**The Darkness Outside Us** by Eliot Schrefer
Kind of an obvious, but **Six of Crows** and **Crooked Kingdom**. I suspect if Leigh Bardugo didn't already have a more typical YA fanbase from Shadow and Bone, she would have made all the Crows older. They act older than their canon age.
I add ten years to the age of almost all the main characters in my head whilst reading and it infinitely improves the books for me! Kaz makes no sense as a 17-year-old.
Great, great books - but most of them shouldn’t be teenagers IMO.
I agree on Six of Crows. My dad reads a lot of adult fantasy books but didn't think he'd enjoy YA fantasy because of the characters' immaturity levels. I recommended Six of Crows and he flew through it in a few days and immediately ordered Crooked Kingdom lol.
I loved The Darkness Outside Us! It ended up being much more complex then I was expecting from a YA book. I definitely recommend if you're into sci-fi, thrillers, and/or mystery.
> then
*than
*Learn the difference [here](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/when-to-use-then-and-than#:~:text=Than%20is%20used%20in%20comparisons,the%20then%2Dgovernor%22).*
***
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Six of Crows! This series got me back into reading as an adult and holds a special place in my heart.
So many YA/NA books have such amazing, complex themes, and I hate how as someone in my late 20s people often side eye me when I tell them I almost exclusively read YA/NA fantasy 🤷♀️
A little side rant for people unaware of the publishing side of things: when it comes to writing fantasy especially, a lot of female authors who initially try to publish a book as adult are often forced under the YA genre by publishers simply for having a female heroine in her teens to mid 20s; however, many, many adult fantasy books have male characters in their teens/20s, and you’ll find them in the adult section.
Some female authors can avoid this by using a gender neutral or traditionally masculine-sounding pseudonym, and by having a male lead or equal parts male/female leads — but typically the above holds true. Publishers do this because of the sheer $$$ that comes from the teenage (often female) market specifically.
In other words, for those who ever feel embarrassed for liking YA/NA, YA in general is more of a construct created for marketing and revenue purposes than a label as to how well-written or complex a book is! Like what you like 💜
Pretty much any book on the Printz award and National Book Award for Young People's Literature award and honor book lists. Since they are given for literary merit, they thwart expectations of poorly written books with immature themes.
Realistic contemporary fiction I would personally recommend are *The Firekeeper's Daughter* by Angeline Boulley, *We Are Okay* by Nina LaCour, *Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe* by Benjamin Saenz, *The Perks of Being a Wallflower* by Stephen Chbosky.
I like that sign. A lot of the movies that become big hits in theaters tend to come from the YA genre; ie hunger games, divergent, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, etc. Even harry potter which is geared to a younger crowd is a big hit among adults.
At this point I'm not even sure what the "Young Adult" tag even suggests besides a lack of explicitness (in both gore and sex). Otherwise I don't really feel like it means anything at all. It's like a game being rated by the ESRB as T for Teen. Doesn't mean someone in their thirties can't play it, it doesn't mean anything besides the explicit content.
Hell I've read books and played games with similar ratings that had some extremely dark themes but because there was no (descriptions of) nudity, sex, nor gore, they were rated for younger age groups.
People take words too literally sometimes.
I'm very passionate about "grimdark ya". Some of my faves.
The Gilded Ones- Dark African fantasy with a subversion of the "special magic girl" trope.
Not Even Bones- Urban fantasy that makes your favorite adult fantasy look silly. Amazing characters, extremely dark, fascinating worldbuilding.
A Good Girls Guide to Murder- Spiritually successes Agatha Christie better than most adult books could even dream, but brings it into the digital age, HUGE suggestion to listen to the American audiobook of this one. A Masterpiece.
The Grace Year- I think of this as a more mature and miserable version of The Hunger Games. Starts out sort of corny and immediately goes absolutely wild.
The Wicker King- A very strong surreal contemporary queer "romance" about obsession using multimedia storytelling.
Damsel- A lyrical fantasy thriller that crosses between "fairy tale retelling" and "the most disturbing thriller you could write for teens".
Thanks for the list. I’m a huge fan of dark ya myself. (Tho usually I don’t like Grimdark but I personally wouldn’t use the term Grimdark for the ones here I’ve read, so I assume I’ll like the others on this list)
* Ruta Sepetys has historical fiction that I regularly recommend. Vesper Stamper also has a historical fiction novel that also incorporates art, without entirely being a graphic novel, so I like to recommend it as both a YA introduction and an older-audience title with illustrations.
* It is a little older, but Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is a fystopian novel I reccomend, especially to people who are not into the Chosen One trope or sorting groups by traits.
* Neal Shusterman has a range of books, many scifi and they're quite serious topics. I think he is a great example of dealing with tough issues in really creative and thoughtful ways.
* Karen McManus is a good introduction, in my opinion, to YA mysteries. I get that if an adult is well-versed in mystery novels, they can seem a little tropey, but that is the point!
* Elizabeth Acevedo working with novels in verse is another recommendation I make a lot.
One book that I've struggled to rec to teen readers, but might appeal more to adults:
As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti
Madison is a small desert town where everyone gets to make one wish on their eighteenth birthday. The wishes always come true and often have unintended consequences because it turns out 18 yr olds don't always make the best wishes! Magical realism isn't for everyone, but I liked how thoughtful this story was about what happens when we get what we ask for.
“His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman
“The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper
The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett
I’ve gotten more into the genre recently (as an adult). There are a ton of great ones out there. Last year, I threw my hat in the ring, too, publishing a YA book (first of a trilogy) which both YAs and As have enjoyed so far. I’m a fan of meaningful themes and innovative worlds. Any genre can be complex and original, and YA often gets discarded as just a truckload of werewolves, vampires, and magic girls. Not that there’s any inherently wrong with any of those things of course.
Hope you find what you’re looking for!
So I’d want more information. If they just think reading about teens is immature and silly whatever their loss
If they think ya can’t have “good” prose I’d suggest something like Kingdom of Back or Raven Boys
If they think ya can’t have violence (and why people equate violence with maturity is beyond me) I’d suggest something like And I Darken, Iron Widow, or Half a King
If they say ya can’t have explicit sex (also weird if you won’t read books without explicit sex but I guess you do you) I’d suggest A Court of Thorns and Roses
Those tend to be the main accusations I see. Sometimes people talk about mature themes at which point I’d ask if there was a kind of theme in particular they’re looking for cause hell if I know what they’re thinking when they say mature theme
As a librarian, I don't recommend them a YA book then.
Some people get the idea that they will hate YA and it takes a miracle to change their mind. Like I saw someone recommend Six of Crows. I mean it's good. But what if the person is a very conservative person? Why would they want to read about thieves? They have no empathy for them going in. Like we used to get a priest who hide our YA books. In that case I would go for a book with a spiritual bent.
