I am a HS science teacher. My main hobby is reading books of all levels with a primary focus in the adult fantasy genre. I constantly talk to my students about reading and trying to get them to find a passion for reading be it magazines, articles, manga, comics, graphic novels, or books. A person should be able to read what they enjoy without having to feel lesser than for it. One of the things that crushed me was when one of my students told me he loved to read manga in middle school but was made fun of by his teacher for it because “that’s not real reading, and he should be reading something of a higher standard.” That killed me to hear and even worse he said after that he just stopped reading all together. It’s ok for ppl to not like genres or books and to state their reasonings for why they feel a book is not good, but there is a way to present those criticisms without belittling others or making them feel lesser than because they did like those stories.
I appreciate the defence of YA. I read a lot and i read the classics too. There's nothing wrong with YA or graphic novels for that matter. There's a lot of snobs out there, and when I've spoken to some of these people online or in person I find that most of them aren't particularly well read in the classics and are unfamiliar with the epic poems.
I will never understand gatekeeping in anything, especially art and reading. There's one more reason for embracing YA books that I think is very important - language learning! English isn't my native language and when I first started reading actual novels in it, the more simplistic language of YA books helped me tremendously!
I used to read mainly YA books a few years ago. Nowadays it’s the opposite, I read 90ish percent of adult books. Probably because my interests changed from when I was 16-18 yo and because I enjoy stories that are more complex and dense. However, I like to pick up some YA books in between those huge adult fantasy books that can get tiresome to read. I also really enjoy reading middle grade. I think people should read what makes them feel good and happy ! 🥰
People can't read YA, romance, horror, anything too sexy, or anything by the "wrong authors" without being labeled as "not a real reader". I will never understand that mentality. If people are reading and having fun, then they're winning. There's no "wrong kind of book" to enjoy. Even if it's something you wouldn't read yourself. We all have different preferences and values in our reading, and authors all have differing strengths and weaknesses. So it becomes even harder to difinitively decide which books are better and which are worse. Better for who?
As someone approaching their 30s with pretty bad executive dysfunction from ADHD....about 90% of the time I'm more likely to not read than read an adult fiction book. YA is much easier for my poor brain to digest. In fact, I had stopped reading for a long time and then someone suggested I pick up a YA book and it was such an "OH!!" moment.
On point 2, I'd say that EVERY genre and category has its issues and common pitfalls. Thrillers can throw in meaningless plot twists instead of ones that enhance and serve the story. Fantasy and sci-fi can exposition dump or be far too bloated with unnecessary and unresolved plot threads. Adult books can try too hard to be "mature" and think that what makes a book adult is gore or sex. No genre is exempt.
At 60, I read anything that tells a good story. YA included. I love your strong anti-gatekeeping stance. I have hated that for years. Read what makes you happy and read more.
I only started reading YA when I was about 25. Except for Harry Potter. When I was a teen I was reading more mature books because that's what school imposed. No teacher has ever recommended any YA book to us, which I think is a grave mistake. I was even viewed with critical eyes by my teachers because I was reading Harry Potter and enjoying it. I was supposed to read the "important" books. When I matured I realized that the "important" books explored themes and concepts and language that flew over my head at my young age. I was supposed to learn about courage, friendship, loyalty, developing my own opinions, not about adultery in marriages, to give an example. I was supposed to be encouraged to explore genres and find joy in reading. I am much more of an avid reader now because I discovered so many reading options and I will definitely introduce my children to age appropriate reading materials so they can find what they like to read. I am not saying I shouldn't have read what we had to read for school, those were good books, I recognize their value, but I should have been encouraged to read other genres too, especially YA since it involved people my age.
One could even argue that simplistic world building, shallow characters, melodramatic prose, flimsy plot points and excessive romantic drama could be the right ingredients for a good book targeted to a specific audience, or for a specific mood or even for the right level of escapism. Thanks for another great video. 😊
Wonderful video. YA got me into reading again some years ago and I still love it. I'm also not a native English speaker, but YA books were easy enough to read to keep me going and now I'm mostly reading in my second language just for the fun of it :'D (and there's so much more content out there than in German ...)
I wonder how many other gen xers did what I did? I read Stephen King, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and other graphically violent and sometimes racy horror, sci fi and fantasy as a young teenager, and came back to reading in my middle age with Harry Potter, Hunger Games and ACOTAR. So much for writing to specific demographics!
