Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Neither do any of the other broad categories tell anyone much. Mystery/thriller can apply to Sherlock Holmes stories, cozy series, espionage novels, or domestic noir. Science fiction/fantasy can include anything from outer space tales to fairy tale retellings. Romances can range from sweet to borderline soft-core porn. It's not like YA is the only label, plus publishers often include a more specific age range on YA books.
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Maybe you didn't mean to, but you're helping prove my point just the same. All those other labels can get fuzzy, sure, but at least they tell me
something about the book. YA doesn't tell me if there's a mystery at the heart of it--be it sherlockian, noir or cozy. YA doesn't tell me if it's science-fiction (or fantasy). YA doesn't tell me if it's Romance. Those other labels tell me at least
something about the story. YA only tells me there's probably young protagonists and nothing more. And as has already been mentioned, there's plenty of non-YA books with young protags out there. So yes; those other labels still tell me much, much more about a book I'm thinking about reading than "YA" does.