YA Action/Adventure

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

If you don't like YA, just pass this thread by. But for those who do, this is for us fans of YA action/adventure.

What are some of your faves?


The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp was pretty awesome, IMO.

I also loved the Monstrumologist series which is actually more horror, but has some strong adventure elements. This series is not for the faint of heart. I think it should be for 16 yrs or older personally.

The Monstrumologist
The Curse of the Wendigo


I suppose we could also include the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. The first is Artemis Fowl.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

YA sucks so hard. :P


(I already posted my good YA A/A titles in genre threads. Now I can't decide if I should repost here, or just let it go.)

[Eileen]

What about the Hunger Games Trilogy. I really enjoyed the series. It's certainly full of action. I'm always looking for good action books for my son to read, anything to get him to read more.

[Traci]

The Maze of Bones. It's a scavenger hunt series. A little on the young side but fun.

[Alexander]

My favorite YA books are the "Percy Jackson" novels by Rick Riordan. They are brilliant! James Rollins has also written a great YA novel, "Jake Ransom". You may also like "Hover Car Racer" by Matthew Reilley and "Alex Rider".

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

LOL, Colleen!

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

So, I decided to relist the books I've listed under genres in case anyone comes specifically look for YA books and doesn't see them in the genre threads. I've also added a few I didn't think of before, or was a bit tentative about (as in there is action, but it's not non-stop or anything):

* The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan, starting with The Ruins of Gorlan (low-fantasy)
* Larklight by Philip Reeve (science fantasy)
* Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (UF/mystery)
* The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven (dark fantasy/horror)
* The Last Apprentice/Wardstone series by Joseph Delaney, starting with Revenge of the Witch (dark fantasy/horror)
* Keys to the Kindgom series by Garth Nix, starting with Mister Monday (fantasy)
* Faerie War Chronicles by Herbie Brennan, starting with Faerie Wars (fantasy)
* The Abhorsen/ Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, starting with Sabriel (dank fantasy)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I have read or plan to read everything you listed, so I appreciate your list, Colleen.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I do too, Colleen, which of thise are good girl reads (to stock pile for later?)

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Well, being as I am a girl, and I enjoyed them all... ;)

Funnily enough, I tend to classify most action-adventure type books as "boy books", and I would say that holds true for most of these.

However, the Skulduggery Pleasant series and the Old Kingdom series both have strong female leads, so I'd say those are at the top for a girl pile. Skulduggery is geared on the younger end (though it has some dark stuff that happens), and Old Kingdom on the older end of YA.

Also Larklight switches perspectives from the brother to the sister, though the brother is dominant - but there's also a romantic element to the story on the girl's side.

Faerie Wars has a few good female characters, and there's some romance in it, and Ranger's Apprentice, while being mostly a boys book, has some romantic elements to it, as well.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I think you hit on it. I am saying it wrong. My daughter objects to "boy movies" and stories not because they are "for boys" but because they don't have "girls" in prominent roles.

Am I raising a social activist?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Sounds like you are raising a future strong woman to me, Hugh.

I tend to enjoy subjects that guys/boys might like, although I am also a romance fan. Go figure!

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Heh - maybe. Nothing wrong with that. ;)

I will say that the girl in Larklight is kind of bossy and can be annoying, so that one's a bit iffy - but she does have a fairly prominent role in various parts of the story.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

She's going to be a strong woman... but... she likes Jasmine (Aladin) and Tinker Bell (the fairy movie)... have you seen the way those girls dress? Yep, Daddy's gonna have a heart attack coming when she gets to high school. How about girl characters that wear body armor, like platemail?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I liked fashion and I liked to draw women in fancy gowns, but I don't think I went through a princess phase.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Bell, Cinderella, Aroura (Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty)Rapunzel, all okay (well Rapunze is a bit "Too skinny"). She likes to dance and act and pretend (to be a princess!) And take swords and hack her little brother's head off. I hope that's pretend too. I did tell her it's alright to hit boys. (not too hard) Just don't do it to often. I figure, since she's probably going through school with most of the little guys (she told me she had 3 boyfriend when she was in Pre-K), it's okay with me if their scared of her before they get to high school. (I'm working on my gun collection.)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

LOL.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I was going to talk to those three boys but my wife gave me the "look." You know, the squinty-eyed you'd better not do that look. They got away. But I'm keeping my eye on them. (Taking the Bubbanator to Tae Kwan Do lessons. The girl would rather go to dance. I tried to tell her, Tae Kwan Do is like dancing, but you get to smack people down. Her mother made me stop that too.)

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

My favorite princesses growing up were Belle and Ariel - the bookworm and the, erm, fish out of water. *ahem*

I'm not sure I ever went through a princess stage, per se. But I was never a proper tomboy, either. We always sort of just did everything.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Ariel, that's another halloween outfit we're not getting. She likes Ariel too. Maybe the original tale of the little mermaid?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

The Christian allegory where she dies at the end?

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Okay, on second thought, maybe that's better for high school.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Heh.

[Jenna]

My favorite YA novels happen to be great books for girls (the main character in all three quartets are strong females who do wear armor)! But also fall in love, of course....however that is far from the point.

The Lioness Quartet
The Immortals Quartet
Protector of the Small Quarter
(listed in chronological order)

All by Tamora Pierce

I will still read these books on occasion, I still love them.

[Alice]

I like The Hunger Games, the Percy Jackson series (what I've read so far) and I love the Poison and Study series. I don't think of those as YA, but they are classified that way so who am I to argue. Ok, I'll argue it, but as it's a battle I'm not going to win I'll just agree to disagree.

I need more coffee to combat this tendency to idle, random typing.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

LOL. I don't particularly think of Poison Study as YA either. It's relatively clean, but that doesn't necessarily mean YA to me.