Well said. A good book is a good book regardless of the age it’s targeted at. It’s why I have no qualms at reading kids books as well even though I’m over 50
The goal should be getting the youth and young adults reading. Any book that gets kids and young adults interested in reading is ok in my books (pun intended)
Thanks for the Treasure Planet shoutout, Jim is my comfort character 😭 I love how positive you are, Cronk. YA as a concept is complicated and I appreciated your optimism while discussing it!
I still read plenty of YA, and don't see anything wrong with it. Just like any other demographic, there's good, bad, and great, and part of the joy of reading is finding what makes you fulfilled, regardless of what some talking head might say.
I’ve always been of the mindset of whatever gets a person reading is good. Sanderson made an analogy that it’s like shoes. Everyone has shoes, needs shoes, there is a type of shoe for everyone, but if you have a shoe the wrong size it is better to be barefoot. People just need to find the right book and format for themselves
I appreciate you making this video. YA and manga is what got me back into reading after college. During and few years after college, I couldn’t read adult books anymore because the reading level was too tiresome for me (which is wild if I think about it). After a few years of reading YA and a lot of manga, I’m back to reading adult books again ❤.
I used to read all the time as a kid, but college and life basically killed the habit and my enjoyment of reading. Throne of Glass was the first book I had read in about 6yrs and I devoured the first 4 books in that series. This was years ago and I can acknowledge now that they're not great books, but they hold a special place in my heart for being the books that reignited my love of reading. My hope is that Fourth Wing is doing something similar with the next generation of young readers.
I like when someone actually warns me if a book sucks. That way more time for better books. People look down on romance, women's fiction and fantasy too. If criticism comes from a place of love from the reviewer it has value in my eyes. Very interesting discussion!
Yes to all of this! I don't read much YA any longer, but ffs anybody can read whatever they dig and whatever clicks with them... ! I pick up YA here & there still & some of my all-time favorites are YA! also, that is a FANTASTIC shirt!
I’m super happy you made this video. I have 35 years and currently reading Crown of Midnight by Sarah j Maas, from her throne of glass series. I’m enjoying so much to the point that I just want to read it the whole day. When I’m finished, I’ll be grabbing some nordic dark police book. I love them too, and that’s the beauty of any kind of art. You can enjoy whatever. People make every topic so serious. That’s why I try to consume thins kinds of videos, from people who talk about book genres. To inform us, not to bash them.
All i care about is if it has an interesting world, interesting characters and a great story. I'm not one to focus on writing styles, or whether the book is YA or Adult. As long as it makes me turn the page, I'm in.
It's because of YA I started reading again, I went 10+ years (31 now) without reading a book read Six of crows and really enjoyed it, and hunger games because I liked the movies. My take is if a story is a good story, I don't care what it's classified as
Well, I can thank Sarah J Maas for making me hate young adult fantasy. After the fifth book of Throne Glass. For a time I couldn’t even bare myself in reading any YA. It didn’t matter, until I started to read Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell. Which solidified on why I liked YA to begin with.
Thank you! Loved the video! I‘m an adult who enjoys YA now and then😊 Looking forward to your video in defense of audiobooks, if you find the time to make that 😊
Interesting timing! I am just reading Six of Crows as dude in his thirties and loving it so much! I think it’s actually underrated fantasy series especially with males. Also 🤘 metal!
Great video! I enjoy YA and I read mainly YA because I find it much easier to understand than adult books. I can't enjoy reading a book that has so many words that I don't understand and I'm constantly googling what the words mean. If YA didn't exist, I wouldn't be reading.
Part of the problem with gatekeeping "YA" is no one being clear on what YA is to begin with. See the example of Fourth Wing posted in the comments. Not that gatekeeping is a good thing anyway, but it is funny to see people try very hard to gatekeep something they can't even agree on. Now we have the New Adult category, could help with that... or it could be just another confusing marketing term.
I believe Fourth Wing is considered more New Adult than YA, because of the spicy scenes. I do like the appreciation of YA and romantasy (like SJM) on this channel.
People have this odd perception of gatekeeping. They think it means outsiders can't try something out and see if they enjoy a thing. Actual gatekeeping is good. It keeps 'tourists' from changing the thing into something it's not. If outsiders come in and enjoy the thing, they'd logically want it gatekept, because they turned out to like the thing. If they didn't like the thing, then normally they'd just leave and move onto other things. But some outsiders that do not like the thing then want to change it into something they DO like (usually through alterations over time). When that happens, people shouldn't be surprised if the original fans (and the new fans who turned out to like the thing) get angry and want to then gatekeep their thing from changing because of whims of tourists.
