YA fantasy authors: we need to talk

Okay so I love YA fantasy, don’t get me wrong. It’s a great genre and, when done well, can be amazing.

Today, I am not talking about any of the actual pressing issues in the world of YA fantasy. I’m not talking about the lack of diversity or sensitivity reading, the overused and occasionally damaging tropes, the borderline abusive relationships, the dragging out of series, the treatment of women for shock value, the lack of world-building.

But I have a very specific bone to pick with fantasy authors. This is getting too much. It’s become an epidemic.

Authors: can we please, I am begging you, think of a better way to name your books. All YA fantasy books are being titled in the exact same way.

“A/The [noun] of [noun] and [noun]”

It needs to stop.

---

Some examples:

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
• Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
• Children of Blood and Bone by Toni Adeyemi
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
• The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
• Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
• Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
• Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
• Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
• Blood of Gods and Royals series by Eleanor Herman
• A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh
• Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West

This is too much. That is sixteen individual books, not counting the rest in the series, by sixteen different authors from one Goodreads list. Six. teen.

I didn’t even touch the ones that are The [blank] and the [blank]. There were too many to list. Like, literally dozens of books, from different series, called The Kingdom and the Princess. The Poison and the Truth. The Dark and the Light. The Angel and the Human.

Please. Publishers, can we get some more original names.

---

Twitter // Goodreads //