Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Tiger and a year of dropping all of the reading challenges. Maybe when I’m no longer working full-time, I can try them again, but until then, I’ll read with no goals in mind.
One Book Lane truly summarizes this series best, “Hunger Games meets X-Men“. And for my winter break, it was exactly what I needed — fantasy, engrossing, not too dark or depressing as dystopian has a tendency to go, and familiar but different enough to keep reading.
The truth doesn’t matter. It only matters what the people believe.
― Victoria Aveyard, Red Queen
At one point, years back, I remember folks were giving adults a hard time for reading YA, so I’ve decided to find out what makes this genre so appealing to not only myself, but others like me.
According to The Atlantic:
- These books are about coming of age, and we’re still coming of age. (In other words, it’s a shared universal experience and even though we are adults, we continue to change.)
- The intensity of the first time. (The first kiss, the first of everything as a teen is so searing, and that innocence is a lovely emotion.)
- It’s not about the escape. (It does seem like you’re just sinking into another world, but what I love about YA is it’s filled with life lessons and truths that help us grapple with our own reality.)
- They’re good, and they’re being recognized. (I’m continuously impressed with the quality of YA writing and the diversity found here.)
- It all goes back to Harry Potter… (This series was popular with every kind of reader, and did you know there are different book covers for adults and kids?)
The series is set in an us versus them world, a place in which you are born either a Silver or a Red. And those colors refer to your blood type. Silvers rule because they have special abilities (see X-Men), but the story centers around a Red (ala Hunger Games), Mare Barrow, who discovers by accident that she has powers like a Silver.
I’m on the fourth book, War Storm, but there are plenty of other novellas sprinkled throughout, but I decided to stick with the books since it was easier that way. If my obsession continues, I might try to find the other stories.
And yes, these popular books with this much of a fan base has finally found a home with NBC’s Peacock and will be a TV series directed by Elizabeth Banks. I hope it’s as good as what Netflix did to Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse!
Are you participating in any reading challenges in 2022? Do you read YA? How was your January?
Life, the Universe, and Lani 
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