I realized while chatting with [personal profile] sartorias the other day that I've disliked an unusually high percentage of the YA sf and fantasy that's come out in the last couple years. There have certainly been some novels I've adored, but compared to, say, what was coming out five years ago, it's been a lower percentage. The authors I already liked, I still like; but I've been liking the debut novels less, overall.

I suspect that part of the problem is that certain subgenres I'm not big on have become very popular. I'm a little burned out on "modern teenager meets faeries." I've never much liked "my vampire/werewolf/angel/zombie boyfriend." I have yet to really enjoy a dystopia of the Primary colors have been banned and the government controls your sexual orientation variety, and while I like post-apocalyptic novels that focus on the changed landscape of the far future, or in which people are actively trying to rebuild civilization, I am a hard sell on post-apocalyptic stories in which the focus is despair, cannibalism, and rape gangs.

1. Do you feel the same way? Or are you loving the explosion in YA paranormal romance and so forth?

2. What very recent (last three years or so) YA sf or fantasy would I like? Please rec me books which are either in different genres (space opera, high fantasy, steampunk, etc) or such absolutely stunning examples of genres I don't like that I will like them anyway. Also, PLEASE check my author tags to make sure I haven't already read and reviewed the books in question. (To head off a flood of recs, I didn't like The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. Sorry.)

From: [identity profile] rachelmanija.livejournal.com


Not yet, though several are on my to-read list. (Not the one where the hero gets photos of his girlfriend's rotting corpse. I can skip that one.)

From: [identity profile] tool-of-satan.livejournal.com


Ugh, I have no plans to read that either.

I have The Stories of Ibis, Slum Online, and the second Rocket Girls book, should you be interested in any of them.

From: [identity profile] tool-of-satan.livejournal.com


Nah. I don't know what the original title was, so I don't know if Slum Online is a good translation of it, but I don't think it makes a very good title for this book.

James Nicoll reviewed it here.

From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com


And the tag should lead you to reviews of everything that was in print by July 2011.

From: [identity profile] james-nicoll.livejournal.com


And it's not SF at all. Totally mainstream, including because the same guy wrote All You Need is KILL (a MilSF take on 12:01).
.

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