Young Adult versus adult SF/ Fantasy

[mirth]

I find many of the adult fantasies nowadays to be rather repetitive. The stories are mostly along the lines of LOTR with some big quest or some big battle. David Eddings with his the Belgariad and Mallorean Series was a joy to read more so for the witty and energetic conversations rather than the plot. Unfortunately, his Tamuli series was just a rehash of his Belgariad series with even the characters being very similar. I still adore Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (a must read) but that is more of a satirical take of our world in a fantasy world.

Young adult (YA) fantasies however seem to be getting better. Many of them though targeted at children, are reaching out to the adults as well; the most obvious example is the Harry Potter series. I find that many YA books have plots differing from the usual LOTR quest kind (Eoin Colfer's The Supernaturalist which is likely to develop into a series is an enjoyable page-turner). Even those with such plots have more interesting characters.

Many YA books now have characters who are narcisstic and sometimes nasty protagonists but yet are compelling and enjoyable to read. Jonathan Stroud's the Bartimaeus Trilogy is one. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Series is another.

Some YA books even bring in 'deeper' issues like religion. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy is an excellent read. Even the classic Narnia novels seem to have a religious slant especially the later books in the series.

So what are your thoughts on adult and YA fantasies? Maybe, I'm just not reading the good adult fantasies. Any recommendations? Any recommendations for YA fantasies as well?

[Badri]

Hey Mirth

Glad to note someone else reads Eddings! Yes, wit was good when you began with Eddings, but repeating the same thing on and on as in the Tamuli series does get to you.

I love Pratchett, although you can actually feel exhausted when you finish a book of his.

I do understand what you say about YA fantasy being out of the box, in not having the classic quest motif. But a fantasy or an epic fantasy is defined by the quest, let us not forget.

A Quest, the quintessential hero and magic are the three aspects that make up a fantasy, and perhaps it is this that has of late becoming cloying.

I am trying my hand at fantasy, and have posted it under Kathaigal/Stories section...do take a look at it and tell me what you feel.


Perhaps it is time to redefine fantasy, after all. Maybe that is why Terry Pratchett or JK Rowlings have a better time with the reading masses. Then again, it is the writing and the developing of characters that is important. I daresay, if you are a compelling author, you could take every ingredient of a classic fantasy and still come out with something original. Maybe that is what most authors are missing out.


Have you tried David Gemmel? Maybe you'd like his writings.

[Querida]

I love Pratchett, although you can actually feel exhausted when you finish a book of his.

you too? yeah i though i only felt like that...i find that sometimes when reading fantasy i get bored because there are too many new things being incorporated...or too many philosphical concepts summarized rather than one fully explored that or it's predictable like Phillip Pullman's 'The Golden Compass'..enough people raved about it but I only got past half before leaving it aside...my sister seems to like the series of unfortunate events...i too glance through it at times though it kinda gets you down that the media has revealed the author and its background story as not true.....

I would like to recommend some children's fantasy/quasi fantasy works:
Ursula LeGuin's many novels
Lois Lowry - The Giver
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies
I know most of them are children's writers but it's good to start somewhere