 the bless of a drama queen, Van Derra. Like, you're basically a serial killer. Like, that's your John Sunshine and Rose's Disney princess. No one is necessarily gonna jump to that conclusion. These books are not like other Y8 books. Okay, I kid, I kid, but also I don't kid. That obviously the title of this video and the idea for this video is a little bit tongue in cheek, or at least I hope that's obvious. That being said, any genre, subgenre, any sort of area of anything. Movies, music, TV, books, whatever it is, can often just sort of become known for or is often lambasted based on its most cliche tropes or themes or recurring trends in it. And so it's easy for people who are not familiar with those genres, subgenres, et cetera. Again, of music, of TV, of books, to sort of write it off based on, I wanna say it's worst, but also not just it's worst, but it just, it's sort of like most typical, if that makes sense. And that there is, well, to some degree that's fair, because there is a reason, a genre, or a lot of something becomes known for a certain type of thing. One, there's often things that just do those things very, very well, better than you would expect. And also there's plenty of things within that space that defy those stereotypes, that defy those themes and those tropes. So while there is truth to there being those kind of tropes in that space, it's not true of every single thing that is in that space. And so while a certain genre or subgenre might appeal to you because those are actually your favorite tropes, like you love that this area of fiction or whatever adheres to those typical things. Like people who love romance, it is known that romance can often have a sort of formula to it. And this is not a bad thing to the people that enjoy it because it's a formula that is there for a reason and this is what people seek out. Like this is what they are wanting. But again, there are things that step out of that formula that defy that formula, et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, all of that to say, this video is meant to be tongue in cheek. But I wanted to kind of talk about some YA books that, well, there's nothing wrong with the types of tropes that you find in YA unless that's not a thing that specifically appeals to you. But so if you're writing off anything that's shelved in YA because you're like, all of it is just gonna have these tropes in it, that simply isn't true. So I have a list here or a stack here of books that in my humble opinion, these books are sort of transcend or subvert or diverge from the typical YA cliche tropes formula, et cetera. And so for anybody that avoids YA because they are avoiding what are more standard tropes and plot types and this sort of thing, these are some YA books that you might wanna check out because these YA books are not like other YA books. Top of my stack, I have The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid. This is a book that I take every opportunity to sing the praises of and I'm always picking it. I wanna have the opportunity to choose a book for someone to read because it is so overlooked and underloved and it's so, so, so, so good. So this is YA book as they all are, but I'll probably say that about all of them. Just people don't get on me, I will say. This is YA, like I know we know, but whatever. This was originally published as a standalone and can be read as one, though there are two more books, it is now a trilogy, but it absolutely works as a standalone and there isn't sort of open-endedness to the ending that doesn't feel like, well, but they wanted a sequel. It feels like an open-ended story that's meant to be left open-ended. That said, I did have read the second book and I really liked it, I need to read the third one. But anyway, all I have to say, The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid is YA sci-fi and it follows a character named Nemesis and Nemesis is a diabolic and in this far future where we have sort of left earth and we're off in the stars, there was some kind of like cataclysmic event that has made society distrust technology. So they use a lot of tech that already exists, but they don't know how to fix it or how to use it and it's like forbidden to study that. And what they do how are diabolics, which are these sort of genetically engineered super humans that are sort of bred to be bodyguards for the nobles and the elite and the rich. And so what happens to diabolics is again, they are bred to be, they are physically much stronger than a normal person and more agile, et cetera. But when they are purchased by a noble family, they go undergo a sort of brainwashing to make them love above all the person they are purchased for so that their raison d'etre becomes the life of this person that has purchased them so that their life is meaningless if this person anything happens to them. So they will lay their body on the line to protect this individual. So Nemesis is purchased by a rich family to be the bodyguard of their young daughter, Donia. And so they kind of grow up together. They kind of have almost sort of like sisterly bond, but Nemesis is a diabolic. And so meeting from her