Tag: YA | Amy C. Shaw

The Growing Sci-Fi Trend in YA

December 9, 2013 • 15 Comments

In case you haven’t noticed, and for the majority of you who read this blog and keep with YA books you probably have, the growing trend in YA now seems to be science fiction. And just coming off Sci-Fi Month in November, some books I heard about during the month are fresh on my mind!

YA-scifi-released — A very small sampling of YA sci-fi released in the last two years

Time Between Us/ All Our Yesterdays/ Relativity

While there have been YA titles dealing with space or aliens (Across the Universe trilogy, The 5th Wave), most of these sci-fi books seem to be dealing with time travel (like Time Between Us and All Our Yesterdays) and alternate realities (Reativity and Dissonance) or technology (Elusion and Free to Fall).

YA-scifi-upcoming — A very small sampling of 2014 YA sci-fi releases.

Dissonance/ Elusion/ Free to Fall

I’m not sure what started this trend, other than perhaps it seems like a natural progression to come from the dystopia genre (which is also still going fairly strong, and of course sci-fi and dystopia often go hand in hand), which might explain why more of these stories seemed focused on what I consider “earth-bound” science fiction, rather than focusing on what’s in space. And personally, there are several reasons I am excited to see this trend grow…

Sci-fi arouses our curiosity. I think one of the best things about science fiction is all the “what if” questions it poses. I recently started watching the new Fox show Almost Human, which raises the question: What if android (“synthetic”) cops were paired with human cops?

almost-human — If you like thinking about the possibilities of the future, you should watch this show. And Karl Urban and Michael Ealy are fantastic in it.

Or with a YA book I read this year, Pivot Point, what if one could see the different futures that await her when she has a decision to make? Really, the what-if questions we could ask in science fiction are endless!

It awakens creativity and scientific interest at the same time. I have to admit, I have never been interested in science. Ever. It’s always been my weakest subject and I have never cared to understand it. But in college I suddenly developed an interest in learning about genetic engineering. So while I will probably never have an interest in all sciences, there are now at least a couple of areas that I do find interesting, I think largely thanks to science fiction. It also really awakens my creative juices as I think through all those “what-if” scenarios. And I think both creativity and science are important!

It can be a gateway into more science fiction! Let’s face it, I’m sure the actual sci-fi content in most of these YA books is pretty light. I personally don’t have a problem with that, in fact it can be helpful when you’re as science-deficit as I am, but others might see this new trend as just watered-down science fiction. And there’s probably some truth to that, as the dystopia genre has been watered down, but lighter science fiction can be a gateway that leads to Ender’s Game, Star Trek, or more hardcore stuff that I myself have not checked out yet! Presenting a story with some science fiction, even if it also has a contemporary feel or a romantic subplot, can be just what some people need to get their feet wet and realize just how much they might enjoy other science fiction!

What do you think about the rising trend of science fiction in YA literature? Do you have a favorite sci-fi YA book?

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

October 17, 2013 • 8 Comments

Early on in Thirteen Reasons Why, I pegged it as the reason I don’t like reading contemporaries. Teenagers making stupid decisions, using bad language just because, thinking they have a clue about romance, but then the deeper I got into the story, the more I started to understand the heart behind it. The more I felt for Hannah, who even though she was making extremely dumb decisions, didn’t deserve the suffering she went through and obviously needed better guidance in her life. I grew more sympathetic towards Clay, who obviously was a nice guy who wanted the best for Hannah.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

I attended a writing conference where Jay Asher was the keynote speaker, and I appreciated how honest he was about his writing career. He deemed himself a slow writer, and shared how it took over a decade for him to get his first book published. It was oddly encouraging and discouraging at the same. It’s nice to know published authors have struggles too… but it also makes you worry just how much you’ll struggle in your own process! But it’s worth it, or so I’m led to believe!

All that to say, even though Thirteen Reasons Why is not normally something I would gravitate towards, when my co-worker who also attended the conference asked me if I wanted to borrow it and read it, I decided I did want to read the story that was on Jay’s heart and that first got him published. Funnily enough, this book first came on my radar several years ago when I was in college, when I was mostly removed from reading YA but not opposed to it, I just read hardly any for fun at the time due to busyness of life. I didn’t read it then, but I’m glad I read it now; I think I understood it better now than I would have then.

I saw one review on Goodreads where the reviewer said that the book was unrealistic in that Hannah’s reasons for suicide didn’t make sense, and that Mr. Porter didn’t handle the situation well when she came to him. But I have to disagree. I might have felt the same way ten years ago, but after living a little more life I find that I understand it a little better than I would have even as a teen. Because I used to think depression was something you could just “get over,” like many people sadly think. But I have taken enough psychology classes to realize that isn’t true, that it’s real and it may not be rational, but it hurts and it’s not something easy to handle. And while her situations, though sad, may not have seemed extreme to or me, to her it was more than she could bear. As far as Mr. Porter goes, he was teacher trying to play the role of counselor, trying his very, very best to get to the heart of the issues that Hannah brought him, but he did not even have the proper training. She shut him out when he accidentally said the wrong thing. It was a lose-lose situation.

