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  1. Rarity Rarity

    I'll fite anyone who says that the SHADOW CHILDREN series isn't the best dystopian YA series

    Tuesday, 19-May-15 22:58:17 UTC from web
    1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

      @rarity Okay, now I can't disagree

      Tuesday, 19-May-15 22:58:30 UTC from web
      1. Rarity Rarity

        @zazie that series along with Warriors defined Middle school for me

        Tuesday, 19-May-15 22:59:16 UTC from web
        1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

          @rarity I loved Shadow Children in my youth, though I admittedly only just recently started reading Warriors

          Tuesday, 19-May-15 22:59:49 UTC from web
          1. Rarity Rarity

            @zazie I might give it another read since it's on the shelf a few feet from me, but I'm afraid to find that my glasses are incredibly rose tinted or something

            Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:00:23 UTC from web
            1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

              @rarity I'm about halfway through the first book (of Warriors) so I can't really judge it yet.

              Honestly, my late elementary/early middle school was defined by Shadow Children, Artemis Fowl, and Maximum Ride

              Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:02:07 UTC from web
              1. Narwhal Narwhal

                @zazie Oh damn yeah I forgot about Artemis Fowl that was my jam in elementary school

                Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:03:56 UTC from web
              2. Rarity Rarity

                @zazie OH GOD ARTEMIS FOWL. How did I forget about that. TBH It had almost a bigger impact on me than Harry Potter. MOVIE WHEN

                Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:04:52 UTC from web
                1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

                  @rarity I feel like, the thing is with GOOD YA series' is that they're well done and mature enough that it's easy to forget they're meant for young readers.

                  Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:06:03 UTC from web
          2. Rarity Rarity

            @zazie what was so great about Shadow Children was that it was /incredibly/ dark. And as far as I can tell it was targeted at an age even lower than your Hunger Gameses and the like

            Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:03:03 UTC from web
          3. Rarity Rarity

            @zazie what was so great about Shadow Children was that it was /incredibly/ dark. And as far as I can tell it was targeted at an age even lower than your Hunger Gameses and the like

            Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:04:15 UTC from web
    2. Narwhal Narwhal

      @rarity At first I thought you were being ironic but I can actually agree with this post. Though I've hardly read any YA series and most of the ones I have read I've disliked, so I guess the fact that I actually enjoyed Shadow Children (well, I've only read Among the Hidden but I did like it) essentially makes it my favourite YA series by elimination.

      Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:02:15 UTC from web
      1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

        @northernnarwhal To be fair, the vast majority of YA series are mediocre at best, though there are a few standouts.

        Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:03:38 UTC from web
        1. Narwhal Narwhal

          @zazie Yeah that's how I feel about them too, most just have really flat themes and characters that work on forced emotionally manipulative romance dynamics, all of which is left feeling even more dry thanks to vapid prose.

          Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:07:54 UTC from web
          1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

            @northernnarwhal A lot of authors don't understand the difference between making a book easy to read for young readers, and dumbing a book down for young readers

            Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:08:34 UTC from web
            1. Narwhal Narwhal

              @zazie Exactly. It's possible to construct a thematically consistent and rich narrative whilst still grounding it in stylistic choices that make it appropriate for a young audience. As far as YA novels go I actually thought Perks of Being a Wallflower handled this pretty well.

              Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:12:01 UTC from web
              1. Someone Probably Someone Probably

                @northernnarwhal Basically all of the things I've said recently about comic books and cartoons are relevant to YA novels as well.

                I love Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as anything by John Green ;-;

                Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:12:47 UTC from web
                1. Narwhal Narwhal

                  @zazie Yeah, though there are definitely lots of comics specifically aimed much more specifically at an older audience (not to constantly bring it up in conversation but Watchmen is definitely a prime example of this). But as far as more "family friendly" franchises go there are definitely ways of writing rich and engaging stories that are accessible to both kids and adults, they just need to approach subject matter appropriate for those audiences and reach emotional touchstones resonant with those audiences (the Toy Story trilogy is actually a pretty perfect example of this).

                  Also yeah Perks is a great book. I don't love everything by John Green (I felt Fault was kind of heavyhanded in its delivery) but Looking for Alaska and Will Grayson, Will Grayson were both really satisfying reads.

                  Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:19:24 UTC from web
      2. Rarity Rarity

        @northernnarwhal You should finish it, it's a really short read obviously.

        Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:07:46 UTC from web
        1. Narwhal Narwhal

          @rarity I'll hopefully get around to it during the summer (though there are a lot of things I'm hoping to get around to in the summer so we'll have to see)

          Tuesday, 19-May-15 23:08:59 UTC from web