Welcome to Day 3 of the 2011 YA superlative blogfest, hosted by Katy Upperman, Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller. (Thanks ladies!) Today the categories are Elements of Fiction. And the awards go to:
Most Envy-Inducing Plot: Divergent by Veronica Roth.
This is a tough one, because you couldn’t have the plot in Divergent without the well-built world, but it truly was the perfect pacing and the NEED to know what would happen next that kept me from putting Divergent down.
Most Wonderful World-Building: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
She managed to create multiple worlds in one book, and they were all amazing. This was also my second runner-up for loveliest prose, but I didn’t want DoSaB to win ALL of today’s categories.
Most Formidable World: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi.
This was a hard choice, and James Dashner’s The Death Cure was my second choice.
Wanderlust-Inducing AND Loveliest Prose: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.
It is a testament to how beautiful the prose is that Stiefvater pulls the reader in, so that she wants to go to a place most characters in the book are dying to get away from. I guess instead of wanderlust-inducing, I should say setting I feel like I already HAVE been to visit, and that would be the island of Thisby.
Best First Line: It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die.
Amazing. The Scorpio Races, of course.
Most Dynamic Main Character: Tris from Divergent. Another hard choice, but what made Tris real to me was her internal conflicts and strengths.
Most Jaw-Dropping Finale: The Death Cure by James Dashner.
It was funny, but it hit me for the first time 2/3 of the way through the last book in the trilogy that these books are about zombies. (Duh, I know.) But I expected a totally different ending, and I was truly dumbfounded when I put it down.
Best Performance in a Supporting Role: The Dads in Lola and the Boy Next Door.
I didn’t give them the award for parental figure, but they deserve some props! Lots of YA books have ‘bad’ or absent parental figures, but Lola’s dads are doing things right.
Best Use of Theme: Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
War, peace, love, hate—and those are just the major ones. It worked so well because they shined through with all show and not a drop of tell.
It has been so much fun reading everyone else’s posts! My TBR list is expanding daily, as I expected. Please stop back by tomorrow!
Lovely picks! I feel the same, my wishlist is growing quickly– but it's also nice to see so many people recommending the same books over and over.
Yeah, I think we're getting a clear sense of the books we need to read from 2011 😀 Great choices, too1
Yay for Scorpio Races! I wanted to put it in so many categories, but in the end, I settled with theme because when I finished the book, I FELT all the themes. Giving it the theme superlative seemed to express best the culminated power of the book.
Totally agree with you about Tris and her character arc. She was one of the characters who felt most like a real person to me because of her struggle and growth. And yes, DoSaB had absolutely fantastic world-building.
I really need to read some Dashner. I've been meaning to for a while now.
Fabulous choices once again, Laurie. I loved Lola's dads as well. They were so distinct and unique and true-to-life. Stephanie Perkins is a genius when it comes to characterizations!
I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing, and I started reading The Scorpio Races because I was so excited about it, but I ended up putting it down because there was just too much animal violence and I couldn't handle it. 🙁 Everyone's lists are really convincing me I need to try it again. Hopefully I can skim through those parts.
Awesome choices. You're so right about The Scorpio Races. When readers want to visit an island that hosts KILLER HORSES each year, that's saying something.
I just finished LOLA and want to change so many answers! And agreed about the dads. LOVED them.
Hmm everyone seems to love Scorpio Races. I might have to check it out!