YA Fantasy Thoughts and Recommendations

I've been a bad girl.

I haven't written much since I met my goal for NaNo. How bad am I!

And since I haven't been writing, I've been reading. My new fascination, which isn't really new at all but whatever, is YA or Young Adult Fantasy, more specifically, Urban Fantasy. I've been reading Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy, Liza Conrad's High School Bites, Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses and Amelia Atwater Rhodes.

I tend to read YA fantasy during this time of year. YA has an innocence and a sense of wonder to it that really comes to life for me in the Christmas season.

I love Christmas. The snow, the twinkling lights, the songs, the really good cookies... I love it all. Of course nothing I listed specifically has to do with Christmas being the birth of Christ, but I guess I am shallow and a victim of commercialism that way.

Regardless, I find myself at this time of year yearning for a sense of wonder, of awe... I need to find the magic in life. Perhaps Christmas movies inundate me that this is the most wonderful time of the year and that a special kind of magic is needed, but no matter how I ended up this way it doesn't matter. The fact remains that I simply am this way. I love Christmas and I seek stories full of wonder and magic.

I've found the innocence of YA fantasy awes me the most. I've been a teenager. So I can relate to the characters (hell I still feel like I'm 15 half the time, but when I really think about it, I realize I am nothing like I was when I was 15. Oh to know back then what I do now... *wistful sigh*)

There is a special kind of sense of immortality and pure emotion to a teenager. This lends itself very well to fantasy. Teens aren't held back by their experiences in life. They, for the most part, don't shove their emotions under a shell to deal with the real world. Their world is full of relationships and learning how to operate in life. These are the core issues of a good fantasy novel--figuring it all out and the interpersonal relationships along the way.

The teenage years are magical, because so much seems possible. We dare to dream, to reach for the stars, to wonder about what exists in the world. We form our ideals and cement who will we be in the future. For us older folks (I'm only 27 but it applies none the less) a lot of our ideals and outlooks on life have been cemented. And only with a jack hammer and serious destruction can those outlooks be changed... But a teenager's mind... it's like wonderfully colorful sparkly playdough in every shape and size and capable of making anything you could possibly dream up.

So this is why I love YA fantasy.

Some YA Fantasy I love...

Best Young Adult Fantasy Books and Authors:

Richelle Mead's The Vampire Academy: Mead doesn't talk down to teenager about sex and drugs--It's refreshingly real for a vampiric world.

Ellen Schreiber's Vampire Kisses series: Raven, the heroine, is brave and true to herself. What more could a reader ask for? Oh hot guys? Well there's them too.

Melanie Gideon's The Map That Breathed: A brilliant world so colorful I want to wallow in it and never leave. I hope, I pray, I cry to the heavens that there will be more books in this world.

JK Rowling's Harry Potter series: This is probably a no brainer for most people, but I love these books. I love the personal growth Rowling forces her characters to undergo. Kudos to you JK!

Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad Trilogy: These books are on par with Animal Farm in my book. A great wayto show the nature of human beings on a "small" scale.

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series: A clever young irish man who is as wicked as he is smart. Fun read with a fresh twist on legendary fantasy creatures.

Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles: A prolific author of all things YA, Bruce Coville excelled with the majesty of the Unicorn Chronicles.

Diane Duane's Young Wizards series: Pre Harry Potter, these wizards are strongest at a young age and have to save not only their own world on a regular basis, but others as well. Deep Wizardy is my favorite.

Stephenie Meyer's Bella series: Bella is in love with a vampire and befriends a newly turned werewolf. Sounds blase based on that, but the emotionality in which these are written is incredible. I find myself in Bella's place and torn between worlds as much as she is. I love both of them so much, how could I ever choose between vampires and werewolves?

Have I forgotten any really good ones? Want to tell me about a series I possibly haven't read yet? Comment here or email me at sandra@sandratuttle.com