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.
I don’t read fantasy or YA but I get your point!
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Thank you!!
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I’m so glad that you talk about this! I sometimes find it really hard to distinguish which book is which because their titles are way too similar, like Girls of Paper and Fire and The Girl of Fire and Thorns. I mean I remember that there are ‘girl’ and ‘fire’ in the title but I don’t really know which is which anymore.
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Ahhhh thank you!!! Yes!!! The titles are so similar, it’s hard to differentiate between them!
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I noticed that too, it’d be nice if they did more original titles.. but we shall see
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Yes!!! And titles can be so creative, too!
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Great post, I absolutely agree with you! Every book seems to have a queen, or a princess, and an elemental… It’s all confusing!
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Thank you! 💖
And yes, so glad you agree!! They’re so similar!
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LOL, this post cracked me up! It’s so true, though. But part of me wonders whether the title trend is the authors’ or the publishers’ fault…
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Haha thank you! And same! I think a lot of the time, it’s publishers
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👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
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We need 👏🏻 better 👏🏻 titles 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
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Wrecked
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This is why I get them all sooo mixed up!
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Right??? They all sound so similar!
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Omg yess why do they all use theseee
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Right???????
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I actually haven’t even thought about this but it’s so true now that i think about it! We definitely need more unique names
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Right!!!! Especially for fantasy, you could have such unique titles!!
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Aaaaaannnnnddddd that’s why I stopped reading YA books. Well not because of the title, but because of all the things you mentioned. I love this post!
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LOL that’s totally fair!!! I feel like YA fantasy is getting much better, but it still has so many issues
Thank you! ❤
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I might be getting too old (sigh), I just don’t have the patience for it anymore lol. Actually have a post coming out about YA in a couple of weeks 😀
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I’ll make sure to look out for it!!
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This post honestly cracks me up because I swear I notice this naming convention so much. The thing is, even though it is repetitious as heck, it just FLOWS SO NICELY!?
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RIGHT??? That’s the worst part, it has such a good flow!!! And it’s so pretty-sounding. But there are so many!!!
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HAHAHAHA! So true.
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😀
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Yessss, finally someone says it aloud. Great post!
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Haha thank you!!
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Oh my gosh YES! It is an issue, glad you shed light to it… great post 🙂
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Haha thank you!!!! 😀
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Fantastic post. I totally agree!
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Haha thank you!!!
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THIS IS SO TRUE. Besides being absolutely hilarious (not sure if it’s suppose to be…), it is absolutely correct! As an avid ya fantasy reader, it’s a problem. Book titles run together, get monotonous, and you can (almost always) predict the story! It is an embarrassing plague to our reading circle, lol 😂
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Omg I’m so glad you agree and found this post funny!
And yes!!! They’re so similar, they all run together.
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YES, YOU’VE SAID IT! Hahaha. I’ve noticed that too, and honestly, have grown so tired of all these titles being the exact same.
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Haha thank you! So glad you agree 😀
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