Misc. Monday: Reading YA as an Adult

That title should, by all rights, say "Adult", because I don't think I've ever fully grown up. I don't really plan to. I'm going to keep my Disney movies, and my dolls, and my fuzzy pink slippers, thank you. Those things aside, I am in all other ways an employed, rent paying, married twenty-something adult. Who occasionally reads teen literature.

My Journey Away From, and Back Into YA...

 

I read virtually no teen literature while actually a teen. The last arguably young adult thing I remember picking up was Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn when I was twelve or thirteen. By Christmas of my thirteenth year, though, I was pretty much exclusively reading adult paranormal romance. I remember this, because I asked for a bunch of them for Christmas and that's exactly what I got. My mother has never been one to forbid books...but that's a story for another post.

So, my teens went by with Harry Potter being the only under 18 MC in my life. There were a couple of reasons for this. The primary reason is that I'm always resistant to entertainment that reflects whatever is actually going on in my life. I wouldn't watch teen movies while I was a teen, or college movies while in college. I drove everyone crazy during my engagement because I wouldn't even watch Bridesmaids. I can't explain it, other than to say that it's not escapism for me if I'm going into the same environment.

Then, about a year and a half ago, I was browsing the internet for books. I came across Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series. I was already familiar with her Shifters books, and liked those well enough, so I was thrilled to see that she had something else. But, oh whoa is me, they were young adult. It got me thinking things over, and I realized that I was now several years removed from high school, entirely past the teen stage of my life. Thus, it would now be much less uncomfortable for me to read a book with a high school setting. I knew it was going to be an easy read, it wouldn't take up that much time, and so it seemed like it would be silly not to give it a try.

I haven't actually caught up on the Soul Screamers books (someday, maybe), but what they did do was open the door for me to read a genre that I had bluntly ignored for eight or nine years. This meant that I had well over a decade of untapped authors and series to try out, and to say that I dove in head first would be an understatement. You can see on this blog that I've reviewed quite a few YAs, and I've tried out even more. I love these things.

The "Shame" of Reading YA

 

I put shame in quotations to emphasize that I personally, absolutely do not feel ashamed to read YA. However, shortly after I started talking about these books I noticed that there are plenty of people--in real life, on forums and blogs, in review comments--that are eager to shame adults who read teen books. It's usually along the lines of  "I don't know why all of these adults want to read things meant for young people, what is wrong with them, this is yet more proof that literacy is in the toilet, no wonder there are so many stupid people..." and so forth.

I can't defend all adult YA readers, because I don't know all of them. It is entirely possible that some of them are stupid or barely literate or incredibly immature. I highly doubt that this is the case. It's far more likely that most of them are like me. There is nothing wrong with my education or my reading ability. I've read over a dozen Shakepeare plays, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, and so forth, many of my own volition. I've slogged through scientific journals where the jargon is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and I've been made to write critical essays about them after the fact. My brain is in full working order. On an unrelated note, sometimes I read teen books.

As I said, though, I also read romance novels, so I'm inoculated to the shame of reading stigmatized genres. Sit is a cafe full of frat boys with a book who's cover looks like this--

--and your ability to feel shame will gradually dwindle into nothingness.

Why Adults Read YA

 

Now that we've established that adults can read YA, you might ask "But why would you want to?"

The first reason is that YA is oddly nostalgic. I'm not saying that I'd like to relive my teen years, because they weren't exactly easy. But sometimes reading about a character who's dealing with the same issues that I dealt with back then is cathartic. I can say to myself, "Yep, I got through that. Phew..." Sometimes there will be a character that reminds me of an old friend, or a setting or circumstance that I remember. In other cases, the characters are dealing with such tough stuff that it makes me feel like I got off easy as a kid, and that is also a comforting thought. Sort of.

The second reason that I like reading YA is that I really enjoy good character focused stories with a lot of personal development for the main character. That is exactly what a good young adult book should be about. Most people take the biggest strides toward finding themselves between the ages of 15 and 25. Watching a character do just that, and find courage, integrity, and purpose, is absolutely fascinating.