perspective, she doesn't really quite think the way a normal person would. She's been brainwashed to love this person, to protect them. And the way she's treated by the family, it's kind like they, she has a place in the home, but her purpose is to be a bodyguard. It's understood that like your body is, the purpose of your existing is to potentially die for this person. But so the main plot of the book unfolds when the government, the people in charge decide that diabolics are too dangerous to have around because other noble houses that rich people have been using diabolics as assassins to kill people. So they decide it's too dangerous having diabolics. We're getting rid of diabolics altogether. Everybody has to kill their diabolics. We're getting rid of them. So they don't kill Nemesis, surprise, surprise. And then, because Donia's family is in trouble politically, they want to have Donia sent to them, basically like as a noble guest, but everyone understands this is going to be like a noble hostage, kind of like back in the day. But so instead of sending Donia, they disguise Nemesis as, and has sent Nemesis in her place. This is a way to protect Donia, to take her place. So Nemesis kind of like Eliza do little, has to sort of learn now, unlearn being a diabolic and try to appear to be a weak vulnerable young girl in order to pass. And so she goes to the center of power where she is now going to be impersonating Donia. And there are a lot of sort of political things going on that she has to navigate. She has to navigate emulating being a human, while also navigating this like tricky political situation which Donia would have been thrust in the middle of. And the story goes from there. It is an amazingly well-executed book, like the way that it examines what it means to be human through Nemesis. Nemesis is an amazing character to follow. I love her as a protagonist. There are other, I don't wanna say too much kind of about what goes on, because some of it is spoilery, which is a lot of it is spoilery. Even telling you what inspired this book, like what story S.J. Kincaid was inspired by, is spoilery if you know about what is in that story. Most people don't. It's not a super widely known or read story. Actually it is a, no, I don't wanna say too much. Anyway, point being, if you know what it's based on, you'll know immediately what's going on. And that's what I wanna say. But it's just so good. It's good as sci-fi. It's good as an exploration of humanity. It's just a good character story. I love following Nemesis as a protagonist. The concept of diabolics is fascinating. And the whole thing is so well-executed by S.J. Kincaid. I've read this several times. I intend to read it again. I mean, I kind of need to read it again so that I can get to the third book because there was quite some time to pass between me reading the first two and the third one coming out. But anyway, I cannot recommend this highly enough. It is so good. I made Alan read it and he quite liked it. So if you don't trust me, trust Alan. And this one, this is a good one. Next up I have a book that I have talked about a few times in different sort of list-type videos. And that is And I Darken by Kristen White. This is the first book in the Conqueror Saga and the conceit of the Conqueror Saga is the retelling the life of Vlad the Impaler but reimagining Vlad as a woman. So what if Vlad the Impaler had in fact been Lara, a female? And so this is historical fiction. It is fantasy only in so far as Vlad was Vlad, not Lara. So it is an alternate history, not fantasy in that sense but there's no magic in it. There's no vampires in it. It's just alternate history. It's told from both the perspective of Lara who is our Vlad as well as her brother, Roddy and we follow pretty much from birth to death. So there's three books, it's a trilogy and I Darken, Now I Rise and Bright We Burn. And I think this is one of those rare instances where it truly stuck to the landing. The ending of this trilogy is immaculate, well done but the entire series is really, really incredible. The way that making her a woman kind of changes some of the way that you sort of interpret what Vlad felt was necessary to do is kind of brilliant. The way that the characters are portrait, these are historical figures so there's only so much kind of license you can take with that but the way that she paints the portraits of these characters, they are so fully fleshed out, so flawed, so human but it's an epic tale there's obviously like political movers and shakers, cities are rising and falling. I mean, there's a lot to this history so there's obviously a lot to this trilogy and I just think it's absolutely brilliant and complex and layered and very dark and Lara as a character is very, I mean, she's Vlad the Impaler so like obviously she's not gonna be a sunshine and Rose is Disney princess but she is compellingly written. I guess it's the best way to say it. And again, her being a woman kind of shines new light on some of again, Vlad the Impaler's choices because she is a woman living in a man's world and so in order to be taken seriously as a leader you kind of don't have the luxury of choosing mercy