Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Steampunk in the YA section

Every so often, with the air of tour guides through the Amazon jungle, the sci-fi-lovin' website i09 runs a story about YA sci-fi. (Watch the Uglies there; they'll eat you alive. Has everyone had their shots?)

This time, it's a snippet about sci-fi-tinged alternate histories, a genre more snappily known as steampunk. They mention Scott Westerfeld's upcoming Leviathan as well as offerings from Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. (Although sadly not by name; come on, guys, let's get some titles in here!)

Unfortunately, they don't mention Phillip Reeve's deliriously fun Larklight series, or Kenneth Oppel's Airborn novels, which have been representing for steampunk for awhile. (Not to mention Reeve's Mortal Engines novels, which although they're more correctly post-apocalyptic sci-fi, always seemed to have a steampunk feel about them.)

Then again, these novels are aimed at a slightly younger crowd than Westerfeld, Black, or Clare. Still, if you're going to be honest about the upsurge of steampunk in the under-18 set, might as well be comprehensive, no?

If you give the comments a read, that's good for your heart rate, too. There's one person who comments that it's "sad" that Harry Potter and Twilight are the series that have gotten most kids into reading. I had to go and breathe into a paper bag after that one.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

I like funny steampunk (no, it's not a contradiction!) so I'm a big fan of Larklight - and I love the Foglio's Girl Genius!

Kami Garcia said...

I'm going to check out Reeves- sounds great.