Thank you so much for addressing this!! Just yesterday I was watching a booktuber go over his reads for the yeae, and most of his low rated reads he criticized for "being too YA" (despite being adult books). It's becoming synonymous with bad/poorly written, and while yes, books written for teens shouldn't be as complex, marking that as a reason a book is bad is incredibly short sighted. And that's not even including how sexist it feels, as 90% or more of YA these days is written by women for women... The lack of YA marketed more towards boys means its becoming more and more pigeonholed towards telling very specific kinds lf stories, and I don't think that is great for a lot of young male readers, who are forced to jump right to adult books to find things they are interested in--which may be why so many more men drop off reading than women. (Based on my very limited perspective. XD) I also want to caution lumping Fourth Wing in with YA; it is certainly marketed towards the audience of adult women who typically read YA, but it's first and foremost a romance novel. I don't believe YA would ever include explicit sex scenes. I do want to throw out there mention of the Aurelian Cycle, which I do think is YA at its finest! It also has dragonriders and some romantic themes, but the plot is modeled after Plato's Republic, and her prose is incredible without being overly complex. I wish it had the massive fervor and obsession that these big TikTok books get, but like Hunger Games, it shows just how entertaining but also thougut provoking a YA book can be, if we give teens a little more credit!
Boys are often told that the books they might enjoy are not appropriate. If I may so not only do women have many modern books tailored towards them but they have a very negative opinion on books such as "Witcher series." Dismissing them as sexist! It isn't very nice when boys find something they like only be told that there's something wrong with them for liking it! I seldom see young girls being attacked for what they read. Boys are more likely to enjoy comics or graphic novels, but if books that have been made into videogames or movies they like exist then it will tempt many to start reading, and it upsets me a little when I see people attack them for it!
@@thehound9638 I do think you're right, that books that appeal more to girls/women seem to be a higher proportion of what's published lately (it's a rough cycle; women drive the markets via social media, esp tiktok, so publishers push those books, so there's more of them, so there's more media created...), and while I do agree that I don't see a lot of criticism towards young girls for their reading choices, I also don't see much towards young boys either. I don't have any teenage children yet, and YA barely existed when I was one. If that is the case though, I do find it bizarre. I know the Witcher series is beloved by many women (myself included; games 2 & 3 are among my fave of all time), and though I do think there quite a lot of objectifying women, I get that it's part of the world he's trying to capture. BUT, I think as a great on the grim dark genre, Joe Abercrombie has shown that you don't need to include that in order to paint a dark, brutal world. I also think that "appropriateness" for an age demographic is going to be veeerry specific from kid to kid; my 6 year old son's reading level is quite high, but there are some middle grade novels I was reading with him that I abandoned for the time being because the violence level was too high for his sensitivity. I do think that kids, esp teens, have to be given a lot of credit for their capabilities, but that doesn't mean that the level of violence in a grim dark adult book is going to be appropriate for *all* teen boys. There SHOULD be a bridge for them, so they aren't shunted straight from Percy Jackson to Geralt of Rivia (esp because, while they may be ready for some themes like violence, they may NOT for the sexual themes). The YA age bracket is supposed to cover where middle grade leaves off, from 13-17, which is a vast array of maturity levels... And the fact that so little exists that appeals to boys is a real shame. Attacking for reading above their age range I'd absurd when there isn't anything else for them.
@@lieslherman I agree with all of that. The attacks I was talking about in regards to the "Witcher" can be seen with book reviews by many channels here on RUclips. It's not that the industry is discriminating against boys or that female readers are being unreasonable, it's just that boys are less likely to read novels than girls and the books they do read are not always received warmly by female readers.
