I've been spending some time lately curled up with some of my favorite YA series, excellent rereads for comfort and inspiration. Please see a list of some memorable series below, divided into loose categories.
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Alternate History:
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: World War I with hybrid Darwinist beasties and steam-powered war machines.
- Finishing School (Etiquette & Espionage) by Gail Carriger: Victorian era with (well-mannered) vampires and werewolves.
- Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede: Regency England with magic and chocolate.
- Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein: Young women flying and imprisoned during World War II.
- Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson: Slavery and loyalty during Revolutionary times.
- Graceling by Kristin Cashore: How to use one's power to help and not to hurt. The two following books (to read in either order, but Graceling first) have similar focus with different main characters.
- Seraphina by Rachel Hartman: How to survive in court as a secret half-dragon when one's existence is considered an abomination.
- Provost's Dog/Beka Cooper (Terrier) by Tamora Pierce: How to be fair in one's work for the Provost's Guard and engage in only the right amount of corruption. Takes place 200 years before the Alanna books. (If you prefer espionage, try the Trickster series, about Alanna's daughter.)
- The Queen's Thief (The Thief) by Megan Whalen Turner: Don't believe everything the narrator says. He's a thief, after all, and kind of sneaky. 5th book coming out in May!
- Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock: Learning to speak up about what one really wants.
- Tiffany Aching (The Wee Free Men) by Terry Pratchett: Learning to be a witch, and how much of that is learning to be oneself.
- Every Day and Another Day by David Levithan: Learning to navigate sustained human interaction when one wakes up in a different body every day.
- Annals of the Western Shore (Gifts) by Ursula K. Le Guin: Similar to Graceling -- can one's power be used to create and not destroy? Also similar to Graceling (and to Le Guin's Earthsea series) in that the books focus on separate, though interlocking, stories.
Previously published in the January 2017 Big Blue YA Newsletter.
For links to recent YA newsletters, see August post "Young Adult Book Club Post-Book-Club Newsletters".
