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A Stab at the YA Genre

Updated: Oct 6, 2022

By Paige Jensen-Rutter November 17 2021


This is not your typical story. This is not your typical review of a book or a genre. This is, in the truest sense of the word, a complaint.


Young Adult Fiction is listed as suitable reading material for ages 12-18, and is usually in first person. A vast majority of our library is filled with these books and to put it bluntly, I'm sick of it. I'm sick and tired of the whiney main characters and their trashy romances that the authors seem to enjoy describing in vivid detail. Why they feel the need to give us such in-depth descriptions through the perspectives of cookie-cutter female protagonists is beyond my comprehension. On top of that, why are we reading books whose main characters don't teach us anything other than how to behave (or even how not to behave) around a love interest?


I don't want to say that these authors aren't talented, but their skill level is the equivalent of a dirty-minded high school English student. Those of you reading this, you know who you are. These authors take ideas that they've had, ideas that they think will appeal to us, throwing in a bunch of high school stereotypes and mix them all together in a loosely guided plot. If they think that this absolute filth of writing is what we want, then how do they perceive us as a generation? As a whole? Eventually, they’ll send it off to a publisher to hopefully start making some money. Heck, I can't blame them. If I'd written something and sent it off to a publisher even if it was only relatively good, I'd milk that pathetic excuse of a book for all it was worth, and then some.


What really and honestly irks me, however, is the portrayal of the characters. Girls don’t always have the entire world on their shoulders while looking for a romantic interest and a darkroom make out session. Guys aren’t always the polar opposites of strong and weak, desperately trying to woo their love interest while trying to save the world. And on top of that, why are they always trying to save the world? Why aren’t they trying to destroy it? What if the destruction was what their world needed?


Maybe they’re just trying to get through high school like us, but it’s always dramatized to the point where it seems like life or death. Good vs. Evil. But if they’re constantly defining good and evil, then where’s the space at the end of the book for us to draw our own conclusions? To create our own moral code? I’ve run across a meme that asks why the “Chosen One” archetype is always a teenager. Why is it always a teenager? Do we all carry the world on our shoulders? I don’t think we do. I think that we carry a lot, but not the world. I think that we live fairly normal, if sometimes complicated lives.


We try to be who we are, but I think a better way to describe our lives on a day-to-day basis would be mediocre with some heavy doses of good moments and joy in it. I don’t think this is accurately reflected in the books of the YA genre. These books almost seem to reinforce the notion that we’re the center of the universe, which, I do not in any way regret to inform some of you, that we (or you, definitely you as well) are not.


The average age of a published author (at the time they’re first published) is 36. I don’t know about you, but how much do you think you’ll remember about high school once you’ve been bailed out by your stunningly beautiful diploma? How much do these authors actually remember about being a teenager without it being pure conjecture? I’ve heard that this is supposed to be the time in your life when you get to figure out who you are and who you’re going to be. By writing these sorts of books, it seems like these authors are exploring different aspects of themselves or others from their time in high school. I can understand why this might seem appealing or therapeutic for some, but that’s something that they should go over and deal with in therapy rather than writing it all out and publishing a glorified journal for the entire world to read.


Due to the fact that there are so many avid young adult readers, this genre has rapidly expanded and new niches of it are constantly being discovered. With this comes the fact that new books are constantly being written and published. With said rapid expansion in this genre, however, comes a dilemma I've found myself in far too often as of late. They say that one man's trash is another man's treasure, and I never thought I'd see this applied to one of my all-time favorite hobbies, but quite frankly I'm getting tired of having to sift through so much crap!


Libraries are wonderful places that normally help you add to your seemingly endless reading list, but as of late I seem to walk out of a library feeling like I've lost some of my dignity, killed about half my brain cells looking for a good book and felt utterly drained by the countlessly similar and similarly boring synopses I just wasted my time reading. And mind you, it most definitely hasn't been for a lack of trying.


I've honestly given certain books in the YA genre, (such as The Crown, Shatter Me, Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, The Lunar Chronicles, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Shades of London, Matched, and countless others that aren’t even worth listing) a try and in reading the perspectives of the characters in these books, I honestly felt the level of my IQ dropping about as rapidly as a Mistborn from a spire at Kredik Shaw. (Hello to my fellow Sanderson Fans!) If that analogy made no sense, allow me to rephrase. I felt my IQ dropping as rapidly as a paperweight from the 60 story building I threw my dignity off of when I began reading YA fiction.


I'm tired of reading about first kisses and best friends who add to the comic relief and attempt to push the plot forward, which for some reason, the main character seems incapable of doing! Aren't the people we read about supposed to become our role models? Aren't they supposed to inspire us to change and change the world? I'm sick of the all too predictable betrayals and I'm getting so bored I end up returning the book after having read maybe 5 chapters.