@@thehound9638 Makes sense!! I get where those folks are coming from, and I think it's important to bring up and discuss (esp in cases like that where it may make a reader uncomfortable), but just as with YA, just because someone doesn't like something doesn't mean it's bad! Lordy knows I would love to scream from the mountains that Fourth Wing is an awful book, but millions of people disagree with me, and it's definitely gate keeping, so again, I just have to accept that other people's tastes are valid. 🤣
In regards to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame: While I would agree with you that they are marketed to a YA audience, the publisher classifies them as "New Adult". Why do I bring this up? Because I was genuinely shocked at the amount of explicit sex shown on the page, starting in the latter half of Fourth Wing. Up until that point, I was going to recommend it to my girlfriend's 14 year old daughter. After discussing it with my girlfriend, we agreed that the material was not appropriate for her. Then she received it for Christmas from a relative. 🫤
^ This. A lot a "romantasy" (or speculative romance in general) falls into this category, and it very much is NOT for teens. There's a big difference between starting to introduce kids to themes of sexuality, and having a sex scene explicitly written on the page!!
I wish books had ratings like movies to help readers better know the level of content before we start reading. I'm all for some smutty books, but it sucks when someone isn't expecting it because the book wasn't marketed properly / truthfully.
@@KitCronk Yes!! Storygraph does this to a small extent, but it mostly just says what content is present in a book, and not often clear about how often or explicit that content is. This is why long form video/text reviews are SO valuable, and often why I'll watch many on a book before I choose to read it--its just such a large time investment. 😵💫
I am a HS science teacher. My main hobby is reading books of all levels with a primary focus in the adult fantasy genre. I constantly talk to my students about reading and trying to get them to find a passion for reading be it magazines, articles, manga, comics, graphic novels, or books. A person should be able to read what they enjoy without having to feel lesser than for it. One of the things that crushed me was when one of my students told me he loved to read manga in middle school but was made fun of by his teacher for it because “that’s not real reading, and he should be reading something of a higher standard.” That killed me to hear and even worse he said after that he just stopped reading all together. It’s ok for ppl to not like genres or books and to state their reasonings for why they feel a book is not good, but there is a way to present those criticisms without belittling others or making them feel lesser than because they did like those stories.
After a decade and a half of not reading, YA is what got me back into reading.
And yes, your hair is majestic.
"No, no. He's got a point." 😂
I appreciate the defence of YA. I read a lot and i read the classics too. There's nothing wrong with YA or graphic novels for that matter. There's a lot of snobs out there, and when I've spoken to some of these people online or in person I find that most of them aren't particularly well read in the classics and are unfamiliar with the epic poems.
Congrats on becoming the next Tolkien! Fr tho elitism and snobbery is way too prevalent is reading circles and deserves to be addressed, good on you
I will never understand gatekeeping in anything, especially art and reading. There's one more reason for embracing YA books that I think is very important - language learning! English isn't my native language and when I first started reading actual novels in it, the more simplistic language of YA books helped me tremendously!
Great point!
I used to read mainly YA books a few years ago. Nowadays it’s the opposite, I read 90ish percent of adult books. Probably because my interests changed from when I was 16-18 yo and because I enjoy stories that are more complex and dense. However, I like to pick up some YA books in between those huge adult fantasy books that can get tiresome to read. I also really enjoy reading middle grade. I think people should read what makes them feel good and happy ! 🥰
People can't read YA, romance, horror, anything too sexy, or anything by the "wrong authors" without being labeled as "not a real reader". I will never understand that mentality. If people are reading and having fun, then they're winning. There's no "wrong kind of book" to enjoy. Even if it's something you wouldn't read yourself. We all have different preferences and values in our reading, and authors all have differing strengths and weaknesses. So it becomes even harder to difinitively decide which books are better and which are worse. Better for who?
As someone approaching their 30s with pretty bad executive dysfunction from ADHD....about 90% of the time I'm more likely to not read than read an adult fiction book. YA is much easier for my poor brain to digest. In fact, I had stopped reading for a long time and then someone suggested I pick up a YA book and it was such an "OH!!" moment.
Same! That's why audiobooks work so well for me too.
This!!
On point 2, I'd say that EVERY genre and category has its issues and common pitfalls. Thrillers can throw in meaningless plot twists instead of ones that enhance and serve the story. Fantasy and sci-fi can exposition dump or be far too bloated with unnecessary and unresolved plot threads. Adult books can try too hard to be "mature" and think that what makes a book adult is gore or sex. No genre is exempt.
Yesss i was trying to figure out how to explain the flaws in adult fiction. Thats exactly it, they try too hard to be mature
At 60, I read anything that tells a good story. YA included. I love your strong anti-gatekeeping stance. I have hated that for years. Read what makes you happy and read more.
