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| wikipedia.org |
Dystopias have been the
most recent trend in Young Adult fiction, but since the craze has reached its
climax many readers are wondering what the newest YA journey will be. From the
past trend of vampires with Twilight,
to the most recent love of The Hunger
Games, it looks like an interesting few years is in store for YA novels.
One trend emerging from the
dystopian genre is Science Fiction. Stories like The Hunger Games take place in speculative societies. They ask the
question: what if? Books like this existed before the YA phenomena with 1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Both
writers take their own spin on what could be the future. In this, they create a
whole new world.
This is why Sci-Fi may
become one of the next big trends. Space opens readers up to whole new worlds that
they could only begin to grasp. What is
out there in the universe? This idea may be something worth searching through
in literature. Right now there’s Across
the Universe by Beth Revis, which takes place on the spaceship Godspeed
where Amy—the protagonist—has just been awoken from a frozen slumber fifty
years earlier than planned. She finds out that someone was trying to kill her.
This book already has its sequel out and the third book is being released in
January.
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| barnesandnoble.com |
The mystery of who tried
to kill Amy adds another genre into possible trends: thrillers. It seems like
this is picking up in the YA world as well. Thrillers remind me of many of the
books by Lois Duncan or Joan Lowery Nixon. Both crafted suspenseful novels for
younger audiences. Now there are books like I
Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, or The
Book of Blood of Shadow by Robin Wasserman, that deal with murder. Lyga’s
story involves Jazz, the son of an infamous serial killer, as he deals with
bodies piling up in his town.
Wasserman’s story is about a girl plagued by her lack of memory from a
night where one friend was left dead and another catatonic. The accused: her
soft-spoken boyfriend Max, who disappeared after that night. She plans on
discovering the truth behind her loss of memory.
Thrillers have been around
for a while, but they pull in young readers because it appeals to the “whodunit”.
The reader is left with this question and follows the journey of the character
in the hopes of finding a fulfilling ending.
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| goodreads.com |
Historical YA books seem
to be picking up steam as well. Libra Bray’s The Diviners takes place in the 1920’s, The Jazz Age. Other
historical books include some under the steampunk realm that usually mix
history, science fiction, and/or fantasy.
Fantasy and romance will
probably continue to be genres published. They often try to mesh with several
genres instead of being boxed under one grouping. Therefore, we have books that
can be a paranormal romance thriller, or other combinations.
Mermaids seem to be a
fantasy/myth craze right now too—some books include Of Poseidon by Anne Banks, Monstrous
Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, and The
Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova. Other water related stories have emerged
as well, such as, Ripple by Mandy
Hubbard, which follows Lexi, a girl cursed through her siren history. This
water-based trend will probably continue in the coming year.
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| alloyentertainment.com |
Contemporary is a hard
sell in the publishing world because more and more readers enjoy faster paced
stories, but it’s a genre that will always be around. Emerson Alum, Wendy
Wunder recently published her debut novel, The
Probability of Miracles, which tells the story of Campbell Cooper. Her
doctors tell her that she doesn’t have long to live, so her family moves to
Promise, Maine—a place where miracles supposedly happen. When Campbell gets a
list of things to do before she dies, she may just learn that miracles really
do exist.
It’s books like this that
pull readers into the genre. They relate to us now. They tell our story and how
we can deal with it. Though we often read to escape our real problems,
sometimes it’s nice to read a story about something that could happen or
something that you relate to.
This started as an article
to see what trends are developing, but as I continued my research I found that
there are many readers out there trying to find something new, something they
will fall in love with, and in that way the genre isn’t always as important. Stories
that create characters that breathe off the page often affect the reader the
most.
By TJ Ohler
