Friday 25 October 2013

Paranormal YA Books

Halloween is fast approaching and it got me thinking about all things spooky and paranormal.


Hopefully you will agree with me, but I think nobody does paranormal better than YA.
Would you say that paranormal almost dominates a large proportion of YA books? There are lists and lists on Goodreads for the best paranormal YA books in different variations and they all seem hugely popular.



I think what makes YA + paranormal work so well together is that teens are still in the stage of their lives where they are discovering themselves and paving the way for who they are going to be, and therefore, could progress into paranormal characteristics. It almost seems more realistic (as far as realism can go within paranormal) and believable for a reader that the character turns into a vampire or a magician in their teens rather than a grown up living in the real world.
I read that some think it was Stephen King's 'Carrie' that paved the way for this realization: nothing fits the supernatural better than adolescence and since then we've had the likes of JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and Cassandra Clare.



Do you agree? I'm not disregarding paranormal in adult fiction at all - infact I've read quite a few really great titles, but I think there's something about YA that fits with paranormal.
Do you think paranormal YA is still going as strong as ever or has it started to die down abit?

What are your favourite paranormal YA books? Are you going to be reading any in particular for halloween? Or even dressing up as your favourite book character?

2 comments:

  1. I think YA do Paranormal the best, too! They're just always that little bit more Fantasy-based and set in enthralling other worlds with more imagination. :)

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  2. I think it seems to be dying down a little from a few years back when Twilight mania was at its peak, now we see a lot more dystopian and contemporary but I would still say paranormal is my fave genre. I would love a return to horror, when I was a teenager on the 90s the Point Horror series was my addiction.

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