Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Class of 2012: Elements of Fiction


Welcome back for day three of the YA Superlatives blogfest hosted by Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, Alison Miller, and Tracey Neithercott.

Most Envy-Inducting Plot (Or, the plot you wish you'd thought of yourself):
Yep. If you've seen my blog the past few days, you're probably not surprised to see The Raven Boys in this spot. Maggie is a freaking genius and everything about this book just makes shake my head in awe.  She has a way with words and builds such complex, beautiful, fun, and mysterious works of art and all I can do is just sit back and let her take me on a ride that I know will not disappoint.

Most Formidable World (Or, the setting you most definitely would NOT want to travel to):
The reason I picked This is not a Test over any of the other books is that you have people surrounding you and you can fight for something --whether it's overthrowing the villain or quests to save friends --but in this world? It's basically hopeless. You're constantly on the run and always scavenging for food and safety, and if The Walking Dead has taught us anything, it's you can't even trust your closest friend.

Wanderlust-Inducting (Or, the setting you'd happily travel to):
Paris is on my must-see list of places to visit before I die and I love stories that take place there. I actually don't know why Amy Plum's books haven't made my list until now because I've really enjoyed them.

Loveliest Prose:
John Green is a master of words and I was going to put a quote or two from The Fault in our Stars here but how can you only pick one? I mean, just reading this makes me feel all the feels.

 
I can't leave out Maggie Stiefvater and Laini Taylor because writing beautiful is just in them. 

Most Dynamic Main Character:
Karou hands down. Had I participated last year, she would be the reigning champ.

Most Jaw-Dropping Ending:
All I will say about this is that there were some things I expected to happen but the ending was not one of them. 

Best Performance in a Supporting Role:
I kept flip-flopping on whether to pick The Raven Boys for this one but I decided that since their voice is heard, I would go with Cole in Everneath. Cole is such a complex character and there are times where you don't know whether to root for him or hate him. In my opinion, he's the ultimate bad boy because of the way he can make you believe him and while you know he might be deceiving you, you still want to believe in him. 


Best use of Theme:
I picked This is not a Test earlier because that world just seems completely and utterly hopeless but in Laini Taylor's series, there's nothing but hope. Even though there is war and death, you need some kind of hope to be able to want to move forward.



15 comments:

  1. We picked a lot of the same books under these categories. How on earth did I forget EVERNEATH's jaw-dropping ending?! Um, yeah. Definitely left me going, "What just happened?" And so far, you and I are the only people who chose THIS IS NOT A TEST as Most Formidable World. I thought for sure it would be on most people's lists because zombies really trump everything else for crappy place to visit/live. :)

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    1. I KNOW! I'm considering doing a re-read before I read the novella and book #2.

      I agree about the zombies. Every time I watch Walking Dead, I can't help but think about how much something like that would suck.

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  2. I wish nearly every day that I had Maggie Stiefvater's brain. After I read THE SCORPIO RACES I thought for sure it would be my favorite of hers forever. Then she followed it THE RAVEN BOYS just so she could - I'm pretty sure - prove me wrong immediately. :)

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    1. Oh, me too. The Scorpio Races was good but The Raven Boys OWNS me.

      I wouldn't be surprised if she planned it that way :-)

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  3. I'm so happy to see all of this DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT love! I adored that book too, and completely agree with all the accolades you gave it. :)

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  4. I really must pick up DOBaS--it's on my shelf--but the thing is, I need to re-read DOSaB first, I think, and there are so many shiny new books I want to read...this is my favorite problem in the whole world.

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    1. Yeah, I wanted to do the same thing but over the summer (I think) the DoSaB audiobook was free for a day so I picked that up and started listening. I never got a chance to finish but I did Google spoilers so I could have a little bit of a refresher but still read it right away.

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  5. Ashamed to say I haven't read Until I Die yet...and Daughter of Smoke and Bone! Great picks, Crystal :)

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    1. Thank you!

      I actually hadn't heard of the Revenant books until this past summer when a friend told me Amy Plum was going to be doing a signing here. I went and she was just so nice that I bought books 1 and 2 and read them VERY quickly and now I can't wait for the next one.

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  6. Yeah, I'll totally pass on the zombie invasion, thanks.

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  7. Oh, I haven't read This is Not a Test and it's on my list. That would be a formidable world. ;-) I also haven't read any of the Laini Taylor books, but have been hearing about the lovely prose. I will have to check them out!

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  8. I haven't read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but given how many times its sequel is featured on your list, I guess I need to!

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