We’ve all seen lists of “overrated YA books”, or “popular YA books that people dislike”, but I’m making a list on the opposite. Here are some popular YA books that I really enjoyed!
1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – 4.46 Stars on Goodreads
I actually really enjoyed Six of Crows. It’s a duology (with possibly more books coming) of a group of people, led by Kaz Brekker, where they pull of a heist to get some money. The plot is a lot better than I attempted to describe, and the characters are really well thought through, and it’s just a good book in general. If you’ve recently read Ace of Shades, it’s honestly in my opinion a much better version of that. Actually, if you’ve read any YA fantasy book recently, you should mark this down on your to-read list.
2. Scythe by Neil Shusterman – 4.35 Stars on Goodreads
Scythe was one of the better 2016 releases (and still has books to come out!) that I’ve read. It’s about two children who are chosen to be “scythes”, or people whose job it is to kill others. In this fantasy world, people can’t die unless they are killed by scythes, making it an important job that nobody wants to do. I loved the idea of the book, as well as the universe itself. I found the entire almost immortal idea really cool, and it caused me to pick up this book, which I definitely am glad for doing. I’d recommend it to people who like fantasy and dystopian novels.
3. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – 4.34 Stars on Goodreads
Okay so this one was actually a bit of a surprise when I read it. I personally hated The Mortal Instruments series, so I was a bit hesitant to pick another Cassandra Clare series up. To my surprise, I really liked the series. It takes place in 1878 and it’s about the Shadowhunters trying to fight against different clockwork creatures. I admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the plot, but I loved the characters. Different information was revealed in every book, and my opinions of the characters changed, it it was a well fleshed out book. I would personally recommend this even if you don’t like historical fiction (I don’t either), because it’s less focused on different events in history, rather it uses it as a setting.
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – 4.28 Stars on Goodreads
Unlike the others, I would actually not recommend this book to certain audiences. I would definitely call it mature young adult, or even new adult due to different scenes in the book, however once you get over that, it’s a very good book. It’s about a girl named Feyre who moves to the fae world after accidentally killing one of their kind. The first book wasn’t as much of my favorite, but in the second book, after Rhysand and the rest of the book was introduced, it improved by a lot (I think it’s from favoritism). I personally love fae universes, as well as any book that includes fae in it, so this was basically a perfect match, so I would recommend it to people who share similar tastes as me. I would definitely talk more about this, but I’ll leave it up to you for when you read it.
5. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – 4.32 Stars on Goodreads.
An Ember in the Ashes is about a rebel named Laia who fights to get her brother back from the “Empire”, however encounters a soldier named Elias who fights on that side. This book follows Laia’s story, and I enjoyed the world-building and character development throughout. I loved the characters, and honestly I’m just hyped for A Reaper at the Gates coming out tomorrow. I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Legend, as it follows a similar plot line, but incorporates enough details so that it’s just a different book.
That’s it for right now, but I’ll be sure to add on more books in another post in the future. Have any of you found different popular or “overrated” books to be really good? Feel free to comment your thoughts!