because they already think you're a weak woman so in order to be taken seriously you have to choose the most barbaric option well, or at least a lot of feels that she must choose the most barbaric option she cannot afford the luxury of softness. It's just, it's so, so good. Cannot recommend highly enough. I didn't mean to stack these back to back but my next one is also by Christina White and that is The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. This is a retelling of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley but it's all told from the perspective of Elizabeth Labenza and that choice would never have occurred to me but it is brilliant. This book I already, I love Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein so messing with a story that I think is classic for a reason and near perfection I'm gonna be a tough audience to please and she nailed it. It does an amazing job both paying respect and homage to the original source material but also taking some liberties and changing the original story where it needs to but in a way that doesn't, it is in no way disrespectful to the original because the original itself, our Victor Frankenstein is arguably an unreliable narrator and so this book takes advantage of that. Takes advantage of the fact that there is kind of no certainty with the original Frankenstein. You only have Victor's word for the fact that things went down the way that they went down and so we're getting to see events from Elizabeth's perspective. So things are going down the way that she says they are going down. I guess neither is necessarily to be trusted but this is why it's sort of possible to change kind of things and it's not a situation where it just like pretends like this is just how it happened instead. It kind of, the way that things go down it becomes very clear why Victor might not have explained it this way and it's just Elizabeth herself is a fascinating care she goes from being this sort of like milk toast kind of just female that is just there to be like a damsel in the original Frankenstein. Sorry, Mary Shelley, but she is and becomes a fully fleshed out and layered complex character in her own right and the way that she perceives Victor is kind of chilling and just seeing the events of Frankenstein through the eyes of somebody that doesn't already know what's going to happen. I mean, you pick up Frankenstein, you know that he's going to be reanimating human flesh but no one is necessarily gonna jump to that conclusion. So when Elizabeth starts putting together the pieces because Victor's been up to something and no normal human is going to jump to the conclusion that he will have been reanimating flesh, of course not. When she starts putting the pieces together and he's like, what has he been doing and it has to come to the inevitable conclusion that is just bananas because it is bananas that's what he does. Even though it's a familiar story so you shouldn't be surprised by it you're kind of shocked and amazed and surprised with Elizabeth now because you're seeing it through her perspective sort of afresh and being like, yeah, you know what? Yeah, I'm used to the idea now because I know Frankenstein but yeah, you're right, this is pretty sick. It is so, so, so, so good. This is how retellings should be done. So highly recommend. Next up I have a book that I haven't mentioned in a minute but I have been known to talk about it quite a bit and that is Strange the Dreamer by Lainey Taylor. I frequently recommend this book to people who don't typically read YA. It is just an absolutely beautiful book and if you are the kind of person that really likes the writing of like Patrick Rothfuss of Katharine Arden, very lyrical, transportive, beautiful writing then this is the one for you. Lainey Taylor's narrative structures are very difficult to talk about because it's not a very traditional narrative and it has just, her other series has this problem as well where the majority of the plot takes place after something happens that you don't know about and you can't know about when you start out the book. It's kind of a reveal or a surprise but most of it happens after that and it has to do with that. So it's almost impossible to actually explain what this book and this duology is about. At the outset we follow Laszlo Strange and he is an orphan and he has been sort of raised in and is working in this library. And so I mean, a lot of people find the beginning a little boring because it's just following him in the library. That's actually my favorite part of the book. I mean, I love the whole duology but I love following Laszlo in the library. I just, I could read a whole book about that but Laszlo's personal obsession and pet project is The Lost City of Weep which is kind of like Atlantis in vibes. Like it is a city but it is no longer a city. We don't even have its name anymore. People just call it Weep because they lost that actual name for it but Laszlo is determined to find every scrap of evidence he can find that the city really existed and he's desperate to find it again because he really believes that he will be able to find it. So he's kind of a scholar of