[Alice]

And yet it is classified that way. Another one that irks me beyond belief is The Book Thief. Not only does it have foul language in it, but the subject matter is, to my mind, not for children or early teens. Yet, always, with the YA tag.

Just because a book features a main character that is a child or teenager, it shouldn't be automatically listed as YA.

Grrr...sorry. Just one of my buttons. When I was a teenager this was an issue. A book either had adult content or it didn't. It was children's or it wasn't.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I know what you mean, Alice. There are books where the main characters are young but the content is decidedly adult. It's misleading to steer them towards a young audience.

It's like saying Heavy Metal is a kids movie because it's animated.

[Alice]

Agreed! Would you recommend The Professional to a child just because Natalie Portman's character was twelve. Just wrong.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Good example. Definitely not for kids.

[Alice]

I just thought of Team America. The sick puppet movie. A friend of mine's husband brought back this huge box set from overseas full of practically every cartoon movie known to man for their boys. One of the ones included was Team America.

I just so happened to be over there when they went to watch it. I think I scared at least a year off of each of them by screaming STOP at the top of my lungs. No eight year old needs to watch graphic puppet sex.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

I love the french dude on "the Professional" he was great in Godzilla, but your right. I wouldn't recommend the professional to anyone who isn't old enough to buy their own beer and cigarettes (not that anyone should buy cigarettes.)

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

You probably saved that boy from years of psychological damage, Alice.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I just finished listening to The Angel Experiment on audio this morning. It's fun, interesting YA science fiction/action-adventure.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

I just finished Hatchet on audio, and I really liked it. At first, I wasn't sure about the writing, but I totally got into this story, and it's a favorite now. I'd recommend it if you like survival fiction.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

The John Flanagan Ranger's Apprentice series is pretty good on the whole. At least as far as I've read it. I think it runs a bit hot and cold at times, but mostly good.

[Jenna]

I recently read a great YA action adventure novel! It is The Maze Runner.

Very engaging, but really sets you up for the next book.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Jenna, I have that one in the pile. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Jonathan]

Have to agree with Hunger Games, Maze Runner and The Ranger's Apprentice, The Wardstone Chronicles and The Percy Jackson books.

[Tracy]

Jenna wrote: "I recently read a great YA action adventure novel! It is The Maze Runner.

Very engaging, but really sets you up for the next book."

I have read this series Jenna and it was great. I am anxiously waiting for the forth installment which is actually a prequel to The Maze Runner.

[Creature]

Hello:
I've been thinking of picking up the "Maze Runner books so maybe now I will.
Curmudgeon, The french dude is Jean Reno and I think he's a great actor. He was in a movie a while back that is a really good time travel movie. It was filmed in French with the title "Les Visiteurs." This movie was so good that you didn't even need to read the subtitles. The acting, expressions, and potrayals all lead to a fun and well thought out story. This movie was so popular they made an english version of it a few years later with the same cast called, "Just Visiting." I liked both but thought the french version to be the superior of the two.
I notice no mention the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or any of the other classic YA series of the past. Many are consistently reprinted and some even have new story lines. Is anybody reading these any more???
Have a Great Day!!!
The "Creature"

[Cate]

I loved the book, I am Number 4 (but hated the movie.) I just read and really liked, Valkeryn, Return of the Ancients. If you like books about the future, a race of intelligent but warlike wolves and all sorts of weird things, then give it a try!

[Eileen]

Cate wrote: "I loved the book, I am Number 4 (but hated the movie.) I just read and really liked, Valkeryn, Return of the Ancients. If you like books about the future, a race of intelligent but warlike wolves a..."

I also read, I am Number 4 and liked the book. I didn't like the movie either. My son who didn't read the book, liked the movie...good figure.

[Eileen]

My son is reading The Maze Runner and says it's good so far.

[Jonathan]

I liked I Am Number Four but am sceptical of the author after having read what I have about him.

[Tracy]

Eileen wrote: "My son is reading The Maze Runner and says it's good so far."

I read that series and it is good.

[Jonathan]

Having read more of the Wardstone Chronicles. Also known as The Spook's Apprentice series I think they're really good adventure and action YA books. They're a little bit darker than your typical YA novel but most definitely YA and despite the dark aspect good does triumph.

Also on the same kind of note is The Knife of Never Letting Go which is part of a trilogy. It's written in an unusual style but it's very good when it comes to action and being aimed at YA.

I tend to think of YA as being say 12 to 18 years target audience. And anything younger would still be children's books.

[The Pirate Ghost, Long John Silvers Wanna-be]

Blood Heavy should get mentioned here. I haven't read it, but I did pick it up. It has some positive reviews posted.

[Scott]

I read and loved all the "Peter and the Starcatchers" series. My son is devouring them now. I'm amazed at how fast he's getting through them (he's about to turn 11)

Loved all the Ender's Game series. And also from Orson Scott Card, Pathfinder (can't wait for another one).

@Lady Danielle I loved The Hatchet on audiobook too. I just finished reading it my son last night, and we enjoyed it together.

Like others, I really enjoyed The Hunger Games series, and finally saw the movie last week on DVD. I was terribly disappointed :-(

[Scott]

Oh yeah, and let me do some shameless self promotion :-)

I have a middle grade treasure hunt adventure book out there:


Check out the book trailer on youtube:
http://youtu.be/AUbFT2jgyJg


also have a separate audiobook trailer (on sale this week):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OSV6Z...

And while I'm at it, I'm giving away a &75 gift card to amazon via rafflecopter. It ends in a couple of days. Here's my blog post about it:
http://wp.me/p22pSc-9u

OK, shameless self promotion complete! Sorry about the info dump :-) Won't do it again.