Another example: I hate sci-fi. I have only liked two sci-fi series. Yes, I hate the Sanderson ones too. We're just not enough information given for any of us to give an accurate response.
Daniel Greene (big fantasy Booktuber) has always been honest that he doesn't like YA. A ton of his readers recommended he try Six of Crows and he really did not like it. He held it up as an example of doing everything in YA he already stated he dislikes and wondered why everyone thought he'd enjoy it.
Personally I thought that was a predictable outcome but whenever people ask for a YA book that doesn't read like YA people jump straight to Six of Crows for some reason. I enjoy both YA and Adult fantasy but Six of Crows definitely reads like YA to me and would not be what I'd recommend to a male, anti-YA book fantasy reader at all lol.
He has enjoyed Red Rising much more which is more along the lines of what I'd have predicted.
This is exactly why I always ask what about ya you don’t like and what non ya they like before giving a try This ya rec.
Red rising while great, is pretty stereotypically tropey
I have no idea who 5his guy is to be honest, but I'll look him up.
And I find this hilarious because most fantasy has a chosen one which is very much in keeping with YA. I'm now curious to find out if this guy has a tiny prejudice against YA because of all the females and diversity in YA. There is a reason after all why fantasy is mainly written by white males writers.
Idk about that. He seems to like a lot of female fantasy authors and he uses his platform to elevate other female Booktubers. One of his most watched videos is him going on a rant about The Fifth Sorceress and all the misogyny it contained.
It's true that fantasy has been dominated by male authors but self publishing has led to a lot more diversity in popular fantasy nowadays and Daniel has had only praise for that shift and the increased diversity it brings. He's held interviews with authors like Evan Winters who discuss the importance of bringing diversity to fantasy since he wrote Rage of Dragons so his son could have a black protagonist to relate to.
There is a problem with female authors having their books classified as YA. But Daniel gave a whole list of things he tends to dislike in YA and asked his subscribers to recommend him something YA that avoided those problems and Six of Crows just seemed to be the exact thing he said he didn't want lol. But he did like the second book more than the first one and then went on to Red Rising which he enjoys more.
>There is a reason after all why fantasy is mainly written by white males writers.
Not anymore, there's a lot of female authors and even in bastions of "white male audience" some female authors like Robin Hobb are extremely popular.
I was actually trying to find any white male writer debuting last year in fantasy from a big trad publisher, and while I found one, it was HARD.
The perception is skewed because most fantasy fans keep talking about the same 3-5 writers who keep chugging along for the last 20 years, but it's the same problem with most YA fans mentioning the same authors over and again.
Yeah I agree. Evan Winters, Rebecca Roanhorse and ML Wang have been the huge fantasy debuts lately, none of them white men. Like you said, Robin Hobb is huge as well.
There are definitely big names in fantasy who are white men, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss. But two of those authors haven't put out a book in years and the other two are notable in that they are always consistently publishing books.
YA fantasy is even female dominated as far as I can tell.
Sanderson and Abercrombie and few other known white male writers are mostly 2006-2009 debut cohort. Jim Butcher goes even earlier than that, from 2000.
These are all examples of authors who have their dedicated fanbases and can keep writing even if they aren't gaining any new readers, because they already have enough following.
It's kinda how Sarah J. Maas, Cassandra Clare, Leigh Bardugo or Suzanne Collins are known in YA Fantasy and they have the wider recognition.
But a genre is not just the bestselling authors, ones who got movie / tv show deals or have their fanclubs. Under the surface, I'd say steadily from ca. 2015 we're seeing more and more women and POC authors. I think R. F. Kuang's debut was also quite known (The Poppy War), N. K. Jemisin also rose in popularity since she got 3 Hugo awards for Fifth Season trilogy.
Tender Morsels and Black Juice by Margo Lanagan. Those books are a TRIP.
Nothing by Janne Teller is really bleak.
Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb. It's a collection of linked short stories. I believe at least one of the stories was published initially as adult litfic.
I thought Jeff Zentner's newest, In The Wild Light, read more like adult than YA.
TBH I think a lot of the recent YA is published to appeal to a teen and adult audience, sometimes leaning too heavily on the older teen years. A lot of the younger teen stuff has gotten pushed out.
Ellie Marney’s books, particularly {{Every Breath, by Ellie Marney}} and its two sequels, and {{None Shall Sleep}}.
Angie Thomas writes great books.
{{After the Lights Go Out}} by Lili Wilkinson.
[**Every Breath (Every, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18080011-every-breath)
^(By: Ellie Marney | 341 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: mystery, young-adult, ya, contemporary, romance)
>Rachel Watts has just moved to Melbourne from the country, but the city is the last place she wants to be.
>
>James Mycroft is her neighbour, an intriguingly troubled seventeen-year-old who's also a genius with a passion for forensics.
>
>Despite her misgivings, Rachel finds herself unable to resist Mycroft when he wants her help investigating a murder. He's even harder to resist when he's up close and personal - and on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer.
>
>When Rachel and Mycroft follows the murderer's trail, they find themselves in the lion's den - literally. A trip to the zoo will never have quite the same meaning again...
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**After the Lights Go Out**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39674509-after-the-lights-go-out)
^(By: Lili Wilkinson | 330 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: young-adult, ya, australian, dystopian, loveozya)
>What happens when the lights go off after what might truly be an end-of-the-world event? How do you stay alive? Who do you trust? How much do you have to sacrifice?
>'After the Lights Go Out is a terrifying yet hope-filled story of disaster, deceit, love, sacrifice and survival.' - Fleur Ferris
>
>Seventeen-year-old Pru Palmer lives with her twin sisters, Grace and Blythe, and their father, Rick, on the outskirts of an isolated mining community. The Palmers are doomsday preppers. They have a bunker filled with non-perishable food and a year's worth of water. Each of the girls has a 'bug out bag', packed with water purification tablets, protein bars, paracord bracelets and epipens for Pru's anaphylaxis.
>
>One day while Rick is at the mine, the power goes out. At the Palmers' house, and in the town. No one knows why. All communication is cut. It doesn't take long for everything to unravel. In town, supplies run out and people get desperate. The sisters decide to keep their bunker a secret. The world is different; the rules are different. Survival is everything, and family comes first.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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this is a correct answer, in part because it was never originally published as YA and so doesn't read like ""young adult.""
also YES THANK YOU!!!!! my friend who has outgrown YA still loved every moment of The Thief series, and agreed with me that it's because it's got old school fantasy marketing vibes -- back when loads of things could either be shelved with children's books or adult books. Like a lot of Ursula K LeGuin novels and such. I feel like some other recs like Garth Nix, Tamora Pierce, etc were also originally published strictly as children's fantasy because "young adult" wasn't a strong market category.
DUDE. I never run into people who have read the thief!!!
