The Trouble with YA Dystopian Novels Today – A Throne of Glass Review
Review by Azeeza, member of the Cedarbrae Youth Advisory Group
Like many youth, my love for YA Dystopian novels took up much of my time and stopped me from exploring other genres of books. Dystopian novels were always so wonderful, why would I want anything else when I already knew what I liked? This ideology worked well for me until what I liked… wasn’t the same anymore. Dystopian novels are often advertised as belonging to the action/adventure genres. As a reader, this is what I had grown to expect and love. The thrill of your beloved characters facing deadly circumstances, the risks being taken and the uncertainty of what would happen next, never failed to capture me… until these elements fell second to one element: romance.
Now, those who read romance are entitled to their own preferences, and doubtlessly there are romance novels out there with amazing plots. It is also true that without varying elements, any novel would fall flat. However, it is when a novel is falsely advertised to be one thing and then turn out to be another, that has ruined YA Dystopian novels today. Instead of focusing on the actual plot, characters and readers alike have been swept away by the uncertainty of which man or woman the protagonist will end up with. Throne of Glass is but one example of how romance has contaminated beloved genres like the action and adventure genres.
Throne of Glass features a strong female lead who is widely regarded as the deadliest assassin of her world. Blessed with remarkable skill, this brave and ruthless warrior was captured after being betrayed by her own and losing the only boy she ever loved. Now, she is given a chance to earn back her freedom if she serves as the King’s champion, her mortal enemy, for a specified term. Though, her freedom will not simply be handed to her, she must win a competition against the most notorious of criminals, to be chosen as the King’s champion. This promising storyline of a character I expected to be ruthless and cunning, riddled with anger, instead turned out to be almost anything but. Instead, the protagonist turned out to be a dress obsessed, boy-crazed individual whose problem was she loved both the prince and the guard. The competition sometimes fell short to about a paragraph or so out of several pages. Though it is simply my opinion, I find it hard to like YA dystopian novels anymore because more often than not, I seem to find a hormone-crazed protagonist and a plot that deviates from what it should be. If the facts of the story do not line up… and the character’s personality does not fall in accordance to what is told, the plot begins to fall apart. Though for some people, Throne of Glass turned out to be an excellent read, unfortunately for me, it did not. Fortunately, however, I regard Throne of Glass as my gateway to new novels belonging to other genres; an entirely different reading experience. I urge you to give Throne of Glass a chance, you may find you like it, or you may not. Either way, there will always be other novels and genres for you to explore and enjoy.
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If you’re looking for different dystopian novels try George Orwell’s “1984” or Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. Both pretty relevant and have been popping up in a lot of news articles these days. If you’re looking for something written more recently, how about “Wind Up Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi. While the first two suggestions I read for school, I read “Wind Up Girl” for pleasure (not to say I didn’t enjoy BNW or 1984). “Wind Up Girl” is also scarily relevant. Here’s a link if you’re interested: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6597651-the-windup-girl