I only started reading YA when I was about 25. Except for Harry Potter. When I was a teen I was reading more mature books because that's what school imposed. No teacher has ever recommended any YA book to us, which I think is a grave mistake. I was even viewed with critical eyes by my teachers because I was reading Harry Potter and enjoying it. I was supposed to read the "important" books. When I matured I realized that the "important" books explored themes and concepts and language that flew over my head at my young age. I was supposed to learn about courage, friendship, loyalty, developing my own opinions, not about adultery in marriages, to give an example. I was supposed to be encouraged to explore genres and find joy in reading. I am much more of an avid reader now because I discovered so many reading options and I will definitely introduce my children to age appropriate reading materials so they can find what they like to read. I am not saying I shouldn't have read what we had to read for school, those were good books, I recognize their value, but I should have been encouraged to read other genres too, especially YA since it involved people my age.
The Hunger Games made me a reader as a 12yo teenager... And Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes brought me back into reading as 20yo young adult
One could even argue that simplistic world building, shallow characters, melodramatic prose, flimsy plot points and excessive romantic drama could be the right ingredients for a good book targeted to a specific audience, or for a specific mood or even for the right level of escapism. Thanks for another great video. 😊
Another banger of a video! I personally love a cheeky YA in between chunky fantasy books :)
Wonderful video.
YA got me into reading again some years ago and I still love it. I'm also not a native English speaker, but YA books were easy enough to read to keep me going and now I'm mostly reading in my second language just for the fun of it :'D (and there's so much more content out there than in German ...)
I wonder how many other gen xers did what I did? I read Stephen King, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and other graphically violent and sometimes racy horror, sci fi and fantasy as a young teenager, and came back to reading in my middle age with Harry Potter, Hunger Games and ACOTAR.
So much for writing to specific demographics!
Well said. A good book is a good book regardless of the age it’s targeted at. It’s why I have no qualms at reading kids books as well even though I’m over 50
I'm in my 30's and read a mix of adult and young adult! Great video, as usual.
The goal should be getting the youth and young adults reading. Any book that gets kids and young adults interested in reading is ok in my books (pun intended)
Thanks for the Treasure Planet shoutout, Jim is my comfort character 😭
I love how positive you are, Cronk. YA as a concept is complicated and I appreciated your optimism while discussing it!
That hair.
That beautiful hair.
And the muscles.
And the beard.
And the degree.
I feel vindicated and a little adoring.
I still read plenty of YA, and don't see anything wrong with it. Just like any other demographic, there's good, bad, and great, and part of the joy of reading is finding what makes you fulfilled, regardless of what some talking head might say.
I’ve always been of the mindset of whatever gets a person reading is good. Sanderson made an analogy that it’s like shoes. Everyone has shoes, needs shoes, there is a type of shoe for everyone, but if you have a shoe the wrong size it is better to be barefoot. People just need to find the right book and format for themselves
I appreciate you making this video. YA and manga is what got me back into reading after college. During and few years after college, I couldn’t read adult books anymore because the reading level was too tiresome for me (which is wild if I think about it). After a few years of reading YA and a lot of manga, I’m back to reading adult books again ❤.
I used to read all the time as a kid, but college and life basically killed the habit and my enjoyment of reading. Throne of Glass was the first book I had read in about 6yrs and I devoured the first 4 books in that series. This was years ago and I can acknowledge now that they're not great books, but they hold a special place in my heart for being the books that reignited my love of reading. My hope is that Fourth Wing is doing something similar with the next generation of young readers.
I like when someone actually warns me if a book sucks. That way more time for better books. People look down on romance, women's fiction and fantasy too. If criticism comes from a place of love from the reviewer it has value in my eyes. Very interesting discussion!
Great topic! I would love you to speak more on the topic of illiteracy and also on strategies to increase one's "reading muscles"! Super interesting
Great suggestion! I think booktube doesn't consider its role in battling illiteracy enough. It's something we should talk about it.
This legend has better hair than me.
Yes to all of this! I don't read much YA any longer, but ffs anybody can read whatever they dig and whatever clicks with them... ! I pick up YA here & there still & some of my all-time favorites are YA!
also, that is a FANTASTIC shirt!
And sometimes YA is just fun and good and tackle topics that I think people would be surprised about them being in YA books.
I’m super happy you made this video. I have 35 years and currently reading Crown of Midnight by Sarah j Maas, from her throne of glass series. I’m enjoying so much to the point that I just want to read it the whole day. When I’m finished, I’ll be grabbing some nordic dark police book. I love them too, and that’s the beauty of any kind of art. You can enjoy whatever. People make every topic so serious. That’s why I try to consume thins kinds of videos, from people who talk about book genres. To inform us, not to bash them.
