Twenty Core Young Adult Works of Speculative Fiction Every True SF Fan Should Have on Their Shelves

[james_davis_nicoll]

Twenty Core Young Adult Works of Speculative Fiction Every True SF Fan Should Have on Their Shelves

Comments

[movingfinger]

Lud-in-the-Mist is YA? It is a great book, can be read by young readers, but the characters and themes are adult-focused.

I suggest The Charwoman's Shadow in its stead. Not that you want suggestions...

[james_davis_nicoll]

Core Books that should have been on previous lists of core books is a possibility....

[movingfinger]

I feel that adult-protagonist picaresque/coming-of-age/maturing into understanding novels are not truly YA, but it's hard for me to articulate why without more thought. They are aimed at an older audience, for one thing, and they deal with midlife problems or mature problems (Nathan Chanticleer's problems and challenges are not those of a young person). Kids can read them, of course!

The Crystal Cave is interesting, because it's read by so many younger readers because of the young protagonist, so it works for them, but it also works for older readers as a kind of nostalgic what-youth-is-ever-like read. The Charwoman's Shadow falls into the same class, to my eye.

[sethsellis]

It's the Catcher in the Rye problem: an adult book about an annoying teenager isn't going to be appreciated by most teenagers, who'll just be annoyed.

[gehayi]

Or bored to tears. I found (and still find) Holden Caulfield to be tremendously boring.

[ethelmay]

Part of the problem is that HC used to seem like such a fresh voice, and now has been so much imitated that we all say, "eh, so-and-so did it better," forgetting that in some respects Catcher in the Rye was the first. My father remembered someone coming into the office (presumably in about 1970) and saying in disbelief, "Do you realize that Holden Caulfield would now be thirty-five?" and they really were all kind of gobsmacked.

Which is not to say that anyone needs to think Catcher in the Rye is all that great now. Context matters. But the same goes for the contemporary folks who were bowled over by it.

[martianmooncrab]

14 out of 20

[timill]

Joy Chant, not Jo, surely??

[kylinn]

"Little Fuzzy" is YA?

[voidampersand]

Just going by the title, absolutely.

[gehayi]

According to Wikipedia, it was originally marketed as a juvenile science fiction novel, which I didn't know.

[kylinn]

It's accessible to juveniles, certainly. But I don't see it as a juvenile book. It certainly doesn't have any juvenile characters (except Baby, and he's an infant). If simply being accessible to youthful readers is a criterion, then the Foundation trilogy should qualify. Heck, that even has a teenager as the protagonist in one of the sections.

[carbonel]

I've read 14 out of 20 of these; I read a lot of YA SF and fantasy. And at least a couple of these are on my read list because of your reviews.

[oh6]

I've read 4, or 5 if I count the chunk of Aria. I've heard of 6 other books, and am familiar with 2 other authors, and have heard of 1 other author.

[gehayi]

Aria by Kozue Amano -- Never heard of it.

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa -- Is that the manga? I've heard of it, but haven't read it. I only know the anime.

Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant -- Never heard of it.

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper -- The series or the book? I've read (and own) the whole series.

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis -- Never heard of it.

Growing Up Weightless by John M. Ford -- Never heard of it.

Cart and Cwidder by Diane Wynne Jones -- Never heard of it. I've read a lot of stuff by Diane Wynne Jones...just not this.

Justice and her Brothers by Virginia Hamilton -- Never heard of it.

The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson -- Read it. Own it.

Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier -- Never heard of it. I have heard of the author, though.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin -- Read it. Own it.

The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee -- I've heard of it, but never read it.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip -- Heard of it. Never read it.

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley -- I've tried to read it several times. I can't get into it at ALL.

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees -- Heard of it vaguely. Never read it.

Witch World by Andre Norton -- Heard of the series, tried to read the first book in the series, didn't like it.

Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince by Noriko Ogiwara -- Never heard of it.

Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper -- Heard of it, own it, tried to read it several times, ending up bailing each time.

Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin -- Never heard of it.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart -- That's not a YA book. It was marketed as a "woman's book" back in the day. Anyway, I've read it, but I don't own it.

Nine books I've never heard of; four I've heard of but never read; three that I've tried to read and given up on; three I've read and own; one that I've read but don't own. I don't think that I qualify as a true fan.

[philrm]

I've read three and heard of about half of the rest, which is pretty much par for the course for me on these lists. So apparently I'm not a true fan either.

[bibliofile]

Well, you could always go with the wording of the list, that you should have these books on your shelves. Doesn't say anything about having read them, does it now.

/oh-so-helpful geek mode