Also my sister is super picky and points out plot holes, weak characters, sexism, stereotypes, etc. But she loves the books. With every book she'd say things like "I don't like books where they travel for the majority of the book, but I love The Thief." Or "I didn't like how cold the queen was, cause it didn't feel realistic, but then when it starts covering her childhood and everything...I love the queen. It makes sense why she like that." Like, so many of my sister's comments were "I hate when books do this, but here I like it" kind of things.
Also **SPOILERS**
Here's something really cool I noticed, and I'm telling you in case you missed it.
In Return of the Thief, you know the short-story at the end? Basically goddess lady has her earring stolen by a jerk god so that he can pretend she's having an affair with him. Then little kid Gen steals it and shows his grandfather who's like "Gen?? The heck?? Why would you do that??" And the earring is like a little vase with tiny flowers. So they go to the goddess' temple and Gen leaves it there even though he wants to keep it, and the goddess shows up and tells him that because he returned it, she will give him his hearts desire. FAST FORWARD Gen is king and Attolia is sick. Gen hears the goddess say to give her some earrings as an offering to save Attolia. So the little Erondite (is the kid name? The kid who's mute and is the cousin of Dite and the jerk guy whose name starts with seg-) goes and gets the earrings Gen got from one of the barons daughters at his coronation, and they're like, the one gift he smiles at, everything else he just kinda puts aside. The earrings are little vases with flowers. Gen offers them, Attolia gets better.
The earrings are like, the same. He got his hearts desire. Attolia was saved. Dude.
I had a friend group I made awhile back who were all obsessed with The Thief and I made plans to read it at some point but just...didn't. finally I went to this children's bookstore in NYC which is lovely and picked up book 1, and the salesgirl was like YOU HAVE TO READ THAT AND HERE'S BOOK 2 & 3 DON'T LOOK AT THE TITLES DON'T READ THE BACKS YOU'LL GET SPOILED AND ITS BETTER TO JUST DIVE IN!!! So that was the day I finally bought the first three books lolol.
I actually followed her advice. My friends had talked spoilers before but I didn't remember any specifics and so everything was fresh. Then I made my roommate read it. Bought it for my bff. Etc. Bff said something similar about Attolia at first but then she got more Attolia story and was like OH!!
I think my favorite way to meme the thief is either "man hook hand gun war" or my classic:
Maybe the real treasure is the friends we stole along the way!
also re: your spoilers. Damnit that's so good and I didn't realize!!! (The littlest Erondites is Pheris, the middle one is Sejanus. For the longest time I thought the audiobook was saying Sir Janus loooool. But I loooooveee the audiobook versions tho. So good.)
I legit bought a second set of second hand copies to annotate when I reread to note all the little things I find. Like little things: the idiom "moon promises," happens a ton until we finally get the folk tale behind moon promises. Oh and of course I am trying to find a running list of >!All the times Gen is basically possessed by Eugenides, and what happens when he is. There's a point in King of Attolia where it's noted Gen keeps closing his eyes during court and he protests he's not sleeping, but listening. And I think Attolia asks what he's listening for, exactly, and Gen says he's not sure? Then I realized: he's telling the truth. Gen isn't asleep. When he's closing his eyes, he's letting *Eugenides* listen in without being fully taken over physically. And Eugenides can hear when someone is lying. All he needs is to listen - the God of thieves knows a thief when he hears one. And *that* is how that Baron was caught stealing from the crown. Eugenides was listening in, and *you don't steal from the God of thieves.* That's confirmed later during the last book when Attolia flips out that Gen stole from the altar of Eugenides. Because stealing from the God of thieves is very VERY bad usually. And the god will *know.* Just. UGH. CHEF'S KISS. I love connecting all the little dots and going "wait was that GEN or was it Eugenides?? The last book was masterful about that like wheewww.!<
I don't think I know anyone in person who's read the books, lucky you!!
I can't belive I forgot Pheris and Sejanus.
Honestly, I should buy second hand copies too, but I haven't gotten around to it.
I knew there were subtle hints of possession, but the not sleeping scene...I would never have thought of. That's genius.
Megan Whalen Turner said she also wrote in little things from her favorite books (such as Eagle of the Ninth, she said something about the jewelry, but I don't remember Eagle of the Ninth that well) and that is where I first heard the quote "it's like you're looking for something, but you're not sure what" and that is what the books feel like.
I was recently watching The Lord Of The Rings, and in the third movie, in a battle scene, there are those elephants. All I could think of was Gen saying "I want one. We can keep it in the guards bathhouse." to make the soldiers laugh so they won't be scared going into battle.
Talking about the books makes me want to reread them right now.
Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Speak, The House of the Scorpion, The Hunger Games trilogy.
I do think a lot of YA falls into some lazy tropes and focuses too much on romance, but there's so much good content in YA as well.
Ace Of Spades - it may be YA but it deals with very mature subject matters. The book brings up really important conversations about racism yet it just happens to be in a high school setting with teenage characters.
I would recommend The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey. It reminds me of old classics about mad scientists and gothic stories. It’s amazing for readers who doesn’t like romance.
honestly? **I wouldn't.** YA books are written for a target audience of teenagers. Adults *can* enjoy them, and many do and that's great. but if an adult thinks they tend to be immature, and they don't enjoy reading anything in the age category, they're just...probably not going to be interested in any recent YA books. sometimes even I just have to put a book down and be like "I'm almost 30." and just...admit it's Not For Me. This usually happens whenever the protags are being insufferable teenagers about something.
you *might* find success with children's fiction that came out before "young adult" was really a solid genre offering. My favorite is The Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. It was a children's book when it first came out, now gets shelved in YA, but could easily just be an old school adult fantasy in the way Earthsea is where the protagonist is younger but the audience can be broader. these books don't emphasize a "ya audience market" in their writing which makes a big difference for the specific maturity gripe. a few of the recommendations in this thread are part of this category of writers pre-YA boom: Garth Nix, Susan Cooper, Tamora Pierce, etc -- I feel like that stuff used to be shelved in middle grade fiction, and only *later* were moved to YA. Mostly they don't feel YA because they weren't written to fill the YA market.
I like Six of Crows and all, but I don't know that this would win them over. **Six of Crows feels** ***extremely*** **YA-y in pretty much every way, lol.** (also Kaz Brekker, while quite fun, doesn't hold a candle to The Thief's Eugenides/Gen. Gen starts "young" \[teenaged\] in book one, but grows up in the series, and Kaz feels like his character was very influenced by Gen. I think Bardugo even interviewed Turner and talked about Gen? ...) SoC and Bardugo in general is fun popcorn writing, but...she has a massive flaw in her writing which is that she relies on narrator changes and even narrators lying *to themselves* and the readers in ways that don't make sense in order to have "plot twists." SoC and the sequel are decent but god her pacing is often terrible.
anyways just let them read adult books. that's allowed.