So glad I’ve come across your channel! I feel safe here so thank you.
Found your channel this week, love your videos! :)
All i care about is if it has an interesting world, interesting characters and a great story. I'm not one to focus on writing styles, or whether the book is YA or Adult. As long as it makes me turn the page, I'm in.
It's because of YA I started reading again, I went 10+ years (31 now) without reading a book read Six of crows and really enjoyed it, and hunger games because I liked the movies. My take is if a story is a good story, I don't care what it's classified as
Well, I can thank Sarah J Maas for making me hate young adult fantasy. After the fifth book of Throne Glass. For a time I couldn’t even bare myself in reading any YA. It didn’t matter, until I started to read Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell. Which solidified on why I liked YA to begin with.
Thank you! Loved the video! I‘m an adult who enjoys YA now and then😊 Looking forward to your video in defense of audiobooks, if you find the time to make that 😊
My mom read YA books together with me those days and she still does. I think it warms her heart ❤
Great video essay. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yaaaas just let people read what they want to read dang it.
As an adult who sometimes reads ya thank you for this dive
omggggg the lunar chronicles!! 🎉 I've always wanted to know more about that series but YA isn't really my thing 😅 looking forward to that video!
Thank you for being you! You are such a gem!
Could you do a video like this on Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series please?
Interesting timing! I am just reading Six of Crows as dude in his thirties and loving it so much! I think it’s actually underrated fantasy series especially with males.
Also 🤘 metal!
Great video! I enjoy YA and I read mainly YA because I find it much easier to understand than adult books. I can't enjoy reading a book that has so many words that I don't understand and I'm constantly googling what the words mean. If YA didn't exist, I wouldn't be reading.
Jokes aside I'm only here to discover his secret for a long healthy hair 😂
😂😂😂😂 love the ending
Part of the problem with gatekeeping "YA" is no one being clear on what YA is to begin with. See the example of Fourth Wing posted in the comments. Not that gatekeeping is a good thing anyway, but it is funny to see people try very hard to gatekeep something they can't even agree on.
Now we have the New Adult category, could help with that... or it could be just another confusing marketing term.
I believe Fourth Wing is considered more New Adult than YA, because of the spicy scenes. I do like the appreciation of YA and romantasy (like SJM) on this channel.
13:54 omg slayyyyy!
I have no problem with YA as a genre existing, but I do believe that readers of it deserve better than the current crop of popular YA books.
You are awesome!!!!! I loved this video ❤
People have this odd perception of gatekeeping. They think it means outsiders can't try something out and see if they enjoy a thing. Actual gatekeeping is good. It keeps 'tourists' from changing the thing into something it's not. If outsiders come in and enjoy the thing, they'd logically want it gatekept, because they turned out to like the thing. If they didn't like the thing, then normally they'd just leave and move onto other things. But some outsiders that do not like the thing then want to change it into something they DO like (usually through alterations over time). When that happens, people shouldn't be surprised if the original fans (and the new fans who turned out to like the thing) get angry and want to then gatekeep their thing from changing because of whims of tourists.
Also I'd also love to hear your "rant" on audio books not considered real reading- I never even thought about that.
Thank you so much for addressing this!! Just yesterday I was watching a booktuber go over his reads for the yeae, and most of his low rated reads he criticized for "being too YA" (despite being adult books). It's becoming synonymous with bad/poorly written, and while yes, books written for teens shouldn't be as complex, marking that as a reason a book is bad is incredibly short sighted. And that's not even including how sexist it feels, as 90% or more of YA these days is written by women for women... The lack of YA marketed more towards boys means its becoming more and more pigeonholed towards telling very specific kinds lf stories, and I don't think that is great for a lot of young male readers, who are forced to jump right to adult books to find things they are interested in--which may be why so many more men drop off reading than women. (Based on my very limited perspective. XD)
I also want to caution lumping Fourth Wing in with YA; it is certainly marketed towards the audience of adult women who typically read YA, but it's first and foremost a romance novel. I don't believe YA would ever include explicit sex scenes.