I've become tired of the phrase, 'Don't judge a book by its cover' because what do all of these books have in common? A well-done cover with an artsy glitter bubble splattered on the front to catch our attention, to say, 'Hey, look at me! I'm special and unique and most definitely don't recycle all the same characters and plot lines of the last YA book you just read.' And although we would all like to think that we don't judge a book by its cover and although the catchy title may be the reason we pick up the book in the first place, the reason we stay is because of that glittery and interesting cover. It's the colors and concepts of the art that draw us in, and, combined with that catchy title, create the perfect trap to gouge money out of us readers who only wanted a good time, a good story, and a good friend.


"There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope." - Mark Twain

Mark Twain was right. There is no such thing as an original idea, a point that these talentless YA authors are doing an excellent job of proving. Borrowing from books we love as authors can be a good thing. I would know as it has been something I've been guilty of as an amateur young author, but it can also make for repetitive storylines and characters that we get tired of seeing.


Is it just me, (and I honestly don't think it is) or does every book we pick up seem to say that the author is a 'New York Times Best-Selling Author?' It seems to me like they're handing out that title about as casually as our teachers hand out homework, lengthy essays, and (depending on who you are) bad grades. Considering the amount of absolute crap that I've read from several 'New York Times Best-Selling Authors' this title means about as much to me as the worthless, poorly developed characters they create. I've come to realize that 'New York Times Best-Seller' translates to 'This book is like a lottery ticket. It might be crap, it might be gold!'


Now, I would like to remind you that I have nothing against those who read YA fiction and it would be quite hypocritical for me to do so as there are still a few YA books that I enjoy reading. (See end of article for the list). I'm tired of being recommended books in this genre that seems to cover every single aspect of teenage angst. I think I have enough of that in my life already, thank you very much. And while I think the YA genre is great if you're looking for an escape, I've found more solace in what I can write and create than what's been created by people who recycle writing about as well as ScatterPatter's Incorrect Quotes Generator. Honestly, I struggle to read a lot of YA fiction because I struggle with the way it's written. It never seems to flow quite right and I've spotted SO many typos in these books that it makes me question if the editor decided to edit only half the book before they got just as bored as I did and gave up too.


"Easy reading is damn hard writing."--Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is one of the best quotes about writing that I've found and if you'll allow me to be blunt, a lot of the YA genre just doesn't cut it. Remember when I said that the skill level of these authors is on par with a high school English student? This is yet another reason why. Most YA books are like writing a creative essay the night before it's due. Competent enough to work and get a passing grade, but ultimately mediocre as a whole.


I would hope that it's evident by now that I have many issues with the YA genre, but overall my main pet peeve is its honesty. Both the lack of it and the stunning amount of it. For what YA fiction lacks in most everything, it makes up for in its honesty. Even the worst books I’ve read have had some element that pulls me in and makes me want to stay, but weighed against their shortcomings, isn’t enough for me. There's a saying that people are like books: some deceive you with their cover and others surprise you with their content. If you take anything away from this article, please take that. Reading is a different experience for everyone so if you love reading YA, then 'suum cuique pulchrum es,' or rather, 'to each, his own is beautiful.'


I know that the sheer amount of content is alarming which makes it difficult to enjoy reading when you're spending all of your time looking for at least one good book, so I've compiled some of my favorite YA fiction reads and my honest ratings of them (out of 10, based solely on readability and re-readability) in a list below with the hope that you might take the word of a random and very opinionated teenager and check them out. These books are honestly some of my favorites and I've gone back to read some of them over and over again, because although you just read an entire article about essentially every issue I have with YA fiction, these are my 'diamonds in the rough' that my bookworm self adores.


Reading for me is about escaping into a world of your imagination. Mine runs freely in the pages of the books below and I hope that maybe yours will too. I hope you'll check one out, curl up in your favorite sweater under a blanket, and enjoy your new book while listening to the rain. Happy Autumn, Happy Fall, Happy Reading!


My YA Survival List


Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness: 10/10


Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco: 9/10


Skyward by Brandon Sanderson: 8/10


The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson: 8/10


The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: 7.5/10


Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson: 7.5/10


To Catch A Killer by Sheryl Scarborough: 6.5/10


Heartless by Marissa Meyer: 6/10


*Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent: 4.5/10



*Brave New Girl is an honorable mention; it was enjoyable, but I wouldn't read it again unless really bored.

**As a side note, I will be writing a full review based on more factors than just readability for this, my ‘YA Survival List’ in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.


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