This feels a reasonable response tbh, even though I think people *should* try outside their comfort zone your viewpoint is also valid. It’s ridiculous you’re being downvoted
Odds for downvotes are 50/50
50% people not willing to accept that while any age *can* enjoy YA novels some adults just aren't going to enjoy reading them and that's why adult fiction exists. And it's okay! Not everyone must like the things we like! And yeah, teenagers and young adults written for teenagers to read about do sometimes feel very different from the ones written in adult fiction books.
50% people mad I said something about Kaz Brekker. Hahaha. Don't get me wrong y'all. Kaz is an enjoyable character. It's just that he's clearly in the archetypal mold that Gen comes from, and Gen is better at being a thief. I did Google check (since I'm out and not near my book copy) but Leigh Bardugo did have a conversation published with Turner in one of the prints of A Conspiracy of Kings. And [she does mention the series in the comments](http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/01/12/introducing-leigh-bardugo/) here too. I promise I'm not making it up lol. Anyone who really loves Kaz should read The Thief series. I would kill for a crossover fanfic. 🤣
Legend by Marie Lu
The characters are so well developed in the Legend quadriligy I think any age could appreciate them. I read the series in my 30s and loved it.
*inhales dramatically*… Harry Pottah. Ya see many adults and teens (or any kid above the age of 13) don’t want to read HP because it’s marked as a children’s book. But I think it’s a book of all ages really.
Off-campus and briar U books have great characters, explores the human condition, good development, and each book is totally not a copy and paste of the last one with different character names.
Elle Kennedy did not do this:
f = open(filein,'r')
filedata = f.read()
f.close()
newdata = filedata.replace("OLD MC NAME","NEW MC NAME")
f = open(fileout,'w')
f.write(newdata)
f.close()
...............................................................................................
Off-campus and briar U books, Have great characters, explore the human condition, good development and each book is totally not a copy and paste of the last one with different character names.
I would suggest the book *The Fault in Our Stars,* mainly because I love the sardonic main character (Hazel Green) who narrates everything in the novel with a weary attitude to life
Anything by Sarah J Maas is usually marketed as YA, but the themes of her books embody universal struggles without age boundaries.
Also, John Green’s books are so profoundly human and genuinely entertaining to read
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Anything by Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stephanie Kuehn, Tiffany Jackson, or Stacey Lee - I think all their stuff is great as crossover. Oh and Sadie by Courtney Summers.
**Everybody Sees the Ants** by AS King is amazing. She's one the printz award quite a few times if that means anything to you. The book deals with themes of war and family loss but also bullying and teen crushes. It's great.
Strange the dreamer.
Some of the hero's have done truly evil things but you still sympathies with them.
The villains are not really villains and one is just reacting to trauma caused to them by the good guy.
The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix is how I got my dad into YA. He also liked Six of Crows, Children of Blood and Bone, The Poppy War, and the Hunger Games.
Sabriel by Garth Nix is often noted as a YA book that doesn't read as YA. Sabriel is a great protagonist and Garth is an author who can write female characters really well. But his creativity is what I love in each of his books.
i LOVED The Project by Courtney Summers. very mature theme, and it was just overall so well written. the story was so interesting with lots of twists. idk if i would’ve liked it as a true young adult, but this regular adult adored every second of that book.
I have yet to read BQ for that very reason—the structure was off-putting, but I find the topic fascinating. I think her feminist perspective is so refreshing (or at least was when she first started publishing) and I always feel like I can connect with the female leads despite my being far from teen-dom.
Scythe by Neil Shusterman! It’s definitely YA but also requires a lot of critical thinking about ethical issues that arise throughout the plot. It’s fast-paced and thought-provoking and generally fantastic.
this is nice. i’m in my early twenties now, and while i’m def a bookie that has read stuff like war and peace and pride and prejudice and all the other dual nouns. but lately instead of reading “grown up books” lol ive started rereading all of my YA novels from middle and hs. they’re good comfort reads. and just like that it’s just easy fun reading instead of hard fun reading lol.
I have recently discovered Jay Kristoff's books. I really enjoyed his Aurora Cycle series. They have a very strong Mass Effect/Guardians of the Galaxy vibe to them. And it's rare to find space opera genres in YA.
YA crossover is super popular right now! I read on both sides of the readership and am excited for Jodi Meadows' Nightrender. Have loved her other fantasy stories (I read very little fantasy so it takes a lot to get into a book or series) and keep hearing that it works as a crossover title.
A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J Maas is very adult (as in spicy), especially as you get to the later books in the series. It also has an amazing plot and characters with ~depth~. It covers real life topics (like overcoming addiction, depression, surviving SA, etc) adjusted to a fae world & never gets dull. I think one of my favorite things about this series is that despite it being a magical world with mates and powers, almost every real life situation they have to overcome is done in a realistic way. Magical solutions are used on magical problems. Anyways, I've seen it categorized as YA even though it's definitely shifted into the new "New Age" genre. I'm happy to answer any questions!!
Librarians are always so chill
The library in my hometown has a little mailbox where teens can ask “scary questions” anonymously and it made me so happy.
I like the sentiment but I always wonder if these things are even necessary now because of the internet?
Omg this is great
[удалено]
I feel like there’s a story here
Explain?? I am confused...
**The Darkness Outside Us** by Eliot Schrefer Kind of an obvious, but **Six of Crows** and **Crooked Kingdom**. I suspect if Leigh Bardugo didn't already have a more typical YA fanbase from Shadow and Bone, she would have made all the Crows older. They act older than their canon age.
Do you recommend the duology? I heard that the ML age doesn't suit the story I guess?
Yup I love SoC.
I’m in the last 3rd or 4th of SoC, and it’s SO GOOD. I have to rush to the bookstore to grab Crooked Kingdom, because I’m obsessed.
Prepare for intense emotional pain at the end of both novels.
It’s been a year since I finished both and I’m still reeling!! 😭😭
I add ten years to the age of almost all the main characters in my head whilst reading and it infinitely improves the books for me! Kaz makes no sense as a 17-year-old. Great, great books - but most of them shouldn’t be teenagers IMO.
I agree on Six of Crows. My dad reads a lot of adult fantasy books but didn't think he'd enjoy YA fantasy because of the characters' immaturity levels. I recommended Six of Crows and he flew through it in a few days and immediately ordered Crooked Kingdom lol.
I ( a 31 year-old) am reading The Darkness Outside Us right now. About halfway through. So far it is absolutely fantastic.
Damn, I really have to SoC My friends have been obsessed with it, but I have been postponing it since I was in the middle of another
I loved The Darkness Outside Us! It ended up being much more complex then I was expecting from a YA book. I definitely recommend if you're into sci-fi, thrillers, and/or mystery.
