February 18, 2012

Cross My Palm: Paranormal YA

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.

This week, it's paranormal YA. (For the previous posts on contemporary, sci-fi/dystopian, and historical YA, go here.) I was originally considering combining this with YA fantasy, since there is a lot of overlap and paranormal is arguably a sub-genre of fantasy. But this post would be absolutely mega-huge if that happened, so I'm doing the more paranormal side of things in this post, and the next post will be for other aspects of fantasy.

  • Books with a multitude of different kinds of paranormal beings are gaining steam. The Hex Hall and Paranormalcy series, both of which have done very well, are prime examples. There's also the Shadow Falls series by C. C. Hunter and the Winterhaven series by Kristi Cook. (Boarding schools definitely seem to be a fad here too — a convenient way to get a bunch of different paranormal beings all in the same place at the same time!)

  • Vampires and werewolves are still holding steady. Unfortunately. The genre is saturated with poor Twilight knock-offs (and Twilight is not exactly the highest quality literature...) This is not to say there aren't some well-written vampire/werewolf stories to be found, but rather, that there are enough, period. But they seem to keep on coming. 2012 releases include The Savage Grace by Bree Despain, Taken by Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead, Stolen Nights by Rebecca Maizel, and Rivals and Retribution by Shannon Delany.

  • Angels and demons are battling...for the most shelf space. Be it pure angels, "dark" or "fallen" angels, demons, or a mixture, books featuring these messengers of good and evil are obviously being snatched up by readers. Angels are really "hot" right now, more so than vampires or werewolves, I'd say. We've got these 2012 releases to anticipate: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick, A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young, Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton, Angel Fever by L. A. Weatherley, The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff, and Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers. Plus, Australian author Jessica Shirvington's Embrace is being released this year in North America.

  • Ghosts are kind of like jeans: tried and true. While they're not "trending" most of the time, there always seem to be a few ghostly stories you can pick up if that's what you're looking for. Upcoming releases include Arise by Tara Hudson, Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake, Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis, and The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers.


  • Mermaids and sirens are doing just swimmingly (sorry, couldn't resist!) I think these have a similar draw for readers that angels do, but instead of floating around in the celestial heavens, they're submerged in deep waters. We're talking books like Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, Just For Fins by Tera Lynn Childs, The Vicious Deep by
  • Quoth the raven, "There'll be more." All right, so I'm paraphrasing a little. Nevertheless, Edgar Allen Poe seems to be the next literary great whose poems authors are retelling or incorporating into their YA paranormal stories. The second of Kelly Creagh's Nevermore series, Enshadowed, is releasing this year, as is Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin. Annabel by Mary Lindsey is scheduled to be published in 2013. Obviously we're still just at the beginning of a potential trend, but I think given the penchant for dark, creepy paranormal elements many YA readers currently have, that Poe will fit in very nicely here.

Just generally, paranormal YA is thriving. I'd say it's probably equal to dystopian YA in popularity, and certainly more so than the other categories — historical and contemporary YA — that I discussed in previous posts. It was difficult to pick out trends in this genre simply because there is so much of everything being offered right now.

What are your thoughts on trends in paranormal YA? Do you think the demise of vampire/werewolf stories will happen anytime soon? Will mermaids take over for angels? Are these Poe books just a fluke, or do you think they are the start of something big?

12 comments:

  1. Oh gosh, I definitely hope the vampire/werewolf trend is dying!! I hope for mermaids to take over, cause angel books seem to be hard to do well... They can get preachy really easily in my opinion. Another trend: mythology. I'm loving that one!
    I'm loving these posts! :)

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    1. Thanks, Daisy! :) And good point about angel books having the potential to get preachy - unlike mermaid stories, which don't have that problem! Mythology will hopefully be tackled in the next "Cross My Palm" post, on YA fantasy :)

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  2. I hope the vampire/werewolf trend fizzles out soon. I was never a fan of them, and it frustrated me that the market was so saturated with those stories.

    I'm going to have to give the mermaids a try. Honestly, I'm pretty skeptical of the trend. I'm not entirely sure what the appeal is. But, I guess I won't know until a give a book a read, right?

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Jackie! I need to try some more mermaid books too :)

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  3. I wish the vampire/werewolf trend would just die. I doubt that it will. My thing is that I want more urban fantasy opposed to paranormal romance. I know there isn't much of a difference, but the romance always seems to overtake any paranormal parts.

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    1. I feel the same way about the vampire/werewolf stories...I'm hoping the trend will fade soon but it's a faint hope, LOL. And I think that is an important distinction you raise between UF and paranormal romance. I agree, it can be frustrating when the romance takes priority over elements like worldbuilding and plot.

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  4. I get bored of para YA really quickly and I need to take breaks from it because it can get so repetitive with all these similarly-themed books being released all at once.

    After reading 2 mermaid books, I'm not so keen on that becoming more popular and it seems like angels are becoming the new vampire.

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    1. I totally understand what you mean about all the paranormal YA books feeling the same! Sometimes it almost feels like if you just change the names and the types of paranormal beings involved, you basically have the same story. I can take them in small doses but I don't tend to read one after another (except sometimes for series, I guess.)

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  5. I never thought of boarding schools as the perfect plot device for gathering all these different magical creatures - good thinking!

    The angels (especially the fallen angel) trend seems to be saturating the market. You can hardly look left or right without seeing one. I haven't read any of these but a lot of them sound very similar to each other.

    My favourite paranormal reads usually involve witches, ghosts or vampires. I'm also hoping we get more standalone paranormal books. It takes a lot of time/energy/money to invest in series!

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    1. I totally agree that angels are quite dominating paranormal YA (and arguably YA overall) right now! I suspect readers will get tired of them at some point...although that hasn't happened yet with vampires/werewolves, so it could be a while yet, LOL. And yes, it does take effort (and it's not so easy on the wallet) to invest in a series – not to mention series often end up going downhill after the first few books if they aren't very carefully plotted out. So many reasons for authors to write more standalones! *hopes*

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  6. Great post! I hadn't realized quite how trendy Poe has become. Also, not sure why the paranormal genre is so tightly tied to the series format.

    I'm the author of Glimmer, which IS a paranormal standalone. I'm a big fan of paranormal series fiction and actually enjoy investing in characters over a period of years. However, for Glimmer I wanted to write a story that you could take in as one continuous experience, like a roller coaster ride. I also want more variety in our genre.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by, Phoebe! I know, Poe definitely seems to be on the rise. And I'm glad to hear Glimmer is a paranormal standalone — I'll have to check it out :)

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