This year I learned YA is actually a category, not a genre. I'm still not clear on the difference but I'm glad to now be aware. This the type of book I reach for most after romance. I lean more toward fantasy than contemporary, which is reflected here. Here are my favorite YA novels of 2019!
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A Spark Of White Fire and A House Of Rage & Sorrow (The Celestial Trilogy) by Sangu Mandanna
Please read these two books and join me in the agonizing wait for book 3. Sorry not sorry. This is a Mahabharata-inspired space opera. You don't need to be familiar with the Hindu myth to enjoy this. Sangu Mandanna is an incredible author and I’m so glad this series put her on my radar. Her plot is engaging, perfectly paced, and never lets up. There’s one twist and turn after another and I really don’t want to say much about the actual plot because it was such a delight to experience.
Esmae has all kinds of complicated family dynamics and that’s before she sneaks into a competition and ends up winning, thus enabling her to return home to Kali for the first time since she was a baby. She’s such a great heroine and I loved seeing how her expectations didn’t always match reality and the way this changed things for her.
Max was wonderful, even if he’d been misunderstood his whole life. (Hello, catnip.) His parents the king and queen adopted him and he feels like he’s not the kind of son they wanted. Except he is a fantastic strategist, level-headed, and all around great and it broke my heart to see the way they reminded him he was not related by blood. (Heads up for those in the adoption community that some of the language and treatment of adoption may be triggering.) Besides Max and Esmae, I also loved Titania, the sentient warship. I loved that she wasn’t bloodthirsty despite being a warship. Every scene with Titania was top-notch and had such great humor. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful inclusion of gods and goddesses and how this mythology is woven through the story. (Read the full review of A Spark Of White Fire.)
CW: toxic family members, abandonment, violence, betrayal, grief, adoption
Muse Of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
What a powerful conclusion to this duology. It’s dense with action and characters and I had no idea how the intersecting threads would resolve, particularly for Sarai and Strange. All hope seemed lost at the end of Strange The Dreamer (one of my favorite books of 2017) and yet Sarai has a chance thanks to Minya’s gift. But of course it comes with a mighty price.
While Strange was an ode to books and reading, Muse is more a story about what happens when we are lost to our grief and need for revenge. Grief can twist and distort us, as we see with Minya and Nova. Half the time, I wasn’t sure if I was rooting for them to be crushed or redeemed. They do awful things but they’re treated with compassion and we can clearly see why both became this way.
Laini Taylor’s world-building was amazing per usual. The ghost characters have different abilities compared to other ghost stories—a saving grace for Sarai—and the arc with the two Ellens had me rapt. All of her angel demon monster books are inventive but I was particularly impressed with how things came together in this one. I have no idea how she came up with the idea for this story but I’m so glad she did.
CW: past rape, child slavery, slavery, violence, murder, attempted murder, grief, domestic violence, toxic parents, child abuse
I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver
I’m so glad this book exists in the world. This is an #ownvoices story about a nonbinary teenager coming out and then processing the aftermath. My heart broke for the way Ben's parents treated them but their estranged sister's olive branch gave me so much hope and I really enjoyed watching the evolution of their relationship with Hannah. And of course I loved their friendship with Nathan, even how resistant Ben was to see it as friendship at first, until Nathan’s charm wore them down. It was such a sweet love story.
I do hope that the next major YA story about a nonbinary teen will include a supportive coming out experience, minus any homophobic and transphobic parents. And of course, no forced outing. (Thankfully that didn’t happen in this book.) Yes, these are common experiences but I do wonder why so many of the touted LGBTQIA stories include these plot elements and what that says about cis-het readers being more comfortable with LGBTQIA pain and trauma than with their Happily Ever Afters.
FYI this is great on audiobook.
CW: toxic parents, character kicked out of their home after coming out, references to homophobia and transphobia, underage drinking, depression, anxiety, panic attack
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
This is Six Of Crows meets Ocean’s Eleven meets The Librarians, with a dash of Indiana Jones. If that doesn’t reel you in, I don’t know what will. The Gilded Wolves is a historical fantasy set in 1899 Paris centered around a crew of friends. In this world, the Order of Babel rules. Some people are divinely gifted with Forging affinities, allowing them to change or enhance creation. But as you might suspect, not all is well in this world. There’s the Fallen House, which no one will talk about. There’s a House without an heir. And, oh, there’s the way the Order doesn’t always act in everyone’s best interests.
Enter Séverin, the denied heir of House Vanth, who delights in reclaiming the items sold off from his House and tracking down Order items for those who will pay him. He’s assisted by Zofia, Laila, Tristan, and Enrique, each of whom bring a great deal to the table. There’s such a great sense of humor throughout, no matter the stakes. This was a suspenseful read, to be sure, but more than anything else it was fun. The ending makes for an incredible set up for book two and I cannot wait to see where Chokshi takes us next. (Read the full review.)
CW: racism, colonialism, death of a loved one, grief, references to past bullying, past child abuse (neglect, mental, emotional), anxiety attacks
Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.
The Astonishing Color Of After by Ruth XR Pan
CW: suicide, attempted suicide, depression, grief, micro-aggressions
This book was a wonder! It's a luminous exploration of grief, taking place after Leigh's mother dies by suicide. Leigh both knows and doesn't know about her mother's depression. Kids, especially teens, notice so much more than we ever think they do. So, of course, she knows when her mom is having a bad day but her parents never address it with her and she's even sent away during the worst of it, literally shut out from her family. Not talking about depression and suicide only makes the stigma worse and it is no wonder Leigh does not know how to relate to anyone afterward.
Instead, she comes to believe her mother is a bird. She believes the bird is giving her a message, that there's something her mother is trying to convey. There's an element of magical realism but at the same time, I wondered if it was a specific manifestation of her grief. There's rich symbolism throughout the book, from the bird to the cicada—both the lone cicadas Leigh sees in Taiwan and her mom’s necklace. Leigh is an artist so she also attaches meaning and emotions to specific colors. Even though this grapples with heavy subjects, it's also interwoven with lighter moments of connection and belonging. The flashbacks also center around Leigh's best friend Axel and their burgeoning love story and I adored all of the uncertainty and unknowns of going from friends to something more. I loved every part of this reading experience and look forward to whatever Pan brings us next. (Read the full review.)
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
I super enjoyed this story! I was not familiar with the gumiho legend so I can’t say how this retelling compares but it did make me want to read up on it and see where the series might go next. Miyoung and Jihoon’s relationship developed brilliantly. I loved them together. She was so prickly, especially in comparison to his good-naturedness. But they have more in common than they originally think, thanks to absentee parents. How they deal with it is entirely different, of course, but the story did a great job of exploring this. For the record, I am not a fan of his mom or her dad. At all.
There are bold choices in the plot, which paid off for me. I was very sad about one particular development but I couldn’t see a way out of it either. The ending really freaked me out. I am very curious about how the next book will develop as a result.
CW: death of loved one, grief, kidnapping, violence (not gory or explicit), absentee parents, character in coma
Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.
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