This is a trend in YA that I'm extremely excited for. There has been and will be a plethora of YA novels set in space! Or that have to do with space exploration or aliens, but mostly... spaceships! This makes the nerd in me super-duper happy. I hereby declare 2013 and 2014 as the Years of Spacey YA.
The success of the Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis has seemed to pave the way for a whole new invasion of space themed YA:
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Starglass by Phoebe North
Earth Girl by Janet Edwards
Entangled by Amy Rose Capetta
Avalon by Mindee Arnett
Salvage by Alexandra Duncan
Cress by Marissa Meyer
The 100 by Kass Morgan
Alienated by Melissa Landers
After Eden by Helen Douglas
The Starkillers Cycle by Susan Dennard and Sarah J. Maas,
a free Tumblr epic that YOU SHOULD ALL BE READING
Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci
Unbreathable by Hafsah Laziaf
I meant to do a clever deconstruction on why space travel seems to be the new "it" thing, replacing angels, vampires, and dystopians, but the intellectual corner of my brain is on vacation. So I'll leave the smart-ing and the clever-ing to you guys. Why do you think space is the next big YA trend? Because it leads to gorgeous covers? Because of the success of the Star Trek reboot? Because of the imminent Star Wars reboot? Because it's part of human nature to be fascinated by what we can't explain or ever see for ourselves and to always want to expand our frontiers? Manifest destiny, and all that?
Oh haiii, thinking corner, you are still functioning up there. That's a relief. (My guess is that spaceships ARE JUST REALLY COOL OKAY DON'T OVERTHINK IT.)
Also, if you think of any upcoming or just-released titles involving space, let me know, and I'll add them! Which space-themed books are you most excited for?
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I am enjoying the space themed books also there is Unbreathable by Hafsah Laziaf
ReplyDeleteI am LOVING this theme! Plus such potential for pretty covers! Salvage especially is one I'm planning on reading.
ReplyDeleteYES TO THE STARKILLERS CYCLE! I freakin' love it. That's what a saga is.
ReplyDeleteAnd I so approve of this trend because sci-fi, dude. It's a league of awesome. Also, notice how all the covers are so pretty? *stares*
Definitely excited for These Broken Stars, Avalon, The 100, Salvage and Cress.
Well for one, I love space themes!!! And I mean REALLY love. Just....just....I can't even count how many of these are on my NEED TO READ NOW list. Just....yummmm.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know this isn't a space book, but I just read the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and by the lord baby jesus was it ever amazing. First of all, the main character is a book blogger. A BOOK BLOGGER. And her lovely next door neighbor is a totally gorgeous douchebag. And I hate him. BUt he turns into the mot swoonworthy (spoiler alert!) alien ever. And speaking of that, it is a perfect slow burning love. Do I even need to talk about how amazing it is?!?!
Ha, I knew it! My sister said the next trend was going to be historical fiction but I stomped that down and said it would be sci-fi. Josiphine wins again!
ReplyDeleteI think at least a little of the credit goes to Cinder. That was a pretty big deal.
I think if it wasn't for Beth Revis` trilogy I would never have loved space again.
ReplyDeleteThe covers are gorgeous. It might be easier to make spacey/other world covers because there are no guidelines to how the world must look.
Love this feature of yours. It also makes me add more books to my TBR Wishlist
Ashley
Well, SciFi as a literary theme has never gone out of fashion. I think the YA sub-genre themes are just slowly making the rounds....and I hope we move from YA space travel, to YA string theory, soon. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think that we should give all the credit to Joss Whedon for Firefly! I mean I think I'm just being bias, but still!
ReplyDeleteSPACESHIPS ARE COOL WORKS. But seriously, GAH. I am SO SO SO excited for this. When Shae did RBWL I was all GIVE ME ALL THE YA-IN-SPACE BOOKS. These Broken Stars wasn't exactly what I wanted, but damn, was it what my soul NEEDED. I feel like this has been a long time coming and I am so so so looking forward to books like Avalon, etc. YAY.
ReplyDeleteSorry, not gonna be going to be smart, I'm just bloody happy that sci-fi and space are getting big on YA cause I'm a MASSIVE fan of sci-fi and now combine it with YA and I'm one happy bookworm!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first upcoming trend in a long time that I can 100% get behind. I LOVE OUTER SPACE! Spaceships and travel and exoplanets and danger and WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am SUPER excited about this trend. I LOVE BOOKS SET IN SPACE. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
ReplyDeleteI am SO HAPPY about this trend! I love sci-fi and this just makes me so happy. I hope this trend lasts. Go space books!! *hugs all the books*
ReplyDeleteMy Friends Are Fiction
Haha I would agree with you that SPACESHIPS ARE REALLY COOL END OF DISCUSSION. But I think we definitely can see some other reasons for the trend, with for example the Star Trek reboot and other sci-fi esque movies that have become huge mainstream successes. I mean, they showed that sci-fi is no longer just for the nerds, and I think that probably has SOME influence on authors.
ReplyDeleteBUT I LOVE THIS TREND SO MUCH OMG ASDFJKL; I love sci-fi, and so this makes me very very veryyyy happy :)
Sticking with the consensus, space is a trend I can get excited about. I'm interested to see the next lot of books that come out and how the subgenre is received by reviewers. Judging from the comments on this post, most of us seem to be in favour!
ReplyDeleteEven if I am mad at Revis for the ending to Shades of Earth, I am glad for more sci fi in space. Yesssss.
ReplyDeleteHowever, many of these seem to have not been good. So. Yeah. Saaaaaad.
I totally think the next trend is alternate universes, though. *eyes you*