...specifically, YA romance

Sometimes the characters also find love. This is the sticking point for most people that argue with me against the merits of teen literature. I encounter a remarkable number of people who think that a romantic relationship that begins in high school can't or should not work out. To which I say: Screw you. It's great that you think you've found the perfect formula to lasting relationships, and I hope that works for you. For me, personally, I don't think that such a formula exists, and I don't think that older people have a monopoly on love that lasts. I believe there's hope for teen couples, because I was once part of a teen couple, and we ended up married. After a very long engagement (I'm not reckless).

There are a couple of things that I like about teen romance. Primarily, I like that it's usually based on pure relationship development, where sex is a small or nonexistent factor. In adult romance, authors can get caught up in the physical aspects of the relationship and forget that there is also emotional development that needs to happen. I find that young adult authors are often better at the friendship, connectivity, and longing that are involved in the early stages of a relationship (for good examples, see Stephanie Perkins, and Jolene Perry).

And Now For A Break

 

All of this was my long winded way of saying that I do, with absolute conviction, love young adult novels. However, I may be taking a tiny "break" from them. Oh, not entirely, but I would like to cut it down to one or two a month. I get a lot of review requests from YA authors (you guys rock, and thank you for the opportunity), and as a result I feel like they've taken over my reading hours and this blog to a greater extent then I would like. In the coming months, I'm going to try to focus on the adult books gathering dust in my TBR. I miss them. I miss the gore, and I'm not going to lie, I miss the sex.

That said, to all of my adult readers, specifically those who have not read any teen literature in recent years, I really hope that you'll give it a try. There are a lot of amazing authors doing phenomenal work in that genre. These are authors that take their audience seriously, and we shouldn't be afraid to be a part of that audience.

Follow Friday 7/5/12

Q: Jumping Genres: Ever pick up a book from a genre you usually don’t like and LOVE it? Tell us about it and why you picked it up in the first place.

 I don't know if this really counts, but I used to never, ever read young adult. Ever. I didn't read it when I was a teen. I picked up Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series because at the time, I really loved her adult series. It's safe to say it worked out well, because these days I read YA pretty regularly.

Misc. Monday: Vices

Hello, and Welcome to Miscellaneous Monday. Until something else exciting happens in real life, I'm going to carry on bringing up topics about the books I read. Today I want to talk about characters behaving badly, and how we, as readers, respond to that behavior.

As this is a slightly more adult topic than usual, I'm labeling this Eighteen and Over Only. Click to read at your own discretion.

Best Book of December/January Preview

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews was easily the best book I read in December--with a score of 4.5 stars. I'm a little bummed to be caught up on this series and have to wait so long for the next book!

I'm setting a goal for myself to read 112 books in 2012--wish me luck! Here are the books I plan to read in January.


Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick


Unraveled by Courtney Milan

Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

Prey by Rachel Vincent

The Daughter of Smoke by Laini Taylor

This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

On Banshees: A Soul Screamers Triple Review

Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers books have captured my attention over the last several months, and I've really been enjoying them so far. It started when I came across the prequel, My Soul to Lose, which takes place primarily in a psychiatric ward. It introduces Kaylee in a pretty clever way--by making the reader question whether she's crazy or whether there might be something supernatural going on. The prequel is really not necessary to the rest of the series, and you can start with book one and have no problem following along. I mention it because it was what sucked me into reading the rest of the books.

 My Soul to Take: The story is told from the first person point of view of Kaylee Cavanaugh, an average high school student. Kaylee has what she calls "panic attacks" in which she screams uncontrollably and sees shadows. She's suspected for some time that these episodes are attached to specific people who are fated to die very soon, but has never had confirmation of this. Then an attack happens while she is out with friends at a night club and a young woman, the target of Kaylee's panic, ends up dead with no apparent cause. It is soon revealed that Kaylee is a banshee--a death omen. And she's not alone--Nash Hudson, Kaylee's crush, is a banshee as well. They team up to solve the mystery of the teenage deaths.

This book is full to bursting with exposition. With the exception of a handful of "death" scenes, the bulk of the book is people explaining the supernatural world to Kaylee. I didn't mind all the world building so much, as it's what I expect from the first book in a series. However it does require patience on the part of readers. I for one often had things figured out way before Kaylee did, and had to wait for her to catch up.