Weep. He's an absolute sentiment roll and following him in the library is great. And then things happen and the rest of the book takes place. And you can't really say what it's about but trust me, it's worth it. And Lainey Taylor's writing is so evocative and so emotional and there's a lot of sort of very dark things in this book. It is, people talk about it being beautiful as I just have. It is beautiful and beautifully written but it is melancholic. There are a lot of poignant and tragic things that are described in this book. Very tough situations, emotionally fraught situations and they're written about in a way that is beautiful but it is a tragic kind of beauty. So don't expect to pick this up and think, oh, it'll be like a whimsical fun time. It's a brand-new dream. Like, no, no, no, no, no. It is, it's not light but it's just so gorgeous. Like the imagery, the way she describes the beautiful magical things in this book is beautiful to behold in your mind's eye but also the human side of things, the emotional side of things is also beautifully described and beautifully felt. And it's just a multi-sensory experience and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Next up I have Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. This is the first in a duology as well. I think the duology is just called Dread Nation. I'm not aware that there is a name for the duology beyond that but anyway, this is an alternate history fantasy that asks the question, what would the American Civil War have been like if there had been a zombie uprising in the midst of it? I hate zombies. I hate zombies so much and I will go out of my way to avoid any content that has zombies but I heard so many amazing things about this book and this duology that I was like, okay, I'll pick it up. And something about putting zombies in a historical context does, bothers me a lot less. So like bread, prejudice and zombies actually quite like. So having zombies in the Civil War era somehow is I'm way more fine with it. But so this is also, I mean, this is an amazing example of what YA has the capacity to be and also just how alternate history fantasy should be written. This tackles questions of racism, questions of the actual events of history. So how, I mean, you couldn't just have history follow the same trajectory after you introduced zombies. Like that's gonna change what decisions are made, what battles are won, what the sides are, who lives and who dies, how society structures itself, like all of that would change drastically if you suddenly have zombies. I think Justine Ireland did an amazing job of doing that thought exercise of, okay, so what would change? So how would people react to this? What would they do in response to this? How would they handle this? And how segregation and racism and slavery and all this kind of thing would be kind of adjusted to account for the necessity of dealing with zombies. And our main character is black living in Civil Warrior America. And so she's in the thick of the efforts that are being made to have an organized response to protect people from zombies, which they call shamblers, which I quite like because that zombies do kind of shambles, don't they? The main character is a great one to follow. She's got a lot of personality. She is flawed, but it is very, she's again, very compelling to read about. It is a very compulsively readable book. It's kind of hard to put it down both because it's very exciting. There's a lot of sort of dramatic tense moments, confrontations with zombies and this sort of thing, but it's also just very digestible. The prose is very digestible. The book does not shy away from showing you the real darkness of both the racism of just human beings as well as of how gross and dark and violent zombies would be and the lengths to which people will go to protect themselves from zombies, which can also in itself be quite dark, what people are willing to do in the face of such a threat. And yet it is not something that I would say should not have been showed in YA. Like this is a masterclass and like you can totally deal with tough topics, with violent things, with troubling things and still make it absolutely YA-appropriate. So this is how alternate history fantasy should be written. This is how YA should be written. This is how you do it and it's so, so good. Next up I have Scythe by Neil Schisterman. And actually the second book is even better than the first one. Anyway, Scythe is the first book in the Ark of the Scythe which is a trilogy. And this is I guess a utopian dystopian book? It's kind of hard to describe. This is sort of, it takes place in a sort of far future where humanity has transcended death. Death is no longer I think people have to deal with because the medicine and technology have gone that far, that you don't have to die, like you just don't. And so the way that they deal with the fact that you would just have people living forever and ever and ever and ever, they have an institution called Scythe. And the Scythe's have carte blanche to just kill people. And so the idea is that in this way you maintain some of the sort of randomness of death that existed prior to