It seems to me that a large percentage of the YA (and younger) SFF that I'm discovering lately deals with urban dystopias, underground cities, airships and air pirates, and either quasi-Baroque or Victorian steampunkishness -- or is it just that these are the books that I am personally attracted to, therefore picking up and taking a closer look, therefore either buying or checking out from the library?
In the wake of J. K. Rowling's success, one would expect a rash of Harry Potter type fantasies, but in fact it seems to me that something very different is going on, and has, in fact, been going on for quite some time (looking at some of the title pages, I'm seeing a lot of copyrights in the 1990s), and gradually gaining momentum.
Chris Wooding's The Haunting of Alaziabel Cray and Marcus Sedgwick's Book of Dead Days are two of the more recent examples we have discussed on this forum. Also Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. All three excellent books.
But City of Shadows by Celia Rees, Ragboy, Rats, and the Surging Sea, by Alan Temperley, and the early books in The Edge Chronicles have dates of 1998 and 1999 (which means they were written at least a year or two earlier).
Oh yes, and there are the Stravaganza books, by Mary Hoffman, and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. What else would fit in with this trend?
In the wake of J. K. Rowling's success, one would expect a rash of Harry Potter type fantasies, but in fact it seems to me that something very different is going on, and has, in fact, been going on for quite some time (looking at some of the title pages, I'm seeing a lot of copyrights in the 1990s), and gradually gaining momentum.
Chris Wooding's The Haunting of Alaziabel Cray and Marcus Sedgwick's Book of Dead Days are two of the more recent examples we have discussed on this forum. Also Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. All three excellent books.
But City of Shadows by Celia Rees, Ragboy, Rats, and the Surging Sea, by Alan Temperley, and the early books in The Edge Chronicles have dates of 1998 and 1999 (which means they were written at least a year or two earlier).
Oh yes, and there are the Stravaganza books, by Mary Hoffman, and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. What else would fit in with this trend?
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