Comments on: Young Adult Appreciation Month – Guest post: Lenore from Presenting Lenore

By: Pol87

Pol87 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:55:20 +0000

New measures added to this measures group for 2009 are denoted with an asterisk. ,

By: Kyra

Kyra — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:48:48 +0000

Love YA.

I just finished Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman and I’m reading it over again it was so great! Def. check it out. Fan freakin tastic.

xxxx
Kyra

By: alana

alana — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:45:01 +0000

I just like good fantasy books. Whether or not it’s YA, sword and sorcery fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy, sci-fi, or horror makes little difference (though I do have a soft spot for urban and post-apocalyptic fantasy). I do like a bit of romance in my stories, but I don’t like romance driven plots. (I’ve noticed that stories without any romance or relationship-type story lines can be a bit flat when it comes to the characters.)

I pretty much hate most romances in YA books though because they’re almost all utter nonsense. I also can’t stop thinking about what type of message a book is sending when I read YA. With standard fantasy I don’t have that problem.

By: zibilee

zibilee — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:54:54 +0000

Great post. I have to admit that I have gotten some really great recommendations for YA fantasy from your blog, and that is a genre that I have never really exposed myself to before. I tend to agree with you about liking YA fantasy, but not it’s adult counterpart.

By: Kay

Kay — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:02:08 +0000

What a fantastic guest post! I’m a fan of fantasy too. Now I read mostly urban fantasy types of books, but I enjoy high fantasy too. I love discovering new worlds, creatures, characters that are “out of this world”.

I enjoy romance as long as it doesn’t overtake the whole story. I want a character to be defined by more aspects of his/her life than his/her romantic life!

By: Angie

Angie — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:19:24 +0000

As you know, I read and love it all. Adult fantasy/scifi, YA fantasy, YA contemporary, urban fantasy. You name it. I had a fifth grade teacher who introduced me to YA fantasy and I read a few classics (Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper) but there still wasn’t a ton else available in YA (and I was frequently living in remote areas without much access to larger libraries/bookstores) so I went and read a ton of adult stuff and then came back to it when I discovered Tamora Pierce and such. I love a bit of romance in my fantasy. I freely admit it.

By: MaryK

MaryK — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:01:02 +0000

I mainly read Romance so I do like a romance element in my fantasy. In addition to Romance, I also read Urban Fantasy and some of what I think of as “light fantasy” (as opposed to High/Epic Fantasy) – Patricia Briggs, Pamela Dean, etc.; but I’m essentially a Fantasy newbie.

I got into YA Fantasy through Robin McKinley’s Beauty, and I don’t care for contemporary or grounded-in-reality YA. I’m downright allergic to YA set in highschools. (Though I decided to stretch myself and ordered a copy of Blood and Chocolate. Hopefully, the fantasy aspect will overshadow the highschool aspect.)

I didn’t read much YA when I was growing up because I didn’t have any kind of guidance and, on my own, kept coming up with “message” books. I missed out on a lot of classic YA Fantasy so I’m still catching up on authors like Susan Cooper and Diana Wynne Jones.

One of the reasons I like YA Fantasy is that it’s Fantasy without the Epic. Epic Fantasy intimidates me. As for why YA Fantasy is so popular right now, my inexpert opinion is that the HP books brought the genre into the spotlight. The audience was probably always there, and the market is catching up.

By: Alyssa @ Teens Read and Write

Alyssa @ Teens Read and Write — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:19:46 +0000

I’m an urban fantasy lover, not straight fantasy. Yes I enjoy romance mixed in but prefer it be secondary to the action and suspense.

By: KMont

KMont — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:09:28 +0000

I am loving the epic fantasy right now. I’m on the final book in the first Noble Dead saga. I used to read more epic fantasy, but just recently got back to it with this series. It feels like I’ve been on some incredible journey. HAd no idea I missed it so much, the genre.

On other hand, I love urban fantasy too. Just depends on the mood! As for YA fantasy, I’m loving all that we’re seeing. The imagination is essential for YA readers, so why not YA fantasy?

BTW, all your dislikes at the end of your post? I do love most of them! Even maddening cliffhangers, if done right, make me screech (happily mind) for the next book.

I too say boo to padding though.

Romance is great in fantasy. Bring it on, but I’m prepared for it being less developed than other aspects.

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:59:10 +0000

This was great! I do like both straight-up and urban fantasy!

Theres a lot of the romance type ones lately and they are fun ^_^