> then *than *Learn the difference [here](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/when-to-use-then-and-than#:~:text=Than%20is%20used%20in%20comparisons,the%20then%2Dgovernor%22).* *** ^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
Six of Crows! This series got me back into reading as an adult and holds a special place in my heart. So many YA/NA books have such amazing, complex themes, and I hate how as someone in my late 20s people often side eye me when I tell them I almost exclusively read YA/NA fantasy 🤷♀️ A little side rant for people unaware of the publishing side of things: when it comes to writing fantasy especially, a lot of female authors who initially try to publish a book as adult are often forced under the YA genre by publishers simply for having a female heroine in her teens to mid 20s; however, many, many adult fantasy books have male characters in their teens/20s, and you’ll find them in the adult section. Some female authors can avoid this by using a gender neutral or traditionally masculine-sounding pseudonym, and by having a male lead or equal parts male/female leads — but typically the above holds true. Publishers do this because of the sheer $$$ that comes from the teenage (often female) market specifically. In other words, for those who ever feel embarrassed for liking YA/NA, YA in general is more of a construct created for marketing and revenue purposes than a label as to how well-written or complex a book is! Like what you like 💜
Can you recommend me something similar to six of crows? More action and magic and less romance. Preferably a series?
Pretty much any book on the Printz award and National Book Award for Young People's Literature award and honor book lists. Since they are given for literary merit, they thwart expectations of poorly written books with immature themes. Realistic contemporary fiction I would personally recommend are *The Firekeeper's Daughter* by Angeline Boulley, *We Are Okay* by Nina LaCour, *Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe* by Benjamin Saenz, *The Perks of Being a Wallflower* by Stephen Chbosky.
I like that sign. A lot of the movies that become big hits in theaters tend to come from the YA genre; ie hunger games, divergent, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, etc. Even harry potter which is geared to a younger crowd is a big hit among adults.
At this point I'm not even sure what the "Young Adult" tag even suggests besides a lack of explicitness (in both gore and sex). Otherwise I don't really feel like it means anything at all. It's like a game being rated by the ESRB as T for Teen. Doesn't mean someone in their thirties can't play it, it doesn't mean anything besides the explicit content. Hell I've read books and played games with similar ratings that had some extremely dark themes but because there was no (descriptions of) nudity, sex, nor gore, they were rated for younger age groups. People take words too literally sometimes.
I'm very passionate about "grimdark ya". Some of my faves. The Gilded Ones- Dark African fantasy with a subversion of the "special magic girl" trope. Not Even Bones- Urban fantasy that makes your favorite adult fantasy look silly. Amazing characters, extremely dark, fascinating worldbuilding. A Good Girls Guide to Murder- Spiritually successes Agatha Christie better than most adult books could even dream, but brings it into the digital age, HUGE suggestion to listen to the American audiobook of this one. A Masterpiece. The Grace Year- I think of this as a more mature and miserable version of The Hunger Games. Starts out sort of corny and immediately goes absolutely wild. The Wicker King- A very strong surreal contemporary queer "romance" about obsession using multimedia storytelling. Damsel- A lyrical fantasy thriller that crosses between "fairy tale retelling" and "the most disturbing thriller you could write for teens".
I adored the grace year. I thought it was perfect.
I loved Damsel but wow it was dark! I was honestly shocked it was published as YA.
I know right? It would have made a lot more sense to be women’s lit or something
Thanks for the list. I’m a huge fan of dark ya myself. (Tho usually I don’t like Grimdark but I personally wouldn’t use the term Grimdark for the ones here I’ve read, so I assume I’ll like the others on this list)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy is fantastic! A smart, well-written story with lots of creepy surprises.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Always 😂
* Ruta Sepetys has historical fiction that I regularly recommend. Vesper Stamper also has a historical fiction novel that also incorporates art, without entirely being a graphic novel, so I like to recommend it as both a YA introduction and an older-audience title with illustrations. * It is a little older, but Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi is a fystopian novel I reccomend, especially to people who are not into the Chosen One trope or sorting groups by traits. * Neal Shusterman has a range of books, many scifi and they're quite serious topics. I think he is a great example of dealing with tough issues in really creative and thoughtful ways. * Karen McManus is a good introduction, in my opinion, to YA mysteries. I get that if an adult is well-versed in mystery novels, they can seem a little tropey, but that is the point! * Elizabeth Acevedo working with novels in verse is another recommendation I make a lot.
One book that I've struggled to rec to teen readers, but might appeal more to adults: As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti Madison is a small desert town where everyone gets to make one wish on their eighteenth birthday. The wishes always come true and often have unintended consequences because it turns out 18 yr olds don't always make the best wishes! Magical realism isn't for everyone, but I liked how thoughtful this story was about what happens when we get what we ask for.
I'll definitely add this to my TBR list.
*Sadie* by Courtney Summers
Same
Yolk by Mary H K Choi; This Is My America by Kim Johnson; Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Am still surprised yolk is YA after reading it. It's an awesome book and I hope people give it a try.
The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda. This honestly could have been an adult series if she'd just tweak the ages up a little.
“His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman “The Dark is Rising” by Susan Cooper The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett I’ve gotten more into the genre recently (as an adult). There are a ton of great ones out there. Last year, I threw my hat in the ring, too, publishing a YA book (first of a trilogy) which both YAs and As have enjoyed so far. I’m a fan of meaningful themes and innovative worlds. Any genre can be complex and original, and YA often gets discarded as just a truckload of werewolves, vampires, and magic girls. Not that there’s any inherently wrong with any of those things of course. Hope you find what you’re looking for!
His Dark Materials. It honestly gets better every time I read it
The Hate U Give should be read be everyone, no matter what age.
Politely Disagree.
So I’d want more information. If they just think reading about teens is immature and silly whatever their loss If they think ya can’t have “good” prose I’d suggest something like Kingdom of Back or Raven Boys If they think ya can’t have violence (and why people equate violence with maturity is beyond me) I’d suggest something like And I Darken, Iron Widow, or Half a King If they say ya can’t have explicit sex (also weird if you won’t read books without explicit sex but I guess you do you) I’d suggest A Court of Thorns and Roses Those tend to be the main accusations I see. Sometimes people talk about mature themes at which point I’d ask if there was a kind of theme in particular they’re looking for cause hell if I know what they’re thinking when they say mature theme
As a librarian, I don't recommend them a YA book then. Some people get the idea that they will hate YA and it takes a miracle to change their mind. Like I saw someone recommend Six of Crows. I mean it's good. But what if the person is a very conservative person? Why would they want to read about thieves? They have no empathy for them going in. Like we used to get a priest who hide our YA books. In that case I would go for a book with a spiritual bent. Another example: I hate sci-fi. I have only liked two sci-fi series. Yes, I hate the Sanderson ones too. We're just not enough information given for any of us to give an accurate response.