The characters have a lot of potential, but for the time being they were mostly vehicles for world building. Kaylee is simply average--average looks, average intelligence and competence, bland attitude, low to average social standing. She blossoms slightly as the book nears it's close, but no drastic development. Nash is actually a bit better, showing a reasonable amount of emotion and conflict. The host of secondary characters are intriguing. And the "villain" really caught me by surprise.

The romance wasn't really front and center in the book, but it was present as a sweet underpinning. Nash and Kaylee just begin to connect and build trust. They share kisses and comfort, but it's a chaste enough that I'd feel comfortable passing this book to my 13 year old niece.

The plot is simple, but surprisingly emotional. For me much of it was predictable, but there was an event or two that I didn't see coming. In other words, it doesn't completely insult your intelligence. I was most interested in the mythology of the book, which left a lot for the author to build on in the future--grim reapers, monsters, other worlds.

This book took me a total of 4 1/2 hours to read, and it was well worth that very slight investment of time. Bottom line, if your looking for a quick yet satisfying fantasy tale, be you adult or teen, this is not a bad pick. 4 stars.

My Soul to Save (Contains Spoilers From Book 1) In this, the second edition to the Soul Screamers series, Vincent begins to expand on her universe by offering readers a first real glance into the Netherworld. Kaylee and Nash attend a concert where the lead singer drops dead on stage, and Kaylee fails to scream for the girl's soul. It is discovered that the girl, and many other pop stars like her, does not have a soul. In short, the entertainment company for which they work has been making contracts with demons and using the pure souls as currency. Todd the reaper, and Nash's brother, has a connection to one such star--Addison. She and Todd once dated, and Todd still cares for her deeply. When they find out that Addison is going to die soon, and that her death will mean eternal torture at the hands of the demon who owns her soul, the group sets out on a quest to save her.

As far as books in a series go, this one felt somewhat like a bridge or transition to the next book. While the first book established a lot about the supernatural elements of Kaylee's world, there were many unanswered questions. This book begins to address those questions while raising others. Similarly, the characters are described more thoroughly, but don't change or develop much. We learn about Kaylee's courage and loyalty, all of which is tested. But in the end she is not dramatically changed by her experiences. Most of the big character development is in the secondary characters, namely Todd and Addison.

Nash and Kaylee's relationship is still present, and it's very sweet. But again, they don't progress forward too much. They are busy with everything else, and don't seem to get any alone time. This is compounded with Kaylee's own doubts about the relationship and her will to take things slow physically. So the romance/passion grade on this would be a 2/5.

The most interesting parts take place in the Netherworld. There are a lot of clever ideas here that the author has only begun to tap into. The human souls as currency, the references to drug use, the hellions and other creatures, are all surprisingly dark. I appreciate that Vincent doesn't go for pure rainbow and butterfly happy endings, but rather let's each book resolve itself with mixed emotions.

I have to comment on the pop star soul selling thing momentarily. The media company is described a lot like Disney and the pop stars like little Hannah Montana clones. This made me dislike Addison, and I had a really hard time feeling sorry for her. I actually felt at times like she would deserve whatever happened to her. That being said, I warmed up to her a bit. But I felt like more could have been done earlier in the story to make her more likeable. As it was, I spent most of the book not really caring whether they'd be able to help her or not.

Overall I'm grading this book as a 3. It has solid world building and interesting ideas, but is so-so in character development and motivation.

My Soul to Keep (Contains Spoilers From Book 2) Never exactly a light series, Soul Screamers takes a notably dark turn in this book. After a party that gets out of hand, Kaylee begins to suspect that some of her classmates are using demon's breath--a Netherworld substance with hallucinogenic properties. She and Nash set out to cut off the source of the drug before things turn deadly.

First of all, I have to applaud Vincent for attempting to tackle as difficult a topic as addiction. What I have admired about this series most thus far is that she manages to address real problems common to many teenagers, but does so through fantasy elements. From parents and school, to the will-they-or-won't-they aspect of Nash and Kaylee's physical relationship, these character read like real teenagers. In this particular book the addiction is used to illuminate many of the character's flaws, fears, and inner demons. There was a great deal of character development and many emotional moments.

