Every couple of months, there’s some think piece about how adults should be ashamed of reading YA and then there’s a barrage of rebuttals extolling the virtues of young adult literature. I think my problem comes when we sort of brush of YA books as “lesser” or when we don’t treat YA epic fantasies with the same respect we treat adult epic fantasies. We should encourage people to explore young adult and adult books equally. I think we should encourage cross-over books like this. In fact, as a teenager, I read far more adult fantasy novels than I do now. I think Mistborn, along with a lot of other adult fantasy novels, hold a lot of appeal for teenagers. I don’t have a problem with this, mind you. It’s on the shelves as a new YA release at my local Barnes and Noble. Since Sanderson broke into the YA scene with The Rithmatist and Steelheart, both released in 2013, I’ve noticed that Mistborn has been rebranded as a YA book. Pacing and themes and length, however, also don’t solely determine what’s YA and what’s adult. I just don’t think that those books would appeal to any of my family members.) (Though to be fair, I’d think twice about handing it to any of my sisters, but different strokes for different folks and all that. Martin-all staples of the adult fantasy market these days-have long books that sometimes feel like they’re plodding along and Martin’s work certainly has dark enough thematic elements that I’d think twice about handing it to my teenage sister. Karen Memory, the adult steampunk novel I’m currently reading, is about a teenage girl, but it’s still considered an adult novel.īut, you say, there’s still length and pacing and thematic elements to consider while determining the difference between adult and young adult, and I will grant you all those things. Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle might also fit into that category, because even though the story is framed by adult Kvothe, it’s primarily about young adult Kvothe. Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn books come to mind, as Vin is only sixteen in those books. Plenty of adult fantasy novels feature teenage protagonists.
The themes.īut so much of that is flexible. YA and adult books are perceived as being fundamentally different. Adults who read YA are immature or suffering from a Peter Pan complex.
Now, I’ve taken classes on YA literature and as a connoisseur of YA books, I know all sorts answers to these questions.
I have no problem rattling off recent favorite titles and I’m not ashamed to tell people that I read a lot of YA fantasy these days.īut having this conversation so often in such a short span of time has got me thinking: what exactly is the difference between a YA fantasy novel and an adult fantasy novel? Why have the people I talked to been so accepting of my adult fantasy tastes but always give me odd looks when I tell them about my favorite YA fantasies? So I recently moved across the country and in the process of getting to know people, I’ve often been asked what sort of books I read or what my favorite books are-you know, the normal questions avid readers get when getting to know new people.
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