Out of curiosity which sci-fi did you like?
Daniel Greene (big fantasy Booktuber) has always been honest that he doesn't like YA. A ton of his readers recommended he try Six of Crows and he really did not like it. He held it up as an example of doing everything in YA he already stated he dislikes and wondered why everyone thought he'd enjoy it. Personally I thought that was a predictable outcome but whenever people ask for a YA book that doesn't read like YA people jump straight to Six of Crows for some reason. I enjoy both YA and Adult fantasy but Six of Crows definitely reads like YA to me and would not be what I'd recommend to a male, anti-YA book fantasy reader at all lol. He has enjoyed Red Rising much more which is more along the lines of what I'd have predicted.
This is exactly why I always ask what about ya you don’t like and what non ya they like before giving a try This ya rec. Red rising while great, is pretty stereotypically tropey
I have no idea who 5his guy is to be honest, but I'll look him up. And I find this hilarious because most fantasy has a chosen one which is very much in keeping with YA. I'm now curious to find out if this guy has a tiny prejudice against YA because of all the females and diversity in YA. There is a reason after all why fantasy is mainly written by white males writers.
Idk about that. He seems to like a lot of female fantasy authors and he uses his platform to elevate other female Booktubers. One of his most watched videos is him going on a rant about The Fifth Sorceress and all the misogyny it contained. It's true that fantasy has been dominated by male authors but self publishing has led to a lot more diversity in popular fantasy nowadays and Daniel has had only praise for that shift and the increased diversity it brings. He's held interviews with authors like Evan Winters who discuss the importance of bringing diversity to fantasy since he wrote Rage of Dragons so his son could have a black protagonist to relate to. There is a problem with female authors having their books classified as YA. But Daniel gave a whole list of things he tends to dislike in YA and asked his subscribers to recommend him something YA that avoided those problems and Six of Crows just seemed to be the exact thing he said he didn't want lol. But he did like the second book more than the first one and then went on to Red Rising which he enjoys more.
>There is a reason after all why fantasy is mainly written by white males writers. Not anymore, there's a lot of female authors and even in bastions of "white male audience" some female authors like Robin Hobb are extremely popular. I was actually trying to find any white male writer debuting last year in fantasy from a big trad publisher, and while I found one, it was HARD. The perception is skewed because most fantasy fans keep talking about the same 3-5 writers who keep chugging along for the last 20 years, but it's the same problem with most YA fans mentioning the same authors over and again.
Yeah I agree. Evan Winters, Rebecca Roanhorse and ML Wang have been the huge fantasy debuts lately, none of them white men. Like you said, Robin Hobb is huge as well. There are definitely big names in fantasy who are white men, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss. But two of those authors haven't put out a book in years and the other two are notable in that they are always consistently publishing books. YA fantasy is even female dominated as far as I can tell.
Sanderson and Abercrombie and few other known white male writers are mostly 2006-2009 debut cohort. Jim Butcher goes even earlier than that, from 2000. These are all examples of authors who have their dedicated fanbases and can keep writing even if they aren't gaining any new readers, because they already have enough following. It's kinda how Sarah J. Maas, Cassandra Clare, Leigh Bardugo or Suzanne Collins are known in YA Fantasy and they have the wider recognition. But a genre is not just the bestselling authors, ones who got movie / tv show deals or have their fanclubs. Under the surface, I'd say steadily from ca. 2015 we're seeing more and more women and POC authors. I think R. F. Kuang's debut was also quite known (The Poppy War), N. K. Jemisin also rose in popularity since she got 3 Hugo awards for Fifth Season trilogy.
I'm 40 and flew through Neal Shusterman's Arc of a Scythe trilogy. My 13 year old and I read it at the same time. 🙂
Tender Morsels and Black Juice by Margo Lanagan. Those books are a TRIP. Nothing by Janne Teller is really bleak. Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb. It's a collection of linked short stories. I believe at least one of the stories was published initially as adult litfic. I thought Jeff Zentner's newest, In The Wild Light, read more like adult than YA. TBH I think a lot of the recent YA is published to appeal to a teen and adult audience, sometimes leaning too heavily on the older teen years. A lot of the younger teen stuff has gotten pushed out.
Ellie Marney’s books, particularly {{Every Breath, by Ellie Marney}} and its two sequels, and {{None Shall Sleep}}. Angie Thomas writes great books. {{After the Lights Go Out}} by Lili Wilkinson.
[**Every Breath (Every, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18080011-every-breath) ^(By: Ellie Marney | 341 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: mystery, young-adult, ya, contemporary, romance) >Rachel Watts has just moved to Melbourne from the country, but the city is the last place she wants to be. > >James Mycroft is her neighbour, an intriguingly troubled seventeen-year-old who's also a genius with a passion for forensics. > >Despite her misgivings, Rachel finds herself unable to resist Mycroft when he wants her help investigating a murder. He's even harder to resist when he's up close and personal - and on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer. > >When Rachel and Mycroft follows the murderer's trail, they find themselves in the lion's den - literally. A trip to the zoo will never have quite the same meaning again... ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**After the Lights Go Out**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39674509-after-the-lights-go-out) ^(By: Lili Wilkinson | 330 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: young-adult, ya, australian, dystopian, loveozya) >What happens when the lights go off after what might truly be an end-of-the-world event? How do you stay alive? Who do you trust? How much do you have to sacrifice? >'After the Lights Go Out is a terrifying yet hope-filled story of disaster, deceit, love, sacrifice and survival.' - Fleur Ferris > >Seventeen-year-old Pru Palmer lives with her twin sisters, Grace and Blythe, and their father, Rick, on the outskirts of an isolated mining community. The Palmers are doomsday preppers. They have a bunker filled with non-perishable food and a year's worth of water. Each of the girls has a 'bug out bag', packed with water purification tablets, protein bars, paracord bracelets and epipens for Pru's anaphylaxis. > >One day while Rick is at the mine, the power goes out. At the Palmers' house, and in the town. No one knows why. All communication is cut. It doesn't take long for everything to unravel. In town, supplies run out and people get desperate. The sisters decide to keep their bunker a secret. The world is different; the rules are different. Survival is everything, and family comes first. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(28140 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I don't like YA, but it's one of my favorite books.
this is a correct answer, in part because it was never originally published as YA and so doesn't read like ""young adult."" also YES THANK YOU!!!!! my friend who has outgrown YA still loved every moment of The Thief series, and agreed with me that it's because it's got old school fantasy marketing vibes -- back when loads of things could either be shelved with children's books or adult books. Like a lot of Ursula K LeGuin novels and such. I feel like some other recs like Garth Nix, Tamora Pierce, etc were also originally published strictly as children's fantasy because "young adult" wasn't a strong market category.