Vincent continues to build the paranormal aspects of her world, hinting at more interesting facets and possible future plot threads all the time. While this takes a back seat in many cases to the internal struggles, it's still fairly well done and worth noting.

Kaylee is left on he own or with very limited help many times throughout this book, and in many cases that seemed needless. I questioned many times why she did not find someone stronger or more knowledgeable than herself to help. I'm continuously bothered by the apparent lack of competent adult policing/fighting forces in this little supernatural world. One would assume that if there are a decent number of banshees and other creatures, there should be some kind of leader, or a warrior class, anyone at all that could step in when someone evil threatens multiple lives. Or it could all be left up to a teenage girl...that seems fine too.

My other major complaint is the utter lack of resolution in the ending. BIG SPOILER ALERT, Highlight to Read: One of two things needed to happen in this ending: either Kaylee needed to leave Nash for good because of all of the crap he did to her, or she needed to forgive him and try to start over. She half-asses it instead, saying she wants him to get better so she can have him back. In a long established relationship, that would make sense: I would be able to believe that she loved him and that their relationship could sustain temporary separation for the purpose of mental healing. However, their relationship is fairly new--three months I believe. Realistically, even if they felt in love, taking a break at this point would mean the end because the relationship is not established enough to survive it. So yes, I hated the ending and I felt it was a massive cop out on the authors part.

These complaints aside, this was a good book overall. It had a lot of depth and emotion without needless angst. 4 stars.

Pride and Faythe

"What do you want me to say? 'Hey Marc, it turns out you were right. If I'd married you instead of going to school, they'd think I was worth what it costs to feel me. But since I'm only as valuable as my uterus--which is currently unoccupied--this time next week, I'll probably have gone the way of the dodo bird.'"--pg. 57, Pride by Rachel Vincent

The above quote pretty much sums up the core plot of Pride, the third book in Rachel Vincent's Shifters series. In the first two books, Stray and Rogue we are introduced to the werecat community, specifically to Faythe's story. Faythe is one of very few female werecats and she's in the midst of discovering an identity and purpose for herself. That identity is at odds with the usual pattern of a female werecat's life, which is to marry young and have many children. Instead Faythe attended college, then returned to take up the traditionally male role as a pride enforcer. When she's placed on trial for turning a human and then murdering him, her role and worth are called into question.

I don't mind a feminist theme in urban fantasy. Even though this book is a little heavy handed about it, I enjoyed the premise of a young woman trying to prove and defend herself to a very patriarchal justice system.

The entire plot centers around the trial, which means that there are more politics and talks than action and violence. This suits the underlying theme well, and makes the book a good bridge in the series. However, it does have an unnecessarily slow pace--some of the trial details could have been cut to speed things along.

I find Faythe to be likeable and irritating by turns. I think the central problem is that she's 23, but acts more like a girl in her mid-teens. She's petulant, self involved, impulsive, and short sighted. It's all well and good for an author to give her lead character room to grow, but in this case Faythe borders on unlikeable. This is all balance only slightly by the fact that I wanted her to prevail because of her unique position in her society. In other words, were she not the only female of her species with a perceivable back bone and personality that stood out, I might find her truly loathsome. As it is, her behavior is only barely tolerable.

This brings me to the relationships, both romantic and otherwise. Marc has to be one of the most ill treated heroes I've ever encountered. Faythe wants to be with him, but on her own terms (i.e she refuses even the most surface level commitment). Not only are they completely dysfunctional as a couple, they don't seem to work all that well as a team. Even though Marc outranks her and has more experience, Faythe doesn't listen to him and rarely obeys him. I really don't care for them as a couple. Then there's Jace, the third corner in the love triangle just waiting to happen. I despise love triangles. Unless the author handles them with the utmost grace and originality they are the cheapest of romantic conflicts. The non-romantic relationships interested me far more. Faythe's and her father don't always see eye to eye because she doesn't understand his wisdom, but her admiration for him is apparent. A new character, Kaci the teenaged tabby, is introduced. Faythe's attempts to bond with her are actually quite touching and entertaining.

This is one of those books where the good elements only just manage to outweigh the bad. I still like this series well enough, but I'm not overly eager to finish it. 2.5 stars.