people solving death as a problem altogether. Cause in the way we live now, people just kind of die. And there is some randomness to it that you just happen to get sick and die or you happen to get struck by a car and die. Now like in this world if you got struck by a car they could fix you right up and you're fine. So Scythe's because they kind of can choose anybody at any time to kill them. And once a Scythe kills you there is no reviving you. I mean, well they'd have the technology to do it but you don't, the Scythe's once they kill you you are dead, dead. That's how they've taken care of that problem I suppose. And everything in the world is sort of run by this AI called the Thunderhead. But the only thing the Thunderhead doesn't have control over, doesn't have eyes on, has no purview over is the Scythe's. And so we follow in the first book two young people, a young man and a young woman who are sort of trainee apprentices to a Scythe because you do need new people entering the force. And so they are both taken on to be trained as potential Scythe's. And so you see them sort of learning about what it is to be a Scythe and learning to become one. And at the end they can't both become a Scythe. So there is a sort of like competition challenge element to it. The first book is excellent but in my opinion the second book is even better. Is it is so good. I have not read the third book yet. I very much want to very soon. But it is a fascinating sort of conceit for a premise that not only have we solved death but that this is how we've solved too much of life. There is a sort of logic to it but it is also kind of bizarre and barbaric. And I think it's handled really well. Like that concept, okay, that's a concept but like I could see that being executed really stupidly. I think it's executed and handled really, really well. And the further exploration of this whole setup and what the Thunderhead cannot do in the second book is even better. There's so many great twists and turns and fascinating sort of questions of morality given the situation, like what is morality when your job is to kill people at random? Like you're basically a serial killer. Like that's your job. Like a sanctioned serial killer. So like the idea of Scythe's having some kind of a moral code is like, well then what would that even look like? So again, I think this explores a lot of interesting topics really, really well in a way that is still approachable for a YA audience. It's not so lofty and high-minded and no one can comprehend it. It's very approachable, very readable, very down to earth. These are still kind of like fascinating ideas to be grappling with. So again, highly recommend. Next up, I have How Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis. This is historical fiction and it follows a young woman who is institutionalized because she has an unwanted pregnancy. And you know, back in the day you just chuck them in an asylum if there's something undesirable or weird about them. If you're a lady. What ends up happening is that because she is an inmate of an asylum, then she has access to conversations and information that a person outside of the asylum, like a doctor or a visitor wouldn't have. So because she's obviously not crazy, she joins forces with the person running an asylum who is a, her African, is he running it or just working with the asylum? Regardless, he's a sort of early version of a criminal psychologist and they were trying to find a killer. And so with her being the sort of like inside man in the asylum and him being the criminal psychologist, psychiatrist type of character, they are able to join forces to kind of find and bring down a serial killer. And it is, it's so good. It's gonna be really, really frustrating to read because the idea of women just being powerless and being institutionalized and already women in this time, in this day and age didn't have a lot of agency, didn't have a lot of rights even if you're free and not institutionalized. But as soon as somebody calls you crazy and has officially gotten you that label, you can't say anything in your defense because whatever you say is now no longer trusted. And like that is so maddening. Like that's enough to make you crazy. And so this whole situation, I mean it's painted in a way that will have your fists clenched and you'll be so angry, especially cause you know that this isn't just, I mean this is a fictional book but that this really happens to so many women and just the, oh my God, the like helpless frustration of that. What can you do when you won't be believed? So well done. And then also the mystery and the thriller sort of aspect of finding a serial killer is quite well done. It's an interesting mystery. There's a lot of sort of like tense and suspenseful moments to do with tracking him down. And I just think it's so well done, both from just sort of like the human story side of it of the main character and what her experience of all of this is and what that feels like as well as the sort of the mystery plot is also really good. It is a standalone and it is most excellent. Second to last, I have Salkilla Girls by Claire Legrand. This is a horror