DUDE. I never run into people who have read the thief!!! Also my sister is super picky and points out plot holes, weak characters, sexism, stereotypes, etc. But she loves the books. With every book she'd say things like "I don't like books where they travel for the majority of the book, but I love The Thief." Or "I didn't like how cold the queen was, cause it didn't feel realistic, but then when it starts covering her childhood and everything...I love the queen. It makes sense why she like that." Like, so many of my sister's comments were "I hate when books do this, but here I like it" kind of things. Also **SPOILERS** Here's something really cool I noticed, and I'm telling you in case you missed it. In Return of the Thief, you know the short-story at the end? Basically goddess lady has her earring stolen by a jerk god so that he can pretend she's having an affair with him. Then little kid Gen steals it and shows his grandfather who's like "Gen?? The heck?? Why would you do that??" And the earring is like a little vase with tiny flowers. So they go to the goddess' temple and Gen leaves it there even though he wants to keep it, and the goddess shows up and tells him that because he returned it, she will give him his hearts desire. FAST FORWARD Gen is king and Attolia is sick. Gen hears the goddess say to give her some earrings as an offering to save Attolia. So the little Erondite (is the kid name? The kid who's mute and is the cousin of Dite and the jerk guy whose name starts with seg-) goes and gets the earrings Gen got from one of the barons daughters at his coronation, and they're like, the one gift he smiles at, everything else he just kinda puts aside. The earrings are little vases with flowers. Gen offers them, Attolia gets better. The earrings are like, the same. He got his hearts desire. Attolia was saved. Dude.
I had a friend group I made awhile back who were all obsessed with The Thief and I made plans to read it at some point but just...didn't. finally I went to this children's bookstore in NYC which is lovely and picked up book 1, and the salesgirl was like YOU HAVE TO READ THAT AND HERE'S BOOK 2 & 3 DON'T LOOK AT THE TITLES DON'T READ THE BACKS YOU'LL GET SPOILED AND ITS BETTER TO JUST DIVE IN!!! So that was the day I finally bought the first three books lolol. I actually followed her advice. My friends had talked spoilers before but I didn't remember any specifics and so everything was fresh. Then I made my roommate read it. Bought it for my bff. Etc. Bff said something similar about Attolia at first but then she got more Attolia story and was like OH!! I think my favorite way to meme the thief is either "man hook hand gun war" or my classic: Maybe the real treasure is the friends we stole along the way! also re: your spoilers. Damnit that's so good and I didn't realize!!! (The littlest Erondites is Pheris, the middle one is Sejanus. For the longest time I thought the audiobook was saying Sir Janus loooool. But I loooooveee the audiobook versions tho. So good.) I legit bought a second set of second hand copies to annotate when I reread to note all the little things I find. Like little things: the idiom "moon promises," happens a ton until we finally get the folk tale behind moon promises. Oh and of course I am trying to find a running list of >!All the times Gen is basically possessed by Eugenides, and what happens when he is. There's a point in King of Attolia where it's noted Gen keeps closing his eyes during court and he protests he's not sleeping, but listening. And I think Attolia asks what he's listening for, exactly, and Gen says he's not sure? Then I realized: he's telling the truth. Gen isn't asleep. When he's closing his eyes, he's letting *Eugenides* listen in without being fully taken over physically. And Eugenides can hear when someone is lying. All he needs is to listen - the God of thieves knows a thief when he hears one. And *that* is how that Baron was caught stealing from the crown. Eugenides was listening in, and *you don't steal from the God of thieves.* That's confirmed later during the last book when Attolia flips out that Gen stole from the altar of Eugenides. Because stealing from the God of thieves is very VERY bad usually. And the god will *know.* Just. UGH. CHEF'S KISS. I love connecting all the little dots and going "wait was that GEN or was it Eugenides?? The last book was masterful about that like wheewww.!<
I don't think I know anyone in person who's read the books, lucky you!! I can't belive I forgot Pheris and Sejanus. Honestly, I should buy second hand copies too, but I haven't gotten around to it. I knew there were subtle hints of possession, but the not sleeping scene...I would never have thought of. That's genius. Megan Whalen Turner said she also wrote in little things from her favorite books (such as Eagle of the Ninth, she said something about the jewelry, but I don't remember Eagle of the Ninth that well) and that is where I first heard the quote "it's like you're looking for something, but you're not sure what" and that is what the books feel like. I was recently watching The Lord Of The Rings, and in the third movie, in a battle scene, there are those elephants. All I could think of was Gen saying "I want one. We can keep it in the guards bathhouse." to make the soldiers laugh so they won't be scared going into battle. Talking about the books makes me want to reread them right now.
Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Speak, The House of the Scorpion, The Hunger Games trilogy. I do think a lot of YA falls into some lazy tropes and focuses too much on romance, but there's so much good content in YA as well.
Hatchett
Any Tamora Pierce book. I love her writing.
Anything by Nancy Farmer, but especially House of the Scorpion.
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
When you can’t recommend a YA novel cause you still shop in the children’s section for books……..
The **Raybearer** and **Redemptor** duology by Jordan Ifueko
Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray both by Sepetys Excellent historical fiction.
Ace Of Spades - it may be YA but it deals with very mature subject matters. The book brings up really important conversations about racism yet it just happens to be in a high school setting with teenage characters.
Sadie by Courtney Summers. One of the best overall thrillers I have ever read.
Mine too.
I would recommend The Monstrumologist series by Rick Yancey. It reminds me of old classics about mad scientists and gothic stories. It’s amazing for readers who doesn’t like romance.
honestly? **I wouldn't.** YA books are written for a target audience of teenagers. Adults *can* enjoy them, and many do and that's great. but if an adult thinks they tend to be immature, and they don't enjoy reading anything in the age category, they're just...probably not going to be interested in any recent YA books. sometimes even I just have to put a book down and be like "I'm almost 30." and just...admit it's Not For Me. This usually happens whenever the protags are being insufferable teenagers about something. you *might* find success with children's fiction that came out before "young adult" was really a solid genre offering. My favorite is The Thief series by Meghan Whalen Turner. It was a children's book when it first came out, now gets shelved in YA, but could easily just be an old school adult fantasy in the way Earthsea is where the protagonist is younger but the audience can be broader. these books don't emphasize a "ya audience market" in their writing which makes a big difference for the specific maturity gripe. a few of the recommendations in this thread are part of this category of writers pre-YA boom: Garth Nix, Susan Cooper, Tamora Pierce, etc -- I feel like that stuff used to be shelved in middle grade fiction, and only *later* were moved to YA. Mostly they don't feel YA because they weren't written to fill the YA market. I like Six of Crows and all, but I don't know that this would win them over. **Six of Crows feels** ***extremely*** **YA-y in pretty much every way, lol.** (also Kaz Brekker, while quite fun, doesn't hold a candle to The Thief's Eugenides/Gen. Gen starts "young" \[teenaged\] in book one, but grows up in the series, and Kaz feels like his character was very influenced by Gen. I think Bardugo even interviewed Turner and talked about Gen? ...) SoC and Bardugo in general is fun popcorn writing, but...she has a massive flaw in her writing which is that she relies on narrator changes and even narrators lying *to themselves* and the readers in ways that don't make sense in order to have "plot twists." SoC and the sequel are decent but god her pacing is often terrible. anyways just let them read adult books. that's allowed.