I liked the way the story was told in the dual POV between Clay in current time and Hannah on the tapes, but I admit I got confused more than once, even though the different view points are clearly distinguished by italics or regular font. I also liked that Asher decided to use tapes, and have the characters acknowledge it was old, instead of using CDs or MP3s and acting like it’s normal, when those may seem outdated ten years from now. The lack of pop culture references in general made this a better contemporary in my opinion.

But speaking of the tapes, I got lost in the number of tapes Clay had listened to and how many people had been mentioned. I assume Jay matched it up right, but I thought only five people have been mentioned and all of a sudden we were on person #9. It distracted me some. And also speaking of confusion, I got lost on who was who among all the people Hannah talked about, since they all had fairly normal names and we didn’t get to know any of them well enough to be distinguishable.

It’s not an easy read or a fun read because of the subject matter, and it was frustrating at times, but I think it tells an important story. And in the end, there’s a glimmer of hope, which I appreciate.

If you’re looking for an “issues” book or just curious about the story, I would recommend Thirteen Reasons Why. I give it four stars for its poignancy.

Content Advisory: Moderate language and sexual content. Non-graphic description of a rape and a couple of other sexually charged activities. None of this is for shock, however, but to tell Hannah’s story.

Have you read Thirteen Reasons Why? If so, what were your thoughts?

Double Review: What’s Left of Me and Once We Were

October 7, 2013 • 13 Comments

A few months ago, some fellow bloggers and I decided to form an online book club where we would chat quarterly about a book we had chosen to read. Our first book of choice was What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang. While buying the book at a local bookstore, I was informed that Kat is local and was going to be coming there in a couple of weeks to sign books, including her second book Once We Were, which would be available for sale a couple of weeks before it would be available everywhere else! So I came back a couple of weeks later to grab the second book and to have both signed.

I knew then that I would have to read the books back-to-back and review them both together! My feelings for both, overall, are positive. There are mild spoilers below for both books.

The concept for the series is interesting: everyone is born a hybrid, with two souls in one body. However, one soul is supposed to “settle” over time, essentially just disappear and allow the dominant soul take control. However, as we discussed in our group chat, we were filled with many questions: How is everyone born with two souls? How does one just fade away? How awkward is it to hear someone else’s thoughts alongside your own?

Eva is the POV character in both books, and she is the more silent soul trapped inside a body shared with Addie, the dominant soul. Though Addie is more dominant, Eva has never completely faded away, always present in Addie’s mind. The only true problem this seems to present is the secrecy of it, though it is hard for Eva to cope with the inability to move their body herself, or to experience things for herself, like a kiss or even practicing a hobby she enjoys. She feels completely alone until a girl from school, Hally, reveals that she too is a hybrid and offers to help Eva be able to take control of hers and Addie’s body. Unfortunately, Hally/Lissa, Addie/Eva, and H/L’s brother Devon/Ryan are all found out and taken away to a facility. By the end of book one they manage to escape the facility, and book two is about the characters trying to hide their identities, meeting with other hybrids, and partaking in some revolution efforts.

What I liked about both books:

I liked Eva’s arc. At the beginning of Once We Were, I wasn’t even sure if I would like her. I was still slightly weirded out by the concept that Eva was alone and detached in someone else’s body, watching everything from a distance. Honestly, she felt so detached I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to connect with her, but thankfully somewhere before page 100, I finally started to feel that connection and she started to feel more real.

I also really like Ryan, the slightly less dominant soul of Hally’s brother Devon. He and Eva have a bond that is clear early on, and they grow closer together throughout the first book. By the second book they are more or less together, as much as you can be in such a situation as they are, but I am not sure if their relationship really flourished. But once again, of course it is difficult under the circumstances. Just the same, I liked how sweet he was, and I would consider him my favorite character.

I also enjoyed both the writing style and the story itself (more so for the first book than the second though).

What I did not like as much:

The world-building is vague. When does the book take place? All through the first book I was wondering, this is in America, right? (The second book confirms this.) Why does it seem pretty contemporary in every way except in that not everyone has a computer? And to further complicate all my questions, we hear references to wars that sound like they are wars we really fought, The American Revolution and the World Wars, but the names are slightly differently and the propaganda from the government makes it seem like it all had to do with hybrids. I could buy that if I understood why. But in the second book there is still no explanation. The second book does talk a little bit more about the world, but it still left me quite confused. I suppose I should take it as some sort of alternate version of our world, a sort of “what if everyone was born with two souls?” question that is plopped into what we know, but it’s hard for me to know for sure. I like to know exactly where I am in place and time.

