Excellent Young Adult Fiction No One Ever Talks About, Part 1

Growing up, I was constantly attempting to convert other people my age to fans of the amazing books I was reading. Evidently I was a fairly convincing kid, as many of my friends did share in my delight of the latest under-rated novel or series, but, judging by their almost non-existent popularity, not many others did. I still bring them up every so often in conversation, and I am almost always awarded with a blank expression. My only consolation is that most of them do have Wikipedia pages, although tragically, having an article on Wikipedia is no longer a tried-and-true sign of celebrity.

In a well-intentioned but probably fruitless attempt to direct attention towards the literature I was obsessed with as a thirteen-year-old and still hold in the highest regard today, I bring you a three-part series best young adult fiction that never received much media attention (i.e., was never made into a film starring actors who smoke pot, don't shower, or star in plays naked with horses).

1 - Broken Sky, books 1 - 7 (1-9 in the UK) (1999 - 2001)
by Chris Wooding


Best volume: 7. (Pictured above is the UK cover of book 5, featuring some excellent artwork by Steve Kyte).
Twice as long as all the others, it's an epic, moving, satisfying end to the series. I cried. Seriously. Books never make me cry, so that's saying quite a bit.

Broken Sky was the highlight of my elementary school existence. I loved it, I worshiped it, I thankfully did not write any fanfiction about it (give me SOME credit here).

I never had much interest in Tolkien-esque fantasy. Wizards, elves, dwarves, and dragons (okay, dragons are pretty awesome, but you get the picture) were unappealing and dull to me, as almost every single fantasy novel I read featured standard stock creatures and races. I also watched a lot of anime for the sole purpose of getting away from conventional Western fantasy and its recycled elements. So imagine my surprise when a young English author writes a series of novels heavily inspired by Japanese anime and mythology instead of Lord of the Rings, but still maintaining its own sense of imagination and individuality.

Broken Sky's plot is a time-tested and oft-seen one: a brother and sister are thrust into a very strange world they know nothing about, and devote their lives to overthrowing the tyrannical king who was responsible for destroying their family. But its a story that's so finely crafted, with compelling and fully three-dimensional characters and worlds, that it's impossible to not appreciate the care Wooding puts into his creations. Despite technically being for children and teens, the series' overlying theme is that of race relations, and although it makes its metaphors clear, the meticulousness in which it is applied does not make it an insult to the intelligence. The same is true for its sophisticated and mature, but never alienating, portrayal of resistance movements. Wooding, who previously had written several fantastic novels set in the real world (his first to receive acclaim, Kerosene, is a gripping and powerfully honest portrayal of a teenage pyromaniac and his drug-dealing best friend), has a masterful hold on realism in his fantasy. There is no deux-ex-machina in Broken Sky, no character or force who is invincible, no villain without a measure of empathy. The violence is surprisingly brutal for the novel's age group, and there is no glorification of war - the opposite is highly stressed. Although, as previously mentioned, the premise itself is certainly not new, the directions in which Wooding takes it and the characters - who never delve into cliche or formula, but instead, refreshingly for a fantasy series, behave as real people behave - make it memorable, fascinating, and really very fun.