What do people LIKE about Young Adult Fiction?

[KatieHal]

Young Adult Fiction is notably kind of huge these days, moreso if it's got a paranormal or dystopian future bent to it--from Twilight to The Hunger Games to Harry Potter to the upcoming movies for the Immortal Instruments series and Divergent, to the enormous section for such books at Barnes & Noble, to the Vampire Diaries and other such TV shows, it's all over the place.

And while there's plenty to mock in these stories, there is something obviously very compelling about them as well. So, what do you actually like about Young Adult Fiction (or YAF for short)?

I'll also try and formulate my own answer to this question, since I read a lot of YAF, but I'd like to hear from others, too!

[snabbott]

Isn't the novel you're working on YAF? Or am I remembering that wrong?

As for what I like about it, I like interesting, well-written stories regardless of the target age group.

[stika]

But I must know! Who will Bella choose? The Dead guy or animal guy! I must know! And I must see Jacob without his shirt!

[KatieHal]

Snabbott: You are correct, it is

Stika: LOL, but rather the opposite of the kind of answer I was looking for

[stika]

It was the best I could do, I don't think I've read YAF, at least not in a long while

[Oldbushie]

I still read YAF! It's nice to have a relatively quick read now and then; some adult novels are way too lengthy.

[writerlove]

I usually read books just because it sounds interesting to me, never mind that if I'm in the target demographic or not. I love Harry Potter and the Hunger Games. The stories appealed to me in different ways and Potter has been with me for over 11 years. (although at first, I bought into the notion that they were 'just kid's books'. The first four were out at that time. Glad I got that stick out )

I love the Potter books because the questions JKR poses. Yes, the magic is fun and cool. But it also shows how one's upbringing does (or doesn't) define identity, examines prejudice in many different ways, points out corruption in government, and how the human race can still bond together in times of tragedy. Above all, I like how it advocates for different kinds of love: familial and friendship for example. The stereotype of young adult fiction is Twilight (oh, you don't want to get me started on how much I hate that series. Anyway.) but now books are breaking out of that mold and making people examine how we live our lives. And I think that's important: to read work that challenges you.

Hunger Games was a great story as well. I liked how Suzanne Collins pokes fun at our culture. In many ways, pop culture is the Capitol. We care about only the furious happenings of bimbos who are famous for being famous, who's wearing, what and we exploit people's lives on reality television for our own entertainment. The Capitol shows how government can abuse power and ruin people (Finnick, Peeta and Katniss for instance.) Actually, that's the whole point of the books: how much power can a government have? And the opposing side might not have all the answers, either. President Coin in Mockingjay was just as bad, if not worse than Snow. I didn't see the ending coming. And yet all the movie industry seems to care about is Katniss going to pair off with Gale or Peeta. Which proves Collins's point: we are the Capitol right now.

[stika]

man, it's been way too long since I've read a book from start to finish.

Any good sci-fi novels out there?

[kyranthia]

I think as long as the story is good, who cares what age group it was marketed for?  I have read all the Harry Potter books, The Chronicles of Narnia, as well as some one off books like Beauty  (a nice retelling of Beauty & the Beast).

I have heard some great things about Hunger Games so I would like to try to read that series someday. 

I read a couple of the Redwall books and while I liked Redwall and Mattimeo, I read a couple of others in the series and found the plots were pretty much the same.

As for Twilight - I have no interest in that series.

[stika]

Admittedly I've never read the Harry Potter books, I've only seen the first two or three movies, I remember thinking that the movies had a nice build up, but the pay off was always pretty disappointing.

Am I the only one in this boat?

[GrahamRocks!]

I can't really say much. I've only read the first five or so chapters of the first book. I enjoyed it though!

[KatieHal]

Particularly with the first two movies, the pay-off is better in the books than in the movies. The story builds better, whereas the movies are done in a very straightforward manner.

I really enjoyed HP, both the books and movies. JK Rowling did some amazing world-building!

[snabbott]

The book is ALWAYS better than the movie. (Ok, I'm sure there are some exceptions to that, but I can't think of any.) I've read all of the books but only seen the first two or three movies. The books are well worth reading!

[stika]

ah alright, so the books are better and the general consesus is that the payoff in the movies is a bit meh

[KatieHal]

I mean, overall they did a great job adapting HP to the movies. Much more well-done than book-to-movie adaptations often end up being. There are things I really wish they hadn't cut, though.

[snabbott]

Some book-to-movie adaptations are definitely better than others. LOTR is probably the best adaptation I've seen, and even that left a lot out.

Actually, now that I think about it, The Princess Bride may be the best adaptation I've seen. The book and the movie are both amazing!

[stika]

and then some book to movie adaptations turn out like Frank Herbert's Dune... I love the book, but that movie... *sighs*

[kyranthia]

I think the 5th Harry Potter movie really suffers from having to have scenes cut from it.  I was like, 'Okay if you didn't read the book, you'd be lost.'  But...the 5th book is also my least favorite of the series too.

It really is something to read them and get an idea of the world being created.  It is pretty creative and the writer definitely has a set of rules for magic.  Too often magic is just 'oh well, we can do anything with it.'

[snabbott]

Magic... that's something I tend to over-analyze, particularly when there are well-defined rules. For example, how do magic words work? The only semi-reasonable explanation I have seen is that some spirit or something responds to them.

[KatieHal]

They touch on that in the Dresden Files at some point, because different people use different words for the same kinds of spells. The explanation there is, in general, that magic is fueled by belief--the symbols and words mean nothing unless you believe they mean something. So the protagonist, Harry Dresden, uses Latin (or Latin-like) words for his spells, whereas a Hispanic wizard we meet later on uses Spanish words. Harry uses a staff and a rod for channeling some of his magic, whereas another female wizard uses jewelry to store some spells.

So the words work, in essence, because the person using them believes that they will work; same with items of power.  (When vampires show up, it's not necessarily a cross that will repeal them, if the wielder doesn't believe in the holy power of it; likewise, other items they DO imbue with that kind of power will work, regardless of what they are.)