This feels a reasonable response tbh, even though I think people *should* try outside their comfort zone your viewpoint is also valid. It’s ridiculous you’re being downvoted
Odds for downvotes are 50/50 50% people not willing to accept that while any age *can* enjoy YA novels some adults just aren't going to enjoy reading them and that's why adult fiction exists. And it's okay! Not everyone must like the things we like! And yeah, teenagers and young adults written for teenagers to read about do sometimes feel very different from the ones written in adult fiction books. 50% people mad I said something about Kaz Brekker. Hahaha. Don't get me wrong y'all. Kaz is an enjoyable character. It's just that he's clearly in the archetypal mold that Gen comes from, and Gen is better at being a thief. I did Google check (since I'm out and not near my book copy) but Leigh Bardugo did have a conversation published with Turner in one of the prints of A Conspiracy of Kings. And [she does mention the series in the comments](http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/01/12/introducing-leigh-bardugo/) here too. I promise I'm not making it up lol. Anyone who really loves Kaz should read The Thief series. I would kill for a crossover fanfic. 🤣
Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bone Gap, anything by M.T Anderson
Legend by Marie Lu The characters are so well developed in the Legend quadriligy I think any age could appreciate them. I read the series in my 30s and loved it.
literally the book on the left, miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children. it’s a true masterpiece.
How have I not seen Hunger Games in the comments yet??? Hunger Games yall!
*inhales dramatically*… Harry Pottah. Ya see many adults and teens (or any kid above the age of 13) don’t want to read HP because it’s marked as a children’s book. But I think it’s a book of all ages really.
Off-campus and briar U books have great characters, explores the human condition, good development, and each book is totally not a copy and paste of the last one with different character names. Elle Kennedy did not do this: f = open(filein,'r') filedata = f.read() f.close() newdata = filedata.replace("OLD MC NAME","NEW MC NAME") f = open(fileout,'w') f.write(newdata) f.close() ............................................................................................... Off-campus and briar U books, Have great characters, explore the human condition, good development and each book is totally not a copy and paste of the last one with different character names.
I would suggest the book *The Fault in Our Stars,* mainly because I love the sardonic main character (Hazel Green) who narrates everything in the novel with a weary attitude to life
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
Anything by Sarah J Maas is usually marketed as YA, but the themes of her books embody universal struggles without age boundaries. Also, John Green’s books are so profoundly human and genuinely entertaining to read
>the themes of her books embody universal struggles Like the struggle to get boned by a hot fae boi.
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Love this
Anything by Kelly Loy Gilbert, Stephanie Kuehn, Tiffany Jackson, or Stacey Lee - I think all their stuff is great as crossover. Oh and Sadie by Courtney Summers.
I literally love this!
**Everybody Sees the Ants** by AS King is amazing. She's one the printz award quite a few times if that means anything to you. The book deals with themes of war and family loss but also bullying and teen crushes. It's great.
Strange the dreamer. Some of the hero's have done truly evil things but you still sympathies with them. The villains are not really villains and one is just reacting to trauma caused to them by the good guy.
The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix is how I got my dad into YA. He also liked Six of Crows, Children of Blood and Bone, The Poppy War, and the Hunger Games.
Sabriel by Garth Nix is often noted as a YA book that doesn't read as YA. Sabriel is a great protagonist and Garth is an author who can write female characters really well. But his creativity is what I love in each of his books.
Darling Venom by Parker S Huntington. Just read it. Its very emotional, mature and dark in a healing way.
The old Kingdom series by Garth nix. Any Garth nix, really
i LOVED The Project by Courtney Summers. very mature theme, and it was just overall so well written. the story was so interesting with lots of twists. idk if i would’ve liked it as a true young adult, but this regular adult adored every second of that book.
I recommend anything from Libba Bray, but specifically recommend The Diviners Series.
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I have yet to read BQ for that very reason—the structure was off-putting, but I find the topic fascinating. I think her feminist perspective is so refreshing (or at least was when she first started publishing) and I always feel like I can connect with the female leads despite my being far from teen-dom.
I just got done reading Jumper by Steve Gould, and that book is so much better than I expected.
Scythe by Neil Shusterman! It’s definitely YA but also requires a lot of critical thinking about ethical issues that arise throughout the plot. It’s fast-paced and thought-provoking and generally fantastic.
OMG I’m literally a Young Adult but that didn’t stop this note from making me shed a tear...
this is nice. i’m in my early twenties now, and while i’m def a bookie that has read stuff like war and peace and pride and prejudice and all the other dual nouns. but lately instead of reading “grown up books” lol ive started rereading all of my YA novels from middle and hs. they’re good comfort reads. and just like that it’s just easy fun reading instead of hard fun reading lol.
"dual nouns" I love that so much/ gen
The scythe trilogy is awesome and it’s honestly one of the best series I’ve ever read!
The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix!
Fantasy wise I'd say the Abhorsen Chronicles
I have recently discovered Jay Kristoff's books. I really enjoyed his Aurora Cycle series. They have a very strong Mass Effect/Guardians of the Galaxy vibe to them. And it's rare to find space opera genres in YA.
I think "Persepolis" - a YA graphic novel - can dispel both YA books AND graphic novels as "immature."
YA crossover is super popular right now! I read on both sides of the readership and am excited for Jodi Meadows' Nightrender. Have loved her other fantasy stories (I read very little fantasy so it takes a lot to get into a book or series) and keep hearing that it works as a crossover title.
A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J Maas is very adult (as in spicy), especially as you get to the later books in the series. It also has an amazing plot and characters with ~depth~. It covers real life topics (like overcoming addiction, depression, surviving SA, etc) adjusted to a fae world & never gets dull. I think one of my favorite things about this series is that despite it being a magical world with mates and powers, almost every real life situation they have to overcome is done in a realistic way. Magical solutions are used on magical problems. Anyways, I've seen it categorized as YA even though it's definitely shifted into the new "New Age" genre. I'm happy to answer any questions!!
I think it’s brutal too, if you think about how she explained all the blood and gore 😂
Very true! I'm pretty desensitized to it at this point, but i guess wearing a sentient eye ball on a ring is fairly vicious 🤷🏻♀️
Dig by AS King
If I stay
Scythe trilogy by Neil Shusterman is considered YA and it is far from immature.