Young Adult Fantasy

One of the largely untapped sources of decent fantasy lies in the young adult section of the library. Unlike the SF/F section of the library where I usually dwell, the young adult section has pretty much every genre of book all labeled under the catch-all term young adult. I'm not entirely sure what age group young adult is supposed to cover, I'm going to assume it's probably younger than mid-twenties and leave at that.

Young adult books tend to be a little simpler, a little more black and white than the norm in fiction. Moral crises tend to come about due to doing something wrong rather than not being able to do something right. Never the less, there is a certain amount of decent fantasy that is overlooked simply because it's not to be found in the 'old' adult section of the library.

My favourite author in this section is Tamora Pierce, she was one of the authors that really got me into fantasy and even several years later her books haven't lost their charm. My favourite of her books are her Magic Circle series, these revolve around four young mages who struggle to find their place in the world.

Also of note is Terry Pratchett, not only does he write for adults, he also writes for young adults. I recently read his novel Nation, which is an extremely well thoughout novel set in an alternate 1830's to the one commonly written about in history books. It's about life and death and culture and savagery and it's bloody brilliant and like many Terry Pratchett books I have difficulty describing it. Also of note is Pratchett's Tiffany Aching novels, which are set on the discworld and are about a very intelligent young witch who's far more perceptive than would be expected of someone her age, or any age, really.

Finally there's Clive Barker's Abarat. What sets the Abarat books apart are the illustrations, they're somewhat reminiscent of cave drawings while retaining a unique sense of wonder. The stories themselves are engrossing, there are two books out at the moment and the first one, called Abarat, felt a little rough around the edges, perhaps because Barker was still setting the scene but the sequel to Abarat, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, is a powerful story filled with magic and adventure that's delighted many a reader.

Right, that's enough, now go out and devour my recommended reading. I assure you, you won't regret it. And failing that, if you do regret it, your situation is probably odd enough that it couldn't be planned for, so I won't try. Toodles/