I do want to throw out there mention of the Aurelian Cycle, which I do think is YA at its finest! It also has dragonriders and some romantic themes, but the plot is modeled after Plato's Republic, and her prose is incredible without being overly complex. I wish it had the massive fervor and obsession that these big TikTok books get, but like Hunger Games, it shows just how entertaining but also thougut provoking a YA book can be, if we give teens a little more credit!
Boys are often told that the books they might enjoy are not appropriate. If I may so not only do women have many modern books tailored towards them but they have a very negative opinion on books such as "Witcher series." Dismissing them as sexist! It isn't very nice when boys find something they like only be told that there's something wrong with them for liking it! I seldom see young girls being attacked for what they read.
Boys are more likely to enjoy comics or graphic novels, but if books that have been made into videogames or movies they like exist then it will tempt many to start reading, and it upsets me a little when I see people attack them for it!
@@thehound9638 I do think you're right, that books that appeal more to girls/women seem to be a higher proportion of what's published lately (it's a rough cycle; women drive the markets via social media, esp tiktok, so publishers push those books, so there's more of them, so there's more media created...), and while I do agree that I don't see a lot of criticism towards young girls for their reading choices, I also don't see much towards young boys either. I don't have any teenage children yet, and YA barely existed when I was one.
If that is the case though, I do find it bizarre. I know the Witcher series is beloved by many women (myself included; games 2 & 3 are among my fave of all time), and though I do think there quite a lot of objectifying women, I get that it's part of the world he's trying to capture. BUT, I think as a great on the grim dark genre, Joe Abercrombie has shown that you don't need to include that in order to paint a dark, brutal world.
I also think that "appropriateness" for an age demographic is going to be veeerry specific from kid to kid; my 6 year old son's reading level is quite high, but there are some middle grade novels I was reading with him that I abandoned for the time being because the violence level was too high for his sensitivity. I do think that kids, esp teens, have to be given a lot of credit for their capabilities, but that doesn't mean that the level of violence in a grim dark adult book is going to be appropriate for *all* teen boys. There SHOULD be a bridge for them, so they aren't shunted straight from Percy Jackson to Geralt of Rivia (esp because, while they may be ready for some themes like violence, they may NOT for the sexual themes). The YA age bracket is supposed to cover where middle grade leaves off, from 13-17, which is a vast array of maturity levels... And the fact that so little exists that appeals to boys is a real shame. Attacking for reading above their age range I'd absurd when there isn't anything else for them.
@@lieslherman I agree with all of that. The attacks I was talking about in regards to the "Witcher" can be seen with book reviews by many channels here on RUclips.
It's not that the industry is discriminating against boys or that female readers are being unreasonable, it's just that boys are less likely to read novels than girls and the books they do read are not always received warmly by female readers.
@@thehound9638 Makes sense!! I get where those folks are coming from, and I think it's important to bring up and discuss (esp in cases like that where it may make a reader uncomfortable), but just as with YA, just because someone doesn't like something doesn't mean it's bad! Lordy knows I would love to scream from the mountains that Fourth Wing is an awful book, but millions of people disagree with me, and it's definitely gate keeping, so again, I just have to accept that other people's tastes are valid. 🤣
is ya the book equivelant of nu metal?
Lol probably more like Taylor Swift. Or just pop music in general.
😊😊😊🎉
In regards to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame: While I would agree with you that they are marketed to a YA audience, the publisher classifies them as "New Adult".
Why do I bring this up? Because I was genuinely shocked at the amount of explicit sex shown on the page, starting in the latter half of Fourth Wing. Up until that point, I was going to recommend it to my girlfriend's 14 year old daughter. After discussing it with my girlfriend, we agreed that the material was not appropriate for her.
Then she received it for Christmas from a relative. 🫤
^ This. A lot a "romantasy" (or speculative romance in general) falls into this category, and it very much is NOT for teens. There's a big difference between starting to introduce kids to themes of sexuality, and having a sex scene explicitly written on the page!!
I wish books had ratings like movies to help readers better know the level of content before we start reading. I'm all for some smutty books, but it sucks when someone isn't expecting it because the book wasn't marketed properly / truthfully.
@@KitCronk Yes!! Storygraph does this to a small extent, but it mostly just says what content is present in a book, and not often clear about how often or explicit that content is. This is why long form video/text reviews are SO valuable, and often why I'll watch many on a book before I choose to read it--its just such a large time investment. 😵💫
Can I quote this comment in my fourth wing video? Cause this is a really good point!!!!
@@cronkthebookguy You may absolutely use any of my comments in your videos!