Reddit reviews Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 1)

I've posted a few times about brilliant work I've found in the YA section of the book store. I'll try to help you out here. I've done all my homework and read the adult fantasy greats, WoT, SoIaF, LotR, Sanderson, LeGuin, Wolfe, Feist, and countless others. I'll always say that if you need a breath of fresh air head over to YA and enjoy a lighter read with fascinating characters, plots, and magic. Authors seem to be given a bit more creative freedom with YA novels.

Here we go:

Sabriel still stands up as one of my favorite novels of all time. As a junior high student who hated to read, this is the book that opened my eyes to a world of literature. The novel reads very well as a stand a lone but the are also two sequels (Lariel and Abhorsen) that expand te story and the world. No book i have EVER read has painted a more fascinating view of the undead. It's not anything like you're expecting and won't be like anything else you ever read. Garth Nix is also working on a few more novels set in this world. I can't wait to get my hands on them!

Foundling, Monster Blood Tattoo book 1 This novel begins a compelling story by a passionate new author. D.M. Cornish has been crafting this world for years and you will be amazed by how deep and well thought out it is. Unique use of language and dark themes make this a rather intense book for the YA crowd. I threw up a post about this a few weeks ago in /fantasy if you'd care to see more of my thoughts on it.

Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians This is the YA series written by rising fantasy juggernaut Brandon Sanderson. If you're a fantasy fan I dearly hope you've read Elantris, Mistborn, and the Way of Kings. Also finishing the Wheel of Time is a pretty solid credential. Compared to the two previous suggestions these stories are perhaps aimed at the youngest age group. Still Sanderson is a brilliant writer with a brain full of more interesting ideas than any one man has right to. Give them a shot, they're light easy reads that are actually a lot of fun.

Anything by Diana Wynne Jones should work for you also. She wrote Howl's Moving Castle, which was made into an amazing movie by studio Ghibli. Her works are bassed on traditional fantasy themes but with refreshing new perspectives that set her works miles apart from the traditional lands of wizards and elves. There was another post here in /fantasy about her. Oh my god... as I was writing this I looked at her wikipedia article and saw that she passed away in march... how did I miss this? Ok you're required to read at least one of her novels now. Her books are without equal and without her I think there may be a chasm of creativity in the fantasy world.

So I've gone on for quite a bit there. I hope you find something you can use in those suggestions. This is something I've said before and I'll say again. The YA section can easily be one of the most interesting places in the entire book store. It seems you're no exception to the rule that most adults are stuck in their ways about what they like to read. I'm an adult and I only read X. My fantasy needs to have dragons and elves in it fighting a dark lord because that's how Tolken did it and damn it if that's not the way everyone else should.

Thankfully the publishers believe that young adults are still flexible about what they'll read. Flip through a few YA books and you'll find exciting new ideas, visionary new authors, compelling new worlds waiting to suck you in and take you on a journey like none you've ever experienced before. I strongly support what your professor is doing by asking you to go outside of your literary comfort zone. He's not restricting your genera he's just asking you to take a completely different look at it.

So pick up one of my recommendations or do yourself a favor and cast doubt to the wind, get in your, car drive to the book store, and spend the afternoon exploring what's new, and even what's old in the Young Adult section. I promise you you'll be glad you did.