Armchair BEA: Young Adult Science Fiction

Logo by Amber

Today is a combination of free day and talking about middle grade and YA fiction.  I decided to split the difference and talk about YA science fiction!  I think YA is well suited to science fiction.  Teens tend to be early adopters of technology, and they might be a bit more culturally flexible when running into aliens.

Here are some upcoming (or recent) titles I'm excited about:

CATALYST by S.J. Kincaid
This is the final book in the Insignia trilogy, which is one of my favorite things ever.  Main character Tom is a smart mouth, a bit of a con man, and very talented with video games.  He's training to be a child soldier, but his personality is holding him back.  Plus he falls for Medusa, a talented girl fighting for the other side.  Kincaid knows just when to twist the knife, too.

OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis
I won a copy of this from Duyvis on Tumblr, and I'm saving it for 48HBC.  The summary, about a boy named Nolan who closes his eyes and sees the life of a girl named Amara, reminds me of the classic BEING OF TWO MINDS by Pamela F. Service.  That alone is enough to make me pick it up.

SCAN by Walter Jury and Sarah Fine
This book actually came out earlier this month; I just haven't read it yet.  This book promises lots of suspense, with aliens that have infiltrated the human race and an invention everybody once.  I love stories where anybody could be the enemy.  It really ratchets up the tension.

LOVE IS THE DRUG by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Honestly, I tend to hate books about viruses because the biology is always so, so bad.  (Alexandra Bracken's THE DARKEST MINDS is a rare one that I like, even if the disease doesn't make any sense.)  At the same time, I really liked THE SUMMER PRINCE and lots of other things Johnson has written.  Therefore, it all add up to me being excited.

GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown
RED RISING is one of my favorite reads of the year.  It sets the stage for an epic series, and I am eager to see where Brown takes his protagonist Darrow next.  Darrow has successfully hidden himself among the elite he once slaved for, and now it is time for him to start taking them down.  But he'll have to be careful in a brutal society that sacrifices their own children to rise to the top.

TAKE BACK THE SKIES by Lucy Saxon
This book has a cross-dressing heroine and smugglers on an air ship.  I don't care about anything else, I want to read it.  It is the first in a planned six-book series, so Bloomsbury must have some confidence in debut author Lucy Saxon.

Check out the YA science fiction novels I recommend.