Also, the level of action in these two books, while admirable because I enjoy good action, almost goes overboard. Addie/Eva is a normal girl but she’s jumping out of windows, coming toe-to-toe with baddies, dealing with bomb-related activities… I’ve seen Red Dawn, and I understand drastic times call for drastic measures, but the shift from normal to doing all these things felt a little unrealistic. I mostly accepted it because I want to believe I could play the hero too, but I would have like to have seen a more natural progression from who she was to revolutionary.

Final Thoughts

Again, overall I really enjoyed both books. The story stays interesting, the relationship between Eva and Ryan gave me feels, especially in the first book, and it’s a unique concept that is pretty well executed. I do feel the second book did struggle some in its pacing, as most second books do, so I hope to see a good, tight wrap-up in the third book as everything meets the end of an arc. The first book is a very solid four stars for me, but the second book is a little lower, more like a 3.75. Still, I don’t reward 3.75’s, so they both get 4 stars from me.

If you’ve read one or both of the books of The Hybrid Chronicles, what are your thoughts?

The Top 10 Books I Wish I Had Read for School

September 3, 2013 • 26 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic was Top 10 Contemporary Books That Would Be Great Paired With A Required Reading Book OR Top Ten Books That You Wish Were Taught In Schools. Even though these are both great topics, I struggled with coming up with ten, and decided to focus on the books I wish I had read in school. Some people have read these for school, but every curriculum is different, and these are ones I wish I had been assigned to read (especially in place of some of my least favorites). This week’s list is separated by category.

The Classics That I Still Haven’t Gotten Around to Reading

Brave New World, The Bell Jar, The Screwtape Letters, Fahrenheit 451

Classics are intimidating, which is why they make us read them in school, right? Because otherwise, we might not pick them up. Or are we intimidated by them because they were required reading in school? Hmmm… Regardless, they can’t make us read them all, because there are so many of them! But some I kind of wanted to read, or want to read now, but I might be intimidated for one reason or another, or just haven’t gotten around to it for one reason or another.

(Somewhat) Classic Books I Enjoyed After Graduating

Anthem, Ender’s Game, The Giver

I’m noticing that there was a severe lack of dystopia reading in my school curriculum, which makes me sad. I missed out the poignant The Giver and the interesting Anthem, both which are nice short reads might I add. And while I don’t really consider Ender’s Game dystopia as much as sci-fi, I think it would still be a good school read that can get kids to thinking about the future.

Published After Graduating High School (or College), but Would Have Been Awesome to Read for School!

Cinder, The Book Thief, The Hunger Games

These were published in 2012, 2006, and 2008 respectively, all after I finished high school and Cinder after college, so I never would have really had the chance to read these in the classroom. But how great it would have been! You could read the original story of Cinderella before Cinder and then compare the two! The Book Thief offers a unique perspective on WWII you’re not going to find in history books, plus the prose is lovely. And then The Hunger Games is a true dystopia (much more so than many other YA “dystopias” that have emerged since), but is more interesting and friendly to read than, say, 1984. I think these more contemporary books would be great required reads.

What do you think? What books do you wish you had read for school?

Review: Pivot Point

August 31, 2013 • 14 Comments

Pivot Point is a contemporary veiled with a paranormal vibe, but not of the werewolf or vampire variety, but of the special abilities variety. Addie’s ability is to see into possible futures when faced with a choice. This is her biggest choice yet: to live with her mom or to live with her dad when they decide to get a divorce. Warning: there is mild, vague almost-spoiler below… it’s hard to discuss my feelings on the story without a vague mention of the ending…

When I started reading Pivot Point and came to realize it was more contemporary than sci-fi, I didn’t think I would end up liking it as much as I did. However, the interesting and yet totally believable technology of the Compound, Addie’s personality, and her interactions with Trevor all drew me into the story. And though I knew ahead of time this was the concept, I still found it really neat basically the whole book is two different stories, and only one of them will actually play out. Elements from both stories also show up in the other story in unexpected ways.

It seemed really obvious to me early on which life was the superior one, but then something happens towards the end of the Search that forces Addie to question what to do in order to both keep a promise and to help the person she cares about most. Though I wanted to believe she could somehow solve the problem differently than she chose to, her solution was creative and probably the best choice she could make under the circumstances.

I could really relate to Addie’s character. She always does the right thing, she isn’t impressed by people just because they’re popular, and she loves to read. That was what made it hard to watch her seem to change in one of the possible paths, but after it was all said and done everything made much more sense. The fact that she had a best friend who was so different from her I could also relate to, because I too have been known to stay loyal to old friends who are completely different from me.

I also found the overall writing style enjoyable as well as the story, and even though the story felt fairly complete on its own, it did make me want to check out the sequel when it comes out.

Content Advisory: Some mild language and violence, and a non-graphic mention of sexual assault.

Have you read Pivot Point? What were your thoughts?

Tag Archives: YA

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