book. It is very feminist. It has queer representation. It is kind of chilling. I mean, as it was meant to be, it is horror. So I mean for it to be YA horror, I mean I found it, I knew it would be on the scary or chilling side and I definitely did find it to be quite chilling. It definitely doesn't sort of pull its punches to be like, well, it's chilling for YA. I mean, it's quite chilling. And so this follows three young women who are all on this island, the island of Salkill and on this island, girls keep disappearing. And so there is mystery surrounding who is disappearing and why. And so these three girls, it's not like a friend group. They do know each other but they sort of by necessity kind of have to join forces. Sounds very scooby-doo but I mean like they don't like each other. They are not friends but they are all young women on an island where young women are disappearing and they all have very different agendas and they are very different young women but because of, I mean, needs must when you're facing danger like this. So the creep factor is high but also the young women each is, they are each equally flawed and frustrating like I didn't find myself thinking, oh, I'm definitely a lot. Like you're meant to like identify with this character. She looked and she's the good normal one and the other two are like bizarre or the other two are aggravating or that one's the villain. All three girls are deeply flawed but in quite different ways. And so I found myself both identifying with and being frustrated with different aspects of each of the young women and I found them all three to be very well painted, very well written, very well realized. So I found it fascinating to read about each and every one of them. And again, found myself identifying with or being aggravated by each of them in turn. And again, the plot itself is very compelling. It is a page turner. It is thrilling and creepy. It is also just, it is very empowering and it's in portrayal of women and women taking on this horror that is something they are forced to encounter and forced to deal with. And yeah, I just, I was wowed by it when I read it. And I remember just sort of being horrified, amazed and impressed all at once. So again, highly recommend. And last but certainly not least is Nixia by Scott Brinken. This is a very shiny book. So I'm gonna try to hold it in a way that you can see it without being blinded. This is the first book in a sci-fi trilogy. I have yet to read the rest of the trilogy but I really, really want to. I will need to reread the first one to do that. But so this follows young people that are sort of not tricked per se, but sort of not even, not even core. They're all young people who for one reason or another are willing to agree for a lot of money to go on this sort of space voyage that is very dangerous because there is this new substance that is called Nixia and they need people to deal with it. This is a very dangerous, risky thing. And so the people that have signed up for this don't really quite know the extent of like the danger they're going to be in and don't really even know exactly why but each of them for their own reasons is desperate enough to agree to this. And so the main character that you follow, he has of course his own reasons for agreeing to this but then he's slowly having to suss out who among the others he can trust and who among the others like what their reasons are for agreeing to this. And it is somewhat reminiscent of Red Rising. Not really, I mean, the way that I've described it like that's not really like similar to the plot of Red Rising, but there is sort of something about in particular the first Red Rising book where they're sort of in this sort of battle royale type situation that is sort of constructed by powers that be and they have to navigate that and it is a life or death. That part of it is reminiscent to me of Red Rising and the main character is definitely wouldn't say he's a lot like Darrow but there's a little bit of like a Darrowish type of vibe to him, a smidge. But I think this main character is a lot less of a drama queen than Darrow and the Nixia itself is fascinating. And so there's this sort of mystery at the heart of this story that like you along with these young people are like, what is going on? And what is the agenda of these people? And why? And what is gonna happen next? And it is, it's definitely definitely a page turner. I think I read it in one day when I read it because once you get going, you just kind of need to know. And when I read it, I had an arc of it. So it had a long wait until the next book came out. So like that's why I haven't continued but it is definitely a page turner. Like if once you pick it up, you will fly through what I guarantee. So that's my list of YA books that are not like other YA. Let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about these books if you've read them or if I have piqued your interest, if you plan to pick them up now, whatever you wanna let me know plus videos on Saturdays, other end of the time, but definitely Saturdays so like and subscribe, join my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you. Bye.