We are over at Kirkus today for our regular column! It’s Thea’s turn this time, with an impassioned defense of some favorite anti-heroes–inspired by her reading of Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix by Julie C Dao.
Heroes are great and all, but are a dime a dozen in YA SFF. To me, nuanced, flawed, layered characters like Xifeng (Forest of a Thousand Lanterns) are far more interesting than their heroic counterparts (Sorry, Jade). For more anti-heroes of note in YA SFF, check the list over at Kirkus.
1 Comment
Ms. M
February 4, 2019 at 9:34 pmWhy do you call The Poppy War young adult? The author doesn’t consider it YA; the publisher doesn’t consider it YA; and while I’m not such an important voice, I wouldn’t call it YA either. It has a young protagonist and a school setting, but so does Name of the Wind. And Rothfuss doesn’t write about *SPOILERS* drug use, rape, human experimentation, or genocide.