asked this question how the whole YA zeitgeist seems to have swung from ordinary kids having magical adventures, to seemingly ordinary kids discovering their own magical specialness. That's really interesting.