discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – What Counts as YA?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

December 22: What Counts as YA?

Prompts: Young adult fiction (YA) is aimed at 12 to 18 year old readers, but what actually makes a book YA? Is it just the characters’ ages, or more about the content and themes? Are there any books that have been marketed as YA that you feel are really adult?

Welcome to another week of LTB at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is all about YA. Except, what is YA exactly, and what counts as YA? I have a feeling it might be slightly different to everyone. But what is YA in the general community?

I suppose the prompt has the right of it, and the most “correct” way of describing YA fiction is that it is aimed at 12–18 year old readers. I can definitely accept that. But what does aimed at an age group even mean? Most often, the characters will be about the same age, but again, is this a defining feature? Is it possible to have “YA” with older charaters?

YA has mostly been explained to me by the characters’ ages and the themes of the story. Whether it is adventure or fantasy, I imagine that for the most part there is a type of development that comes with the story. Not that the characters necessarily age within the book (or even series…) but usually there is some sort of growth or change that will accompany the story, perhaps even teaching a lesson. So I guess for me, I feel like it’s very quintessential YA when there are teenagers or even pre-teens going through school or some other sort of journey and “growing up” through the experience. Or at the very least, they often reflect on the experience afterwards.

I think my view of it is probably fairly accepted in the YA community (correct me if I’m way off though!), although I think the difficulty doesn’t come from categorizing the quintessential YA fiction novels. It’s really those novels that are aimed at a slightly younger audience (9–12) or perhaps slightly darker tales aimed at those 16+. Do those still count as YA?

I think for me, YA is already such a general umbrella term, that it’s fairly safe to be over-inclusive. I think people in the community (or even those who are not) understand that this is generally quite a broad term, and that a more direct question is needed if you are trying to figure out if a book is appropriate or not. Like any label, it is really there only for convenience, and overly scrutinizing the boundaries of such labels may not be that useful for anyone, especially for such a broad term. I myself definitely need more information than just “it’s YA” if I want to know about a book.

I think there are certainly a couple of books that I have read that have quite adult themes and I did wonder if a book like The Gilded Wolves does fall on that boundary line. I think it does mostly still classify as YA in my books, but the themes and events do make me think that it is more appropriate for a slightly older reader within that range. I suppose 12–18 is quite an interesting range, as 12 is quite young, and 18 is basically the age of majority. This makes for interesting classifications of books, but I think I haven’t really run into YA books that were simply completely incorrect.

What counts as YA to you? And do you think that there have been any egregious mis-classifications in a YA book? Let me know in the comments below!

5 star

Review: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days.

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn.

An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

Honestly, such an excellent book. I have been recommended this multiple times, and it obviously has the cutest cover ever, but I was never sure exactly what the story was about, and people’s explanations were always extremely vague. Nevertheless, I finally put my hold down on the book and got to reading it and I am super glad I did.

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a book about our protagonist, Linus, who is probably in many ways ordinary. However, through his career, he is selected to go on a particular mission to scout out a particular special orphanage located on a secluded island. The story is told in a charming narrative format, almost like a short story or fable. However, the topics that are explored were excellent, and full of life as we meet these special children and the other inhabitants of this particular island.

Continue reading “Review: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune” →
4 star, YA

Review: House of Marionne by J. Elle

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: House of Marionne #1

Rich is the blood of the chosen

17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins. 

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever. 

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training. 

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Overall Recommendation:

House of Marionne takes us to the exciting world of magical boarding schools where students learn more about their magic in order to integrate into their magical societies. So basically an older version of Harry Potter, right? I loved the introduction to the Houses and the various magic that can be learned. Quell’s overall journey to magic while hiding all of who she is kept the pace fast and tense. While the romance has yet to truly captivate my heart, time will only tell where it goes from here. This was a nice introductory book 1, but I really want book 2 now.

Set in the modern world where magic is hidden from the ordinary people with no magic in their blood, Quell is one of the unfortunate people born with dark magic, known as toushana, that only knows how to destroy, not create. I thought this overall arc tied the whole story together from the beginning when she was on the run with her mom to her journey to her grandmother’s House for magical training. Although the settings change and sometimes the outward focus of things in Quell’s life feels disjointed – I mean, she’s taking etiquette classes one moment and hiding from the Dragun on her tail the next – I do feel at least there’s an invisible connection between all things so nothing felt like weird and unnecessary filler.

The tension to hide Quell’s innate magic always gave me this sense of urgency and worry that kept the book pace elevated even during more mundane scenes. The info dump wasn’t too severe either as Quell was as unfamiliar to this world of magic as we were. I enjoyed learning alongside her the different trials she’d have to perform to bind fully with her magic, and the different Houses present in this magical society. I did wish in part that the learning aspect was both longer and more interesting. Etiquette classes just make me want to snooze, even with intriguing scenes with her mentor Jordan. I wouldn’t have minded more action packed magical learning instead.

Speaking of Jordan, the romance was okay. I know, not a solid raving about the romance? Am I feeling okay? I suppose I didn’t connect with Jordan enough to love him as a character yet. He’s the stereotypical brooding male love interest who is both wary of Quell initially but reluctantly falls in love with her over the course of mentoring because he somehow knows she’s different. He never did anything unpredictable. I knew what he’d feel or maybe even do when, not if, he found out about her magic. Quell’s own feelings towards him didn’t feel particularly strong in a way that made sense from their briefly intense/emotionally charged moments together. I will wait to see if my feelings about them grow in book 2.

However, a person who was more three-dimensional was Yagrin, this unknown individual who was off to the side of the story but had his own POV chapters here and there. His perspective of this society and his role was a fascinating insight into the overall direction the story and series is moving towards as well as giving more depth to the world. I would love to see more of his perspective in the future also.

For the things I did wish connected me more to the story, I overall loved the flow and direction of this book. Having read it as an audiobook probably also helped. My pickiness on minor things is surely based on my own feelings around reading at the moment and perhaps may change in the future if I were to reread this again. I do look forward to seeing where Quell’s journey moves next.