Friday Five: YA Series to Watch

It seems like after the success of Harry Potter, every YA book title promotes itself as a "The first book in the ____ series." As a YA junkie, I am okay with this. As a buyer of books, I say "Enough!" And as a lover of books, I would rather see them stop at one book rather than pumping out two more books of low quality just to market the series as the next Hunger Games. In the hope of highlighting some quality up and coming series, I present to you todays "Friday Five: YA Series to Watch" with my reviews:

Series: Divergent

Author: Roth, Veronica

Book Title(s): Divergent, Insurgent

My thoughts: I am very excited about this series and this author. Veronica Roth is in her early twenties and already pumping out some quality work. Her characters are very human and I cannot wait to see what she gives us in the future. For now we have this YA Dystopian Novel about a teenage girl who must choose between staying with her family and being who she really is

, as well as the repercussions of that decision. Divergent is definitely one to watch. While it has not hit Hunger Games or Twilight fandom, it does have a large following and a movie adaptation to be released March 21, 2014.

Series: Unwind

Author: Shusterman, Neal

Book Title(s): Unwind, UnWholly

My thoughts: Rather than a discussion on war or love, this book series takes on the concept of abortion. In the future, abortion is illegal. However, at 16 parents can choose to have their unruly child “unwound.” Instead of dying, the teen lives on with his heart in a man who needed one, his skin as a graft for a burn victim. The story in Unwind has 3 main narrators and was a great read. UnWholly came out recently and I am trying to get to it this weekend.

 

Series: Graceling

Author: Cashore, Kristin

Book Title(s): Graceling, Bitteblue

My thoughts: Graceling contained a quality of writing you rarely see in debut novels. This idea centers in a world where some people are born with “graces” or amazing skill sets that can range from excellent culinary skills to a killing “grace.” We meet our young female hero (surprise!) who has a killing grace and has become somewhat of personal thug to the king she serves, who happens to be her uncle. It is a very fun read and I cannot wait to finally read Bitterblue, the second book in the series.

Series: Legend

Author: Lu, Marie

Book Title(s): Legend, Prodigy (tbr 2013)

My thoughts: I will say I was annoyed that there are two different fonts in this book to show which of the two narrators are talking. I find it offensive to all readers that whoever made that decision thought the average reader could not see the difference in narrators. Once I got past my annoyance with the font, I was immensely impressed with the descriptions of action sequences in this book. The story focuses around two teenage military geniuses who are on different sides of the current military regime. I am excited to see where Prodigy, due out 2013, picks up.

 

Series: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Series title unknown)

Author: Riggs, Ransom

Book Title(s): Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

My thoughts: The sequel to this book was just announced this past week. I loved the book but I do not know if I can be truly excited about the sequel. The book took such an interesting turn of events from start to finish that I do not know what to expect from the sequel.

Are there any series you are excited about?

~Jason